One month already

Tomorrow it will be four weeks since we arrived in China. Hard to believe how fast time is going by. I have been feeling this week that we have settled into an almost ordinary routine with dishes, homework, shopping for food and walking around campus taking on an eerily familiar quality. At first it was all new!!

Things even seem cleaner -- but I know they aren't -- I am just getting used to it! A few observations on life:
Energy level -- the people here seem much more energetic. Up early, walking, biking to where they are going or running to catch buses. Many more things being done by hand here that are done by machine in the US and a lot of goods still being transported by bicycle. An interesting sight is that between 12 and 2 every day -- most people nap. Construction workers, the maids in the guest house, even clerks in stores will put their heads right down where they are and take a nap..then they go back to work until 6 or later. Of course -- lots of people go home for lunch and a rest, including all elementary school children. Then the children go back to school and don't get home until after 5:30. Thomas's school is run American style so there is no rest period, just as well, we are so far away. Now that I am primarily a housewife caring for a 2 year old I plan to take full advantage of quiet time!! Especially because we are getting up pretty early -- by 6 to get everyone off where they are going.

Today we have finally made our plans for the fall holiday, the first week of October, also known as "Golden week" and a time for travelling within China! We are flying to Xi'an where another Fulbright family is spending the year -- we spent a lot of time with this family in Beijing. Their waiban (University liaison for foreign scholars) has organized a bus trip to a nature preserve in Sichuan. So after the weekend in Xi'an (famous for the ancient tomb containing lifelike replicas of the emperor's entire army) we will head up into the mountains with the rest of the Chinese population on an organized tour. It should be quite a long bus ride, but we will be with people we like ( the other Xiamen Fulbright scholar and her daughter are going as well), and there will be plenty of kids. Its a little crazy to travel during Golden Week, but this seemed like a good chance to do something we wouldn't do otherwise. Although after spending about $8 a day to feed the entire family ($10) if we eat out, it seemed incredibly extravagant to blow so much money on 5 plane tickets! The difference between our day to day Chinese lifestyle and our US income was suddenly clear.
I have been recruited to teach English to as an extracurricular activity to young children and am considering picking it up as a little side job -- not sure about the schedule but the experience sounds fun!