We have settled in to our daily lives here, it is actually becoming more normal to us as our memories of life in Canada have slipped into the back of our minds. We have made friends with others from the school, a family who has 2 young girls that Autumn and Lachlan have really hit it off with among them. I have found that making friends here is much easier than in Canada. In Canada, we moved
every few years, making building great friendships a hit or miss for the most part. People who have known each other for years and know they will be together for years to come develop a special bond, I have found, and if the effort and history are not there, most likely the friendship will just remain surface level - easy come, easy go. But here, we all need each other. In the sea of people, us foreigners must stick together and hang on for dear life. That has been my experience so far and I am really thankful for the friends we have made and are making.
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| How we get around, backpacks and all |
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| Hanging out on the subway |
This has also been true in our family life. We need each other more than ever. This is something Joe and I discussed when considering this move and hoped it would bring our family closer together. I am so thankful Autumn and Lachlan have each other to play with. Of course, they have their squabbles, they are siblings after all, but I also see them developing a deeper and more meaningful friendship. Lately, since it has been a bit nicer outside, they have made some friends with a few neighboring Chinese kids who know some English. They just love playing together outside and one of them even came to Lachlan's birthday party last weekend. Lucky guy had Happy Birthday sang to him in 3 languages - English, French and Mandarin.
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| Lachlan's 3rd birthday celebration |
We have our regular places we go to shop; there is a bakery across the street, another little corner store where we get our drinking water, the "wet" market where we get fruit, veggies and eggs and so on. I was quite proud to have successfully ordered a birthday cake for Lachlan from the bakery by myself with the limited Mandarin I know. I haven't quite worked up the courage to buy local meat, so I order it online, imported from Australia, along with other groceries which get delivered to our doorstep. It is always exciting to unpack a delivery even if I know what's in there. When we go to the store, we travel by bike and take along our backpacks, so everything I buy, I must be able to get home.
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| The boys with their guitars |
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| Joe fastening the oven onto his bike |
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| Autumn doing her school work |
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| Cruising with his scooter |
We finally went to pick up my birthday/Christmas present a few days ago - an oven!! It is like a super-toaster oven. Once
we got it out of the store and to our bikes, Joe started having doubts about how this oven was going to make it home. But he found a way to attach it on top of the basket on the front of his bike and we did safely bring that oven home. A little adventure for us, but from some of the bikes we see and how unbelievably loaded they are, not that big a deal. And now to enjoy my own baking/roasting again!!
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| First sample of homemade cookies - delicious!! |
We have tried to settle into a daily routine with homeschooling and housework and such, it seems to get interrupted quite regularly with frequent trips to the stores/markets, taking advantage of nice days and exploring outside and going out for our morning
jianbing or supper.
Autumn has exploded with her learning, able to read and write, but her favorite subject is math, much to her father's delight. She also finds much joy in being outdoors, digging in the dirt and collecting snail shells. Lachlan also enjoys the outdoors, riding his scooter and kicking the soccerball. All in all we are enjoying our life here and making the most of our time and experiences.
Written by Brenda
