The Year that was

A lot has changed since the New Year of 2009; a colleague asked me on Thursday afternoon, “Do you remember what you were doing one year ago?” It’s been quite a year for the Expat Dudley family, here’s a quick rundown of all that happened for us in 2009, from my viewpoint (and what I can remember).

1st Quarter – In a nutshell, the 1st Quarter was about one thing, getting ready. We put the house on the market and worked like dogs to get everything ready for the house to sell. Fresh paint for every room, new carpet throughout the house, new flooring in the kitchen and fixed just about everything that we could to make the house saleable. We had to release our first real estate agent before we ever signed the contract with her which only added to the stress of putting the home on the market. I made a trip to Germany for 5 days and then moved on to see our new hometown of Suzhou, China in early February for another 5 days so that was the first taste of what life would be like in the coming months. Then it was back home to pack & prepare to leave Tammy and the boys in March as I started to work in China and they dealt with all of the stuff at home. Before I left, Warren and I traveled to Pennsylvania to move Shadow to her new home (it’s always about the dog isn’t it?). Tammy and I made an effort to learn some Chinese through the Rosetta Stone software but it’s nothing like it appears on TV (perhaps Michael Phelps only thought he could speak Chinese….it was the marijuana talking). We learned a few words and hoped that we could at least get a small vocabulary going (we didn’t get so far with that but we had high hopes). It sounds pretty boring doesn’t it? Well, it wasn’t boring as we tried to prepare for all things to come in the near future.

2nd Quarter – I started my work here in China. I was the second expat to get here for the Press division, Steve (my boss) and his wife Sharon had been in Suzhou about 4-5 weeks before I arrived. I spent a lot of time with them over the next month or so, doing a tour of the local gardens, tea picking and several other things (perhaps you have read those previous blogs). There were also several other Expats here for the company that gave me a lot of advice and helped to show me around Suzhou. It was overwhelming at first but after time you got used to the way things are done in China (the phrase here is “TIC”, which means This Is China, something we will say frequently when we run into an odd situation). I don’t know how things would’ve gone without the interaction with the other Expats; it is never like you are alone here but when you don’t speak the language you can be surrounded by Chinese and still be very much by yourself. I supposed I could’ve just talked to myself…..oh wait, I did talk to myself, which added to the stares from the locals. Skype was the lifeline to home, I would talk to Tammy and the boys once or perhaps twice per day with some chat with Tammy on Skype. I’m not certain how people did this years ago just over the phone or even worse through letters (how did they write anything without spell checker?). I learned where to shop and where I thought we could eat as a family and how to get around in a taxi or on foot. The plant was coming on line through this time with equipment arriving; we started interviews for job candidates and we started to lay the groundwork for all that was to come. It was a busy time so it kept my focus off of being away from home. I had been away from home several times in my life, starting when I was 17 and heading to boot camp at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Then it was leaving home after University and working in Augusta, Maine. This was the first time I really lived on my own in a very small apartment on an even smaller budget (splurging meant that I could have a hot dog with my mac n’ cheese). About 18 months later I moved to Georgia to take a job with my current company (insert The Jeffersons theme song here) and 17 years later, here I am in China. Up until then the trip to Germany and Suzhou in Jan/Feb was the longest sustained time away from home that I had since Jacob was born. I was used to being home and dealing with the noise and confusion that comes from a house with kids and (believe it or not) it was tough to leave that behind. I know that Tammy had to deal with more than I did as she had to sell the vehicles, deal with the house being up for sale and getting everything organized so the right stuff was placed into storage and the right stuff was shipped overseas.

3rd Quarter – I had pretty much worked into a routine by now, go to work, come home, eat dinner and watch 24 (starting with Season 1). On the weekends, I would go somewhere with other Expats from the company to wherever; garden, shopping, sightseeing, etc. We also had a visitor from Jonesboro come over to assist us in setting up one of the pieces of equipment so he also got a chance to get to see Suzhou. The temperature was steadily climbing by now and it was getting very hot in Suzhou. Tammy and the boys were set to arrive after a quick whirlwind tour of the grandparents (it’s in the Lonely Planet’s guide). I think for their last month in the US, after getting out of school, they spent perhaps 1 week at the house and 3 weeks on the road. The last nights were spent in a hotel since the house was packed and everything was in storage. I moved into a 3 bedroom apartment to prepare for their arrival. When they finally did arrive, they looked BEAT!!! I know it’s a long airplane ride and then top it off with a 2.5 hour taxi ride and you are pretty much done when you get here. Instead, we went out to Mario’s for dinner and they started on their journey into life in Suzhou. It took some adjustment for all of us, them getting used to China (and me) and me getting used to them (who used all the hot water?). It got really hot in July and August and made for a difficult life trying to get out and see the sights when you were just dripping with sweat but we managed to get out and about. We made it to the biggies here, Tiger Hill, The Humble Administrators Garden, Canglang Pavilion and The Master of Nets garden. We’ve got more gardens to see in 2010 but we did okay in 2009. We encountered a lot of problems with the area we were living and decided it was time for a more permanent change and the search was on for a new place. One other thing happened in the 3rd Quarter, the kids started school at SSIS (Suzhou Singapore International School). We didn’t know what to expect but the kids liked it, they were ready to go to school in the morning and have been that way every day. No fussing or fighting needed to get them to go to school, which is a good thing. Warren had a greater incentive, he got his Mac computer (I’m a PC, Tammy’s a Mac…you get to decide who you think is the geek) and I’ve seen him put it to good use. He’s trying to catch up to those that have had laptops and used them for several years so despite the computer, he still had a lot of learning to do.

4th Quarter – The big hit items from this part of the year….we moved into our apartment at Horizon. I was a little hesitant to go (since after all, it is more change) but things have been better since we got here. We haven’t had the consistent problems that we were having at the other place. We needed a stable place for the kids and that certainly wasn’t it. Seeing “female late-night visitors” always around the complex really never gave you the “family friendly” vision. It wasn’t the place for us and we’re happy where we are now, more room to spread out and a place that we can call ours (at least for the next year). We had our first Thanksgiving and Christmas outside of the US, it was different but it is what you make of it. I worked on Christmas but we went over to a Canadian couple’s apartment (eh) and had Christmas dinner there with a few other couples. It was nice, it wasn’t family (which could be good or bad depending on your perspective) but it was good to at least do something for Christmas. Shadow passed during this time bringing us sadness (and many of you shared in this with us) but also allowed us to be thankful for the time we had with her and to know that she was loved by her new family. We made our first family trip to Shanghai and experienced the city in a slightly different way but we still enjoyed our time and know we’ll get back there several more times in the coming year.

What’s in store for us for 2010?? Good question. We plan on a few trips this year to see more of China. We will get to Beijing and Xi’an. We also would like to get to Guilin before the year is out. We’re not sure where else we will go, much of that will depend on factors that we cannot control. I am hopeful that perhaps China will allow free access to the blogging site again so we can do some major updates for photos and have an easier time posting. I am thankful that the blog site wasn’t shut down until after the family arrived. It provided me an avenue to communicate with everyone and let you see what was happening. I appreciate that so many have read and made comments on the blog, what did we do before the blog? (oh, right…people wrote letters, man that is so 60s). Thank God for Al Gore inventing the Internet ({warning!!! sarcasm coming!!!} and also using his oh-so expansive, Einstein-like mind power for creating An Inconvenient Truth to educate us all, it’s amazing that he didn’t become President…..this soapbox moment provided by Ivory detergent).

We hope that 2010 will be a good year. It is the year of the Tiger (Jacob’s year) here in China (and it really doesn’t begin until Feb. 14th). I don’t know what that means so I guess that we write the script and we can make it a great year. Keep checking in, we’ll post more often I promise (and I’ll put on 15 pounds of muscle, learn to speak fluent Chinese, grow more hair, etc.).