God Bless the USA

Well, not that 18 solid days of Chinese food served on a lazy susan 3 times daily was a bad thing BUT...
I have now finally gotten in the groove of USA food and the lifestyle of the land of the free:

1. Fried eggs (not scorched like in China) over easy, whole wheat toast with butter, grits, bacon fried crisp (not soggy like China). Real Florida OJ by the gallon. Jelly...assorted kinds. MMMM. Ice tea. With lemon and ice.
2. Coney Island Chili dogs and Chili Burgers. Real chocolate milkshake made to order. Iced tea by the gallon. With ice!!! And lemon.
3. Bourbon whiskey. Yes it is better in USA.
4. Steak. Rare and not scared of it being rare. Fresh grilled veggies. Ice tea with ice.
5. Gatorade
6. Jello
7. Water on ice from the tap
8. Brushing teeth with water from tap
9. Barefoot outside
10. Talking freely about the government, taxes, religion, and anything else
11. Guns. In the truck, on my hip, in the house. Wherever. I have guns and enjoy it.
12. 200+ channels of english speaking tv with no censorship and absolutely no point to half of it.
13. Feet up with bottoms showing to anyone who looks
14. No shirt when it is hot
15. Driving a vehicle anywhere I want to go. With rules on how I need to do that. That everyone else follows for the most part, too.
16. No scooter traffic to speak of
17. Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge
18. Did I mention ice tea with ice cubes?
19. Barbecue grills
20. Swimming pools
21. Dogs. Inedible dogs.
22. Birds, opossums, raccoons, critters in general just running around and you can see them with frequency
23. Facts that you can somewhat believe and rely on
24. Food quality standards
25. Western toilets everywhere you need one. With paper. And soap.
26. Sun-up after 4:30 am
27. Bodies of water that are relatively safe to get in or eat from
28. Clean air acts
29. Air conditioning that you control
30. Laundry soap that works pretty good. Dryer sheets and fabric softener are pretty nice too.
31. Dryers
32. RVs. Didn't see one of those in China.
33. Family
34. Friends
35. The choice to not eat any Chinese food, especially from a lazy susan, for at least a year
36. And no censorship to post to the internet.

I know I forgot a million things, but these are the ones that seemed to fly out first. What an experience, truly the experience of a lifetime filled with so many "this is the best ____ I have done/seen/eaten ever" moments. We really are blessed to have had the opportunity to see so many things, be so exposed to so much, and to have had the chance of a lifetime to do this trip. Further, to have been a part of the WLI is something I would never have dreamt and yet 2 years is gone so fast. I have had one heck of a ride and enjoyed every minute of it. I know everyone in Class 7 feels the same. Thanks, Dr. Carter, Rochelle, and Janice, and everyone else who makes it go. See you all in Innisbrook.

Asia Trip Complete

Our trip to China, Vietnam and Hong Kong is now complete and man what an adventure!

First a huge Thank You to Dr. Carter and the others that run the Wedgworth Program for providing this opportunity to Class VII. I would also like to thank my classmates for making this an incredibly rewarding experience. Sharing this with my friends was as special as the trip itself.

I believe that we have all gained a new perspective on the world and its complex socio/economic makeup. We have all also certainly reinforced the appreciation we have for our own communities and country.

Mainly, I justed wanted to say Thank You to Dr. Carter and all of my Classmates (the best class ever!!).
Ray

Almost Home

Most of the class has made it home, but the panhandle crew is still traveling. Thad, Richard May & myself are flying into Tallahassee, but the travel day will not end. After almost missing the flight in Dallas, due to an hour & half delay leaving Tokyo, we were then delayed another hour & half on the DFW runway because of Atlanta ground traffic. It is 1130PM and we are on the plane in Atl for a 38 minute flight, but wait they now have to change a tire on the landing gear! 31 hours of travel is not fun, but I am excited & hopeful that I will be sleeping in my own bed tonight! Keep your fingers crossed and thank you all for your prayers & support back home while we were traveling!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Getting on a Jet Plane.

We're at our gate ready to depart to Tokyo for the first of our many flights back to the USA!!! See everyone soon.

TURF in Hong Kong.

Via Erin's turf contacts, we just had an amazing morning on our free day exploring the Hong Kong Golf Club. We saw the turf research facility at the golf club-Erin was definitely in her element and I was expanding my knowledge of turf! We're taking the MTR train/subway back to our hotel now in the first class cabin. A neat way to see more of Hong Kong and very very clean. All of the class is out and about exploring the area in their own ways... Tomorrow we head back to our friends and family!

Hong Kong.jpg

Arrived in Hong Kong and are starting our tour of the area.

Hello from Hanoi!

Hello Florida!

I wanted to take the chance to post some

more photos while we had complete access to free internet and the blog. As most of you know by now, we began our day (yesterday) by taking a privately chartered boat into the Ha Long Bay. The view the entire way was amazing! Huge rocks jetting out of the water covered with greenery of some sort. There were tons of boats just like ours all giving tours of the bay. We were so blessed with great weather the entire time as well. And while its probably a little selfish, I had to post the photo of me actually driving the boat. The captain even let me turn a few times. Never imagined driving a boat through Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

After the boat tour, we boarded the bus and began our 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Hanoi. Along the way we stopped to visit a local farmers village. One farmer demonstrated how they transport the rice from the fields to the storage areas. Several of the group members attempted to carry one that was actually only half full. The photo of Greg shows you pretty much how they carry everything, unless they have a scooter and then they carry everything on it. Further into the village we were able to enter one farmers home and several of the childern came out to see who we were. One girl (12 years old) could speak some english, so we were able to visit with them a little bit. The smallest girl in the picture and the boy next to her loved giving high fives!

When we arrived to Hanoi, we came straight to our hotel which took some time due to the crazy traffic. Thai (our tour guide) told us that there are 3.5 million "motorbikes" in Hanoi and I completely believe him. On the scooters, we have seen up to four people on them, pottery, plants, a mattress between two people, a man and his wife holding a baby while talking on the cell phone on the back, and many other amazing stunts all while driving amongst the other 3.5 million scooters. These people are very talented and make the two Gator linebackers on a scooter seem like no big deal.

For dinner, we had lots of fish, but it was amazing. I can't remember the name of the restaurant at the moment, but we were able to meet the owner who is in the group photo with us. She was very young, but would come by all three tables to check to make sure everything was okay and show us how to eat each dish.

Today we visited the Farmers Union and were able to have some great discussions about Vietnam agriculture. The group had lots of questions for the leaders. Some realized just how difficult it can be to communicate when you don't speak the same language. The Vietnamese group actually had several questions for us and I think they were ready to come visit Florida today! Once they found out Adam was a part of the Farm Bureau, they wanted to pick a date immediately. After the farmers union, we walked through the Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum. Unfortunately, they are closed on Fridays and Mondays so we weren't able to see everything. Afterwards, we went to a very cool (temperature) restaurant which also had great food and the coldest Coca Cola I have had in weeks!

Now the group is on their own until 5:30am when we head to the airport to leave for Hong Kong. It is hard to believe that we are almost done and will be home in 3 days. I hope you are all doing well and enjoy the photos!