There and Back Again!
From China to the U.S. and Back to China
I'm sitting in the living room of my new apartment. It's not new to Denise. She's lived here for several years already, but it is new to me. (She graciously agreed to let me move into her apartment after we married.) Our two dogs, the ones I talked Denise into adopting, are milling about. Bilbo -- yes, we named one of them Bilbo -- likes to bark at everyone that walks by our front window, especially the man that delivers 一桶水, a large bottle of water, to the neighbors. All of this feels very normal; however, being married to Denise is so new.
If you've missed the last few updates on my life, you've missed a lot! May 2016: I started dating Denise. August 2016: We got engaged. January 2017: We got married in South Dakota.
Denise and I headed back to the U.S. in December to catch Christmas with our families. I was lucky enough to meet Santa at the mall. (More about that in the photo link below.) I drank lots of coffee while meeting up with friends. I played mandolin at my church. Everyone kept welcoming me "home." The problem was that the U.S. didn't feel like home. It was strange to be back in such a familiar place and feel like I didn't belong there. China seems like "here" now. The U.S. seems like "there."
After New Year's Day, I planned to fly up to Sioux Falls before the wedding. I missed my flight out of Charlotte to Chicago and pleaded with the gate agent to help me get to Sioux Falls. He had mercy on me and booked me a flight into Omaha, Nebraska. That's as close as he could get me without me having to wait in Chicago for the next flight to Sioux Falls a day later. I made it to Omaha, booked a rental car, and drove the four and a half hours up to Huron, South Dakota where my inlaws live. I pulled into the driveway at two in the morning, and Denise was there on the front porch waiting for me. She was a sight for sore eyes -- even if we had only been apart for a matter of weeks.
The wedding was January 7th, and it was cold and beautiful. There were patches of snow on the ground in the corn fields. I was surprised at how many people flew from so far away to come to this midwestern wedding. Even family from Sweden came! Denise was in her element after the ceremony. She danced with her nieces and nephew and bridesmaids at the reception. I wanted to talk to everyone even though my energy was quickly fading. I asked Denise if we could sneak out. "Let's dance until at least 10PM!" she entreated. I gave in.
Within two days, we were both sick. I was over it in a morning, but Denise definitely had strep throat. It wasn't going down without a fight. Denise slept all day and kept telling me how sorry she was that she had gotten sick on our honeymoon. I went out into town and brought her back lots of juice to drink. We stopped in Sheridan, Wyoming at the urgent care clinic for antibiotics. We both said that it was the "go, go, go" of getting ready for a wedding that broke down our immune systems. Regardless, we were glad that we felt better by the time we made it to Yellowstone National Park.
A few people said we were crazy for wanting to go to Yellowstone on our honeymoon. "But it's so cold," they said. That it was; however, the beauty of the place robed in snow more than made up for the temperature. We had the place to ourselves! Only a few hundred people stay overnight in Yellowstone in the winter. In the summer, that number skyrockets to thousands and thousands. Denise and I watched Old Faithful erupt. We were the only ones there. Well, it was us and a few bison trying to keep warm near the steam vents.
Before returning home to China, we stopped off in Charlotte so Denise could see my 老家, my hometown. More food. Lots of laughing. Lots of late night conversations. It was a wonderful way to finish off our time in the U.S.
When we arrived back to our 家, our home, in China, our neighbors waved and smiled. “你们回来了，” they said, "You came back," a typical understated Chinese way of saying, "Welcome home!"
If you've missed the last few updates on my life, you've missed a lot! May 2016: I started dating Denise. August 2016: We got engaged. January 2017: We got married in South Dakota.
Denise and I headed back to the U.S. in December to catch Christmas with our families. I was lucky enough to meet Santa at the mall. (More about that in the photo link below.) I drank lots of coffee while meeting up with friends. I played mandolin at my church. Everyone kept welcoming me "home." The problem was that the U.S. didn't feel like home. It was strange to be back in such a familiar place and feel like I didn't belong there. China seems like "here" now. The U.S. seems like "there."
After New Year's Day, I planned to fly up to Sioux Falls before the wedding. I missed my flight out of Charlotte to Chicago and pleaded with the gate agent to help me get to Sioux Falls. He had mercy on me and booked me a flight into Omaha, Nebraska. That's as close as he could get me without me having to wait in Chicago for the next flight to Sioux Falls a day later. I made it to Omaha, booked a rental car, and drove the four and a half hours up to Huron, South Dakota where my inlaws live. I pulled into the driveway at two in the morning, and Denise was there on the front porch waiting for me. She was a sight for sore eyes -- even if we had only been apart for a matter of weeks.
The wedding was January 7th, and it was cold and beautiful. There were patches of snow on the ground in the corn fields. I was surprised at how many people flew from so far away to come to this midwestern wedding. Even family from Sweden came! Denise was in her element after the ceremony. She danced with her nieces and nephew and bridesmaids at the reception. I wanted to talk to everyone even though my energy was quickly fading. I asked Denise if we could sneak out. "Let's dance until at least 10PM!" she entreated. I gave in.
Within two days, we were both sick. I was over it in a morning, but Denise definitely had strep throat. It wasn't going down without a fight. Denise slept all day and kept telling me how sorry she was that she had gotten sick on our honeymoon. I went out into town and brought her back lots of juice to drink. We stopped in Sheridan, Wyoming at the urgent care clinic for antibiotics. We both said that it was the "go, go, go" of getting ready for a wedding that broke down our immune systems. Regardless, we were glad that we felt better by the time we made it to Yellowstone National Park.
A few people said we were crazy for wanting to go to Yellowstone on our honeymoon. "But it's so cold," they said. That it was; however, the beauty of the place robed in snow more than made up for the temperature. We had the place to ourselves! Only a few hundred people stay overnight in Yellowstone in the winter. In the summer, that number skyrockets to thousands and thousands. Denise and I watched Old Faithful erupt. We were the only ones there. Well, it was us and a few bison trying to keep warm near the steam vents.
Before returning home to China, we stopped off in Charlotte so Denise could see my 老家, my hometown. More food. Lots of laughing. Lots of late night conversations. It was a wonderful way to finish off our time in the U.S.
When we arrived back to our 家, our home, in China, our neighbors waved and smiled. “你们回来了，” they said, "You came back," a typical understated Chinese way of saying, "Welcome home!"
The Pictures
Below, you'll find a few photos; however, I couldn't fit all of them in an email. Therefore, if interested, here's a link to more photos from our time in the U.S. There are a few wedding photos, lots of photos from Yellowstone, some frome Christmas, and a few more from a day trip we took to the Smoky Mountains while staying in the Charlotte area.
Photos taken by Luke Johnson and Studio 413.
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