One Day at a Time

September 4, 2010

in Blogging, Daily Life

Please excuse me, I’m feeling a little bit sorry for myself. I wrote a post yesterday about all the things I love about Beijing, but today I can’t seem to let myself post it. I’m moody. I’m wondering when exactly our lives will be totally back on track. The waiting period of the last three months played havoc with our routines and our livelihoods. We’ve been told to be patient, we’ve been told that answers will come. In the meantime, we brood. Since we’re not 100% sure we will stay in Beijing, we’re reticent about totally assimilating into life here. (I realize that is a vague statement and the first you’ve heard of that particular fact. We’re confident we’re staying in China, we’re just not sure which base will be our home.)

Uncertainty is a part of the expat life. You’re never certain you’re saying the right thing in the crazy foreign language you must use. You’re never certain you’re paying an actual fair amount of money for the vegetables you’re buying off the guy on the street corner. (And god knows where this mysterious fellow and his vegetables have come from!) You’re never certain what’s in the package of “salt” you just picked up at the supermarket. You’re never certain the taxi driver really knows where he’s driving you, even though he grunted his affirmation that he does. And you’re never quite certain where you’ll even be living in a few years time. In our particular situation, we’re uncertain where we’ll be living in a few weeks time or even what kind of work either of us might be doing. Sigh.

The DH and I are both currently in China on tourist visas. We’ve decided to embrace our status and have been taking walks around the touristy Beijing sites, camera in hand. We did attempt to bike around, but then the DH had a bike-tastrophe. Until he can find a repairman, we walk. While the summer temps are still in full-force, they are considerably lower than the high 30s-low 40s of August, making our adventures a wee bit more tolerable. I have been fully aware of my Northern European stock each time I set foot outside this summer. The pasty white girl with the bright red face, furiously fanning herself? Yeah, that was me. I am more than ready for autumn, which just so happens to be Beijing’s best season.

So as we wonder what the autumn will bring, I will attempt to fill you in on my Beijing summer happenings. It has been a “one day at a time” kind of summer, and I’m thinking that this philosophy will have to extend to my blogging as well. Bear with me as I slowly ease back into the one routine I can fully embrace.

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The Waiting Period

September 1, 2010

in Blogging, Updates

WaitingSo you might have noticed that I’ve taken some time off. Let’s just say that I’ve been out on a “snow day.” Never mind that it has been a miserably hot summer in Beijing. Perhaps we can just refer to the past couple of months as my heat stroke period, the way Picasso had a blue period or Goya his black. Looking back over the past three months, however, a better descriptor would probably be the waiting period.

Through my five years of blogging I’ve learned a valuable lesson – when you take extended time away from the blog, it is nearly impossible to come back to it. Believe me, there were days when it did feel impossible and all I could think to write about was drivel over how stressful waiting is. Waiting for word about the new job. Waiting for results of medical exams. Waiting to find out where we would be moving. Waiting to find out about the DH’s visa. (and waiting and waiting and waiting on that one.) Waiting for the DH to come home. Waiting for changes in the new job to take effect. Waiting for work permits.

Waiting is not interesting blog fodder. We’re still waiting, in fact, for details of our situation here in China to be worked out.

A new school year is starting. The middle school behind our apartment is playing music over its loudspeakers. Parents are lining up outside the gates every afternoon. Kids in the neighborhood have been spotted in uniform. I recently visited the campus of a prestigious international school here in Beijing. Walking through its doors, surrounded by international school kids, took me back  sixteen years to my own international school experience. The first day was always full of excitement.

I’m back to school on the blog, so to speak. Despite the long summer of school truancy, (My school/blog is supposed to be year-round?!) Despite my perceived boredom over a listless, quiet summer vacation and the anxiety of the inevitable return.

Just as Picasso would move on to a Rose period and Cubism, I move on to what I shall refer to as my wondering period. Because while waiting and wondering usually go hand in hand, I’ve had enough of the waiting.

photo credit: m4r00n3d

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He Got It! He Got It!

July 22, 2010

in Updates

Faith restored, blogging to resume!

After a month of nearly nonstop anxiety and stress the verdict is in! And it’s a YES! Thanks for hanging in there with me. Tales of expat life in Beijing coming soon!

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When Your Life is on Pause

July 6, 2010

in Updates

Pause Button

I really feel like someone pushed a giant, red pause button on our lives last month.
Please, US Consulate, if it’s not too much to ask, could you press PLAY already!?
Still waiting.
Still on hiatus until I know more.

In the meantime, visit The Brink of Something Else for a great series on adjusting to expat life, with interviews. Including me!

*And I promise on my return no more titles with the word “happening” in them. ;)

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What’s Happening is a Waiting Game

June 28, 2010

in Updates

I really want to say thanks for all the notes of support over our little visa woe and since I haven’t posted anything here in a while, I thought an update was in order. Alas, I don’t really have anything to update other than to say that we continue to wait and hope and pray. The DH reapplied for the visa in Madrid and has been waiting over a week now for the consulate to make a decision. On the one hand this extra administrative review is good because at least they are taking the time to examine his evidence. On the other hand, the waiting is slowly driving us insane. I’m hanging out in Beijing and the DH is hanging out in Spain and hopefully we will know something by the end of the week, especially since the DH needs to be in Dallas a week from today. Thanks again for all your prayers, kind thoughts, good luck wishes and comments in general! Please keep those fingers crossed. We are both desperate to have our lives (and blog!) back in some semblance of normalcy.

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It Might Not Be Happening After All

June 6, 2010

in Uncategorized

The US Consulate thinks the DH wants to throw away his dream job and fabulous Beijing apartment for an illegal visa overstay in the US where he would be unable to work and would constantly risk deportation. Hmmm… Great job in China vs. crappy existence in the USA…

All he needed was a two week business visa to do a training course…

But the US Consulate has no heart…

Or brain…

And thinks the DH will not leave the US after his two week course is finished…

And this US citizen is the one who suffers.

But I believe that where there’s a will there’s a way. And there’s got to be a way, right? Right?! DH hasn’t set foot in the US for over 10 years. We have a signed 2 year work contract. We have a 1 year rental agreement. We have my signed statement. How else do we prove he wants to come back to China? I’m at a total loss.

I am constantly moving back and forth between the stages of grief. I’m angry one minute, depressed the next. I deny to myself that this could possibly be happening and then I accept it all and work out a solution plan before spiraling once again into depression and anger.

Expect no posts on this blog until the situation is cleared up. Through my puffy eyes I can barely see the keyboard.

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Oh Yeah, It’s Really Happening

June 3, 2010

in Beijing, Daily Life

I’m really a Beijing resident. I even got a little piece of paper from the local police station saying so. (Okay, it says I’m a temporary resident, but that’s all foreigners really can be here.) I’m here. I’ve got a great apartment. I’ve got an Internet connection. What more do I need?

How about a bathtub? And a separate shower? Central Air Conditioning? Hot water freely flowing from all the faucets, even in the kitchen? A laminate floor? An oven? A washing machine that also dries AND is capable of washing with hot water? A couch so comfortable you can actually sit on it for more than five minutes? A green landscaped garden space downstairs complete with indoor and outdoor pool? Yup, all the things I missed in my Linyi apartment. And I’ve got them now. I’m living big. I don’t mean to brag. I’m actually overwhelmed just a little.

This move doesn’t feel nearly as radical as, say, a move to Saudi Arabia. I’ve been in Beijing before. I know the culture, the language (some of it, anyway), the routines of Chinese life. Still, this is an adjustment. Beijing is so different from Linyi in so many ways. It won’t be a difficult adjustment, but I feel the bubbling of mini-culture shock nonetheless.

For one thing, my new apartment complex is crawling with other expats. (My landlady said the ratio of Chinese to expats is 70%-30%, but I read elsewhere it’s more like 50-50.) It is so bewildering to see kids riding bicycles and rollerblading around the garden area shouting out in English to each other. I can’t stop staring.

We’re living in the border area between Dongzhimen and Sanlitun, areas in the eastern part of Beijing very popular among expats. There are western restaurants, cafés and import food stores around every corner. I just don’t know what to think of it all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m planning on a cheese run later this morning, but I feel just a little bit weary of becoming too accustomed to the easy pickings of Beijing expat life. (Not to mention the expense of the imports!)

I had the help of a local Beijing friend in my apartment search. She contacted real estate agents and accompanied me on visits. Being a frugal person, she wanted me to see a full range of apartments, and we started off at several less-expensive old-style brick walk-ups. These are the buildings that have been in Beijing for decades, where you can find older residents in the courtyards sitting on stools and chairs chatting or playing cards. The buildings have a lot of personality (think meat products and undergarments hanging out the windows) and after living in a similar xiao qu (neighborhood complex) in Linyi, albeit newer, I was very open-minded about these places. I think it would have been fun to live in an older apartment that I could fix up and make my own. Alas, I was too romantic. The apartments I saw were dark, small and oddly decorated. The bathrooms were generally the size of a card table, complete with sink, shower and toilet. As much as I thought I was accustomed to living native style, these apartments did not speak to me.

Our first year in China we lived in a hotel room. The last three years have been spent in an apartment devoid of personality and creature comforts. To be honest, I feel a bit like a university student, just getting by. When I stepped into the apartment that is now mine, I knew my “university” days were over. And I knew there was no going back. I could not let this apartment get away. The DH and I put in an offer right away. It was just so comfortable, so neat and modern, so convenient to where we wanted to live. And did you see that list of amenities above!?

So welcome to Global Gal’s China Adventure Version 3.0 – The Grown Up Years.

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Success in Beijing - Found a great apartment and will be signing contract tonight. Posts and photos as soon as settled with Internet. (8)

Is This Really Happening?

May 25, 2010

in Daily Life, Moving

Lear 60XR

We'll soon be flying high in Beijing

Today is our last day in Linyi. I’ve still got two boxes to pack up and a bit of cleaning to do. Tomorrow morning we fly to Beijing to start our search for a new home. I feel strangely numb about the whole process, probably because I haven’t had enough coffee. I should be excited, jumping up and down. I am excited, but to be honest, I am still experiencing a bit of disbelief over this new job, new city, new life thing.

It was last February, after all, when the DH received an email about a possible new job. Back then, it seemed like all we had to do was say, “Yes!”, pass a medical exam and start the new job. But things are never straightforward and easy in China. (Actually, I’ve come to learn that the US is probably the only really efficient and straightforward country in the world.) We waited and waited and waited some more. The DH did medical tests and filled out forms and applied for a police certificate from Spain (two months and we’re still waiting for it!) We resigned from our current jobs. And you guessed it, we waited some more.

In most countries, when you want to leave one company and go to another, you just do it. In China, particularly in aviation, the process is a little more complicated. In China, a pilot’s pilot license is tied to the airline or aviation company employing the pilot. In order to change companies, the pilot is required to obtain a dismissal letter from the first company saying that he is free to go. Then the new company must apply for the licenses to be transferred. Bureaucracy is a wonderful thing. We wonder if this is related to the old work unit system in China, wherein everyone belonged to a work unit where they were employed, fed and housed for life. Ideally, obtaining the dismissal letter and license transfer should be a simple process, and in our case it was not complicated, it just took a long time. I suspect that companies could make trouble for an employee they do not want to see go.

The good news is that all the waiting has paid off. The DH is going to be a first officer on a Lear 60XR business jet. For those of you who know nothing about aviation, that is a mid-size jet airplane with seating for ~6 passengers. And since I’m no expert, all I can really say is that it looks cool and flies really high. (That’s one in the pic above.)

I’m not sure what I am going to be doing. I want to focus on Mandarin for a while and my first order of business is going to be finding a tutor or class that I can join. I really, really need a structured environment to learn a language. I am too introverted and too shy to pick up a language on the street. Another expat in Beijing joked on Twitter that I’ll be enjoying the tai tai life of leisure from now on. Perhaps I should change the tagline on my blog, as I like the sound of it. A tai tai is a “Mrs.” in Mandarin. I’ve never been a trailing spouse, and I’ve never really thought of myself as a Mrs., although I’ve been married for nearly nine years. I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say about discovering the tai tai life!

So we’re entering a new phase in our expat adventures. We’re upgrading, in a way. In another post I’ll share how I feel we’re growing up. Is this real? I think that maybe tomorrow when the airplane climbs up and away from Linyi I will really believe this is all happening!

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The One Where I Let the Cat Out of the Bag

May 22, 2010

in Daily Life, Moving, Updates

So my house looks like this:

Which means my life is turned upside down and I’m likely to stress out at any moment.

Oh yeah, and did I mention WE’RE MOVING TO BEIJING!?

I got tired of waiting for the DH to tell me it was okay to talk about this on a public forum. I can’t wait any more! So that’s the big announcement and now it seems all not such a big deal at all.

But I can tell you, after three years in little Linyi, and one year in the little Shijiazhuang Airport before that, moving to Beijing is like winning the freaking lottery and moving to New York City. (Substitute your own dream city destination if NYC is not yours.)

I’ve got so much to say – about leaving Linyi, about a new lifestyle in Beijing, about the DH’s new position… Now that I’ve got the green light for blogging, I’ll be around here more often.

All I can say right now is FINALLY! We’ve been waiting for two years for this day to arrive. We didn’t really expect our next destination to be Beijing, but we’ll happily take what we can get. Just in case you were wondering, we also considered (however briefly):

Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Panama, Indonesia, Turks & Caicos, United Arab Emirates (Ras Al-Khaima, Al-Ain AND Dubai), Borneo, British Virgin Islands, Macau and Papua New Guinea.

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