updates!

This city is crazy! And I have an overwhelming number of things to blog about and post pictures of: our apartment, the pool, my morning, meeting people, getting settled, the kids, the jet lag, the sleeping, the food, the busy streets, the traffic, volleyball… and I still haven’t written anything about Alana’s name. This post has the potential to be all over the place, so be forewarned. I’ll start with my morning, because I’m kind of excited about it. There are a few amazing websites that help foreigners and new-to-Beijingers get settled and find things to do, and the amount of information out there for a city this big is ridiculous/intimidating. I’ve more or less stuck with google searches and web-crawls for mom and kid activities and grocery stores, and have made progress with the first, and in a big way – Alana and I went to a Baby Café this morning, a gathering of English speaking moms who are still nursing, and it was awesome! I met some great people and really enjoyed being with and around some other women that have young babies – there was good conversation and lots of potential for information sharing and question-answering (where do I get Alana vaccinated? Where do you get your groceries?). There are so many questions I could have asked, but the answers almost always depend on where you live in the city, and I still don’t know the ins an douts of our neighborhood and what’s accessible etc etc. But, hey, we’re just five days in, so that will come. I took a cab there (the cab driver spoke English, which apparently never happens) and the traffic was crazy (minimal rules) – the city is so big and there are so many people and happenings and I really could have just had the video cam on the entire time. Anyways, the group runs every Wednesday so I’ll definitely join again next week, and hopefully make it out for lunch afterwards.

Note two: Yesterday I met a mom who lives in our building! We ran into each other at the Starbucks downstairs – it was day one of Christmas drinks, so she was down getting something, well, Christmas drink-y, and Marg and I were on our way back from a walk. Her daughter is two and a half, so we’ll for sure get together … yay! I’m excited for me and I’m excited for Hendrik.

Note three: We are still struggling with the jet lag, though it is getting better. Alana has her last feed around 8:30, and then is up 1:30ish, 4:30ish and then some time between 7 and 8. Hendrik has been getting to bed by about 8:00, and wakes up for the day somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 so really, it could be much much worse but still, if I’m not in bed by 9:00, I get hit with zombie-eyes the next afternoon ugggh. The first few days were toughies for Steve; he’s used to having a full night’s sleep in the tank when he gets to the gym but, like I said, it’s getting better (he’s getting used to being woken up, and we’re being woken up a little later each morning).

I wanted to get some pics up and a video apartment tour, but another picture-less post is going to have to do. I didn't get to a few things but I'll hopefully touch on those next time too. Both kids need attention, and Alana is hungry SO I better jet... pictures next time for sure!