French bread is ever so much yummier in France! I swear this is true!
Good thing we missed our connection, because Evil Immigration Officer kept us in immigration limbo for several hours the next day in Boston because of a simple and easily correctable mistake. Nice Immigration Officer sorted us out and soothed our fears because Evil Immigration Officer acted like we were hardened criminals and threatened to never let us into the US ever again (he was full of it, the Nice Immigration Officer basically told us). Had we made our connection, we would have been over 30 hours in transit without a rest.
While in Maine we ate 
(I had a little while Mabo had them every day)
(I had a little while Mabo had them every day)
and played in the grass among evergreen trees. 
Mabo went fishing nearly every day and caught more fish than he's had in the past several years combined, so he was happy. Kai never once ate a vegetable. He basically ate chicken nuggets every single day. For me, I was happy reconnecting with friends and family. I got to see nearly all my cousins and even managed a trip to L/A (the Maine L/A) to "visit" my mom and bring her some flowers. next to my Mom is buried an uncle of mine who died during WWII. Kai wanted to know why he had a special marker on his grave and I explained how he had helped fight for his country and those people get a special marker. Kai had insisted earlier that I buy him a little US flag. When I told him abut my great uncle, he decided to give his flag to him and stuck it in the ground nearby. I figured Uncle Marcel wouldn't mind.
I loved meeting up with old friends and family, but the real event was saved for the end of the trip. That was when i reunited with my father's family, whom I hadn't seen in over 20 years and hadn't met more than twice in my whole life. After 35 years of being rather disinterested in me, they wanted to get together with my husband and kids for a family reunion of sorts. A recent family death made the timing spectacularly poor, but despite that, we had a great time and I realized they are really great people to know. We had our pictures taken with my grandmother who is 88 but acts and looks like 58. I hope they will all be around the next time I go to Maine and that we can have another gathering. At 88, who knows how many more gatherings there may be?
It's possible that was the last time I'll ever see my grandmother. I'm so so so thrilled my kids could meet her at least once.
Coming back from the US, we had a 12 hour layover in Paris, so we took the chance to do the one thing I never did when I was there years ago: go to the Louvre. One day simply isn't enough. Even taking a whirlwind tour of the museum, we didn't see everything there was to see and there wasn't enough time to really look at anything in depth or do sketches or anything. After the Louvre closed, we had dinner at a creperie and had gallettes with cidre, something I have been wanting to have for years and years. It reminded me of the many times I had gallettes and cidre with friends while I lived in Rennes. Ah those were the carefree days! Happily, all my French came back to me and I was totally able to get around and do everything I needed to do in French. I told my husband he could be in charge of learning Asian languages and I would learn the European ones. It's so much easier that way!
Back in Hong kong, still in one piece, and trying to get over jet lag now. I went to work this morning and was told all I had to do was show my face and chat a bit and then I could go back home for a week before the real work began. So I have an extra unanticipated week off! What to do, what to do? Time for a trip to Thailand? Hmmm......Maybe I should be checking last minute bargain flights instead of blogging! :-)
