The Halfway Point

Wow!  Already,here we are over the halfway point in our China adventures!  We find ourselves quite comfortable being here, and after Guilin it was so nice to come "home" to Hangzhou.  We're all healthy again except for a case of the winter doldrums.  There is so much rain and fog right now that we can't even see the tops of the buildings, and the temperature is in the upper 30's (+4c), so it's quite damp and cold.
It makes us realize why we left Seattle in favor of some place sunnier like Prescott!  We have been here for about 170 days as of this writing and have 160 left to go!

The boys are definitely tired of Chinese food and the lifestyle here; I think they'll really be thankful to have their old life back when they get back to the U.S.  Though they like to complain, many times I see them having a good time with smiles on their faces. As brothers they have become very close, and I think they have done a lot of growing up here!

Sophie continues on with an indomitable spirit - she loves playing with other Chinese kids, and school is so much fun for her.  She has been out for more than a week now and has been asking to go back!  Her Chinese is really getting quite good too.  She is comfortable counting in either language.  When Sue took her to a play structure at a local McDonald's, she jumped in with the other kids and started speaking Chinese!


As for me, the only tough part is when I think the kids or Sue are suffering, so we try to eat Western food more often now for the kids' sake.  Otherwise I am enjoying learning the language and seeing the sights.  Out of the 5 of us,  I will probably be the only one not ready to go back when June comes. We'll see!