New Habits

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The end of a year and the beginning of a new one always makes me a little introspective. This has been a year of enormous transition for us as a family. I found it incredibly interesting how we have picked up new habits just from living here a bit more than 7 months. Now I have blogged about things we like, some things we miss/have not done, but here is our list of new habits.... Don't misunderstand me, it is not like we are integrating 'cause face it folks, we will never blend! ;-) 

New Habits

• The way I cook is radically different. Not only do we eat a lot more Chinese food, but the way I prepare is different as well. When you make Chinese food, it is important to get all the ingredients chopped and ready ahead of time. Andy teases me that I look like a chef on TV with all of my bowls lined up and ingredients ready to be used, but I love doing it this way! And I do this no matter if I cook Western or Chinese food. :-)
• Hot water. Chinese rarely drink cold water. In the summer, they will drink room temperature water, but in the winter if you order water in a restaurant it will be steaming hot. Andy and I both do this now and don't think of it as strange. (A year ago when we visited I thought it was really different) Now hot water in the summer, hmm....
• Long underwear. (I know that you all really wanted to know this!) Since we live south of the Yangtze River, most of the buildings are not heated. At least not centrally heated like we think of. We have heaters in our house, but they are individual room heaters. Generally, we only use the downstairs main heater during the day and then our bedroom heaters at night. So the core of our house is somewhat warm, but venture much farther than the living room and it can be quite chilly. Even though it is not as cold outside as it is in the Midwest, inside buildings can really be chilly (even stores). Since I really do not like to be cold, I have taken to wearing multiple layers (and also dress our kids this way) -- and I am talking at least 2 layers! Remember that if you visit us in the wintertime.....
• New expressions. This is a combination of us learning Chinese and also living with people from other cultures. Instead of saying "no problem", I almost always say "meiyou wenti" (the Chinese equivalent). And Becca says "no worries" (from her Australian teacher). Our speech is now peppered with them. In fact, one of our nicknames for Tori has morphed from "Little T" to "Xiao T".

As we embark on another year of our adventure here, I am excited for what lies ahead. I know that our immediate family has grown closer. Even though we see them less, I feel like we have grown more intentional about communicating with our extended family. I have definitely let go of some control issues (you almost have to) and believe that I am developing more patience with people (at least I hope so). How else will we grow and change?