Daily Life

Unfortunately, technical difficulties have left me out of contact for the past two weeks but I'm back in business now! 

The seasons are changing here and cool morning meet perfect days as the leaves turn to bright beautiful colors of autumn.

We've had the a/c off for a few weeks and leave our windows open to let the night breeze in.  Minus the stray dogs that make quite a ruckus, it's really quite nice.  

Daily life has fallen into place, as this week marks a month of being here.  A typical day consists of speech therapy with the boys, English class with the oldest children and some of the staff, Chinese survival class, working on grants for SFCV, and lots of hugs with the little ones.  Of course, most days here are anything but typical.  When we wake up and find the water off or when the internet goes out right after you type a long email or blog post, we just laugh and say "Oh China".  

Things of lately: 

Making Jaiozi

from left: Chrissy, me, May
September 12 was the Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Mooncake Festival).  The Moody's invited us over to their house to celebrate and toast the moon.  We learned how to make jaiozi, ate delicious Chinese food, and sat outside toasting the moon (although it was nowhere to be found on this cloudy evening) with our mooncakes.  Dr. Ana asked us if we would like to stay and watch "a silly movie" with her and we readily agreed.  Love Birds (a New Zealand film where Queen is as ABBA is to Mamma Mia) was interesting to say the least and we now affectionately refer to it as "the duck movie".

"The Girls" in Beijing

from left: me, Chrissy, Marissa
Each Sunday we venture in to Beijing to attend BICF, get our Western food fix, and do a little exploring.   Chrissy, Marissa, and myself have been nicknamed "the girls" and we finally got a picture of the three of us! 

In case you were previously unaware of the awesomeness that is Texas A&M and its networking, I have run in to three fellow Aggies since being in China.  

1. The Baker's son-in-law, Taylor 

2. While at a mall in Beijing, I saw a man wearing an A&M hat and got SO excited! After exchanging "Howdy" and class years, I found out he lives in Beijing with his wife and two kids because he works for an oil company there.  

3. There was a physical therapist visiting Shepherd's Field from Beijing and I was told I needed to meet her because she was a fellow Texan.  Not only is she a Texan, she's an Aggie who studied special education! Her husband's job landed her in Beijing, where she has now started her own hippotherapy (physical therapy using horses) program.  

Chrissy and Marissa are both amazed because they had never heard of A&M before me. Moral of the story, I love Texas A&M and am so very proud to be an Aggie! 

More pictures and stories to come soon! If you haven't already, please GO HERE and read Macy's story. Spread the word, tell others, and become a part of Macy's Miracle!