It’s been a busy late summer with work, baby and visits, and this blog seems to have been one of the first casualties. Thankfully work’s dried up a bit and we’re just about to reach a week-long national holiday, so sporadic service is about to be resumed. So, what have I been up to?
Well, the first thing is the baby of course. He’s HUGE now (I fully expect to be repeating this mantra for the next 15 years, so you’d better all get used to it) and it’s increasingly hard to believe he was inside V just over half a year ago. It’s not a bad existence for him right now, dozing, waking up, making speech-like burbling noises, crying, drinking milk, etc, and we seem to be coping ok as he’s got three adults to look after him 24-7 (plus my part-time efforts). Living with V’s parents continues to fluctuate between comfort and mutual annoyance, but for the moment at least it’s the most convenient option – so convenient, in fact, that we’ve signed up for another year together, the deciding factor being the massive potential hassle of going out own ways.
Work is a fair bit different now – the TEFL school has wound itself down almost to the point of disappearing, and although I’m still officially the “headmaster” it’s a very possible that I won’t do any work for them again. To make up for the lost hours I’m doing in-company training for a European company, who pay me more for working 8 hours in a week than the TEFL school paid me for working 40. It’s tougher work though, with more preparation needed, and on the other side of Beijing and out of my comfort zone.
Late summer hasn’t been anywhere near as lazy as anticipated, mainly because there has been a steady stream of visits and social occasions. First there was a wedding, then my dad & stepmother came to visit (a good chance to see the sights again, but Beijing decided to throw the most English weather it could find at them, and the sights were barely visible through the haze all week – still, we tried lots of great food), then another friend returned from repatriation exile, and finally this week there was a sudden and unexpected reunion for 3/4 of V’s gang of childhood friends – so this week we’ve been taking them to have roast duck, hang out in Nanluoguxiang, etc, etc.
It’s 11.52pm as I type this and I really ought to get to bed. Tomorrow is the first day of the 7-day national holiday, a chance for me to finally get up to date with this, and a number of other things.