First off – Travis and Chrissie, you are in our prayers for everything this week. We love you and I am sending a giant HUG from China!
Here is my painting for week 2 of my elective “Chinese Painting” It’s a Lotus Plant and for my first shot at Chinese Watercolor I like how it turned out. Next week the teacher says we are going to do another traditional flower and for the last week she said we are going to do fish. She said fish are very hard, but we are going to go for it. She painted the sample flower for me today and then said, “See, easy right?” I said, “NO!” She started laughing and said, “Good, most students say it’s so easy and then they see it’s not.” My teacher is very sweet and a bit shy. She is in her 4th year at University as an art student and told me that she just took the test for graduate work and hasn’t heard back yet to see if she will get in for next year.
Today we hung out around the apartment as Mike was working like crazy. He will not be going to school this whole week because he needs to get a lot of work done and 20 hours of school plus homework is just too much. He has been able to get a lot done in the last few days which is great. Nadia and I ran to the grocery store at lunch to grab a couple things. And then in the evening when Mike needed a break we took the subway to Wal-mart to look for some odds and ends that we haven’t been able to find around here. I can tell you if we do this again I am going to have the packing list perfected!
The photo above is acceptable dress for Nadia as no clothing police said anything today. She just loves the mittens too. The last 2 photos Mike snapped while I was getting Nadia’s jammies on tonight. Now for something a little different, I am going to answer some questions/and make comments on things that have been said in prior posts.
- Okay, the shower. First get the water hot in the sink. Then soak yourself down. Turn off water. Soap up. Rinse off. Dry off as fast as possible because the apartment is so stinkin’ cold. (I add an extra step because I also put conditioner in my hair. So 2 rinses.) We have learned to be careful so the water doesn’t spray over all over the place, but there is nothing to be done for the floor. It gets REALLY slick, so we just have to be careful getting out and while getting dry. I told Mike I am going to take like 4 showers the first day we get home just to have one in an enclosed space where I am not trying to hold the handle up at the correct angle while freezing during the soap part. To Tahni – I KNOW that even this is better than what you went through in China last year *wink*
- Jacquleyn – we are totally up for Mexican food at your casa!
- CTG- I really hope you get to come back to China in the fall. I know you will love it!
- Brandi – I have never been on a cruise, so I don’t know about their bathrooms.
- Tricia – Hug Elliott for Nadia 🙂
- Beating the jet lag – Mike’s idea worked for us and this time it was much easier than the adoption trip. We still felt the jet lag a bit, but we wanted the transition for Nadia to be as easy as possible. What we did before we left was to start keeping her up an hour later. Then every 4 days or so we added an hour. So by the time we left, she was going to bed at 1am and waking at noon. Our flight left Chicago at 12:30 and landed in China at 4:30pm. So by the time we got settled it was her normal bedtime 8:30. And so we all slept through the night and were able to get her on China time within a day. I took a nap at the same time she did in the afternoon everyday for a week. I needed it because I was feeling the shift and starting school was wearing my brain out in the morning.
- Staci – thanks for the prayers and no joke about the “secret spice” in the burger.
- Tracy – you can NEVER have too many desserts. I have a month and don’t have time to try them all. LOL! Also, I would never survive that cold. We live in the South for a reason. Nadia and Charlotte would definately have a good time together. Surely one day they can meet!
- Laura – at least if I was in the Texas pandarias I could understand the writing and a bit of the Spanish. HA HA. And you know how you are always talking about peoples facial characteristics? I saw your Mom’s Chinese double yesterday. No joke, if I had my camera I would have asked her for a photo just for you.
- Alan- we got the Lemon Ritz at Wal-mart and you are right, they are much more like a cookie. Sweeter than the orange ones. And LOL about the “original recipe”.
- Kathy – Have you tried the pizza excuse on your hubby yet? Our guide on the adoption trip told us that it’s a very big deal to get pizza here in Beijing. And oh my gosh you teaser about leaving Nadia alone when I went out to run errands!!! What kills me is that there are people who DO leave their kids when they run over to the store.
- Gina – glad that your little one is feeling better. I will do a future post about the tenacious ANTS that live with us on the 14th floor to take away your envy! ROFL!!
- Mom – I’ll try to call you again later this week.
- And just a random note here – the Land O Lakes sliced American cheese has security tags in it. Like a DVD or something. That cracks me up!
- And in case I missed anyone else…..thanks for posting and letting us know that you are thinking of us.