Pardon me for I'm operating on little sleep. I don't think it would be best to blog today as I am pretty stinking overwhelmed with our life here; however, I get the genuine since that if I don't write soon I will never blog because I already feel overwhelmed as to where to start. Even the adventure it took to travel the 7000 miles here, while just yesterday (!) seems like a lifetime ago.
Where to start...(pregnant pause, perhaps I fell asleep midthought)
Genuinely I find it difficult to relate what it is like here by just telling you about insane, erratic driving where "lanes" are just a suggestion and lights-- even in TOTAL darkness are optional or about this culture where snakes, turtles, and fish in tanks at the restaurant are commonplace.
Let me paint you a picture like this:
Did you ever have a dream where you went to middle school where everyone spoke a different language and you must have a third eye or something because the whole world stared at you?
Or did you ever find yourself in a place with countless new smells which feels like a crowded NYC street with store after store is selling something but you have no idea what because you don't read the language of every sign? I mean really, you are walking down the street and unless you see bread in the window you seriously have NO CLUE what is going on inside?
To summarize: There is just too much sensory stimulation and nothing is familiar. Nothing. This Food Network & Top Chef junkie had to open the apartment guidebook to turn.on. the. stove.
Today we went for a two hour walk around our neighborhood and it was probably the most surreal experience of my life. The whole time I thought I was in a dream but knew very well that I was not. It is hot. Like they weren't kidding about the "dirty sauna" references. People stare at us. Blatantly. Constantly. From upstairs windows as we walk on the street below. From right in front of us on the street.
We walked in and out of a handful of shops. Our apartment is so sterile (think IKEA without any fun character) I'm happy to see a flower shop nearby. Three bakeries within three blocks. Fruit stand where we bought a batch of bananas, an orange, lemons, peaches for 19 RMB ($3). Aside from the casual "bye bye" there is NO English spoken.
Then we went to the pool in our building. It is gorgeous! But the tiles around it are slick. So there was that drama. It was also pretty stinking cold.
And yet... Everyone seems nice. They love the boys. They do smile. There is an intrigue to exactly why that woman is peeling those potato-like things in the street. Or the laundry drying on the rack, well, everywhere. Our apartment building is very nice. They know us already at the front desk (duh). Breakfast is free, daily, and plentiful. *Sigh.*
It was a hard day. We are all sleep deprived. Ridiculously off our clocks. Missing a pantry of snacks (the only shopping we did today was a quick breeze through the local supermarket. Being Saturday or being China, it was straight up crazy. We bought oil to make popcorn, drinks, ice cream bars for kids to eat as we walked, and that is all. 91 RMB ($15)The kids are out of sorts. Cranky. Acting out. Screaming. So-- please keep the prayers up. We need them. We need to adjust. We need it to be less stormy and calm down.
10:14 pm Saturday, July 26.
Wuhan, CHINA
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