Back to School, Back to Warmth

We are back from our trip to the U.S. for Christmas. It was a lot of fun and A LOT of travelling. Sophia had so much fun playing with her cousins and her grandparents. I think she thought it was neat the way every place we stayed had a new batch of toys. She also really "got" Christmas and presents this year, so there was lots of talk about Santa.

It seems weird, but we left Iowa on a Monday, and got back on a Thursday. Sophia was pretty good on the flights, but it was not an easy time adjustment. When we got in to the hotel on Wednesday night in Hong Kong, Sophia was wide-awake after having slept on the plane, in the airport, and on the second plane. We did not get a bit of sleep in that hotel. After a few days of staying up all night, we got back on track though.

The morning we were supposed to start school, Sophia woke up at 4:30 am, ready to go. Going back to school was a bit of a disaster. She did not want to go, and I had to peel myself away from her as she screamed at the top of her lungs on the bus. I felt so rotten. I had to rush home right after school to see her. Talk about separation anxiety. That is the first time she has ever expressed a need to be together. All this week, she has been saying, "I don't want to go to school!" She said this morning that she wants to stay home with Mommy and Daddy.

Well, at least she'll get her wish in two and a half weeks. We have another week off for Chinese New Year. We're looking forward to doing nothing except lounging around in our p.j.s. We may try to get a huge load of planning done, but we'll see. I also feel like I brought a lot of projects back from America - a Chinese language computer program, a baby blanket to crochet, our violin (which we have yet to learn to play), a new Guitar Hero. There's lots to do around here.

School has been difficult to adjust to, and the students are dragging their feet. I was teasing my class that I wanted to take a video of them today. They just looked so depressed.

One of our Christmas gifts to ourselves was a new camera phone, so we are hoping that since we'll always have it on us, we will get to take lots of interesting pictures. There have been so many times when we've said we wished we had our camera with us. Now that Joe carries his camera phone, we should have more opportunities.

I am looking forward to experiencing my first Chinese New Year. Apparently, there are lots of fireworks. It's the year of the ox this year. I should probably look into what that really means. We aren't planning to go anywhere since all of the Chinese people travel at that time. They all go back to their home villages to spend time with family. Should be interesting. At any rate, only two-and-a-half weeks until our next vacation. Can't beat that.