After an expected 6 weeks away, Dave ended up in Abu Dhabi for only 2 weeks. He flew back with us at the end of our stay. Had I known this eventuality, we would not have traveled to join him. The financial cost was steep, and the travel was challenging. However, I must say that I'm glad we went. The city was lovely - and it is always nice to get out of China. I found the area quite child-friendly, and the girls always make great travelers. The Middle East made a good impression as well, being far more interesting and beautiful than I had imagined. The girls fell in love with the desert, and Dave and I decided that a future posting in Abu Dhabi would not be so bad.
Before we left, we made a few exciting discoveries:
BANANAS
The lady who regularly sweeps our yard (I suppose I should call her a gardener) asked if I wanted the bananas growing on our tree. Excitedly, I said yao, yao! Let's translate that to yes, please! But then I had to leave, as we had reached the end of Fia's schoolday. Fia and I returned home to one less stalk on our entire banana tree - she did not just reap a few bananas, but took down the entire branch , from the ground up! This may be how banana reaping goes. Having done a bit of reading, I know that the entire plant grows from the ground every year. Anyway, we came back to disappointment as we had less of a banana tree and no bananas. Until later in the afternoon, possibly an hour before we were scheduled to leave town, a big bag of bananas appeared on our front step!
Sadly, they were still green and needed time to ripen - but the week of our trip proved too long, and ayi had tossed them before we returned. I'm sure looking forward to the next harvest!
BABY TEETH
In fitting with bananas, we also discovered two new baby teeth last week!
Annika's first two teeth popped through her bottom gums on Saturday morning, and she had her first taste of rice cereal last night. I know what a cliche to say they grow so fast, but...
BIBLE STUDY
Soon after we moved here, I lamented that I had found no strong Bible Study or prayer group here. And so, the study will begin at my house this Thursday. A group of us met together just before I left, I feel really excited about getting to know these ladies. We have about 5 in the core of the group, and already a few more who are interested. I'm looking forward to a new study and the accountability it brings, but also to the diversity which I see appearing in this group of women. I'm not too excited about the name of the study. It's Tough Being a Woman? Come on. But otherwise, I can't wait to begin!
THE FOREIGN SERVICE
We heard that the State Department issued invitations to the February class of the Foreign Service, and Dave did not receive one. We now know that we will be in China at least through the end of March. Invitations to the next class should go out in January, after Dave has taken both the language test and the Econ interview. Should he pass the language test, he will definitely receive an invitation. Should he not, scoring a 5.7 on his interview should guarantee a spot in the next class. This is 0.1 points higher than he performed on the Political test, and seems entirely possible.
UNCLE H--
Things with Dave's current job still keep us on our toes as well. Uncle H-- has recently married Aunt A--. That is, Dave's employer recently merged. Aunt A-- is already quite large and successful in Asia, and so this meant some interesting juggling of management. With Dave currently seconded, he is outside of the organizational chart at the moment - a scary place to rest during such change. Happily, his new manager has been a friend and colleague of Dave's for the past few years. Dave is penciled into the org chart in Singapore, meaning that should the Foreign Service fall through, we will likely move on to Singapore next summer.
POTENTIAL VISITORS
Potential visitors should take note of a few bits we now have inked and penciled into our schedules.
So far we know that...
We are going home for Christmas, with travel dates to be determined by the end of this week.
We will return to life in Shenzhen after the Christmas holidays.
We will continue life in Shenzhen until at least the end of March.
We suspect that...
We will probably leave Shenzhen by the end of the school year, not to return.
We will probably spend the summer in the United States, either training in DC or visiting family. With this summer visit, we will begin spending annual time in the states over the summers as opposed to over Christmas.
Anyone planning to visit ought to begin thinking about it now. Winter and early spring are said to be quite pleasant in our region; Shenzhen is an interesting town; Hong Kong is a fantastic city; the Pearl River Delta is lovely; our complex is like a resort, our guest room is quite nice, and we make some awfully tasty cinnamon rolls.
Whew!
This brings you up to date on the happenings in our house, and hardly even mentions last week in the United Arab Emirates! Keep watching for photos...
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