Tales of a Traveling Teusink: Tourist Time

I've always loved being a tourist in my own area, whether it was going to the Space Needle for a cup of coffee when I lived for Washington or walking around People's Park in Chengdu on a Saturday morning. I love to see things I've seen dozens of times from a new perspective, and I love sharing these places that I love with people that I love.

This month has been a month of tourism in this country that I now call home. My parents made the long trek from Ethiopia to China for Christmas, coming to this massive country for the first time since 1993. To say that they stepped in to a China they have never seen before would be an understatement. China in 1993 is nothing like China in 2015.

Since they arrived on December 10th, we've seen just about all there is to see in Chengdu, they went up to Xi'an to see the famous Terra-cotta Warriors, we spent six days in Harbin where my brother Jonathan lives, and now we've spent four or so days in Beijing, the nations capital. By far the coldest place we've been on this journey was Harbin, where we had a glorious white Christmas at the Ice Festival (it is the Ice City, after all) and 'enjoyed' temperatures of -30C.

The traveling has been fun, and seeing new parts of China is always exciting, but the best bit about our Christmas this year was being together. Showing my parents my new home is surreal. Who wouldn't thought that Jonathan and I would both be living in China? I sure didn't! But now, three and a half years into calling this home, I can't imagine how different my life would be if I hadn't started on this journey. To say that I'm thankful would be a serious understatement. I'm sad to see my parents leave tonight to go back to Ethiopia, but I'm so thankful that we were able to spend this Holiday season together, celebrating the gift of family and the Gift of the Savior. Merry Christmas!

Rather than go into the whole trip in detail, here are a few pictures to highlight our adventures: