Category Archives: Travel

Promised from Last Entry: My Conversation with “Nancy”

Posted on October 26, 2022 by connieinchina

I left you all with the cliffhanger of the interesting conversation I had with Nancy, one of my first students in China. She is currently staff manager of the Four Seasons Hotel in Guangzhou, seen here below. (Nancy sent me … Continue reading →

Posted in coronavirus, coronavirus situation in China, Luzhou: Yangtze Rivertown Stories, Tales of China, Travel | Leave a comment

我和母亲祝愿我的中国学生和朋友们：虎年快乐！My mom and I wish my Chinese Students: “Happy Year of the Tiger!”

Posted on February 1, 2022 by connieinchina

My mom sighed. “I suppose you’ll want to do a video,” she intoned while watching me haul out my camera tripod from the closet. I nodded absently, engrossed in the task at hand as I bustled about our very small … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Luzhou, Tales of China, The Chinese New Year, Travel, Waiting it out during Covid | 1 Comment

An Earthquake Security Check

Posted on October 7, 2021 by connieinchina

“Hey, Bruce!” I typed into my WeChat message to my Chinese colleague, “Bruce” Liu, yesterday. “Sorry to bother you again but have you checked on my apartment yet? I just want to make sure the recent earthquake didn’t do any … Continue reading →

Posted in China, From Along the Yangtze, Luzhou, Luzhou Vocational and Technical College, Luzhou: Yangtze Rivertown Stories, Tales from Sichuan's Yangtze Rivertown, Travel | Leave a comment

Face-to-Face, 30 years later

Posted on August 31, 2021 by connieinchina

In the previous post, I mentioned “Kevin” Hu , a former student of mine, who found me with a web search. Our connection is now complete on WeChat, where he and another classmate are trying to gather more of us … Continue reading →

Posted in A 30-plus Year Reunion in China, China, Luzhou, Tales from Sichuan's Yangtze Rivertown, Tales of China, Travel, Waiting it out during Covid | 1 Comment

Surprising Announcement from China: The 3-child policy

Posted on June 9, 2021 by connieinchina

The sudden news out of China came last week, while my mom and I were listening to an NPR report: Want three kids? Go ahead! I’ve taken bits and pieces from an online BBC article, “China allows three children in … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Luzhou, Tales from The Yangtze River, Tales of China, Travel | 1 Comment

An encounter in China changes forever how I regard others

Posted on April 24, 2021 by connieinchina

The following essay was published in The Christian Science Monitor’s (CSM) Home Forum section in November (I believe) of 2008. I’ve sent it to the Nanjing Amity office as a contribution to the Amity Foundation’s English Teacher program, celebrating its … Continue reading →

Posted in From Along the Yangtze, Luzhou Vocational and Technical College, Luzhou: Yangtze Rivertown, Luzhou: Yangtze Rivertown Stories, Tales from Sichuan's Yangtze Rivertown, Luzhou, Tales from The Yangtze River, Travel, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Life amid the rats and insects: My grandfather’s WW 2 New Guinea

Posted on October 6, 2020 by connieinchina

My grandfather, Army Chaplain Captain Marvin E. Maris, had numerous tales of creepy-crawly critters, large and small, which he encountered in the World War 2 jungles of  New Guinea. His journal Volumes 3 and 4, which I’ve been earnestly pouring … Continue reading →

Posted in My Grandfather's WW 2 Journals: Chaplain Captain Marvin E. Maris, The Jungles of New Guinea in 1944-45, Travel | 1 Comment

China is now allowing all foreign national entries!! But problems for me

Posted on September 27, 2020 by connieinchina

On the 23rd, China-briefing.com, my go-to site for current China information, flashed before me. “From 0 a.m., September 28, 2020, foreigners with valid residence permits for work, personal matters, and reunion, are allowed enter the country without needing to re-apply … Continue reading →

Posted in A Visit Home to America, China, China ban lifting, coronavirus, Illinois, Return to China, Smalltown American Life, Travel | 1 Comment

75 years later, Atomic bomb reflections re-surface

Posted on August 8, 2020 by connieinchina

Previously, I mentioned I’d been going through the World War II correspondence between my grandmother, Connie Maris in Holland, Michigan, and her husband, Chaplain (Captain) Marvin E. Maris, serving overseas’ in New Guinea and the Philippines from 1944 – 1945 … Continue reading →

Posted in 75th anniversary of dropping the Atomic bomb, A Visit Home to America, Michigan in 1945, Michigan's Lake Louise: A look back in time, Travel, World War 2 Letters, WW 2 Letters: My grandmother writes, WW 2: VJ Day | Leave a comment

Views from Around the World: Window-swap.com

Posted on August 3, 2020 by connieinchina

“Open a window somewhere in the world” This is the beginning of a world journey to be taken by any one of us through window-swap.com. My mom read about this unique, quirky website in one of her magazines.  A pair … Continue reading →

Posted in A Visit Home to America, A Visit Home to Marshall, coronavirus, Illinois, Smalltown American Life, Travel | Leave a comment