meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

As promised, the link: http://www.firstorlando.com/archive.aspx

If it isn’t the first one, scroll on the side to find his name.

At church, the guest speaker was Dr. Ben Carson. I will post it once it is up on the site. I encourage you to watch it as it was funny, thought-provoking, and all around good. He was the first surgeon to separate conjoined twins and he was director of a pediatric unit by the age of 33! I have a lot to accomplish in the next few years ;). He made it seem so simple as reading 30 minutes a day, but I think he is probably 1 in 1 million. I actually almost ran into him and his bodyguards on his way out. He was headed to The Villages.

Afterwards, I went to Animal Kingdom. I went on the safari and got some decent pictures. The Lion King just re-opened in a new theater. It is pretty much the same show, but located near Tusker House now.

Yesterday, I went swimming at Typhoon Lagoon and I saw the new Starbucks on the way to Earl of Sandwich. I walked around Epcot and had some coconut milk from China. Coconut is supposed to be better than Gatorade, etc.

At night, I went out to eat with Mike and Mireya in downtown Orlando. It was pretty fun. In some ways, it reminded me of Beijing. It felt like a big city.

I flew into Milwaukee Thursday night. We drove to Sheboygan. On Friday morning, we headed up the coast stopping at cheese, fish, and pastie places. We made it to Mackinaw City in the afternoon and set-up camp. On Saturday morning, we woke up early and ran the Mackinaw Bridge run. It was 5 miles, but I ran at a 9:48 pace which is quite an improvement for me. The bridge was steep too. We then drove up North to Tahquamenon Falls. The area was a dense forest and the falls were amazing.

On Sunday, we went over to Mackinac Island. We walked around the island — all 8 miles! We ate at a waterfront restaurant. We were so hungry. We probably waited an hour to get seated and to get the meal, but once we did, it was well worth it. We bought some fudge before we left the island.

Andrea made many campfires. We ate a lot and had many S’mores. It was great.

Today was Day 1 of the Chinese Trade Mission. I met them at Showcase of Citrus. We ate at a Sichuan Chinese restaurant. Then, they met with Central Florida Food and Beverage buyers. They also took a tour of Gaylord Palms.

Tomorrow, they go to a farm, eat BBQ, and take a tour of a cattle ranch. They will go shopping and will go to Disney over the weekend.

P.S. I am in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Ready for Thursday!!

I went to drop the folders off at Disney. Since I was in the area, I stopped by Earl of Sandwich. It was empty! I also rode Soarin’. Epcot was so bare as the booths and flowers were gone. Last weekend was the end of the festival.

Mike reminded me of the Orlando Arab Festival Sunday afternoon.

It was neat to see. There were many pro-Palestine signs and shirts.

I had falafel which is always good. I walked around Lake Eola. There were swan boats and actual swans and cygnets!

SCORE (Senior Corp of Retired Executives) celebrated its 50th anniversary this week. My office had a table.

I went to eat with an import/export Vietnamese company! The food was so good like my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Beijing.

I am getting ready for a Chinese Trade Mission from Chengdu this Thursday.

At Epcot, it was Constitution Day in Norway and it was the last weekend of the Flower and Garden Festival. It is also Star Wars Weekend at Hollywood Studios. I drew Darth Maul Donald Duck. I have no idea who Darth Maul is though.

I am not a huge fan of FastPass+ yet, but yesterday, it helped me.

4:00 p.m. Enter Animal Kingdom

4:12 p.m. Kilimanjaro Sarfaris

4:55 p.m. Ride Primeval Whirl

5:25 p.m. Ride DINOSAUR

5:40 p.m. Leave Animal Kingdom

I was able to see the Lion and two lionesses. I also took a picture of a Hidden Mickey on Maelstrom (I was able to get one more FastPass at Epcot later in the night, so it is improving).

I wrote an article for the Hispanic Chamber’s online magazine.

It was a bit of a stretch to relate international trade with the World Cup, so it could be controversial. There are many theories about comparative advantage, specialization, etc., so I tried to write in the gray for the most part.

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