The past ten days in China have gone by in the blink of an eye. We are adjusting to life here, although it’s been very easy so far since we’re still living out of a hotel. When you have someone bringing you replacement bottled waters and fluffing the duvet on your bed every day, it feels more like a vacation than a relocation.
This will all change in just a few short days. We will be able to move into our apartment at the end of next week (by May 1st), and then we’ll fend for ourselves again when it comes to groceries, doing dishes, and washing laundry (without a dryer!)
While I’ve been at work, Matt’s been taking care of Dean and exploring the city on foot. He's now a pro at preparing bottles and changing diapers in a flash. Last night he even gave me advice for how to keep Dean happy while changing his diaper (hand him a diaper to hold). We hope to be able to hire a nanny, or "ayi" - which means "aunt" in mandarin chinese - to help us take care of Dean. Matt would like to work while we live here, but we're still at a loss for how to do this. No leads yet.
On Wednesday I took a trip to visit a factory about an hour and a half plane ride north of Shenzhen. It was an overnight trip, so Matt and Dean stayed in the hotel alone. Even though Dean is over 9 months old, Matt had never been alone with him overnight. We didn’t realize it at the time, but the little guy is teething and was cutting a new top tooth. Dean cried most of the day on Thursday, and when I got home from the business trip around 6, Matt had a crazy look in his eyes and his hair was standing on end. He handed Dean off and crawled into bed to take a nap that ended up lasting through the next 13 hours.
Other than the teething, Dean is very happy. He's adjusting to city life and extra attention quite well. It’s a little tough to take him to breakfast now because the staff know him and look forward to seeing him in the morning. Three young Chinese interns working in the hotel restaurant befriended him last week and they now swarm when they see us, constantly asking how "Mr. Dean" is doing today. Dean hams it up with smiles when they come near, and his head turns as they walk away. We’re glad he’s made friends, but it’s very tough to feed him with his head on a swivel.
We’ve taken a ton of pictures and even some cute videos we would love to share on this blog, but we are having trouble posting them through China's internet firewall. We can’t load pics from the cell phone, which is very disappointing. Hopefully we can figure something out soon.
The weather has been nice here, but it’s cloudy most days. I miss the beautiful spring days in Atlanta…. Especially those days after rain washes away the pollen and the air is crisp, clean and full of excitement for the summer days ahead. If you’re enjoying a day like this today, give thanks and get outside and enjoy it!
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