Saturday Night Thoughts From Shanghai

For all intents and purposes we are finally unpacked from the move. I use the word "we" loosely, as it was mostly me that did the unpacking, with a little help here and there. That's fine with me, really, since I like to be the one to put things in the places that I choose.

We are still waiting for a table and chairs to be delivered~ rental housing in Shanghai generally comes furnished, and as this place is new we are still waiting for some of the furnishings to arrive. We are also still waiting for window treatments. We have nothing on any window in the house, save for the light blocking plastic we have taped over the windows in our bedroom for a little privacy. We're hoping drapes will come this week... the landlord did allow me to choose the textiles, although the style of the curtains is up to her, so I'm anxious to see what we end up with!

In the mean time we've stood at the kitchen island or sat around our card table for meals, which happens to also be doubling as a computer desk right now because we don't have wiring for phone or internet yet and so we are having to use a wireless card, which works only next to the window due to the thick marble construction of this place. I am rambling here, I know. But the challenges of living without any real internet connection to speak of, along with no cell phone reception in the house and no land line phone have made me a little frustrated this week. I have pictures I want to post, but I can't seem to get them to you.

At Christmas I was SO anxious to get to the US because of the bad Christmas decorating in Shanghai. It just wasn't the same here, no matter how western they tried to be. Now that our summer US trip is upon us, I am looking forward to fast internet. That and blue sky. Not just the occasional peek through the clouds we get here, but real Carolina blue sky. Ahhh.

Funny. In my last post I was willing my children to soak up China. I still want them to. I do. I can honestly say that I love Shanghai. It's in my blood now. But as much as it's home, it's not my real home. The spiritual parallels are all over this, aren't they? :-)

My dearest friend here is leaving on Thursday, the same day we are leaving. But she isn't coming back for the next school year. We had all hoped the Hillmer family would have a second year here, but for some reason they had only one. Because we are leaving for our summer US trip at the same time they are leaving Shanghai permanently, I don't think the reality of the loss will really hit me until we return in August. I haven't been the one Left Behind for a while, although I have been left before, a number of times. Long ago Bill and Rebecca left us, just days before Caleb was born; Sara and Steve left us for NYC a few years later, and not quite as long ago Kris left me for Texas... being the one left is harder than being the one leaving. The one leaving has something new to go to, an adventure, a new life. The one left behind has only what they already had to continue in, but now missing someone important. Both leaving and being left provide opportunities for new friendships to develop... I know this. I have left others behind in various moves. I'm ready for new friendships in the fall. The great thing is that true friends are never lost...

Moving Day

We're moving today. The girls have just stripped their beds and are taking all the posters and pictures off the wall next to Madelyn's bed. This move isn't nearly as big a deal as last summer's, but I still have been trying to purge and sort and give away. Amazing how quickly "stuff" accumulates... didn't I just do this?! We are moving to the first floor of a three story house, with an apartment on each floor. It is in a compound directly across the street from the boys' school, and around the corner from our church. We are really looking forward to being more a part of the community by being there, but it's not without some sadness that we leave our apartment in the sky, with the amazing river view, the boats, the city lights... it's been a wonderful place to spend our first year in Shanghai.