Just a quick note to say that we have now officially moved to our new home at Xihua University in Pixian! For those of you that haven’t been keeping track, this means that we are finally in a permanent place. We’ve been nomads since the end of April, when we moved out of our apartment in Oak Park. In the greater scheme of things, four months is not a lot of time to spend without a fixed address, but right now, it feels very very good (and a bit overwhelming) for all of us to be able to unpack.

What we know so far:

Our apartment seems big right now, especially after a long series of guest houses, spare bedrooms, hotels, tents, etc. There’s a big living room when you come in, then a stair up to a dining area. Three bedrooms and a bath (well, a western toilet, sink, and a shower - no tub) to the back, and a laundry area, bathroom with a squat toilet, and a kitchen up front. Don’t worry - we’ll give you a guided tour once we get settled in.

The apartment looks like it has seen a steady stream of foreign teachers, and has all sorts of closets, desks, bookshelves, and dressers full of accumulated treasures left behind by former residents. Examples include: an artificial Christmas tree, a closet full of bicycle tires and camping gear, some moldy size 12 hiking boots, etc. We spent a good part of yesterday cleaning out dusty closets and washing linens while the kids played with toys that they hadn’t seen in four months because we’d had them packed away for China in that time.

Our foreign affairs office has been great! Luo Buo and Sarah, the two department assistants, were in and out of the apartment all day answering questions and helping us get things arranged for the upcoming school year. It looks like I’ll be teaching a full load of classes, and Jane will be teaching six to eight hours per week. Other good news is that we think we’ll be able to arrange our schedules so that one of us will be home with the kids at all times.

Speaking of childcare, we also met Jiang Ayi, the woman who had helped the previous family with cooking, cleaning, and childcare. We talked terms, and she’s agreed to start work on Monday! She’s agreed to do the cleaning and laundry for us, as well as some childcare for Ysa and one home cooked meal each day. (Yes, we feel spoiled...)

One thing still up in the air is the internet. We have access in our apartment, but need to wait until the start of the school year to set up an account in our name. We may be able to sign in under Luo Buo’s account if we navigate our way past finding a fixed IP address and a login page in Chinese - I guess if you’re reading this, we’ve solved that problem somewhat.
(quick update - Ack! Still can't see our blog, but I'm trying a new service to post remotely - if you see this, could you email us and let us know if it worked?)