I have always loved Thanksgiving, not so much for the food but rather because of the reflection on what we are thankful for. While the list of things I am grateful for is not much different then it was before I moved to China five years ago, the meanings have changed just a little.
Tonight we had a nice pseudo traditional dinner at a western hotel tonight that was way overpriced, but worth it. Ran into some old acquaintances, ate turkey and stuffing, gourged ourselves with too much pumpkin pie, and talked about the things in our life that we are thankful for.
Having a loving and wonderful partner has made my life more whole and rounded then ever before and is the single most important thing in my life and what I am most thankful for. Wonderful parents and extended family who love and support me and my partner is a wonderful blessing. Friends, some around the corner and others half a world away, who are there no matter whether we need a shoulder to lean on, a voice to comfort us, a joke to brighten our day, encouragement, and loving us for who we are. Being employed by a progressive company that respects me and Pei Lin and provides us domestic partner benefits. The good fortune to be born as an American and the freedoms that affords me. Those are just some of the blessings in my life and the things I am thankful for everyday.
Regardless of our nationality, our religious beliefs or status in life we all have things for which to be grateful. My Thanksgiving wish is that each of us is able to recognize those gifts and make sure we share those blessings with the people in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving wherever you may be.
We started moving over the weekend to our new place. Saturday we hired two men and a trunk to move a few bigger items and they were an interesting pair. One had a broken foot and both of them stank something horrible. Saturday afternoon while Pei Lin played soccer I worked on screwing the shelves back into one of the bookcases and unpacking one load of suitcases. When I went to pick him up after his game, he could hardly walk because he took a full force kick to his side.
Yesterday, we moved three car loads of stuff and starting making our new place a home. Pei Lin was in a lot of pain but helped carry stuff to and from the car and didn’t complain once. He commented now he knew what pain I must have felt with my back a few months ago. That only served to make me feel bad because he was working so hard…
We have a white box style bookcase that I had this idea to paint different colors using the leftover paint from our apartment. When I told Pei Lin what I wanted to do he seemed skeptical, but as soon he saw what looked “fun” he came out to the balcony and wanted to helped me paint. While not my typical idea of fun it was enjoyable doing something together, at least until I stepped into the paint lid and my back foot found out how easily paint lids can slide.
Over the next two days we have things being delivered and a few final things to be installed. Thankfully, Pei Lin’s sister is here, until Wednesday, so she can help let the workers in and out while we are at work.
Well everything is almost back to normal on our website after my Web Woes. Was a worthwhile learning curve though, lets just hope I can remember next time. Quiet around the house again tonight since Pei Lin is in Beijing for his company wide semi-annual retreat.
I had the intention of blogging the sequel to Taxi Rage but for some reason I lost the urge and am going to go watch TV for a bit…Guess you will have to check back in a day or two!
Yesterday was the 4th of July, the mid-summer holiday in the United States and the celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 declaring independence from Great Britain. The day is usual spent celebrating the history, government and traditions of the USA by having barbecues, picnics, parades and other traditional “American things” with friends and family. The day is capped off with fireworks in every city and town. Other then not having any email from our US colleagues, yesterday didn’t seem like much of a holiday here in Shenzhen.
Since Pei Lin is in Beijing for work, last night I went to a BBQ at a local expat members club alone. There were 75-100 people and it was very traditional American picnic style in that everyone brought a dish and the meat was provided. There was the option to pay more if you didn’t bring a dish - am sure you have a good idea which I took advantage of. Loads of potato salad and the best hamburgers I have had since moving to China. Normally I dislike the hamburgers here because they are so dry but these were perfect. Only things missing were my better half and fireworks.
While I don’t agree with the stance my government takes on many issues and I live overseas I am still very proud to be an American. As I head to work this morning, the evening celebrations are just beginning back home, Happy Birthday America!!
When I found Wordpress I was excited about its ability to be customized fairly easy and have more of that “website” look and not all the ads and stuff of other blogs. Unfortunately, when I came across Wordpress and subsquently blogged I was either logged into the internet through my work VPN at home or blogged during lunch from the office. This kept me from realizing that while the Wordpress home page can be viewed and accessed within China it’s blogs cannot. The Mozilla Firefox has a add-in that allows a bypass around the Great China Firewall, unfortunately it doesn’t always work and keeps people from being able to comment.
So in my infinite wisdom, I thought I would acquire another domain and convert my blog to the same hosting service in the US that we are using for our website . Great idea but horrible execution. I switched packages which allows a second domain and hosting for all of an additional $12 dollars a year but I chose the wrong package and lost our website while it “converts” to a Microsoft hosting package that doesn’t support the Wordpress format. Fortunately, I had just backed up our website to our computer and portable storage device. Unfortunately, the switch can’t be changed for 30 days unless I cancel our original plan and start all over. Apparently they are willing to refund our first package under their 90 day no hassle guarantee even though it says if you upgrade packages the guarantee is void - because they must think you are happy…But because I was so nice, calm and sweet talking on the phone they said no problem.
Maybe, just maybe our website will be back in a few days along with the new home (and I promise final move) for my blog… Worst case scenerio is our website will be offline for 29 1/2 more days while I wait out their you can only switch packages every 30 days policy. Lesson learned? The machine is smarter then man!
