We made it to Tianjin without too much trouble - yippee!! The biggest issue was the luggage - between carry on and check in, we had 20 pieces. With 5 tickets, I didn't go over the luggage limit, it was just virtually impossible for Danny and I to hold all of the carry on pieces because they were too bulky! Thankfully we met some wonderful workers on both ends, Chicago and Beijing, who were more than happy to help us!
The plane ride was shockingly not too bad! They allowed us to board first because we had three children and so much "stuff" (Danny would probably use another word here!). We found our seats at the back of the plane and got Coop's new 5 point harness straps all set up. I can't remember the name of this harness, but it is FDA approved and fits in your purse. You connect it with the plane seatbelt so that little ones are more protected! It is the best invention and it saved us the trouble of hauling a carseat onto the plane! We took off almost right on time and Coop fell asleep right away! He slept for about the first two hours and woke at the smell of food! That child ate a ton of the food that was served. El and Eens were a little bit pickier, they did enjoy the cake that was served though! The kids pretty much played on their Leapsters, colored, watched movies, and slept the entire way. Coop had to run up and down the aisles a few times, which got him lots of smiles which he thrives on! He also dumped butter (yes, I let him put butter on his roll - and I'm sure most mom's would on this long of flight!) on his shorts, so he went in a diaper until it was time for PJ's! I had brought the kids pillows so at about 8:00pm I got them all settled and they slept almost right up until we landed!
We couldn't have a disaster free trip, so Eensie decided to provide a little entertainment at the very end! Right as we touched ground and I breathed a sigh of relief, Danny starts yelling, "He's puking, do something!" I'm on the other side of the aisle and Dan is sitting right beside him and he wants me to do something!! I threw him the bag from the seat and hoped for the best! It must just have been motion sickness though, because he was bouncing around after that!
Once we had collected all of our luggage, and yes, it all made it, we found our driver. Our driver is an older gentleman who is as nice as can be. He refuses to let me lift a finger, opens doors, and drives extra slow because the kids are in the car. I don't think we could have asked for anything more. Danny had arranged for 2 mini vans to come and pick us up, which was definitely necessary! We were then on our way to Tianjin!
Once we arrived, we were pleasantly (even a bit shocked) surprised that our air shipment was waiting in the family room for us! The kids made a mad dash to find their rooms, which they loved! Danny was great and had went grocery shopping and to import stores to make sure we had some comfort foods for when we arrived! We ate peanut butter and jelly and some fresh fruit that our ayi had cut up!
Bedtime was a bit rough at the St. Martin household last night. Ethan did great and he made it until about 5:30am. El and Cooper on the other hand were up at 1:30am for good. I tried everything, but they were wired - 13 hour time changes are not fun! I was exhausted because I had been unable to sleep on the plane so I only got about 4 hours of sleep in 48 hours. I just kept going though, I kind of felt like I just had a baby!
Today was interesting and fun! Dan had arranged for a guy named David to help me register. In China you have only a couple of days to register at the police station upon your arrival. The kids and I also need to change our Visas into residence Visas so that we may come and go, in and out of the country as we please. In order to do this I had to get an interesting Chinese physical. There were 6 stations that I had to go to - eye test, blood test, ekg hook up, chest x-ray, ultrasound of my liver, and blood pressure check. Now if I did all of these in the US I would probably spend at least a day in the hospital. Not here, David and I walked down the hallway and when one room was empty we went in and we were done with everything in about 20 minutes. I'm not sure exactly what they are going to use this information for or how it all correlates together, but I was too tired to ask too many questions!
The kids and I were also able to meet our ayi today. In Chinese, ayi means "auntie". She will be with us daily to cook, help around the house, do laundry, and babysit. I feel very spoiled, but I am also so grateful for the help. I'll be able to embrace the culture and language, volunteer, and spend more quality time with the kids than I ever have! Our ayi is the sweetest lady. Danny found this wonderful woman who loves children! She was hugging us and calling us by name (which is very difficult in the Chinese language) the moment she stepped through the door! We had fun shopping together today for groceries and she made an awesome dinner for us! I can already tell that we will become very attached to her!
One last event for our first day in Tianjin was that we did get to visit the SOS - international medical facility. Coop was complaining that his ear hurt and very fussy, so sure enough he has an ear infection. I was shopping when he woke up from his nap, so Danny went by himself with all three kids. This is a pretty impressive feat in and of itself, but you must understand that to get to the SOS right now is extremely difficult. It is located literally in our backyard, but all of the Olympic soccer players are staying at the Sheraton hotel, (which houses the SOS) and it is pretty much on lock down. In order to get in, you have to tell about 10 police, call for an escort, and then go through security, metal detector and all! I was very proud of Danny and happy that he got some medicine for poor Coop!
I'm off to hopefully a better night of sleep! Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers we have received! We love hearing from so many people, it makes us feel much closer to home!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Good Bye Bettendorf
Good-byes have never been easy for me. Although we only lived in Bettendorf for 6 years, it was home to us. We all had friends that we considered family. They will all be terribly missed, but I feel blessed that they were brought into our lives. Some of the things I am really going to miss are my MOPS group, “Thursday morning coffee”, Friday Bible study, neighborhood get togethers, Our Savior Lutheran Preschool and Parents Day Out, BCC, my Grantwood bunco group, and all of the people that made these things special and meaningful!
These are some pictures of our last days in Bettendorf…
These are some pictures of our last days in Bettendorf…
Bring on the movers!
After all of the planning and preparing it came time for moving day, or should I say days! Before the movers arrived, we had to have our air shipment (everything had to fit in a 6x6x6 box) sitting out and then post it notes on everything we were taking to China.
The packers arrived on a Friday and totally took over the house. I was not as prepared as I thought I would be, but I had no idea what to expect. If I had to do it over again, I definitely would have found a sitter or a friend’s house for the kids. There were 7 packers and they just went to a room and started packing. I thought they would get the air shipment done and maybe the basement, but oh no, they were determined to get as much packed as they could in one day. Everything seemed to go pretty well until I walked down to the basement and watched as they were packing all of my new things into boxes for storage. I even had a big sign on the wall over where these things were located that said CHINA. I started to worry, so when they left I checked about five boxes and found several items that were supposed to go to China. I keep telling myself even if there is more that was packed incorrectly, they are just things and it won‘t matter. Secretly I know myself too well and if something is missing, I will just buy it in September when we come back for my brother’s wedding!
All in all, Friday went by quickly and we only had one slash in a couch! I think they were in a bit of a hurry!!
They came back again on Monday and finished packing the entire house - it’s amazing how it took me 2 ½ years to put the house together and basically in less than 24 hours, it was taken apart! I only had a few crying spells during the packing. After the packers were done, the movers came and started taking each shipment separately. This lasted until Wednesday. When the house was quiet and empty, then I had my cry fest. I walked through the house and saw all of the little marks the kids had made on the walls, a few stains on the carpet from spilled juice, fingerprints still fresh on the windows, a corner with a small bit of paint missing where the tube for Coop’s oxygen would sit every night while we slept, and all I wanted was everything put back in place.
I try not to let myself bask in self pity for too long, so then I cleaned until the house was sparkling!! It was great therapy and I’m sure the new owners were very pleased!
The packers arrived on a Friday and totally took over the house. I was not as prepared as I thought I would be, but I had no idea what to expect. If I had to do it over again, I definitely would have found a sitter or a friend’s house for the kids. There were 7 packers and they just went to a room and started packing. I thought they would get the air shipment done and maybe the basement, but oh no, they were determined to get as much packed as they could in one day. Everything seemed to go pretty well until I walked down to the basement and watched as they were packing all of my new things into boxes for storage. I even had a big sign on the wall over where these things were located that said CHINA. I started to worry, so when they left I checked about five boxes and found several items that were supposed to go to China. I keep telling myself even if there is more that was packed incorrectly, they are just things and it won‘t matter. Secretly I know myself too well and if something is missing, I will just buy it in September when we come back for my brother’s wedding!
All in all, Friday went by quickly and we only had one slash in a couch! I think they were in a bit of a hurry!!
They came back again on Monday and finished packing the entire house - it’s amazing how it took me 2 ½ years to put the house together and basically in less than 24 hours, it was taken apart! I only had a few crying spells during the packing. After the packers were done, the movers came and started taking each shipment separately. This lasted until Wednesday. When the house was quiet and empty, then I had my cry fest. I walked through the house and saw all of the little marks the kids had made on the walls, a few stains on the carpet from spilled juice, fingerprints still fresh on the windows, a corner with a small bit of paint missing where the tube for Coop’s oxygen would sit every night while we slept, and all I wanted was everything put back in place.
I try not to let myself bask in self pity for too long, so then I cleaned until the house was sparkling!! It was great therapy and I’m sure the new owners were very pleased!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Preparing for our move to China!
Once we accepted Dan's position, we faced the daunting task of trying to prepare for our move. First we had to pick a realtor, sell the house, choose the belongings that would go in storage, in our air shipment, or on our sea shipment, find a home for Jenny (the dog), and most importantly try and prepare El, Eens, and Coop.
Picking our realtor was very easy! My friend Teresa sells real estate in our area and her daughter went to school with Ellie. I knew that I would be able to ask her anything and she would be open and honest with me. I also knew that she was familiar with the area and would be able to tell potential buyers all the great aspects of it. Plus, she is a good friend and very dedicated to her work! We definitely made a great choice because she sold our house in 5 days!! Yea, we could check that off of our list!
Next, we had to start going through our house and deciding where everything would go. This was very difficult for me because I felt very strongly about bringing things that would make our new house seem like home for the kids. Dan did not agree with all of my choices, but in the end, almost all of the toys and books got shipped to China. My rationale was, when we return home, the kids will be too old for toys we stored and also, China does not have the best reputation in toy making this year!! Our new house is furnished, so we really didn't have to bring too much furniture. We did decide to bring all of our mattresses because the ones in the house are very hard. According to the Chinese, hard mattresses are good for your health, but we prefer a little comfort!! I also convinced Danny that I needed to bring my "big red chair". I love that chair and really don't know where it will fit in our new place, but I had it shipped anyway! I'm sure I will be happy I did! After we decided what was going where, we then had to fill out all of this crazy paperwork for insurance purposes. I'm not sure how many pieces of paper we ended up with, but by the end, I refused to count how many socks were going anywhere. We're just praying everything makes it to the destinations safely!!
After walking around the house hundreds of times and changing my mind on things a thousand times, we started buying items that would be difficult to find once we arrived in Tianjin. I was able to e-mail another spouse from Deere that lived in Tianjin. She was extremely helpful and helped me remember things like, coffee (duh, they like tea over there!), swim diapers, spices, bug spray, make-up and toiletries. I knew I needed deodorant because when we were delayed while visiting in May, I looked for women's deodorant because mine was in my checked bag, and much to my dismay, I couldn't find any. I ended up smelling like Danny for a day - that's not a bad thing necessarily, but I didn't feel very feminine!!! There were a ton of other things that we stocked up on just in case!
The next step was to find a home for Jenny. She is too old to fly on a 13 hour plane trip. We had
thought that my parents would be happy to take Jenny, until they got a second puppy. Three dogs would have been too much for them to handle, so I started begging other family members. Jenny has been a part of our family for 10 years so I couldn't bear to just give her to anyone. She has two issues that my siblings are disturbed with, one is that she howls loud, and the second is that she has a lump close to her shoulder that is not very pretty to look at. My wonderful brother Rob and my soon to be sister-in-law Steph decided to look past her flaws and give her a home!! I couldn't have been happier. I know that she will be in good hands and in the end, they may even love her little issues like I do! She is a very sweet dog and I am going to miss her like crazy! I think Coop will too!
The biggest challenge for us was to try and prepare a 6, 4, and 2 year old for moving to China. Ellie was more excited than I imagined she would be. She is looking forward to going to her new school and I promised her that she could continue to take swimming lessons, ice skating lessons and most of the things she does in the states, plus she will probably find new interests. Her biggest concern was that she wouldn't be able to understand her teachers. She must read her mommy's mind!! I have had to explain to her numerous times that all of her teachers at school speak English and that we will find teachers for extra curricular activities that speak English also. Of course, unbeknownst to El, she will most likely become pretty fluent in Chinese over the next three years! If she continues to be mainly concerned about the language barrier, then I think we're in good shape! Eensie was ready to move to China the day we told him under the assumption that his friends were coming with him. According to Eens, Henry, Ryan and Jenna are all moving to China at some point this year!! Too cute! The biggest change for Eensie will be that he will attend pre K all day, everyday. I'm sad about this because I thought we would have one more year together at home, but in the end I know it is best for Eens. He loves school, primarily for social reasons, and I think the more exposure to the language he can have, the better! I sure will miss him during the day though. Our little Coop has no clue what is going on! He can speak a few Chinese phrases that have been taught to him by his daddy and watching Ni Hao Kai Lan on Nick. I'll probably be bringing him to the grocery store with me as my little interpreter!! I think he will miss Jenny the most out of all of the kids. Every morning he comes into our room and looks for Jenny and loves on her. He lays all over her and she rarely gets mad.
We know that this move will not be easy, but we are bound determined to stick together and turn this into an adventure of a lifetime!!
Picking our realtor was very easy! My friend Teresa sells real estate in our area and her daughter went to school with Ellie. I knew that I would be able to ask her anything and she would be open and honest with me. I also knew that she was familiar with the area and would be able to tell potential buyers all the great aspects of it. Plus, she is a good friend and very dedicated to her work! We definitely made a great choice because she sold our house in 5 days!! Yea, we could check that off of our list!
Next, we had to start going through our house and deciding where everything would go. This was very difficult for me because I felt very strongly about bringing things that would make our new house seem like home for the kids. Dan did not agree with all of my choices, but in the end, almost all of the toys and books got shipped to China. My rationale was, when we return home, the kids will be too old for toys we stored and also, China does not have the best reputation in toy making this year!! Our new house is furnished, so we really didn't have to bring too much furniture. We did decide to bring all of our mattresses because the ones in the house are very hard. According to the Chinese, hard mattresses are good for your health, but we prefer a little comfort!! I also convinced Danny that I needed to bring my "big red chair". I love that chair and really don't know where it will fit in our new place, but I had it shipped anyway! I'm sure I will be happy I did! After we decided what was going where, we then had to fill out all of this crazy paperwork for insurance purposes. I'm not sure how many pieces of paper we ended up with, but by the end, I refused to count how many socks were going anywhere. We're just praying everything makes it to the destinations safely!!
After walking around the house hundreds of times and changing my mind on things a thousand times, we started buying items that would be difficult to find once we arrived in Tianjin. I was able to e-mail another spouse from Deere that lived in Tianjin. She was extremely helpful and helped me remember things like, coffee (duh, they like tea over there!), swim diapers, spices, bug spray, make-up and toiletries. I knew I needed deodorant because when we were delayed while visiting in May, I looked for women's deodorant because mine was in my checked bag, and much to my dismay, I couldn't find any. I ended up smelling like Danny for a day - that's not a bad thing necessarily, but I didn't feel very feminine!!! There were a ton of other things that we stocked up on just in case!
The next step was to find a home for Jenny. She is too old to fly on a 13 hour plane trip. We had
thought that my parents would be happy to take Jenny, until they got a second puppy. Three dogs would have been too much for them to handle, so I started begging other family members. Jenny has been a part of our family for 10 years so I couldn't bear to just give her to anyone. She has two issues that my siblings are disturbed with, one is that she howls loud, and the second is that she has a lump close to her shoulder that is not very pretty to look at. My wonderful brother Rob and my soon to be sister-in-law Steph decided to look past her flaws and give her a home!! I couldn't have been happier. I know that she will be in good hands and in the end, they may even love her little issues like I do! She is a very sweet dog and I am going to miss her like crazy! I think Coop will too!
The biggest challenge for us was to try and prepare a 6, 4, and 2 year old for moving to China. Ellie was more excited than I imagined she would be. She is looking forward to going to her new school and I promised her that she could continue to take swimming lessons, ice skating lessons and most of the things she does in the states, plus she will probably find new interests. Her biggest concern was that she wouldn't be able to understand her teachers. She must read her mommy's mind!! I have had to explain to her numerous times that all of her teachers at school speak English and that we will find teachers for extra curricular activities that speak English also. Of course, unbeknownst to El, she will most likely become pretty fluent in Chinese over the next three years! If she continues to be mainly concerned about the language barrier, then I think we're in good shape! Eensie was ready to move to China the day we told him under the assumption that his friends were coming with him. According to Eens, Henry, Ryan and Jenna are all moving to China at some point this year!! Too cute! The biggest change for Eensie will be that he will attend pre K all day, everyday. I'm sad about this because I thought we would have one more year together at home, but in the end I know it is best for Eens. He loves school, primarily for social reasons, and I think the more exposure to the language he can have, the better! I sure will miss him during the day though. Our little Coop has no clue what is going on! He can speak a few Chinese phrases that have been taught to him by his daddy and watching Ni Hao Kai Lan on Nick. I'll probably be bringing him to the grocery store with me as my little interpreter!! I think he will miss Jenny the most out of all of the kids. Every morning he comes into our room and looks for Jenny and loves on her. He lays all over her and she rarely gets mad.
We know that this move will not be easy, but we are bound determined to stick together and turn this into an adventure of a lifetime!!
Monday, July 14, 2008
How did we get here?
Many of you reading this blog are probably asking yourself, how does a family go from living in Iowa for the past 6 years to moving halfway around the world to Tianjin, China. I suppose it all started long ago when Dan mentioned that he would eventually like to take an international assignment. Of course, I was a bit reluctant at first to agree, but I did eventually. A few months ago, Dan started to talk again about going overseas for his next assignment at work. My first thought was, of course we'll go to Europe and take all sorts of fantastic trips and learn a ton!! I was looking on the internet trying to see what housing options we would have, what types of food we could eat, etc. Then one Friday afternoon I got a call from Dan. I'm pretty sure he said sit down. These are not the words you want to hear from your husband on a Friday afternoon!
I sat down and received the news that there was a position for Dan in China. Shock occurred first, then the tears started to flow. How could I leave my family and friends? How could I possibly take three children away from their family and friends? What about schools, medical, church, housing, driving? But the biggest question of all was, how do I pass up a wonderful opportunity for my husband and for our family to experience part of our culture? The answer was that I couldn't. I had to dig pretty deep to accept that this was the path we were about to take.
Of course, since all of this was happening on a Friday afternoon, we were only told that the position was in China. Where in China, we had no idea! We spent the weekend googling expatriots living in China and bought books about China. By the end of the weekend, I felt much better about the situation and was anxious for Monday when Dan would find out the scope of the job and most importantly, where it was located within China!
Although I had prepared myself all weekend for the details of the assignment, when Dan called me and told me everything, I cried again. I don't think all of the tears were because I didn't want to go, I think they were more out of fear of the unknown. My dear friend Jenny called right as I was hanging up and she knew without even asking that we were moving. I'm pretty sure I went through a box of tissues as I called my family. Everyone knew pretty much the moment they heard my shaking voice that we were moving and we were going to China. After I said it and explained everything a few times it began to get easier and I reminded myself that no matter where in the world we are, my family is still my family!
Dan and I talked about the position and the move for the next several weeks while we waited for our Visas to process so we could go visit and make sure that the whole family would be comfortable! We learned more about Tianjin and we talked to other employees that were living there or had lived there. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful review China was receiving, I was excited to go and see for myself!
It took a lot of persuading and planning, but we finally were able to book our trip to China, while the kids stayed back home. Thankfully my sister T, her husband Chris, my sweet niece Grace, and my lovable nephew Jackson came to help see us off. It was wonderful knowing that the kids would be occupied for the first day we were gone. Dan's parents came in for the next shift and did a fantastic job with the little munchkins. Then my mom came for the final few days when the kids had had enough. Thank goodness she is as patient as she is. She looks a lot like me too, so I think she uses that to her advantage! The kids even got an extra day with grandma when we were delayed for 24 hours!
Knowing the kids were safe and loved at home, Dan and I set off on our big adventure. We flew into Beijing on the direct flight from Chicago. We spent the first night in Beijing. We were exhausted, but excited! The next day we spent time at Deere Headquarters in Beijing and then we got to drive to Tianjin, which is between 1 1/2 and 2 hours from Beijing. The drive was so interesting and of course sad at times when I saw some of the villages and the conditions that people lived in. It was very different than in the city, but you could tell that the people had the same work ethic everywhere. They are proud and work hard at what they do. Sometime during that drive I knew, before even arriving in Tianjin, that we were going to be just fine!! When we arrived in Tianjin we went to eat at TGIF - a little taste of home!! Tianjin is a very industrial city, but it does have a water park and zoo in the middle of the city. There was a ton of construction going on, so to this day I have no idea what streets we were on! We spent the next few days exploring and searching for the ways we could make this our home. I was able to visit 3 international schools and knew the minute I walked into the International School of Tianjin that my children would thrive there. I found the medical facility quickly because there is only one international site in town. That decision was easy!!! We found out that there was one Christian church in the city where sermons are done in English, so again, another easy decision!! The hardest decision we had left to make was finding appropriate housing. It is funny that the house we finally decided on after looking at close to 20 different places was in the backyard of the Sheraton where we were staying! God has a funny way of putting things right in front of your face! We quickly decided that living behind the Sheraton would be great for our family. The pros were that the medical facility is in the Sheraton (pretty much my backyard, although I'm hoping I don't have to spend too much time there, but with three kids, I am realistic and know they will probably know all of our names sooner rather than later!), we have access to the health club and pool in the hotel, we get a discount on the awesome breakfast at the restaurant, church is a couple blocks up the road, and Dan's office is only about 15 minutes away. The cons were that it is small, there is not a lot of storage, no garage, and the kids will be about 25 minutes from their school. The pros definitely outweighed the cons and I think we will enjoy living in our cozy little home. I keep telling myself that a home is really the people inside of it, not the structure or the number of rooms it has! After our whirlwind time in Tianjin, we headed back to Beijing and were able to explore some of the tourist sights! We went to the Temple of Heaven, the pearl market, the silk market and the Forbidden City. There were so many things we were unable to experience, that we look forward to seeing with the kids!! Dan and I had a ton of fun and were very comfortable with our decisions when we returned home!
Once home, the planning began. We had no idea at the time how turned upside down our lives were about to become!
I sat down and received the news that there was a position for Dan in China. Shock occurred first, then the tears started to flow. How could I leave my family and friends? How could I possibly take three children away from their family and friends? What about schools, medical, church, housing, driving? But the biggest question of all was, how do I pass up a wonderful opportunity for my husband and for our family to experience part of our culture? The answer was that I couldn't. I had to dig pretty deep to accept that this was the path we were about to take.
Of course, since all of this was happening on a Friday afternoon, we were only told that the position was in China. Where in China, we had no idea! We spent the weekend googling expatriots living in China and bought books about China. By the end of the weekend, I felt much better about the situation and was anxious for Monday when Dan would find out the scope of the job and most importantly, where it was located within China!
Although I had prepared myself all weekend for the details of the assignment, when Dan called me and told me everything, I cried again. I don't think all of the tears were because I didn't want to go, I think they were more out of fear of the unknown. My dear friend Jenny called right as I was hanging up and she knew without even asking that we were moving. I'm pretty sure I went through a box of tissues as I called my family. Everyone knew pretty much the moment they heard my shaking voice that we were moving and we were going to China. After I said it and explained everything a few times it began to get easier and I reminded myself that no matter where in the world we are, my family is still my family!
Dan and I talked about the position and the move for the next several weeks while we waited for our Visas to process so we could go visit and make sure that the whole family would be comfortable! We learned more about Tianjin and we talked to other employees that were living there or had lived there. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful review China was receiving, I was excited to go and see for myself!
It took a lot of persuading and planning, but we finally were able to book our trip to China, while the kids stayed back home. Thankfully my sister T, her husband Chris, my sweet niece Grace, and my lovable nephew Jackson came to help see us off. It was wonderful knowing that the kids would be occupied for the first day we were gone. Dan's parents came in for the next shift and did a fantastic job with the little munchkins. Then my mom came for the final few days when the kids had had enough. Thank goodness she is as patient as she is. She looks a lot like me too, so I think she uses that to her advantage! The kids even got an extra day with grandma when we were delayed for 24 hours!
Knowing the kids were safe and loved at home, Dan and I set off on our big adventure. We flew into Beijing on the direct flight from Chicago. We spent the first night in Beijing. We were exhausted, but excited! The next day we spent time at Deere Headquarters in Beijing and then we got to drive to Tianjin, which is between 1 1/2 and 2 hours from Beijing. The drive was so interesting and of course sad at times when I saw some of the villages and the conditions that people lived in. It was very different than in the city, but you could tell that the people had the same work ethic everywhere. They are proud and work hard at what they do. Sometime during that drive I knew, before even arriving in Tianjin, that we were going to be just fine!! When we arrived in Tianjin we went to eat at TGIF - a little taste of home!! Tianjin is a very industrial city, but it does have a water park and zoo in the middle of the city. There was a ton of construction going on, so to this day I have no idea what streets we were on! We spent the next few days exploring and searching for the ways we could make this our home. I was able to visit 3 international schools and knew the minute I walked into the International School of Tianjin that my children would thrive there. I found the medical facility quickly because there is only one international site in town. That decision was easy!!! We found out that there was one Christian church in the city where sermons are done in English, so again, another easy decision!! The hardest decision we had left to make was finding appropriate housing. It is funny that the house we finally decided on after looking at close to 20 different places was in the backyard of the Sheraton where we were staying! God has a funny way of putting things right in front of your face! We quickly decided that living behind the Sheraton would be great for our family. The pros were that the medical facility is in the Sheraton (pretty much my backyard, although I'm hoping I don't have to spend too much time there, but with three kids, I am realistic and know they will probably know all of our names sooner rather than later!), we have access to the health club and pool in the hotel, we get a discount on the awesome breakfast at the restaurant, church is a couple blocks up the road, and Dan's office is only about 15 minutes away. The cons were that it is small, there is not a lot of storage, no garage, and the kids will be about 25 minutes from their school. The pros definitely outweighed the cons and I think we will enjoy living in our cozy little home. I keep telling myself that a home is really the people inside of it, not the structure or the number of rooms it has! After our whirlwind time in Tianjin, we headed back to Beijing and were able to explore some of the tourist sights! We went to the Temple of Heaven, the pearl market, the silk market and the Forbidden City. There were so many things we were unable to experience, that we look forward to seeing with the kids!! Dan and I had a ton of fun and were very comfortable with our decisions when we returned home!
Once home, the planning began. We had no idea at the time how turned upside down our lives were about to become!
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