Life is settling down

My intentions have been to stay on top of this blog and give you daily updates, but obviously that hasn't happened!! I will try and do better...

 We explored the subway here with another one of the families here, the Judd's. We had a great time. Their subway system here is so CLEAN! They have shops and restaurants under there too. Thank God the Judd's rode the subway the day before, because it is extremely intimidating. I am pretty sure that I could get on the wrong one and would never be seen again! We went to the People's Square and had a man follow us around to show us his "stash" of fake stuff. After his persistence, we finally went to a dark, scary alley into a shady looking door to find ourselves in a back room filled with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Coach and Rolex knock offs. Mrs. Judd walked off with a gorgeous Chanel purse for only $40! It was a great day of fun and laughter.

We then had to rush back home to interview an ayi. Ayi in Chinese means auntie and is given to any woman over 30 years old as a sign of respect. Kind of like Miss in the the US. An ayi is a woman who can clean, cook, and/or care for your kids. I loved the idea of having someone to clean my house (all of you know how much I loathe that). So, God led us to this young lady and she started today. She has been cleaning ever since she arrived at 8:00 this morning. :) She will mostly clean and occasionally help with the kids. It's an odd feeling sitting around and watching someone else do the work. However, I think I can get use to this!

Noah interviewed for a school and God-willing will start next week. He is SO ready to be back in school. He cried when we had to leave. It will be about a 15-20 min. drive to and from. Another boy from our group is going there too, so they will ride together. Eliana might go to the little preschool for a half day here at the compound. We will see how that plays out.

I am extremely motivated to learn Mandarin. I just hate not being able to understand anything! It's very difficult to learn though. Someone told me that if you are musical, you will pick it up. You have to be able to hear the 4 tones they have. Good thing I am. I have been using my Rosetta Stone and it's slowly making a difference. I will say that the people here are MUCH more forgiving with the language than good ol' Rosetta. Phew.




Scooters everywhere



We finally saw some dragon dancing!!

Brooke and Eliana having fun



People's Square