Landed!!

After gathering our stuff and exiting the airplane (no small feat), we made our way down to immigration. More kind officials here in China directed us to the ‘group’ line, which wasn’t a line at all and in a short time the immigration officials cleared us for entry into China and we were headed down to claim our baggage. While Rob waited and watched from just outside of customs (which wasn’t really anything but a series of doorways), we collected carts and organized ourselves to collect all 14 pieces of luggage while still keeping track of everyone and their carry ons.

Resembling a small caravan, we made our way through customs to finally reunite with Dad and rest a bit while we waited for our rides to arrive (no comment on how long that took =/. We’re just grateful we had rides arranged).

The ride home on Chinese expressways felt incredibly like a ride on a go kart. There was very little bumping, thankfully. That feeling really hasn’t changed in the last week either. It’s an amazingly crazy system here that just happens to work, most of the time. It took about an hour to drive home where we quickly regrouped and unpacked enough to get everyone to bed. 

Day 1

In the morning this is what I saw (after I put my glasses on).

The ceiling of my bedroom. Love my cool stained glass style light fixture and the wood paneling (that’s not on the wall, btw).

This housing complex can be seen out the window next to the sink in my bathroom (and over a canal behind our home). I could see several people brushing their teeth from their windows as I started my day doing my own morning rituals.

Chillin' in front of the TV (English satellite originating from Korea)

I felt a little uncomfortable that we ended up doing the same things here in China that we did a lot of (growl) in Mesa, AZ. However, a little down time while we worked through our jet lag was certainly necessary. (Thanks, Rob, for not letting me feel too bad about that.)

Happy birthday, Anne!

 

 

The tradition in our family is a new set of scriptures at 7 (economy) and 12 (less economy). This constituted another thing on my list of to dos in preparation for leaving since we clearly can’t get them here. The Young Women of the Shanghai Branch also celebrated later that day by ‘kidnapping’ Ema and Anne for an activity at the club house here in our complex.

Jet Lag & Settling in

Tackling jet lag with a walk through the complex and time exploring the club house (where we had to remind the staff that the party later was a secret).

Chinese scaffolding

Several of the homes here in our complex that are either under construction, serving as storage units, or other purposes in addition to homes. We have only a very few expatriates living here (including our LDS Branch President and his wife), and some homes are in a variety of levels of disarray. For the most part the homes are pretty much white with only a small variety in the floor plans including about half of which are duplexes. Generally the yards, however, seem to be well taken care of and unique to each home owner. There are a delightful variety of fences, gates, garages, car ports, ponds, planters, pathways,  animals (dogs, chickens and a rooster next door ;), and lots of grass and well cared for growing things that thrive well in this largely wet and humid climate.

 

And this is our bit of disarray as we unpacked the randomly organized suitcases, sorted, and began making this villa that Rob ‘landed’ for us into our home here in China.

It’s going to take time and more than a few pay checks, but we feel the love of family and friends supporting us even this far away. And we know that our Father in Heaven continues to direct our efforts and the small steps we are taking to make this our home which will allow His Purposes to be fulfilled through us.