Henry's 1st grade class

Ni hao everyone!  I just wanted to pass on the link to Henry's class blog.  It is fun to see what they are up to and I thought you might enjoy it as well. :)

http://my.isb.bj.edu.cn/users/fmenichelli/

Great day

Ok, so yesterday I told you that I had fantastic news...today totally tops it.  Truman went to bed last night at 11pm (long story) and didn't wake up again until 815am!!!  He has NEVER slept that long before, it was incredible.  It didn't seem to effect him much, he woke up just as happy as he does every other day.  But what an accomplishment!!  I am sure it was a complete fluke, but for now I am one proud mama! :)

Here is a link of a video I uploaded to flickr.  I promise you Truman will make you smile even on your worst day!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30040517@N05/4923164591/

I spent the entire day at home cleaning, organizing and designing Henry's bedroom.  It was awesome.  I can't believe how wonderful it felt to do laundry and clean.  It was almost normal or at least what I think normal used to be. :)  We are slowly starting to make this house our home and it feels really good to start to get into a routine.  

Tonight we got a babysitter, thank you Lukas!!, for Henry and Adeline and went to back to school night at ISB.  We were thinking low key; run in, run out, say hi to the teacher and go home.  Not even close. :)  It was a 3.5 hr event full of fantastic information about the upcoming year.  We were already thinking the school was absolutely phenomenal and now we are even more impressed.  I am so glad that Henry and Addi have the chance to go to this school, what an opportunity.  I know, most of you have been telling me this for months...I guess it finally sunk in. :)

Alright all, I am going to call it a day.  Can't wait to hear all of your comments on the video. :)

Thing I miss the most - hanging out in Iowa watching the news with my parents at the end of the day.
Weird thing about China - ok so not totally about China, but...I am totally addicted to coffee.  Not Starbucks, but yes I could still drink it daily, but out of the coffee pot coffee.  I know its crazy, I didn't think I would ever be grown up enough for that! :)
Thing I like about China - How friendly and willing to help other expat families are.  Everyone wants to help if you are just willing to ask.  It is seriously amazing!

It has been a while...

Hello long lost friends!!  No, I haven't been ignoring you all.  :)  Our wireless router, for some mysterious reason, wasn't working for a while.  Long story short, that means we were without US internet (without it I can't access the blog) and our Vonage phone.  We are back in business now though thank goodness! :)

I want to forewarn you all though that this entry is going to be long and very random.  I have been taking notes on my iphone and hoping to remember the story that goes along with it.  We will see how it goes...

I will start with the biggest news (and one of the most exciting) first...we finally bought some furniture!!  We have spent nearly every free moment we have had (on the weekends) at furniture stores/markets/etc.  trying to furnish our house and make it feel more like a home.  Up to this point we had been pretty much just browsing without any luck.  We either found nice furniture and it was way to short for Mitchell or it was too Asian (go figure, I know) or just not what we wanted.  After a few days of looking we realized that what we ideally wanted is what we had in our house in the US.  Crazy how that works!  Anyway, we found a mattress that we wanted (actual pillowtop mattress with a seperate box springs, not too terribly common here), turns out its from California.  Oh well, we ordered it anyway. :)  We found couches we wanted too and they are from Georgia.  To try and curve our "all American" buying spree we decided to take the advice of Kristin and buy from a local lady at Vicky's Classical Furniture.  We are having her build our bedroom and office furniture.  So very excited!!

School (International School of Beijing - ISB) has started and oh my goodness are we ever impressed!!  The kids love it and are eager to go every single day.  They have so much to tell us about when they get home and have met lots of new friends.  It has been quite a change from our summer routine, or lack there of, and is a lot more demanding than last year.  They are gone from 8-4pm every single day.  I literally have to keep reminding them to stay awake until Mitchell comes home at 630pm.  It is fantastic! :)  Adeline's teacher is Miss Cindy, who is from Canada and Henry's is Miss Fiona from Australia.  Addi only has 8 kids in her class (4 boys and 4 girls - all of which start with A by the way) and Henry has 15.  Henry is also taking a Chinese class and has this 40 minutes each day.

We have met a family from California (Dan and Nikki) who live a couple of neighborhoods away from us, which has been fabulous!  They have 3 kids as well and are new to China and ISB.  It is so fantastic to have someone to talk to, bounce stories/heartaches off of and to relate to.  The kids have taken to each other like glue and with the boys all ecstatic about Legos and the girls having a common bound against the boys, they are in heaven.

We ventured out to Yashow Market last weekend.  There are hundreds of stalls that sell everything from tshirts to fake name brand coats to fabric, etc.  You are swarmed when you walk buy and they saw sucker written all over our faces.  :)  We had to go and buy Addi a blanket for school.  She has rest time in the afternoon and was a little upset about this.  She "was not a baby anymore, she didn't need naps at school".  We tried to make this a little more exciting by trying to find a princess or barbie blanket to take.  It was an interesting experience at the market...our kids are treated like celebrities.  Everyone wants to talk to Truman, touch him, take him from me (literally), take pictures of them or with them...I am not kidding.  It is completely bizarre and makes shopping at a place like this unbelievably difficult.  After about 40 min we finally found what we were looking for, bargained a little (poorly mind you) bought the blanket and left.  Mitchell swears he will never set foot there again...never is a long time. :)
 

Mr. Ren (our driver) took us to a Fruit/Vegetable and Meat Market that afternoon.  It was fantastic for fruits and veggies, meat was another story.  You must have a strong stomach to pass by these stalls, which are conveniently placed in the middle of the fruits and veggies.  The raw meat is laying on tables (no refrigeration) for you to see, pick up and inspect.  No one cares about the cleanliness, the bacteria, etc. they just go for it.  It is no big deal for them.  I took a picture of a guy sitting directly under a raw rack of ribs.  Seriously, gross!!

We bought some shelled peanuts at the fruit market, thinking that would be a good thing to snack on.  When we got home Henry started eating them and spit it out.  After further investigation, they were raw!  I had never seen non-roasted peanuts before.  They were gross, but I didn't spit mine on the floor. :)  Mitchell tried to roast them himself and ended up throwing them out after two failed attempts.  He says he knows how to do it now though, for next time.  He has also been experimenting a little more since we have been here.  He conquered bread, yogurt, cheese and butter while we were in Colorado so this time he went for a non-dairy creation.  He has been making pickles and sauerkraut claiming that we don't eat enough lacto-fermented foods.  Gotta love him! :)

A friend of Mitchell's at work eats candied flower petals.  He says they taste just like cranberries and are really good.



We have had quite a few big things delivered lately (tvs, washing machine, etc) and had large boxes, which we filled with sacks of garbage, laying around.  In our garage we have a small, maybe 10 gallon, garbage can that the compound empties daily.  You can't fit a lot of big boxes into that, so they have been stacking up in our house.  Anyway, Mr. Ren has decided that he will take care of this for us.  He loaded everything up into the van and got rid of it.  Mitchell asked him about it on the way to work one day and he said that he throws it into a field, not necessarily a landfill like most of us think of, but a field.  Talk about no regulation!!

We have a washing machine in our house now, which is awesome.  However, all of the options for cycles are in Chinese and no one has been able to translate them for me.  So far nothing I haven't ruined anything, knock on wood. :)  We do not have a dryer though and according to our landlord will not be getting one.  Our house wasn't built with a vent and he claims we really don't need one because it is so dry here.  At first I thought, no problem I can handle this, besides it would save on energy and make the house smell good.  After two weeks, I am over that.  :)  It is humid here and it takes 1-2 days for one load of clothes to dry.  I could live with that, but diapers take even longer and I don't have time to wait for those!  Although, I could just go the Chinese route and put Truman in clothes with slits so he can pee and poop wherever and whenever he needs to.  


I was excited to run across a Yankee Candle Store today.  I was trying to figure out which scents I wanted where when I turned over a medium sized jar candle to check on the price.  528 yuan, or $77.65.  Oh my goodness!!!  I left the store immediately. :)


We are getting our milk delivered now and it is sooo yummy!  We found an American owned dairy (Wondermilk) that delivers twice a week.  It is rather expensive, but we don't have to worry about bad things being in it. 


Mr. Ren told us that people in China, particularly children, eat fish heads (or dishes made with them).  Apparently, they make your kids "grow and grow and grow".  He said that if you go to the market you can buy the body of the fish for really cheap because all Chinese people just want the head.  I don't think I will be partaking i that custom or make my kids either. :)


We got our first piece of mail this week, Gene and Jasmine you guys rock!!  They delivered it to our house during supper around 7pm.  It was such an incredible feeling to get mail, crazy enough it actually makes you miss getting all that junk mail in Colorado. :)  It took about 2 1/2 weeks to get to us (at least according to the date stamp).


We all, I think that is long enough for one day. :)


Things I miss the most - BLC (Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Colorado) and all of our family there.
Things I like about China - ISB, the school is fantastic.

Summer is coming to a close...

I must start off this entry by letting you all know that I seriously don't have it all together and I may sound like I am positively embracing this life change, but I am at most times just really freaking out inside.  I am trying to keep busy (which is quite easy these days with 3 kids and way too many suitcases to still unpack), but if I sit down long enough to breathe I realize I just plain miss home.  So thank you to all for your kind words and emails, you keep me going and I miss you too.  :)

I have never been one to look forward to time away from my kids, it just really isn't my thing, but I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't eager for school to start on Friday.  I have seriously never seen Henry and Addi get on each others nerves as much as they have this week.  They have a serious case of cabin fever and without much to do in the house, they pick on each other.  We have been unable to venture to the park this week because we have had a delivery scheduled every single day.  Monday it was telephones, Tuesday a washing machine (no dryer though), today TVs (yeah!!) and tomorrow Addi's bed.  The annoying thing about this is that most people think if you are a stay at home mom, you stay at home.  Oddly enough, we don't always do that. :)  They don't give you a time slot of when they will be coming, just a day - or two.  To top it off there are people who deliver it and then another set of people who come to set it up, both of which rarely speak any English.  No big deal, I can figure most things out even if all the buttons are in Chinese.  Right?  Wrong. :)  For example, I have figured out which temperature the clothes are washing on, but have no clue what the other settings are (there are at least 20 or more other options).  So far nothing has come out looking odd, except maybe to still have the squash or green beans smeared on them from the previous meal.  I will keep experimenting. :)

Back to school...school starts on Friday with an orientation, hopes and fears conference with each teacher and an all school picnic.  How cool is that?!  After that we go to class with Addi for an hour or so and Henry goes to class by himself for the rest of the day.  Henry is thrilled to meet people and see what it is really like, finally.  His teacher (Miss Fiona - from Melbourne) sent an email today welcoming them to 1st grade and introducing herself.  That really lifted his spirits and now thinks 1st grade is going to be awesome.  This summer he had told my mom that 1st grade wasn't going to be very fun because he knew the only thing they did was math and take quizzes, he was sure they didn't even get recess anymore.  What a dork! :)  Addi is a bit more apprehensive and doesn't want to go because she doesn't know anyone and we won't be there.  Thankfully, they deal with kids like her every year and have fantastic ways to ease the transition!

On a positive note, we had visitors today!  Kristin and Marta (our friends from Sweden, who have been here for 3 years now) stopped by and gave us a break to our monotonous day.  It was fantastic to be able to talk to a friend, get advice and remind us that we are definitely not alone here.  It was so great to see (and hear) the kids run around laughing!  Wednesdays are kind of a weird day for us because our car (its a minivan actually, I know some of you will think that is hilarious!) is not allowed to drive into the city today.  Apparently every car is assigned a day that it isn't allowed to drive in the city to cut down on pollution.  I have no idea if this actually helps at all, but Mr Ren (our driver) had the day off today and Mitchell took a taxi.

Yesterday Mr. Ren picked the kids and I up and we went to Mitchell's work and then out for Indian last night.  Fantastic restaurant (Ganges) that we would love to take any willing visitors to! :)  Anyway, while we were driving to Mitchell's office the radio people were commentating on US superstitions and it was hilarious.  They said that black magic is very popular in the US and people are really affected by superstitions; most buildings don't have a 13th floor, rabbits feet are sold at almost any gas station across the entire country and many people actually believe that they will literally die if they don't send on a chain letter email.  Seriously, I love how things become a generality for the entire country.  Duh! :)

Alright all, I had hoped to write more tonight, but I must head to bed.  Truman has been sleeping really poorly lately and I am exhausted.  Until next time...

1 thing I miss - hoping in the car and going wherever I want to...Target, Starbucks, etc. :)

1 thing I like about China - Decathalon store...I bought a watch and the kids' backpacks super cheap!

Odd thing about China - You have to negotiate the price down on everything...highly annoying, but that is just he way it is.  Mr Ren said most things you can get for less than half of what the price is listed at.  I suck at that!!

First Impressions (originally wrote last week)

Hey everyone!  We have officially made the move to Beijing...

We finally made it and are in our house.  The flight, other than being incredibly long and boring, was uneventful (although Truman did get his first tooth on the airplane though...that was exciting!). The kids did spectacularly and we didn't have any mishaps really.  They did fall asleep 2 hours before we landed and had no desire to wake up and carry their own bags, but we finally convinced them that they wanted to get off! :)  Mr Ren (our driver) and Mitchell's boss's driver met us at the airport with 2 minivans, everything fit (with room to spare by the way!). :)  I know some of you were skeptical about that!  We headed straight to our house in the Rose and Gingko neighborhood, which is also called Dragon Lake apparently.  The neighborhood is absolutely stunning...there are tress, plants, flowers, etc. everywhere.  It is by far the nicest 1st impression I had in China!  When we arrived at our house we were met by Sunny (our realtor), Michael (our landlord's son) and Tina (from property management) as well as a few random workers scattered throughout the house.  I am not sure if Sunny didn't get our emails/phone calls/etc saying that when we arrived in China we were going to get all of our bags, come straight to the house and live there.  Most of you know that we said that repeatedly for weeks now, so I have no idea why she didn't get it.  Anyway, everything that we were told would be done (utilities working, ugly furniture moved out, internet on, tv/phone/washer and dryer delivered, etc) was not done...big surprise.  According to Sunny :)  the landlord has no where to put the super ugly furniture (thankfully it only consists of the dining room and main floor living room) and she recommends we keep it because it is already paid for.  Being completely exhausted and not in the mood for a fight, we said we would deal with it for now.  I have since completely rearranged the rooms and can't say that I love it by any means, but can at least deal with it now. :)  Anyway, 2.5 hrs after getting to the house everyone left.  A quick trip to Jenny Lou's (expat grocery store) for the much needed toilet paper and cereal and then we went to bed.  Henry and Addi did fantastic, slept almost 14 hours...Truman, not so much. :)  Poor thing, he had no idea what had hit him...2am he wanted to be awake!  4 days later, we are slowly getting there, but he still is having a little bit of trouble changing his clock.

Day 2 had us at Ikea for 5 hrs...5 very long, very stressful, very overwhelming hours. :)  It is so hard to get used to being the "entertainment" for people.  Everyone stares at you, particularly because we have a baby (they are fascinated with "white" babies) and because we have 3 "babies".  It is so unheard of here.  They also can't stand it if Truman is sleeping and proceed to wake him up so they can make noises at him and touch him.  Super hard to get used to!!!  I have no idea how Mitchell hasn't gone off the deep end from the germ factor, but he hasn't mentioned it.  Truman does have a horrible stuffy nose now, but I am attributing that to teeth (his second one is almost through) and not to the germs.  :)  Needless to say, it was a difficult experience.  We left with an entire cart full of stuff, but no furniture.  We did get garbage cans, highchair, dishes, utensils, silverware, cooking stuff, towels, etc. though so it wasn't an entire loss.  I had really hoped the kids' rooms would be set up before school started (Aug 12), but don't think that is going to happen.  We are all currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor with suitcases for decoration. :) 

Mitchell went back to work Wednesday and the kids and I tried to unpack a little and tried to make our house a home instead of a crazy cluttered mess.  We only accomplished a little due to lack of storage for anything. :)  Our house is pretty nice...super huge, but its hard to love it when its empty and what furniture is here is totally not us and super ugly!! :)

Yesterday we (kids and I) ventured out into the neighborhood.  It was a bit overwhelming because I had literally no clue where anything was and no clue how to get back to our house.  We were still the spectacle to watch and everyone would turn and point and laugh mostly...doesn't give you that warm fuzzy feeling, but they weren't being mean.  The kids enjoyed saying "ni hao" to everyone they passed.  They were extremely proud of themselves and got a lot of smiles when they said it.  We found the clubhouse and did a little exploring.  We discovered that the indoor pool was closed in June for renovation and will reopen again September 1.  Kind of weird considering the complex is new!  We did find an indoor play place though, so the kids played there for a while.  From there we went on a walk (took over an hour) to locate the park.  Finally, found that and we were all completely amazed!!  It was huge, probably the size of our entire neighborhood in Colorado just for the park!!  There was an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, outdoor exercise machines, playground and lots of grass to run around/play soccer/etc.  One of the most exciting things of the day is that we met some people who live across the street from us (not American, but they have lived in the US for the last 14 yrs...close enough!!) and they have a 15 yr old daughter!!!  They were really nice and I am hoping she wants to do some babysitting!!!  That would be awesome!

Tonight we are going to venture out again (partially because we have cabin fever and because the kids seriously need bedroom furniture).  We are going to try a Danish furniture store (Flexa) and possibly something local too.  Everyone says that you can get anything here and its super easy, but I have no idea where that is or how to do it.  I am looking forward to Kristin coming back from Sweden on Tuesday...she really helps it not seem so scary and overwhelming.  For now, I am just drinking a lot of coffee and missing you all terribly.  I will try to get some pictures uploaded this weekend and sent to you.  Mitchell will be home, so that will help!  I hope you are all doing well, I would love to hear from you when you get time.  Our phone line is hooked up, as well as the internet (obviously) but Mitchell hasn't gotten the vonage box to work yet and we don't have a phone.  I will be sure to let you know when that happens and then our Colorado number (720-249-4202) will work just like it did before!!  I can't wait!!! 

Last, but certainly not least, I am going to continue to beg for visitors.  We have sooo much room and would absolutely love to have you come explore the city with us.  Just get here and we will take care of the rest!!! 

Love you guys,
Jess

Long overdue!!

I am sure at some point over the last few months you have heard me say "I seriously need to write a blog", well the day has finally come.  I hope this will be an easier way for all of you to catch up on our latest adventures and mishaps and a great way for us to remember this crazy journey. :)

So, I guess the biggest question is how in the world did we end up in China?!  It is a crazy question that I have been asking myself a lot lately. :)  Life was perfect (or at least as close to as it could have been) in Colorado, why would we want to go and do something different...well, Mitchell was offered a job that he really wanted to take.  One that would challenge him, give him opportunities to grow and learn and hopefully provide a link between the Beijing and the Boulder office.  How could I say no?  Yes I wanted to,  I would have been nuts I think if that wouldn't have been my original reaction. :)  As scary and overwhelming and frustrating as this entire move has been for me, I do think it will be an invaluable opportunity for the kids and for Mitchell professionally (and as much as I don't want to admit it, for myself as well). 

Before I start sharing stories of our new adventures, I want to thank all of you who helped us get here.  There is absolutely no way we could have made this journey without all of you, our friends and family, and without your love, support and constant prayers!!  Thank you to our families who thought we were nuts, but were in a small sense excited for us :), for not freaking out and for already looking to book your tickets to come and visit.  I know China was never on my "must travel to" list either, but it is a great opportunity and we would love it! :)  Thank you to our Colorado family, you guys are amazing.  I would have NEVER gotten here without you...physically or emotionally!  You helped me in so many huge ways that I could never say thank you enough.  Your support, encouragement, love, hospitality and agreement to meet at Starbucks, no matter how many times we had already been that week, was absolutely incredible.  :)

So read on and see what life is like in this crazy corner half way across the world...I will do my best to share as much as possible and will try to include pictures often. :)

I will try to do this at the end of every post...we will see how it changes. :)
1 Thing I miss the most -
People (both friends and family) it has only been a week, but feels like it has been an eternity since I was with you.  Hopefully getting our phone setup so we can at least talk soon will help!

1 Thing I like about China -
The food!!  It is so delicious and you can find any genre of food here.  (Take that with a grain of salt...I am not daring and don't try all of the authentic dishes Mitchell will try - animals with heads still on, things on the bone, etc.) :)

Odd China observance -
Some of the trees have IV bags attached to them. When I first saw it it caught me off guard and then I thought it was hilarious.  Makes sense I guess, but I had never seen anything like that before.  I will be sure to get a picture posted of that soon!