My visit to the mysterious West . . .

On June 10th I left Hong Kong for a visit to the exotic, faraway land of the U.S.A. We've heard stories of giant cars the size of boats, people who are so rich (or busy?) that they eat while driving and walking around, and millionaires in pyjamas who get paid to play children's games with sticks and balls. Lemme tell ya, it was all true! I saw it with my own eyes. I missed Allison terribly, and I'm glad to be back in a sensible place where people take the MTR, eat sitting down, and play football (meaning soccer of course). But it was a nice place to visit . . .

I went to Daytona Florida first, for a week of grading the Advanced Placement English Language exam. More than 900 high school and college writing teachers get together in a giant arena and score exams all day for seven straight days -- it's as much fun as it sounds. Actually it's not bad, since you meet and exchange ideas with teachers from all over. Daytona itself is not much to speak of (unless you're into Nascar), but it has a great beach where I went running in the mornings. And we went to a minor league baseball game (the Florida League all-star game), where my buddy Les and I argued about whether that pink thing is a shrimp or a lobster. The crowd on the beach at night is a group of English teachers celebrating Bloomsday in honor of James Joyce (I know, I know . . . )

After Florida I went to Chicago and environs to see family and friends. This included a visit to Milwaukee, to see Wood National Cemetery where my Mom was buried last year alongside my father -- a good visit with my brother Jonathan, sister Lisa, brother-in-law Charlie, niece Sam and nephew Austin. After Wood, we went right next door to see the Brewers play the Giants at Miller Park. If you've never seen a game there, you don't know what you're missing: people dressed up in enormous sausage costumes! Bernie the Brewer in his little house in the outfield! And the best brats ever. By the way, we were backing Chorizo all the way in the Sausage Race, and he came through with the victory -- cool, huh? Oh, the ball game? Brewers beat my struggling Giants, each team hit a grand slam -- and my niece got a signed ball from Giants announcers Mike Krukow and Dwayne Kuiper. (We got pictures of them, too.) S.F. baseball fans will know how cool that is . . . thanks, Kruk and Kuip!

My brother Jonathan and I went to the wonderful Art Institute of Chicago, one of my favorite places on earth, a place I've been going all my life, and I always visit when I'm in Chicago. I know there are a lot of great museums, but the Art Institute is special. In case you've never had the chance, I included just a few photos to give you a little idea of the collection, but of course there's no substitute for being there. When you can, go! The last few shots were taken from out on Navy Pier.

I had great visits with the Ochal-Helgren family, the Jaskoviak-Hinerfeld family, and I went back up to see the Kaisers and my nephew Noah one more time! Thanks also to BJ, Annie, Mr. and Mrs. Bellon. Anyone I missed on this brief visit, I'm sorry, and I hope to catch you next time!

So I had a blast in the States, but I'm very excited to be back with my sweetie in HK. We'll be going to Viet Nam for a quick weekend on Friday -- coming up after that is Shanghai, then the U.S. (together this time, thankfully), for Rob and Martha's wedding and some East Coast, Despard family time.

I hope you're all off to a terrific start for the summer. More from the Hong Kong Chronicles next month.