This week we had a very special Taiji class: the professor taught us a sequence of movements with a sword! He brought his own custom-made sword; it was beautiful and pretty heavy. Curiously, people walked …

This week we had a little adventure: We had our hair cut in China! Gasp! We were worried for no reason at all. The salons in China are very nice, and the hairdressers are funny …

This week the school organized a trip to Laoshan— Lao mountain. It is a very famous mountain and is known as one of the birthplaces of Taoism. It turns out that Laoshan is not just …

This week we are becoming more accustomed to the Qingdao way. People speak somewhat aggressively, yet they are not angry, and taxi drivers are absolutely insane, but they have to be to survive Qingdao traffic …

We arrived in Qingdao after a three-hour flight from Hong Kong on a cool airline called Dragonair. Their seats are upholstered in blue leopard skin, which I found hilarious, and the service is phenomenal.
As soon …

This day we decided to relax and take it easy after the stress of the Rome ordeal. We docked in Livorno, Italy, and had the option of visiting Pisa and/or Florence. We decided to pick …

Our next stop on the cruise was Civitavecchia. We docked at the port and took a train to Vatican City.
It was packed, as I expected, and not open to the public for a while because …

We went on a Royal Caribbean 7-night Mediterranean cruise. It was fantastic. We boarded in Barcelona, spent a day at sea, and then stopped at Napoli, Civitavecchia, and Livorno in Italy, and Villefrance and Marseilles …