Moving and Great Wall

We have been living in our new apartment for just over a week now, and we are loving it! It is 95 square meters, but feels bigger as it is really roomy and open. It gives us lots of space, and an awesome view!

Moving did not go too bad. Most of our stuff fit in suitcases, and Chelsey was able to wheel them over (a couple people from the realtor helped moved them). After signing the contract I had to go straight to work so I was not able to help out. We were going to do a bunch of it on Tuesday (I had the day off) but Monday night the Halls came over and helped move a bunch of stuff. They took it downstairs to their van, and then drove the van through the parking lot to the new building and took it upstairs. So there really was not much left to do on Tuesday. The apartment really feels like a home now that we are unpacked (more or less) and have our pictures up on the wall. We have also gotten done a lot of firsts in a new home that makes it feel like a home - first family meal, first guests, etc.

Jada is cutting a new tooth, and was really not doing well for a couple of days. She had a fairly high fever for about two days, and we were concerned about her enough that Bro. Hall and I gave her a blessing. She is doing a lot better now, and is back to her happy normal self. The tooth does not seem to be the front top tooth, but rather one of the ones beside those. I guess we will see when it is more visible.

On Saturday, our plans fell through, so we decided to go to the Great Wall! We had been planning to go for some time, but we just decided to go when we woke up in the morning, kinda spur of the moment. We went to the MuTianYu section, which is a little further away from Beijing but in my opinion a lot nicer section than BaDaLing which is closer. Beijingers say "People from outside Beijing go to BaDaLing, but locals go to MuTianYu." The crowds were not that bad for a Saturday, partly because it was a hot day - close to 30C (but there was a nice breeze), partly because it is still early in the tourist season, and partly because it was not that clear outside (Beijing Smog). We were there about 6 hours all in all, including travel time. This was Chelsey and Jadas first trip to the great wall (my third). We had a lot of fun. We decided to take a driver out there instead of taking the bus. It was a little expensive at 500 RMB (73USD, the bus would have cost about 220RMB/34USD) We figure that the extra 300RMB was worth a happy baby. On the bus she would not have been able to sleep that well because many people would be looking at her, but in the car she had a good nap there and a good nap back. Many Internet sources said that a driver should have cost about 400RMB (58 USD) but the drivers near us would not do it for that much. The price with drivers is all negotiated, and 500 is quite a bit lower then the 900 they started at so we were happy.

Later Saturday we had some of our friends over for supper, as they were in the area looking for apartments. We made some Sweet and Sour Pork (Tangcu Liji), some marinated cucumbers (Pai Huang Gua) and some dumplings (jiaozi). It was a lot of fun, and we were happy that we could host some friends in our new apartment! We actually have 4 matching chairs! It makes us very happy. We also have a couple of extra chairs in case we need them. Saturday was a busy day, but it was a lot of fun!