There are now many reports of Tibetans being killed in the streets of Lhasa by security personnel. And many reports of Tibetans damaging Chinese stores. We now have photos of security vehicles overturned and in flames. And, a Tibetan in Lhasa told ICT staff that martial law has been imposed.

Reports of new developments are coming in every hour.

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OMG, I almost forgot the most exciting news... it is now exactly ONE MONTH until we leave for China!!  And I received the sweetest e-mail from my Tibetan family today:

Dear Leah,
How are you? How is your family? I with my family really hope that everything is going smoothly with you all.
Here, we are fine and well therefore don't worry about us.
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It snowed this weekend!  It was so pretty- Mark and I curled up in front of the fire for most of Saturday and watched movies and napped.  Yay for cozy-time!  It's still so cold here that a lot of the snow hasn't melted.  I get today off, but Mark had to go into work.  Boooooo.  I should probably do a deep clean of the house...  but I think I'd ( Read more... )

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Let me know if you'd like some of these awesome souvenirs from China!

In other news, it's August, my favorite month!  I've got lots of things running through my mind... reiki, travel, career options with the Foreign Service, babies....  why do I want a baby so badly?  I don't know!  What is up with that?  As far as I know, I'm pretty fertile...and ( Read more... )

More China pics!  These are pictures from Lijiang, in northern Yunnan province (which is in southwest China, right next to Tibet).  Yunnan is famous for the many different ethnic groups that live in the area, each with their own unique music, dialects, dress, and food.  Lijiang is primarily home to the Naxi people.  A short distance away from ( Read more... )

Mmm, Mark took me to a fabulous Chinese restaurant last night near where he works in Alpharetta.  I didn't think there would be any good restaurants up thataway, since it's so suburban.  And I'm a hip urban gal.  And we go to small, trendy, independently-owned restaurants in urban-ville.  But this restaurant, Xian, was really, really good!!  The ( Read more... )

Haha- I just read a great article from a brave soul who hiked Emeishan, one of the mountains in China we'll be hiking.  (Er, attempting?)  I knew it had a lot of steps, but reading her account makes me a little more nervous....  especially when she compared hiking this mountain to getting a large tattoo on her lower back!  As a friend of several ( Read more... )

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In my impossible-to-contain excitement over our upcoming trip to China and Tibet, I'll randomly be posting photos of the places we intend to visit.  I like to learn about the places I visit before I go- it just makes each new place that much more interesting!  You're invited to learn along with me.  This is Yangshuo:


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