My hard drive decided to spontaneously combust the week before last leaving me without a computer and taking three years worth of stuff with it. You'd think starting from scratch would be fun, you know like Christmas morning opening up a new computer. Ha! Not even close! Anyway while that was happening, our one year anniversary of being in China came and went. This is a wee bit annoying because I was looking forward to putting up a year in review through pictures. Remember the bull's cock and balls at the grocery store? Fun fun fun! Well change of plans. I haven't any pictures for you. I was going to post from my phone but its China and things such as that are really not as simple as one might think.
So I will paint a picture with words instead. Go ahead and get comfy, it could be a long story.
On January 22, 2012 the kids and I arrived exhausted at 2:30 am into the Chengdu airport. Eyes puffy from lack of sleep, crying from my ordeal of handing over the Chihuahua at the Shanghai airport, kids exhausted from only managing a couple of hours of sleep in 30 or so hours of traveling and thus began our China Life.
For five nights we stayed at the Shangri La before moving into a giant, empty and fffffffreezing cold apartment. Every step out the door was an adventure. We walked everywhere. And when we weren't walking, we were on the Metro zipping up and down Line One, walking to the office to visit K and drinking more Starbucks coffee than I ever have in my life.
After a month reality started to set in. We had explored everything within walking distance and catching taxis was proving difficult. The kids were getting bored and I was getting depressed. I tried to make things fun but the staring and the touching were getting on everyone's nerves.
Thankfully we started to meet some people and Spring comes early in Chengdu bringing forth the cherry blossoms in every shade of pink you can imagine. But homesickness is hard to shake. The first three months were the hardest and just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore we got a reprieve and went to Dubai. The sunshine and fresh air was exactly what we needed. And it wasn't long after that that we were back in Canada for the summer.
Its really hard to believe that it's been a year. Sometimes I think wow! That year just flew by and other times I think its a miracle I didn't jam a chopstick through my eye and put myself out of my misery.
Having the kids in school has been so good for them and for me. They are getting an amazing learning experience with kids from all over the world and teachers from all over the world bringing their experiences and techniques you wouldn't get anywhere else. F is learning violin and both kids are learning Chinese which is very valuable in my opinion. And being on my own has given me the chance to see things for myself and work on ME.
But to be honest, I don't want to celebrate a second anniversary in China. I think we've learned a lot about patience and compassion and we will be better more well rounded people for it but there are just too many things that drive me crazy here. I think we need to get out while we're ahead! And the kids are ready to go home too. They miss their friends and their pets. And sadly most of the friends they have made here are moving elsewhere at the end of June. This is playing heavily on their hearts knowing that starting school in August would mean making all new friends.
My Mom is coming on Saturday to spend three weeks with us. I look forward to seeing China through a tourists' eyes and not my own (biased, 'time-hardened') ones. We will take her to Beijing and Xian over Chinese New Year where we will be tourists because we've never been to either of those cities. It should be exciting!
So those are my thoughts and feelings on our year in China. We have seen some amazing things that we never would have experienced otherwise and we have also seen some not so amazing things, some downright gross things and things that make me so angry I want to scream. Canada isn't a perfect country but living here has certainly reminded me of what I have taken for granted. Living here has made want to be a better person.
So I will paint a picture with words instead. Go ahead and get comfy, it could be a long story.
On January 22, 2012 the kids and I arrived exhausted at 2:30 am into the Chengdu airport. Eyes puffy from lack of sleep, crying from my ordeal of handing over the Chihuahua at the Shanghai airport, kids exhausted from only managing a couple of hours of sleep in 30 or so hours of traveling and thus began our China Life.
For five nights we stayed at the Shangri La before moving into a giant, empty and fffffffreezing cold apartment. Every step out the door was an adventure. We walked everywhere. And when we weren't walking, we were on the Metro zipping up and down Line One, walking to the office to visit K and drinking more Starbucks coffee than I ever have in my life.
After a month reality started to set in. We had explored everything within walking distance and catching taxis was proving difficult. The kids were getting bored and I was getting depressed. I tried to make things fun but the staring and the touching were getting on everyone's nerves.
Thankfully we started to meet some people and Spring comes early in Chengdu bringing forth the cherry blossoms in every shade of pink you can imagine. But homesickness is hard to shake. The first three months were the hardest and just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore we got a reprieve and went to Dubai. The sunshine and fresh air was exactly what we needed. And it wasn't long after that that we were back in Canada for the summer.
Its really hard to believe that it's been a year. Sometimes I think wow! That year just flew by and other times I think its a miracle I didn't jam a chopstick through my eye and put myself out of my misery.
Having the kids in school has been so good for them and for me. They are getting an amazing learning experience with kids from all over the world and teachers from all over the world bringing their experiences and techniques you wouldn't get anywhere else. F is learning violin and both kids are learning Chinese which is very valuable in my opinion. And being on my own has given me the chance to see things for myself and work on ME.
But to be honest, I don't want to celebrate a second anniversary in China. I think we've learned a lot about patience and compassion and we will be better more well rounded people for it but there are just too many things that drive me crazy here. I think we need to get out while we're ahead! And the kids are ready to go home too. They miss their friends and their pets. And sadly most of the friends they have made here are moving elsewhere at the end of June. This is playing heavily on their hearts knowing that starting school in August would mean making all new friends.
My Mom is coming on Saturday to spend three weeks with us. I look forward to seeing China through a tourists' eyes and not my own (biased, 'time-hardened') ones. We will take her to Beijing and Xian over Chinese New Year where we will be tourists because we've never been to either of those cities. It should be exciting!
So those are my thoughts and feelings on our year in China. We have seen some amazing things that we never would have experienced otherwise and we have also seen some not so amazing things, some downright gross things and things that make me so angry I want to scream. Canada isn't a perfect country but living here has certainly reminded me of what I have taken for granted. Living here has made want to be a better person.
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