Going to the Chapel

The time has come; I fly tomorrow! I'm very excited, and if I think about it long enough, I'll probably start crying happy tears. It's a lot of emotion, this whole wedding thing -- and now, it's coupled with a homecoming. 

Wanting to be fully present and live in the moment (a wise friend's wonderful piece of wedding advice), I'll be putting the blog on pause until my return to Shanghai. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you think about this little project that has happily kept me distracted these last few months. What do you want to see more of, or less of? What do you want to know about? What questions do you have for me about life in Shanghai? I really do want to know. More comments, please!    

Before signing off... Thank you for reading (I don't think my mom's my only reader anymore!), and thanks for the compliments -- you've encouraged me to keep at this thing. Last but not least (it had to be done): I love you, Mike. I can't wait to continue our adventures together as husband+wife. I'm so excited to marry you! 

Source: snippetandink.com via Alexis on Pinterest

We're not just taitais

There were some annoyances last week with the new apartment, which is often the case when you first move in to a place. It was silly stuff like, the toilet seat hadn't been properly installed and the dryer stopped every five minutes for no apparent reason. Yes, these were somewhat insignificant, but try dealing with them in Chinese. I thank my lucky stars every night for Mike (and his ability to speak the language).   

My frustrations were contrasted with a lovely lunch I had with the ladies in my Mandarin course -- Robin, the American who has lived in Ireland most recently; Ayla, the Turkish-born German; Nannapat, the Thai married to a Brit; and Anna, the Russian engaged to a German. One day after class, we took the opportunity to get to know each other a bit better and grab lunch together. We chatted about our families, our homes, our professions; about the difficult decision to move to China; about the sacrifice we (happily) made for our partners. I looked around the table and saw four smart women, ambitious and adventurous, excited and eager to immerse themselves in their new culture. Even though I had just met them, I felt as if I had more in common with them than my fellow countrywomen, many of whom relish their lives here as "taitais" (=wife in Mandarin, but with the negative connotation of a wealthy housewife). By the end of lunch, they had convinced me to join them for an additional month of Mandarin classes. Although the session will end right as I leave to go back home (for our wedding!), I'm looking forward to spending more time with these seemingly fabulous women.