Back in June, my web server gave me a few days notice that they were closing up shop, half way through my pre-paid year. I had about a week to pull off all my pictures, or else lose them all. This was beyond annoying (as was the lack of a partial refund; the jerks), but it was probably for the best as Christian and I had begun discussing the possibility of a joint site. Really, I think this is his scheme for getting me to put all his pictures online for him, so that he doesn’t have to bother with updating family and friends back home. Now he can just send out a link to the corresponding photo album with perhaps a quick note. See how clever he is? If only I’d thought of that…
So here’s the basic gist for any innocent by-standers who accidentally stumble across this site: Christian and I live in Dalian, China, about an hour’s plane flight outside of Beijing (ten hours by train as there’s a bay in the way). Dalian’s main claim to fame is probably that of any “second city:” wealthy, modern and full of foreigners by Chinese standards. My Chinese English-language students usually like to say, “Dalian is very clean and the air is very fresh.”
We met here sometime after I arrived but well before we moved in together, got married a few weeks ago, and are expected our first child in March. As a result of the upcoming addition, there will probably be a lot of baby-oriented thoughts throughout this site unless Christian decides to add some updates of his own, as I’m trying to grapple with a new role I had planned not to enter into for a few more years. This is just a heads up, I’ll try to keep it in check.
That’s pretty much the basic state of things. It turns out life in China’s an awful lot like life anywhere else. Well, unless you’re one of the little women who sweep the Dalian freeways. That’s got to be one of the most adventurous (read: dangerous) lives possible.