Today was a big milestone for the Field family...all three kids off to school! You see them here in their British School of Beijing uniforms prior to leaving this morning. Amy and I escorted the two little ones for their first day and were with them in class all morning. We each took our electric scooters with Elizabeth and Declan while Caroline rode the bus. All three will ride the bus starting tomorrow.
Since its been more than just a while since the last post, and since we are coming up on our second anniverasarry here in Beijing, I thought an update would be appropriate.
As I said its been two years, and it will at least be another year here in China. After that, we just don't know. Our preference will be to go to another country or stay here. Not that going back to Philly would be an undesirable outcome, but we started this journey two years ago with the intention of doing more internationally before returning home. Our intentions remain consistent with the original vision, and actually now we are emboldened with the confidence that this is a manageable situation for us for the medium term. When we know what is next, I then will share what I can...but nothing will be resolved until next spring most likely.
Looking back not only on the time since my last post, but also our tenure here, we can say it has been and remains to be an amazing experience. What is most remarkable now is how mundane the challenges of living in China are, and how easily we are able to process these challenges. Case in point: Amy needed a root canal and a new crown last week. Two years ago, we would have been scared about the dental care, and might even have considered flying home for the procedure...now, Amy just hops on her scooter and is home before lunch. We have a routine, we like our routine and now that school is back in session, life really feels about as normal as you can get (except for the no football)
This summer went by very quickly for us. Unlike most expats here in Beijing, we did not go home for the summer. Amy and Declan went home for 10 days in May so Amy could see her family (while I stayed with the girls here). We decided this year to try a different approach...come home for a longer period of time in December over the holidays. The last two christmas's were spent here in Beijing. While it is nice, you don't get to see family and its just not the same. We wanted to be in our house, with our tree and our fireplace...and have a really nice family christmas in the states. Also, until July we had renters in our house. I won't say too much here, but if anyone every asks me about the advantages of renting your house, I would strongly recommend against it. We had a terrible experience. Even though you may think the extra income is nice, trust me, its not even close to being worth it...and how can you come home to your town and not stay in your house? Our house is vacant now, and awaiting our visit in December. Next summer, we plan to get back on the more regular expat schedule of 5-6 weeks in the states (amy and the kids) and me coming back and forth for the front and the back-end of the trip. Whether we decide to add a second trip next Christmas depends on how much we enjoy the experience this year and also where we will be in the world at that time.
The kids spent the summer swimming, playing with friends, going to museums and taking chinese lessons. We also got a visit from my mom in July to help celebrate Caroline's 6th birthday.
Amy is doing very well and staying busy with activities. She is leading a Daisy troop (jr brownies) here, and is actively involved in the PTA.
Work is fine for me. I can't say too much about it in this forum, but my desire to stay here is based at least partially on how that is going. Some day over a drink, I can talk to you about what it is like to work in China, but those stories aren't appropriate here...
For the past year now, I have been riding my bike to work. I also just recently bought an electric scooter. Getting around Beijing with a bike or a scooter is the best way to travel. Street level is much more interesting from a bike, and you can be much quicker than a cab or a car/bus. I get to work in 30 minutes on my bike and in a car or using the subway takes an hour. For our date nights, I have been taking Amy on the scooter instead of using cabs. Traffic is so terrible and accounting for the commute and finding a cab home, it really cuts into this important time. And since I rarely drink these days, its not too dangerous.
I'll see if I can get into a routine on posting more here...its kind of like the gym, you miss a couple of sessions and then you just stop doing it.
I'm sure I've missed a bunch of things, but I'll save that for more in the future, maybe.
