Where Did We Go?

Tiffany and I thought that the blog would be over now that we're back in the US and no longer have exciting, international stories to tell you. Really, what could we say about our lives now? Documented trips to Costco and Target?

As it turns out, we received numerous, (politely) angry comments about the death of our blog, which surprised us. So while we won't be able to post as frequently as before, we will still try for periodic updates of our lives. Hope you enjoy this update of our first 4 months back!

As soon as we returned to the US in late August, we had some traveling to do. Tiffany went on a traveling spree through Denver, Chicago, and Iowa (apparently, 4 months of traveling just weren't enough for the girl). At the end of her American tour, Zach broke from his diligent social schedule, I mean, study schedule, to meet up with Tiffany on the East coast. While we were out there, Zach was able to meet up with his friend and ex-colleague from their DC days, Andrew. As you can see in the photo below, Andrew and his wife Amanda are very busy these days with their first kid, a very cute little girl! We went and visited the new 9/11 memorial by the Pentagon.

From DC we drove out to University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, for Tiffany's friend Miriam's wedding. Not only did Miriam and her new husband, Dave, throw a beautiful and fun wedding, they even performed for their guests!
Here Tiffany rests on the steps of a beautiful building on the UVA campus.
The other big highlight of the trip? The sweet ride Zach picked up and got to zoom around in all weekend! Not to mention a stop at an institution, the Waffle House :)
So what is Berkeley's Haas Business School all about, anyway? As Zach quickly found out, it was about "theme parties" and "costume parties", or preferably both. For Halloween, with the election looming, it only seemed appropriate to dress politically. Zach was your everyday "Joe Six-pack", and Tiffany was a (pretend) proud "Hockey Mom", which was so convincing that she actually got berated in San Francisco for supporting Sarah Palin. Extreme liberals as well, it turns out, have no sense of humor.
Zach's school then decided to celebrate the end of midterms with another party. The theme was "Monochrome". We drew many compliments in our matching ballerina outfits, and Zach contemplated a career change to a professional costume-party-goer.
Zach got to see his first 49ers' game in years. The Tom Brady-less Patriots still won easily, and Zach remembered why he hadn't been to a game in years.
Meanwhile, Tiffany was actively involved with the Haas "Partners Club", an organization comprised of the Berkeley MBA students' significant others. Tiffany had some of the international students over to learn how to bake cookies!
Then Zach threw a party for some of his classmates at his good friend Cali's house in San Francisco. Here he is, building relationships, literally, in the form of a human pyramid.
One of the great aspects of business school has been the opportunity to meet all sorts of people. And then convince them to take photos in ridiculous poses... Zach flew out to Omaha to meet with the "Oracle", Warren Buffet. While Zach didn't learn any investment secrets, he did get a once in a lifetime photo with the richest man in America.
And at a Berkeley conference on diversity, Zach met his longtime 49er idol, Ronnie Lott.
Tiffany landed a new job at a greeting card company, Cardstore.com, where she is the director of marketing. She utilized her new skills to create our Christmas tree for this year.

Of course, Berkeley wasn't about to let the holidays pass without throwing another party!
And here we are, enjoying Berkeley's wonderfully mild winter!
And finally, we rang in the New Year with friends in San Francisco's famous House of Prime Rib. There's no better way to ring in the New Year than with good friends, lots of champagne, and large portions of red meat!
Zach recently returned from a trip to Israel, so that will probably be the next blog entry in a week or so!

Our Favorite Things

Looking back on our final post-China trip, there were highs (amazing views and incredible people) as well as lows (multiple bouts of food poisoning and 12 hour layovers). But the latter quickly faded to distant memories, as the former became embedded as some of the most incredible experiences of our lives.

As a wrap-up, we tried to narrow it down to a short list of our most incredible stops and experiences by country. Enjoy!

Ganges River Sunrise Boat Ride, Varanasi, India- Seeing masses of people who had made a pilgrimage to one of the most sacred spots for the Hindu religion was moving.
Camel Breeding Farm, Bikaner, India- Our first interaction with the one humped version. How can you not love the friendly, curious creatures? These 'young males' found Tiffany quite intriguing and couldn't help but come check her out at the gate.
Hobbiton, New Zealand- The set may have been partially torn down, but it sure was fun to reenact our favorite Lord of the Rings scenes here!
Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand- We can't tell which was our favorite part, cruising over the glaciers in a helicopter or actually landing on the glacier and getting to walk on it. The whole experience was kind of like jumping straight into the Discovery Channel.
Climbing the Harbor Bridge, Sydney, Australia- For Tiffany, the climb up to the top was the worst part of Sydney, but actually being on the top and safely descending it was the best.

Lord Nelson's Brewery, Sydney, Australia- Zach loved nothing better than to end our Sydney days with a nice cold pint and mashed potatoes topped with a meat pie topped with mushy peas. Leaping Tiger Gorge, Lijiang, China- Zach and Tiffany walked off all those meat pies on a two day hike through some of the most beautiful parts of China. This stop had Zach jumping for joy at the beautiful landscapes.
Food Markets, Xinjiang, China-Although it made Tiffany sick, the fruit and other cuisines available at the markets around Xinjiang were gorgeous to wander through and sample.
Kashgar, China- Wandering through the old town of Kashgar made us realize why part of the Kite Runner movie was filmed here. The roads were charming and the people (particularly the children) were gorgeous and friendly.
Gobi Steppes, Mongolia- Helping rescue a 3 month old foal who had lost her mother was incredible, almost like a Mongolian version of 'Bambi' (fortunately, the two of us don't get too emotional or attached to animals...).
Arbud Sands Camp Games, Mongolia- The camp horse hands insisted on us playing a range of 'amped up' children's' games. Zach was in heaven while Tiffany felt the experience was one shade away from Abu Graihb.
Paris, France- After a collective 5 cases of food poisoning, we thoroughly enjoyed putting back on the lost weight through a steady diet of crepes, pastries, and other goodies. Here, Zach enjoys his flower of gelato.
Paris, France- Here Zach bounds around a Paris treasure...
Chateau Andelot, France- We aren't sure what we loved most, our hosts or lounging around in luxury at a true French Chateau.
View from Room at Chateau Andelot, France- It just doesn't get more beautiful than that.
While we were sad to leave all of these incredible places and experiences, we were ready to retire a few things as soon as we set foot back in the US...

Our matching his 'n' hers Salomon travel shoes (the only pair of shoes each of us wore for 4 months)

And our trusty backpacks, which held all of our worldly possessions during our travels:

Stay tuned for one last entry on our life in the Bay!

Culture Shock! Back in the U.S.A.

Weeeee'rrrrreeee Baaaaaacccckkk!!!! Unbelievably, we flew from Paris and landed in New York and passed through US customs without having plans to leave the country for the first time in 3 years. What a strange feeling it was. And against all odds, we completed four months of traveling around the world without once losing baggage.
We met up with Tiffany's friend from college, Peitra (on the left, above), and her friend Stephanie, and started to re-acquaint ourselves with life in America. There's no better place to experience native Americans in their natural habitat than New York! Our tour began with a nice walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan on a hot, sunny day.
We took a rest on the Staten Island Ferry, a great way to see New York City from the water, and FREE to ride. It was Zach and Tiffany's first time visiting the fifth borough of New York. Also on display right now in New York is a public art work called Waterfalls. Four waterfalls, each about 100 feet tall, were built along the water.
Tiffany also celebrated her 32nd birthday in New York. We went for lunch to Tao, for Chinese food ironically enough. Even though the converted movie theater boasted a 16-foot Buddha statue, Tiffany was not impressed, since she is now doomed to suffer from Snobby World Traveler's Comparison Syndrome. As in, "That's cute but have you seen the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok? 150 feet long and 50 feet high - Now that's impressive!"

The food, however, was delicious, and amazingly, the wait staff acknowledged our presence and actually brought us water (potable, too!) without us asking. Like a Chinese Dorothy, Tiffany said (to her Pekinese Toto), "We're not in Zhejiang Province anymore!"
We passed by the famous bull of Wall Street,
and Zach was reminded of his investment banking days in New York. We stopped by his old Credit Suisse office, where he lived during his first year after college.
For dinner it was Italian dining al fresco. We were apparently determined to regain any lost weight from our travels as quickly as possible!
Our good friends from Shanghai, Marc and Meredith, are now in New York and were kind enough to host us during our visit. Meredith was even kind enough to brave Times Square with us, a New Yorker's worst nightmare swimming through hordes of tourists.
We finished up by catching a show on Broadway, Avenue Q. Tiffany's initial fears of watching a boring children's show (the play features Sesame Street-like puppets) proved to be unfounded, as it turned out to be the raunchiest and most hilarious puppet show ever!

It was a great re-entry into America, because while we were sad that our international travels were over, we met up with good friends, discussed the fun and frustration of living abroad, and were reminded of all the great sights and experiences that the US also offers.

Next it was on to Chicago, where we stayed with Tiffany's parents and celebrated Tiffany's grandfather's 90th birthday party! Amazingly, her grandfather, aka Papa, is in fantastic shape and his heart was more than strong enough to survive the "This Is Your Life"-style birthday party, where Tiffany's parents arranged for various people from Papa's past to come out and surprise him.
A family picture around Papa and his wife, Nana, also still equally spry and lively, was taken with Nana and Papa holding a caricature of themselves. Tiffany had given a picture of her grandparents to an artist in Shanghai before we left. The artist then turned out a drawing of Nana and Papa in traditional Chinese dress, with the dress including Nana waving a traditional Chinese fan, and Papa executing a kung-fu kick!
After all that excitement, Tiffany and Zach headed for the Tomaszewski's vacation home, on the lake shore in La Porte, Indiana, about an hour from her Chicago home. There we met up with Tiffany's good friend Elizabeth for some rest and relaxation.
Tiffany's brother, Tommy, owns the sweetest, most adorable boxer dog, aptly named Cassius. Cassius was not left wanting for affection that weekend!
Here we are with Tiffany's parents (on the far left and right), and cousins Skip and Muffin. Skip and Muffin are twins, those are not their real names, and there was much good-natured arguing over the root of their nicknames.

Barbeques, swimming and boating on the lake, family reunion, and lots of time with dogs that we knew wouldn't give Tiffany rabies... We couldn't ask for a better way to return home!

From Chicago we fly to the San Francisco Bay Area, where we will settle in for the forseeable future! Wow, what a strange thought. We are going to try and post a "Tiff and Zach's Travel Favorites" blog entry to summarize some of our highlights from the past three years, but after that we're not sure if the blog has any future (ie. "today we found the neighborhood Whole Foods, yippee!") in America.

Well, if not, it has sure been a great ride, and thanks to all our loyal and faithful readers. You have inspired us to keep the blog going these past three years, to always carry a camera to catch any chance encounters with hanging underwear and other humorous cultural idiosyncrasies, and to force us to reflect upon the highs and lows, the absurdities and frustrations, and more than anything, the immeasurable value of our experiences.

This rollercoaster may be over, but there are other rides...

Chateau Andelot, The Anti-Shanghai

From Paris we took a 2 hour train ride into the French countryside to visit our good friends Anne and Michael. Like us, Anne and Michael went abroad around the same time that we did. Unlike us, they chose to live in a quiet, unpolluted and peaceful city, Bourg-en-Bresse, to manage a French chateau and bed & breakfast. The medieval castle you see above? That is their Chateau (!) and it was about as opposite an experience to Shanghai as we could imagine.

The Chateau sat on top of a hill overlooking a picturesque French countryside.

You absolutely cannot help but sigh every morning in happy appreciation when this is the view you wake up to.

Zach found a relic sword which he found appropriate to carry around in a medieval home. The Chateau was built in the 1200's and one of the walls in their garden was originally constructed around 800!

Anne took us to visit the nearby town of Chateau Chalon, where we admired the quintessential French country town. We sampled wines and strolled the quaint streets all the while feeling as if on a movie set and waiting to see Juliette Binoche emerge from a doorway arm in arm with Gerard Depardieu.

Flowers were in full bloom and enhanced by the intricate wrought iron decorating the gardens.
Tiffany rests on a bench in front of a nicely decorated home.
We also stopped into town to enjoy the open plaza and check out the local stores.

And, of course, fuelling up on an espresso stop.
A beautiful vantage point overlooks the valley. Along with the nice bench shaded by the tree, all we needed was a good book, maybe some wine, fresh fruit and baguette...

In Shanghai, pedestrians are never allowed to step onto the grass at public gardens. I suppose it makes sense, since 1.3 billion people tramping all over the lawn would make for a very short-lived lawn. But here at the Chateau, a wide open expanse of grass is too good to resist, and Tiffany flaunted her freedom by prancing back and forth across the Chateau's lawn.
Dinner al fresco at the Chateau. Michael whipped up a delicious cold pasta dish, and we added some meat, cheese and bread, and popped open champagne to celebrate living abroad and the end of our "Big Trip".

Here and below are a few more pictures of the grounds of the Chateau. We had such a great time wandering around the Chateau, exploring the herb garden, and checking out different rooms of the castle.

We can't think of a better way to end our international travels: good food, great friends and gorgeous surroundings. And after spending most of the trip by ourselves, it was a true pleasure to swap stories with Anne and Michael, and compare tales of "Americans living abroad" and the contrasts between crazy Shanghai and classic, French countryside.

Next stop: New York City, US of A!!!!