Sorry!

The Past Month!

Well, of course I haven’t updated this in awhile. The main reason is that my Mom visited me for two weeks in March, and I’ve been quite busy after she left. Mom used her 1 week Easter vacation to visit, and requested an extra week off from her school, which they granted her. I was SO HAPPY to see her! Other parents (of teachers who teach with me) have never bothered to visit their kids in China, and I’m so grateful that both my Mom and Dad have been able to visit. Consequentially, they’ve also had the opportunity to really see how I’m living here and what it is really like (the good and the bad!)

Mom’s trip was a whirlwind of go, go go, see, see, see. It was difficult working 7:30-3:30, then picking up the pace after work to do something in the city with her. She arrived on a Sunday afternoon. I met her at the airport. Mom was reluctant about traveling for 24+ hours and was happy to get off the plane. The airlines unfortunately stuck her in a window seat so she was crammed in like a sardine for over 14 hours.

When I hugged my mom, we took her bags and headed towards the cab line. As we walked, we were greeted by many sketchy “drivers” asking if we needed a ride. Despite the taxi line being long, I just told the people who came up to us, “我们不要” (we don’t want it). The taxi ride took about 25 minutes. We had a woman driver (which mom was happy with) but she drove ridiculously fast. I’m still nervous/anxious when I get into a cab, but it has lessened since August because I’ve become more used to the dangerous wearing in and out of traffic, high speeds and no seatbelts, but Mom did not have those same experiences. She immediately noticed the “get in front and get ahead by any means necessary” mentality of drivers. Of course there are no seatbelts, but like I said, I was used to this.

When we arrived Mom was pleased with the apartment. We brought the suitcases in, and Mom took a 3 hour nap. I woke her up around 5:30, and went into 周铺(zhou4pu3) for dinner. We ate at a hot pot restaurant. The following two weeks were a whirlwind of traveling. I’ll elaborate on the rest of my mom’s trip soon!