Each of Us with Our Own Continent--Again!

Well, for the past two weeks, each of the Scudders has had their own continent to occupy. Sarah and Chris remain in Asia, David has moved to Africa to teach for two years and Marti has been in Ukraine. Gary stayed home to take care of North America, but did get the opportunity to bowl with international students at Vanderbilt! We have new students this year at Owen from Korea, China, Japan, Peru, and Singapore along with several other countries. You should have heard the faculty team cheer; well then again, maybe not!

Upcoming travels--Gary to China and Korea at the end of August, Marti back to Ukraine in late September and Gary and Marti in Italy mid-October. In November we head to Australia and New Zealand for a month and David will come home for Christmas in mid-December.

Our Final Days in China

We are back in Nashville after a wonderful visit with Chris and Sarah. Above, we are sitting in a traditional tea house in Chengdu inside the a famous garden area. After spending a few days where few Westerners were seen, Chengdu seemed very Western. We did stay in a truly Chinese hotel, although a very nice one. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province and has a much more relaxed feel than the other cities we visited. We took the train to Chengdu through beautiful countryside filled with farms. After checking into our hotel, we went to Zoe's for lunch, one of Sarah and Chris' favorites in Chengdu. Western food, including Dr. Pepper which is not available very many places. After lunch we visited Du Fu's Thatched Cottage. Du Fu is a very famous Chinese poet and the gardens surrounding the buildings were very beautiful. After a brief rest, we had dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant in the walking street area of Chengdu. Our final day we went to the Panda Research Station to see the giant pandas and the red pandas, which are a cross between a raccoon, a panda and a fox. We arrived early enough that we were able to see the pandas playing outside--they go inside during the heat of the day to eat and rest. We next visited a famous Buddhist monastery which also had beautiful gardens. We were weary from the heat and spent a few hours relaxing in a bookstore/coffee house called the Bookworm--wine, beer, coffee, books and music! For our final dinner, we went to Peter's Tex-Mex--Peter is Chinese but the Tex-Mex is pretty good. On Friday, we were up very early and after about 24 hours of travel, Marti and I were reunited with David who had flown home from Shanghai on a different flight. Of course, our luggage went on to LA without us after we cleared customs in Atlanta but it arrived by noon the next day. Next stop: David off to South Africa and Marti off to Ukraine.

Hello from China

Hello from the middle of China!  We met up with Sarah, Chris and David in Shanghai last Wednesday.  David was meeting us after spending a few days in Taiwan with a good friend from Stanford.  It was very, very hot and humid in Shanghai but we tried to see as much as possible in only two days.  We visited the walking street, Nanjing Lu, the Bund, Pudong, Old Town (the beautiful Yu garden) and the Shanghai Museum.  The heat finally got to us and we retired to the swimming pool at our hotel for the afternoon before going out for dinner.  We had dinner at three non-Chinese restaurants (middle eastern, Italian, and Tapas) knowing that the rest of our trip would be spent in the middle of China.  We flew inland on Friday and will spent a week here.  So far, we've seen many sights in this city and been fascinated as Sarah and Chris talk to their neighbors, shop owners and taxi cab drivers.  We have seen no other non-Chinese in their neighborhood while we have been here and have eaten some wonderful meals at places only locals go.  We leave again tomorrow for our final destination, Chengdu, before heading back to Nashville on Friday so David can move to South Africa on Sunday. 

Home from Italy, Off to Dallas and Asia

We had a wonderful 12 day trip to Italy and spent three days with good friends on Lake Como and another week for Owen outside of Florence, Italy. We had a great time and enjoyed the countryside, the historical cities of Siena, San Gimignano, Florence and Monteriggioni, and of course, the food. During our final week we stayed in farmhouse outside of Siena and even cooked dinner "at home" three nights. The photo above was taken in Verenna on the shores of Lake Como.
Tomorrow, David is off to Taiwan and we are off to Dallas for the wedding of one of Sarah's friends--a young lady who has spent many hours with our family over the last few years. We will join David in Shanghai (and Sarah and Chris!) on July 2 for a 10 day family vacation.
When we return, David will leave one day later for his new adventure, teaching in Johannesburg, S. Africa for the next two years.

Moving On

David graduated from Trinity Forum Academy on Thursday. Here he is with another Trinity fellow, Will Weir and Randy Morgan, a family friend and ministry partner of Marti's. David will be joining the faculty of African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa. He will a teaching fellow there for the next two years, living in the dorms and teaching Biology. You can read more about it at http://www.africanleadershipacademy.org/site. David is listed in the faculty section.
Before moving to South Africa in mid-July, David will be in California, New York City, Nashville, Taiwan and China. We are already planning a family vacation to visit him sometime during his two year stay!

Starting out

Our future posts will begin with a trip to Maryland for David's graduation from Trinity Forum Academy http://www.ttf.org/academy He graduates on May 22nd and returns to Nashville in mid-June. You can read David's research report he wrote to conclude his year at the Academy--it is called Science as Worship http://scienceasworship.googlepages.com/index.html

Where will the Scudders be?

Besides Marti's usual trips to Ukraine twice between now and Christmas, the Scudder family has many travels upcoming. These include two trips to Italy, a trip to East Asia, and spending a month in Melbourne, Australia later this fall. In the middle of all of these trips, David will be moving to Johannesburg, S. Africa to teach high school for two years. Stay posted for updates and pictures from our travels between now and the end of 2008.

Welcome to Scudders Abroad!

As the Scudder family takes off globe-trotting, this will be a place to collect stories and pictures.