For my students and other Chinese friends,  I’ll post a few pictures of my family here.   These are our parting photos before I leave.

My mom and I, in the sitting room.

In China, gift giving is very important.  From China, I was given a special Chinese wine to present to my father.  It’s not meant to be drunk but to be displayed in the home due to the beautiful container it comes in.  This particular liquor bottle holds the 60 different masks of Beijing opera painted on the front.  So if you’re wondering what that is in my dad’s hands, that’s what it is.

My dad displays his gift from Jalin's dad

My parents, soon to celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary

From my end, I returned this gift with a winter jacket that I found at the Walmart as well as pretty blouses and tops to be presented to my older friends, namely Jalin’s Mom and her sister.  (Jalin is the young girl who was my neighbor’s daughter in Chengdu when I lived there 4 years ago.  Jalin is now 17 years old, studying in an American high school in New York City).

You can also see that Little Lao-lao, our toothless stray found on the streets of Chengdu, has settled into his American lifestyle quite well.  The little spoiled thing enjoys sleeping on the bed from time to time, as well as sprawling on the living room’s carpet.  Definitely a change from living on the streets, scrounging for food and never knowing where his next meal would be found.

Lao-lao, one very lucky Chinese immigrant

Lao-lao, settling onto the bed for a comfy snooze.

One spoiled little dog in America.

And across the ocean, Little Flower waits for her mother to return. One spoiled little dog in China!

Little Flower and Connie, exiting 2011 and entering 2012