Even better, he's turning 27 here in my neck of the woods, on a stop between Arlington, Virginia and his new diplomatic post in Shenyang - the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in northeast China. Shenyang is east-northeast of Beijing (approx 400 miles) and just north and west of the country of North Korea.
It's fun to have some one-on-one with my nephew. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. He and his wife and two small children will be posted at the U.S. embassy in Shenyang for 2 years.
He jokes that it's rather like an LDS mission (he served in Germany and Austria some years ago). However, this time he's allowed to bring the wife and kids, and he gets time off in the evenings and on weekends! So, maybe not so much like an LDS mission!
The cool thing is that all this is new enough to him that he can share with me the delight of having one of these:
I can tell that he's thrilled with serving his country in this way. Whatever hardships he may encounter living in northern China seem mitigated by the knowledge that there's an IKEA not far from where they will be living! This is important to us Americans of Scandinavian descent. You need to know where your next kjøttboller, rødkål and lingonberries are coming from.
You've gotta have priorities in life.
So, we're planning a nice dinner tonight, to celebrate the big 2 - 7. It seems amazing to me that he is nearing 30, but that's a whole other story.
He's lived in various parts of China before. Yes, he speaks Mandarin. To prove it, I invited him to my workplace to chat with all my engineers, many of whom are native Chinese speakers. Apparently, he does speak Chinese - and pretty darn well! (Phew!) It was so fun to be able to introduce him to my coworkers. I work with the nicest people, and it was great to let him meet them.
So, tomorrow, Daniel will be winging his way across the Pacific. It's a long, long journey (13 hours & 39 minutes with a change of planes in San Francisco). I don't envy him that. But, to be 27 again and having adventures in foreign lands - that I think I envy him for. Just a little.
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