Saying Goodbye to Summer

I must admit it.  I'm quite happy to say goodbye to summer.  By the time our semester ended in early July, I had finally gotten into the rhythm of life.  Then classes ended and all that changed!  It's taken me until now to get used to the new beat of summertime...which honestly never became very consistent and was probably why it was so hard for me to get in step with it.

Thankfully, just as the weather is turning a bit cooler here, our schedule is getting ready to change as well.  Katie goes back to school on the 1st, and our classes start on the 5th.  It'll be a bit of a new rhythm as compared to last semester, since I am going to start taking classes at a new school.  Instead of a 10 minute walk to the university down the street from our complex, I'll be biking 20 minutes, 2 hours each morning, 3 days a week.  I'll also have to leave the house earlier than I did last semester since my classes now will start at 8am instead of 9am.  Thankfully, Adam's class schedule will look much the same as it did last semester, although he'll be taking group classes and they will meet every day instead of just 4 days a week.  His won't start until 8:30am, so he'll be able to greet our ayi when she arrives at 8am, give her any instructions for the day (which I can hopefully get my act together to prepare for her), and then drop Katie off at kindy. 

My classes will end around 10am, and I'm hoping to be able to discipline myself to go work out after class those three days each week.  I'm not quite sure how I will use those other two mornings of the week when I don't have class.  Our ayi will still be around to take care of Caroline and do stuff around the house, so those may be the mornings I can run errands or study or take care of odds and ends.  Even though that's why we hired her, I must confess I feel guilty for not being home with Caroline when I could be.  Of course, when I lived in the States, I didn't have an ayi and so it seems indulgent to be able to have two mornings a week to be able to run errands by myself or study or do admin stuff.  The reality is though, when I lived in the States, I wasn't trying to learn Chinese and simply do life was much more efficient and convenient than it is here.  At least in the States I could read the labels in the grocery store!  All that to say, you can pray for me that I will have wisdom to know how to spend my time and peace about balancing motherhood will all the other demands of life.

Katie's kindergarten did not take a break during the summer, but because most of her classmates are starting first grade in September, half of her class disappeared in August.  We felt a little guilty sending her when only 8 other kids were there, so we eventually decided to give her an abbreviated summer vacation these last few weeks of August. 

Knowing that we were not going to have the same flexibility of time again until January, we decided to head out of the city for a couple days and go to the beach!  First, Adam had to get his Chinese driver's license, which involved studying over a thousand questions like,
When there many woulded persons, those who should be sent to hospital last are the persons ____.
A. Suffering from cervical vertebra damage
B. Suffering massive haemorrhage
C. Suffering breathing difficulty
D. Whose intestines and veins are exposed
The test itself was 100 questions, but you could only miss 10 in order to pass.  Yikes.  Thankfully, Adam passed with flying colors, and so we were able to rent a car and drive about 4 hours to the beach.  Driving here was not nearly as frightening as I thought it would be, and despite several roads along the way which abrubtly ended due to construction, we managed to find our way there, thanks to GPS and the grace of God.  I must say, I was pretty proud of our ability to navigate with our meager knowledge of Chinese characters...although I think that had less to do with our intellect and more to do with divine intervention!

The day we arrived it was cold and rainy...kind of a nice break from the heat and humidity of the city but not exactly what you're hoping for on a 2-day trip to the beach. 

The girls built a nest while we waited for things to clear up.  And yes, the four of us all "slept" in that space.

We woke up Tuesday morning to more rain, but the skies thankfully cleared up in the afternoon and we were able to enjoy a great sunny time at the beach. 

I think my favorite part of the trip was a walk on the beach we took that evening, to where the Great Wall meets the ocean.  Pretty amazing.