Reflecting on Beijing

Tomorrow we will be moving from the life that we have made for ourselves for the last two years. In fact, Jacquelyn and I finished packing the many boxes and bags of stuff that we have accumulated over the years and let the movers take 'em down to Qingdao. Jacquelyn made the observation that the apartment that we just moved out of has been our longest consecutive home as a married couple. In 4 years, we have moved 7 times...not a huge number, but still a lot for us. We're also eating a lot of dinners and spending time with our friends. The friendships that we have made here is going to be the most difficult part about leaving.

While we have certainly enjoyed our time in Beijing, it hasn't been easy. There have been some serious ups and downs for us. Here are some observations that we have made after living here for a little while.

BJ is expensive
BJ is super excited about the Olympics - CHINA is excited about the Olympics
BJ might just get ready for the Olympics in time
BJ is dirty
BJ is huge
BJ's tourist spots get boring after the 6th time visiting them
BJ traffic is horrendous (especially Jingshun Lu)
BJ has tons of western food (yay, Jenny Lou's & Peter's Tex Mex!!)
BJ's garbled "R" accent is...well...interesting

We are hoping that Qingdao will be a "step up" for us. We've already had many conversations with our new office and feel that they are going to help us make this transition go as smoothly as possible. Our new apartment is getting set up and we can almost smell the ocean breeze. The air is much cleaner than BJ, so we might actually feel safe to breath. Have I mentioned that we will literally be a 2 minute walk from the seaside!?!