Lovers by the lake.

Chris made it safely home from Beijing. At the last moment, he decided that he wanted to fly home instead of taking the night train. Who can blame him? A two hour trip versus an ten hour trip? We were able to get a cheap ticket and he was home by Monday night. He brought lots of goodies for us. There is an awesome foriegn language bookstore in Beijing and he was able to get 4 more books by the boys' favorite author, Dav Pilkey. He also found several second-hand Star Wars characters. As for me, jewelry! Pearls, jade and tibetian earrings. I love it. For himself he bought several peices of artwork to hang in his office.

Nanny Zou has called in sick for the past two days. This is the first time since she's been working for us that she's taken off any personal time. She has the same stomach virus that we combated last month. I hope she feels better soon. It took us about two weeks to fully shake it off. Speaking of Zou, she and her husband are in the process of buying a new home. It's a bit odd to realize that the money we pay her is helping her buy a new home, but Chris and I have yet to buy a home. We've always rented. I should add that she and her hubby have been saving up for years. I can't say that about Chris and I :)

So, will we stay or will we go? It's getting very difficult not to know what our plans are for next August yet. Chris and I both feel the best thing to do is to stay. I know! That probably sounds like craziness considering all that we've gone through here. Let's face the facts, though. Our priority right now is to finish Chris' dissertation. His teaching load here is considerably lighter than it would be at virtually any other job. Also, he has access to countless resources that have helped a great deal with his research. It's clear that he's getting his dissertation done while we're here (he's already started writing it). Why mess with a good thing? If he can finish it up quicker living here, then shouldn't we stay so that in the long run we can get a tenure track job more easily? I've spoken with the boys about this and I think they're coming around. They're starting to understand why we might need to stay here for another year.