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Where we are

So, I am sitting outside while the kids play with Max's friend B. B is from Hong Kong and he sounds like a very proper British kiddo! I would say that Max and Izzy are definitely in the minority being native English speakers. They are really enjoying their school. Both of them say that Manderin is their favorite class. Isabel is excited that she has math and spelling tests. I love that she is finally interested in reading rather than being read to. Max absolutely adores his teacher and of course he had good friends after his first day. He likes his teacher so much he is even willing to write nightly in his journal.

We slept in our apartment last night for the first time and ate an exotic meal of peanut butter and jelly. The kids have been so amazing during this whole transition. They adjusted to the time change, to being stared at ALL the time, to not understanding anybody outside of school or home, and to the unbelievably humid weather. They have not however felt very comfortable being quite so adventurous with eating. While at the hotel, they were happy to try new things, but are very wary about going into any restaurant that isn't a McDonalds or pizza hut. I think that this is a little frustrating for Nathaniel and I have to remind him that they have been through so many chances they can eat American food for as long as they want!

I am meeting moms at the school and enjoying finding my way around Hangzhou. I feel so liberated for some reason. I haven't quite figured out why yet, though. I will let you know when I do! I have pages of notes of funny things that I have done or that have happened to me. I promise to start sharing more regularly. Nathaniel keeps telling me that I should record them, but that isn't going to happen!

Poor Nathaniel has had the hardest time of us all. Between getting to work and making sure we are ok and have what we need, he is now just about running on empty. To top it off, he has been sick. I think that he is finally feeling better. He intends to write some soon also.

I think I have mentioned that it is hard to update here because it is blocked unless I use Nathaniel's iPhone. My goal next week is to set up a blog that I can easily update...hold me to it ok?

We Made It!!!!

I am typing this from Nathaniel's phone so please forgive my mistakes. We are here in Hangzhou staying at a hotel and working on getting the apartment ready to live in. There are definitely things we did not think of. Like bed linens and pillows. I did bring some, but the beds are bigger than we realized! So our sheets don't fit. Also, I didn't realize just how long we would be without our stuff. One more month before we get our other things like dishes and cookware. We need to figure out the bare minimum that we need in order to eat happily.

Speaking of eating, we had our first authentic chinese meal the other night with one of Nathaniel's coworkers. It was nothing like any Chinese restaurant I have been to in the US. It was amazing! I ate lotus root, chicken cooked in tea, pork dumplings, lightly pickled cucumbers, chinese salad, beef and peppers, and I drank red tea. All of it was wonderful. The chicken was the best thing chicken I have ever eaten. Unfortunately the kids were really hurting from jet lag and refused all food, but at least they were charming and not terrors.

We visited their school on Friday, and we are all really excited about Monday when they start. We also met a lot of parents and everyone was so welcoming and kind. I am sure I will find people/ things to keep me busy soon.

I will be spending next week cleaning our apartment not because it needs it really, but because if I clean it I own it. Does that make sense? Izzy has already made her room her own and seems really eager to move in permanently.

I am going to finish with a list of things we have experienced in the last few days:

Being stared at ALOT, especially Isabel.

Eating at a Chinese Mcdonalds. That was all we could find when the jet lag hit the inexperienced world travelers in our family. Their French fries were better than the US.

Hailing a taxi

Riding in a electric bicycle taxi

Bought groceries and cleaning supplies. I think Mr. Muscle in the Asian Mr. Clean.

We adults have started drinking tea and I really enjoy it (Nathaniel always did)

Isabel used an inground potty! She was braver than me. I opted to hold it until I got to the apartment!

watched Tom and Jerry with Chinese voices

That is all I can think of for now. I will update soon!

It's about damn time!

PS Please go to our Flickr link on the right. I will be putting all of our pictures there that I don't share!
Well, we are In Chicago and we are board our plane for Shanghai in about 45 minutes. Now that we are FINALLY on our way, all of us are so excited! The kids are armed with there video games and movies and art supplies and books. Notice that I mentioned video games first...The kids are probably most excited because they get to be plugged for a long time with almost no complaints for me.

I am going to try and get them to tell me one thing they want to tell everybody.
Max: “boo”
Isabel: “We will be so happy to here from you guys. Love from, the Clawson family!”
Nathaniel: “Traveling with my family is even more fun than I thought it would be!”
Beth: “I never realize how many friends and wonderful people I have in my life until I really stop and take notice. While I am sad to be leaving everybody, I am thankful for this time to reflect and see all of the support I have.”

I know that I won’t have access to facebook, and I may not be able to keep this blog address, but I will let everybody know the new link if it changes. I am so glad that y’all want to follow along with us!

Where we are

Well, we have moved out of our house in Bloomington. It is now for sale, which was really hard for all of us.

We stayed in Boone for about a week and had a great time with family and friends. I got to do the Watauga Lake Triathlon...the 3rd year I have been to do this race with my friends!

We are in Charlotte now and will be here until we leave on August 24 for China.

The kids are very upset that they didn't start school today in Bloomington, but are loving the time they are having with their family and (especially) friends in Charlotte.

We are ready to be done with this transition and just get to Hangzhou!

Hello, Goodbye, Hello, Goodbye

I am sitting in the dark in our hotel room listening to the kids fight going to sleep. Nathaniel is at our house doing yard work in the dark. We are officially leaving Bloomington tomorrow morning. I am really, really excited about our move to china. I promise. I am no longer filled with the anxiety that moved me to write the last post. But, I sure am sad tonight. I remember a year and a half ago when I was so scared about moving to Bloomington. I knew that my life wouldn't be too different from Charlotte, but after the first 4 lonely years there, I had started to make some absolutely wonderful friends the last 3 years. When we moved to Bloomington, I was dreading being lonely and having to make friends again. I worried that the kids and I would never ever find anybody else that we got along with as well as our Charlotte friends.

Oh, was I wrong! In the short time we have spent in Bloomington I really consider it home. We found a neighborhood that we were fortunate enough to find a house to buy just up the street from the house we rented when we first got here. The neighborhood has a good school within walking /bike riding distance. But most importantly, We found amazing friends. Watching the kids make the rounds to say goodbye has been really hard to watch. I know how hard it has been for them. They have been real troopers. There have been some hard times for both of them, but it lets me know how much they have loved Bloomington too.

I am so proud of how we have kept in contact with our Charlotte friends, and I know that we are going to do the same with our Bloomington friends. We are so lucky to have all of the love and support of everybody as we travel over to the other side of the globe. I want you all to know that we are there for you just as you guys have been for us.

We are leaving Bloomington tomorrow morning and I am so, so sad about that. I am so thankful, though for all of the friends that we have made. You guys taught me that no matter where I go, I will be able to find people the make us feel welcome and are as excited to get to know us as we are them. You continued the love that our Charlotte friends gave us, and I hope that we were all there for you as well. I am sad to say goodbye to Bloomington friends, excited to say hello to Charlotte friends, sad to say goodbye (again) to Charlotte friends, and excited to meet and say hello to our Hangzhou friends...

Holy Moly

The amount of anxiety I feel at this very moment is unreal. We picked the kids up yesterday and were so happy to see them. However, this morning it is apparent that we all need some time to transition...from being apart, to seeing our house 1/2 empty, to knowing that most of our stuff will be packed up and not seen for a month or so, to knowing that we only have one more week in a house we love, in a town we love, with friends we love, one more week at a lake we love with grandparents and an uncle we love, and one more week in our old home town we loved, with our other grandparents we love, and old friends we love...AND then moving to the other side of the world where we know nobody, and don't speak the language, and the culture, food, climate, political system is completely foreign to us.

I know that this is a great opportunity and a wonderful adventure, but I think we all felt all of this at the same time this morning. And wow, we all totally lost it at the same time this morning.

I know that I feel better getting this out. I hope I am giving the kids ample opportunity to get their fears and anxieties out as well. I never imagined that Max would be attending 3 school in 3 years and 2 for Izzy in 2 years. They are amazing children who have handled all of the recent change so well.

Shorty, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel...

I want to start off by saying a huge thank you to my parents, Nathaniel's mom, and Nathaniel's brother. Because of you guys, we were able to get so much done. I know that the kids have had a great time with all of you. And, while I missed the kids tremendously, Nathaniel and I had a great time too! It is amazing how much more energy I have when I don't have to keep up with Max and Isabel.

Speaking of Max and Izzy, I got there acceptance letter for school. I am so glad to have this done. Now we just have to light a fire under the people working on Nathaniel's visa so we can start our expat life. Nathaniel is in the process of getting our plane tickets booked. I have started packing our suitcases and I sure hope I get the right stuff in there because we will get to China a couple of weeks before the rest of the stuff we ship gets there.

On a completely different note, I got to meet on of Nathaniel's Chinese coworkers, George. He is in town for a meeting and last night we took him out to dinner. I really enjoyed meeting him. I can tell that he and Nathaniel will work well together.

The best part about meeting George was seeing how excited Nathaniel got talking about what they will be taking on in China. While Nathaniel's career as an accountant has provided very well for our family, I have always wondered how someone like Nathaniel, who is such a people person, could stand to sit at desk all day and look at numbers. Listening to Nathaniel and George talk about all the changes the plan to make in all areas of the Chinese plant, I saw a twinkle in Nathaniel's eyes that I have never seen while talking about work! I am so excited for him. I am proud of him too. This has been his goal since before he graduated from school, and in just over8 years he was able to make it happen.

One last note about meeting George.... He is like 6 inches taller than Nathaniel! Don't assume that everyone in China is small....

Catch Up

I intended to do a much better job at updating this blog. It has been so long since I posted something that I don't really know where to begin! We have started saying goodbye to our friends both in Bloomington and Charlotte. Once I get all of the pictures up on Flickr, I will share those with you.

Our timeline has changed a little, and we won't get to Hangzhou until about August 15. Unfortunately, the kids will miss a few days of school, but there isn't much we can do about it. Nathaniel went to China this week to get some work done and speed up the visa process a little bit. He had quite a few interesting experiences and I am hoping to get him to share them himself.

The kids are staying in Charlotte this week with my parents while I am here in Bloomington getting ready for the move. The movers will be here July 29.

Now that the dates are set and I am really excited.

Nathaniel's New Digs!

We got to see a picture of Nathaniel's office in China today...

Bullet Points

• We officially have an apartment. The lease was signed this week (I think) by the company
• We are definitely selling our house :( If anybody knows someone in Bloomington, IN that wants a rad house, it will be priced to sell FAST!
• After a month, we finally got the pool ready to use. I almost thought it was a mistake to get a pool, but the past few days more than proved me wrong.
• Max had his last swim meet for probably 2 years. He only swam on Sunday and came home with 1st place in 50m breaststroke, 1st place 50m Freestyle, and 2nd place in 100m backstroke. He came in 2nd place for total points scored in 8&u...shouldn't have skipped Saturday I guess. I just love watching him swim, and I hope that he really means it when he says he wants to swim with me. Maybe that will really motivate me to swim.
• I have begun communications with Max and Izzy's school. I talked (typed) with the k/1 teacher and the headmaster. I am really excited about their school.
• Max and Isabel are starting to get really excited about the move and the school year next year.
• I got some of my immunizations today. My arms are a little bit sore.
• For our Charlotte friends...We will be in Charlotte by July 20 (not as soon as I hoped) and we will leave for China no sooner that July 28.
• We are considering staying until the Watauga lake Triathlon, but I will not be able to bike because my bike will be on a slow boat to China

our future apartment...

here are the photos of our apartment... and some more...

A large post coming soon.

Quick update

Not much to report, but I thought I would just check in.

• We are still waiting for our passports to get here. Then, we can get our Visas.
• Great Grandmommy and Papa got to come down for a week. It was a really nice visit for everyone, and I ate way too much!
• Nathaniel's mom, Granny, will be here in about 2 weeks for a week long visit.
• We are going to the beach with Nathaniel's dad, Gpa for a week.
• We are still hoping to be packed up by July 1 or so.
• Our weekends are way to busy. I am having a hard time finding a balance of keeping the kids happy and busy and getting done I need to get done.
• We are planning a visit to Syracuse, Boone, and Charlotte before we head out.
• I want a girls weekend with my friends, but don't know how that will happen. This makes me sad.

House Hunting continued...

Well, Nathaniel got to look at our housing options in Hangzhou. Overall, I think that he was pleased. There are a few things that will take some getting used to, but I think we can handle it. Nathaniel took some pretty good pictures, and I will share those as well.

One of the things we love about Bloomington is our neighborhood. Max and Isabels' school is less than 1/2 a mile away, which means we often walk (except for recently, stupid rain). Also, there are so many great fami

lies in the neighborhood. The kids are never at a loss for someone to play with. We decided that these are 2 important things to try and keep intact in China. For those reasons, we have decided to focus our home search around the school area. I believe that we will be moving into an apartment complex across the street from Hangzhou International School. I am very excited about this. I get anxious wh

en I think of the kids at school 40 minutes away from me in a place where I can't get to them without a lot of help. What if they needed me, and I couldn't tell the taxi driver how to get there?

This picture was taken from one the apartments that Nathaniel looked at. The school is the group of buildings in the middle of the picture.

The big draw back is that Nathaniel will have at least an hour commute each way. Here in Bloomington it is approx. 5 minutes. So, we will be seeing less of him. All is not bad, however! Nathaniel will have a driver, which means he can work in the car. This is probably the biggest hurdle, and it will be a challenge for all of us to see Nathaniel less, but at least he will be in town, unlike now.

Another drawback is that there is not a large grocery store near us in this part of town, but I don't picture myself do

ing the shopping alone during the week. I expect that we will go as a family on the weekends. What a great way to learn Chinese!

Finally, the things that I wanted in the apartment:

Oven - nope No ovens in any of the apartments. We will have to ask the landlord to purchase one that will fit on the counter.

Dishwasher- nope The apartments to have dish dryers which uses heat to sanitize them, but I (Max) will have to wash them first.

Dryer- nope We

will be hanging our wash to dry, or taking them to the cleaners...

Gym - Yes! The specific complex we are looking for has a pool and a gym with at spin room and group exercise rooms. It also has treadmills and weight machines. This make me happy!

Playground- Yes! The kids will have a place to play outside and ride their bikes.

Pictures:

←Kitchen There is a balcony at the far end.

←View of one of the apartment buildings

←I can do my

laundry and you know...

House Hunting!

Nathaniel will be heading out in a few hours to look at possible homes for us. I am excited to hear what his impressions. I sent him a list of things I felt we "needed" and "wanted". Here it is...

things we need

oven

a/c

heater

washing machine

dishwasher (electric, not human)

a place to hang clothes for drying

2 bedrooms

2 bathrooms

a place outside for the kids to play

things that would be nice:

dryer

3+ bedrooms

nice view

pool

gym

microwave

According to the real estate agent Nathaniel is meeting with we should be okay except for the oven and dishwasher. I think I would be more ok with no oven before no dishwasher! I hate hand washing dishes. Max has volunteered his services, which I appreciate, but I know that his enthusiasm will not always be there.

He is going to take as many pics as he can and I will definitely share those. He is meeting with a different realty company on Monday and I will share those as well!

Blue Skies

Nathaniel sent my this picture this morning. He is in China right now, and this is the first picture he has ever sent me that I have seen a blue sky. Yes, the air quality is horrible, but at least my kids will be bilingual right?!?!

Making this a Habit

I don't have much to say, but I want to get into the habit of writing so that I don't slack off on this blog like I have the past 3 or 4 that I have started.

We got all of our passport information sent off and should have them in about 3 weeks. Once they are here, I will finish up the kids school applications and Nathaniel's company can do what ever they need to do in order to get our visas.

Nathaniel left for Hangzhou this morning. He will be there until the 4Th of May. The kids already are missing him. He took along his copy of Harry Potter so that he can still read to them via skype. He will be looking at apartments while he is there. I assume we will be in an apartment. There is a chance we may find a townhouse, but a very slim chance. I need to email him my list of must have amenities this week. When I do that, I will share the list. Apparently Chinese homes can lack a lot of things we take for granted. He is going to take pictures which I will definitely share so the everyone can see what we are in for.

I thought that I didn't have much to say, but I guess I have more than I thought. I am going to include a few links for anybody who is interested.

Here is a map of China. I put in a location pin on Hangzhou.

This is the link to Max and Isabel's school.

Finally, here is the gov. page for Hangzhou.

Hopefully next time I will be able to post pics!

passports

Well, I finally got the kids' paper work done so that we can get their passports. Once those are done, I will start to work on the Visas and school applications. I need to get a new passport as well. Changing everything over to my married name is a pain, even nine years later!

Nathaniel is headed over to Hangzhou on Tuesday. He will be looking at apartments and I really hope they let him take pictures. If they do I will definitely post them. I will at least post some pictures of the town.

Just to let anyone who is reading that in the future I will be posting as bclwsn, and Nathaniel will be posting as well as oursillyfamily.

Voyage post

I can't believe it! We are actually moving to China! Nathaniel and I both vacillate between terrified and excited. Fortunately, I am terrified when he is excited and vice versa, so we are able to talk each other off of the ledge. Max is just excited that he will always get to eat chinese food. Isabel is probably the least excited right now, but she is constantly looking at chinese books and speaking more chinese than the rest of us.

There are so many unanswered questions right now, and I plan to use this space as a place to work trough these questions. I also want to have a place for our friends and family to come and see how we are handling the transitions and what this adventure holds for us.

what is the first thing we have to do? I don't exactly know, but I am choosing to focus on the concrete. Passport, visas, and school applications oh my!