We had a fabulous summer holiday in the states. I felt like I did everything that I wanted to do plus some. We managed to fit in boating, rock climbing, camping, hiking, swimming, trampoline jumping, biking, doctor/dentist visits, wave running, and eating at all of our favorite restaurants! It felt like the summer flew by in a wonderful whirlwind. Our families were so great about accommodating us this summer and helping us out and I loved being able to see them all the time.
When it came time to fly back, Joel and I had bittersweet feelings. Of course we were sad to leave our families and hometown, but at the same time, we were excited to get back to Beijing and resume our regular day to day activities. I feel really grateful to have been able to spend almost 10 weeks at home but 10 weeks is a very long time to be on vacation and to be out of your regular routine. Goodbyes are always sad, but they were a little easier this time around, having already done it once before.
The flight was pretty much a breeze. This time it was a night flight and Joel and I sat several rows apart which was actually a great idea. That way, whoever didn't have Will got a complete break because you weren't even sitting next to him. The night flight meant that Will pretty much slept most of it and we even caught a couple hours ourselves. We made it back to our musty apartment at about 1 am Beijing time and all crashed thankfully into our beds.The next morning, it was fun to watch Will rediscover his favorite toys that he hadn't played with in so long.
After just a few days, we had all of our stuff put away and everything cleaned after 6+ weeks of vacation. Beijing is such a dusty, dirty place and it was amazing what had accumulated in our absence! We were all over the jet lag in two weeks flat, which was awesome because it took Will at least three weeks when we went to the States before he was even close to being "back to normal."
The day after we landed, we found out that the school had to send us to Hong Kong to renew our visas there. We didn't really understand why we had to go and we were upset at first because we had just come back from a big trip. But, we quickly realized that we could make the most of our trip and it would be fun to go see somewhere new. We had a blast, we got to stay for four days and the school paid for our airfare and accommodations. We went to the beach, saw some sights and spent some good family time together. Our friend Jen calls Hong Kong "China-lite" because life there is a little more westernized. Most everyone spoke excellent English, the food was awesome and the city was so much cleaner than Beijing. (Our stroller wheels got a nice cleaning just from being pushed around the Hong Kong streets!) We got our visas renewed without any issue and we returned home. I'm glad we got to go even though the timing was not ideal because we probably wouldn't have ever gotten to go to Hong Kong if the school hadn't sent us there!
I've been thinking a lot about how different things are this time around versus where we were at one year ago. Last year at this time, we still had no idea where to buy groceries, we owned ZERO kitchen supplies, could speak no Chinese, and couldn't really get around the city. This year we are no longer in China survival mode and are really excited for what this year will hold. We are out of the transition phase and generally have life here figured out and are able to enjoy being here a lot more as a result. We really did miss our lives here, I missed our friends and I missed our church branch and I missed our apartment with all of our things and the constant, comforting hum of our air purifiers. I missed being able to walk everywhere (um, that might be because I gained something like 10 pounds just from being home. Darn you yummy, fattening American food!!) and having so many things to do near our apartment. Don't get me wrong though, there is definitely a long list of things that I miss about America. I miss our families and friends and I miss having a car to put my groceries into and driving them home. I miss our clean air and blue Utah skies and American washers and dryers. But, we are happy to be back in Beijing and we have settled right back into our lives here and are looking forward to the rest of this year.
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