Steady Improvement

When we arrived back in Shanghai after our travels in December, I had a few plans for improvement. You could call them resolutions. One of them was to talk to another adult every day, and that seems not only to have made life better on a daily basis but also to have increased the number of friends I have.

Which led to a lovely playgroup at our apartment yesterday. One which I intend to repeat every week. I've never been a routine person, but knowing that I have friends coming over at least once a week for the foreseeable future makes me feel very good.

And the crowd was really wonderful.

We had children ranging from 2 months old to 2 years, 4 months. Most of the kids were between 12 and 16 months old.

We had one mom each from Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Korea, Germany, India and the states. Moms from Mexico, Peru and Singapore were unable to attend this week.

People brought snacks to share, and the kids downed them all.

I set out clothes and overstock items I didn't want in my closet any longer, and nearly everything disappeared.

Overall it was a fabulous afternoon, giving me a wonderful confidence boost and fully convincing me that there are some really interesting women living quite close to me with whom I will really enjoy developing friendships over the next few years. It'll be interesting to see how things change as everyone sends their kids to school.

And by everyone, I mean everyone except me.