Guess what!

So, just a few months after we buy our first house, thinking we might actually stay in one place for more than a year, Adam's job decides to send us to China. Amazing! A childhood dream of mine is coming true, and I don't even have to pay for the plane tickets. The only catch is, we're not going there to tour. We're going there to live, which is significantly different considering the city we'll be living in. Huainan, in Anhui Province is a small city (comparatively) with approximately 1,000,000 people in it. I don't know for sure, but I doubt any of the big American restaurant chains are going to be there like they would be in Shanghai or Beijing. This drastically diminishes our chances of encountering a Western toilet when we're out on the town. But the #1 rule of China for foreigners is "Keep an open mind". So I'm going to start perfecting my squat.

The biggest challenge of this move is going to be figuring out how to bring Smudgie, our pomeranian, with us. The whole experience will undoubtedly be very traumatizing and I've read a few online posts where people said it's not worth it for you or the dog. But they haven't met Smudgie. :) Would you be able to leave this little guy behind?!

So anyways, I'm scrambling to get him all his shots and get him neutered before the move, which we don't even know the date of yet. I also need to brush up on my Chinese. I can say the basic "Hello, how are you? I'm very good, thanks" and some other minor stuff. Not enough to get by. But I found this online program which has much better reviews than Rosetta Stone so I'm going to save about $300 and get a better lesson plan. Yay! Plus the guy teaching you has an Australian accent so it's pretty hilarious to listen to. I was pinning a bride the other day and her fiance was there and I happened to mention moving to China and it turns out he lived there for 2 years. So he was telling me about how people will stare at us and want to touch our hair and try to practice their English with us everywhere we go. He said people were always yelling "Harro!" to him on the street. That should be interesting. Since it's not a tourist destination, we'll probably be the only white people there. Which is kind of cool. I feel like I'll be somewhat of an ambassador for all Americans. Hope I don't insult anyone...

Adam got a little crazy last night with his "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" book and now thinks that since we'll be in China and thus closer to all those other Asian countries, we need to go see the Taj Mahal and Ankor Wat and Mt. Everest and this jewel encrusted Buddhist monastery that I forget the name of now. I said "Just because we're moving to China, that doesn't make us millionaire world travelers". I have a feeling we'll be overwhelmed enough by everything there is to do and see in China, physically, emotionally, and financially. :)