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