I am about to leave homeland. Because of you, my four-month stay in China has been easy and rewarding, and has a lot for me to miss.

I will be needing your good wishes, for I am to embark on a long journey of more than 24 hours.  The time I have to squeeze myself into a cabin seat will be a total of 16 hours.  The illustration above shows how I am going to fly back to the US.  Leaving XMN (Xiamen) for TPE (Taipei) at 11:35 with duration of 1 hour 45 minutes on board; flying from Taipei at 17:00 to reach LAX (Los Angles) at 12:40 the next day, duration of 11 hours and 40 minutes on board.  Due to the 16-hour time zone difference, it will be the same 15th day of February.  Then, after clearing the customs, I will be heading PDX (Portland) at 15:50, flying 2 hours 29 minutes, and Alaska airlines will not be providing any free cabin food. After that, my son Wei will be driving me home to Salem, which will take about one hour. Then, I will be trying really hard to fight the jet-lag in the next week or so.  When China wakes up in the morning, it is afternoon in the US. When Americans get up, it is night time in China.

But I will miss my mom and brother, and I will miss you, miss my friends and relatives, and miss Shima my hometown.

Are you getting accustomed to life in hometown? People often ask me.  Yes and No, that’s my answer. Shima was where I had lived most of my childhood and before going to college.  Here I have my mother and brother, and many relatives and friends.  I would come across acquaintances almost everywhere, and would always get ready help and welcome.  There are a lot of things and places that would bring memories, happy or sad, back to me.  And I’ve got to know many relatives and friends, among them kind government officials.  It’s so nice to be living among friends old and new, so warm and so comforting.

There are things, though, that I cannot get accustomed to, such as noises day and night, from traffic, from loud speakers, from firecrackers, and even from crowing cocks. And there is Internet censorship, when Google and Gmail sites are blocked.  Being a customer in China is no fun either.  I have been cheated and misled.  If I click on a link on say, JD.com, I will be taken, not direct to the merchandise I wish to see, but to A LOT of other ads introducing other products I didn’t ask for.  Then, when you finally found the item you wanted to see, it only gave you the look of the package, without providing essential detail such as the shape and size of a charger to a cellular.

Another American way of life I had been missing was hot tub bath which I used to take almost every day. Without bathing in hot tub for four months, rashes grew on my skin, until, fortunately, my friends took me to a hot spring facility (second group of pictures) in a township half an hour’s drive away. After just one visit, all my skin rashes were gone, and I felt I was reborn.  Photos in the first group were the new development of the town, where you see progress as well as luxury.  Just hope hometown will see more of them, and you all my townsfolks will enjoy health and peace.  Thank you for being so nice to me and my mother in the past four months.  I owe you.

On 2-16-2017 China time, I left Shima at 8 to go to Xiamen Airport, then flew to Taipei, then to Los Angeles, then to Portland, finally a car ride by home at noon 2-17-2017 China time, a total of 28 hours on the road! What a long and arduous journey! As soon as I left Shima, I had one thousand reasons to miss Shima, where the food is always fresh and abundant, where my cousin and her husband did a good job of buying and preparing the food. Yinghong, our other relative, also came home from time to time to give us gourmet treats, like the one we had the night before my departure. I missed it instantly as soon as I was served with cabin meal. After we arrived at Los Angeles airport (photos on the thrid group), we had to go through entry paperwork, luggage retrieval for inspection (if any), and re-check for coninuing flight. And in three hours we had to rush all the way, from one corner to the corner, from one level to the other. By the time I found the flight gate, I was perspring all over, and soon realized that I might have cought cold. I had to put on my mouth mask in the cabin so as not to scare my fellow passengers. On arriving home, and after a hot meal prepared by our son, I took a hot bath, then drank more hot tea. With one night's good sleep, my cold seemed to have subsided, and I was myself again. I went into my garage to take more pictures of my garage and my tools. My folks will now know what I would do in my spare time (well, all time is spare time now) beside walking, reading and writing.

就要离开故土了。这次回来四个月，由于你，由于你们，满意的多了，留恋的多了，牵挂的也多了。

祝福我吧，因为从中国到美国，我将在旅途中度过整整一天，龟缩在机舱里的时间就达16个小时。上图是我的归程的示意图。15日11:35飞离厦门到台北（机舱里1小时45分），下午5：00从台北飞洛杉矶（机舱里11小时40分），次日（由于时差，美国仍然是15日）下午3：50从洛杉矶飞波特兰（机舱里2个半小时）。然后还得一个小时的汽车到我的Salem 家。然后我还得用近一个星期的时间克服时差的困扰。因为，当中国早上醒来的时候，美国那边已经是下午。而当在美国的我们早上醒来，故乡人已经在梦乡。

但我将怀念妈妈弟弟，怀念你，怀念亲友们，怀念石码我的故乡。

常常有人问我：回来习惯吗？答复是也习惯也不习惯。这是生我养我的故土。有妈妈弟弟和众多的亲人朋友，到处都遇到熟人，到处都得到帮助，到处都触动岁月的联想和思念。而且，还认识以前没有机会认识或接触的亲戚和朋友，甚至党政领导。四个月来，几乎都在温暖乡过日子。不习惯的是噪音，街路上的各种广告声，喇叭声，夜半的爆竹声，凌晨的鸡鸣。还有，是网络的封锁，如用不了 Google（谷歌）和 Gmail （谷歌电邮）。再有就是处处被安排。例如，到京东买东西，击打某个商品的链接，总给你一长串其他商品介绍，这就是强制性广告。等到你翻到你要的产品，它的照片和说明也往往不切主题，往往把最重要的信息漏了。买一个手机充电线，商品介绍会给你看包装盒，看一条线，却看不到最重要的插手机的端口的形状，等等。

还一个不习惯的是没得洗热水盆浴，以至夜间皮肤发痒。幸好，友人们带我去半小时远的角美泡温泉（见第二部分的照片），一洗四个月的污垢，也治疗了夜间皮肤发痒的困扰。第一部分的照片则是故乡新开放的新区，很有豪华的气派。愿故乡更加发达，愿亲人们朋友们人人健康，家家平安。谢谢大家四个月来对我和家母的关照。

补记：前天（2017.2.15）八点动身离开石码。次日到家是美国15日（因为时差）傍晚八时，即中国16日中午十二时。整整泡在路上28个小时！够累的。昨天一离开，就深刻体会在家百日好，特别在石码这样的鱼米之乡，有称职而又热心的表妹和表妹夫当采购和掌勺人，还有映红不时回家露几手。大前天离家前的那顿佳肴，更让我面对飞机餐时，心理不太平衡。到洛杉矶机场后（第三部分照片），必须在三小时内过关，取行李再重新托运，从机场的一头冲到另一头，从一层到另一层，流汗流得内衣都湿了。然后，在登机口登机时开始打喷嚏了。从洛杉矶到波特兰的飞机上，我载上了口罩，少打喷嚏也少吓人。到家后，吃上儿子煮的热稀饭，泡热澡，再喝姜茶。睡了一夜，竟然好了。所以，今天在车库里拍照片，秀秀我的工具间，让大家知道在美国的我平时除了走路、看书、写东西，还可以忙些什么。