Change in Blogs

Hi Friends...we're having some trouble with getting pictures on blogspot so I've created a new blog at shutterfly in order to post pics for you.  The website is www.thebartsinchina.shutterfly.com.  If you'd like to see the site, you can request to send the owner an e-mail for the password.  We don't want to make it difficult for you to follow our family so please check out the new site..sorry for the inconvenience.  Much Love

Surprises

Every day when I step foot outside, I'm reminded that I'm constantly being surprised.  Here are a list of things that surprise me about China:

1-The most frequent..the smells (most of them are not so good)
2-Lots of cars and not so many scooters (so sad, we dearly loved seeing 4-6 people on scooters)
3-Everything is so cheap..vegetables are the cheapest and it really is cheaper to eat out than to cook
4-Bread and yogurt are easy to find-I just didn't think we'd have access to those things
5-Texting is the easiest way to communicate..and cheap
6-Hot water is the drink of choice in restaurants.
7-There are guards and gates for everything (all in uniform)
The list goes on..I will add to the list as I remember more surprises.

An Afternoon Walk

The sky was actually blue yesterday and I couldn't help but get outside as much as possible.  So, when the family went down for a nap, I walked to this park that is relatively close to us.  It was such a pretty day and the park was so neat.  I can't wait to take Micah here..although it is far enough that I will probably have to carry him on my back a good bit.  I'll take more pics when I take Micah so you can see him with the huge train in the park.

Just another scar....

You like Jon's cankle?

Can you find the Chenglish in the fast food sign?

Jon and I had a nice date to the surgeon on Monday without the kids.  Even though we had to take a very long taxi ride, it was still a nice, quiet time alone.  We ate a nice Italian meal at Annie's and visited Jenny's, the import food store.  I also did a little bargaining at the market nearby and bought Micah two shirts.  The surgeon gave Jon the same timeline for his injury as he had given to us before..he will wear the cast for 4 to 6 weeks (we're on week 2 now) then he will start physical therapy after that.  For now, Jon's getting around fairly well with his Chinese-sized (short) crutches (I always want to call them chopsticks for some reason). 

Emergency trip to Beijing

We have a great insurance..it is called SOS.  So, in our time of emergency, SOS flew a nurse down to Changsha to escort Jon to the hospital in Beijing.  SOS set up our trip and transportation to the airport and to the hospital...it was so nice not to have to figure all that out in the midst of uprooting our family to another new place.  The trip went smoothly..Jon traveled in first class with the nurse so the flight itself was very tiring for..but once again, He worked through you all and our children traveled very well!

Nurse Lisa, Micah really like her a lot!

Jon got a Chinese-sized wheelchair...it was pretty small

Micah really enjoyed pushing Daddy through the airport..most people walking by stopped and watched him with a smile.

Team Changsha

We had one meeting together in the midst of all the chaos of the Addington family arriving to Changsha and us leaving Changsha bc of Jon's injury.  We did get one picture...our kids were in bed but Leslie held a picture of them..almost complete team picture.  From left to right, Leslie (our team leader holding the pic of Micah and Lyddie), Drew and Rachel Addington holding baby Michael (Titus was in bed, he's 2), Lenea (longer brown hair), and Stephanie (shorter hair). We love our team and already miss them very much..we got a sweet glimpse into life with our team for one day..what a great help they were during our apartment cleaning, hospital visit, everything!! 

Don't you like how Jon's foot is front and center? 

My Old Man's Injury

During our hospital visit, Oliver (right) assisted Jon..he works with our school and was a great help..we really like Oliver.  The doctor was with SOS (our emergency insurance); he basically watched over everything and made sure we were treated quickly.
I knew it was a risk marrying an older man..poor guy got hurt playing basketball at the old age of 34.  He ruptured his achilles tendon and we experienced a medical emergency our 2nd week in our new city of Changsha.  Here are some pics of our experience in the chinese hospital.

This is the ER room...notice that there are no dividers..fortunately, when I took this pic, there were no other patients.  When we came in later, the room was full of injured people..things I would have rather not seen.

Jon as he gets ready for his MRI

Changsha University of Science and Technology

This is our apartment building

we have a very nice track and soccer field at the front of campus

Our campus is fairly large but the great thing about the campus is that we have many trees and everything is very green.  It rains frequently here so everything is green and alive.  Here are a few pics of the campus where we live.

hair cutting place on campus..I'm hoping Micah will eventually let us get his hair cut here

Out and About

The large rock that kids play on near our front gate

Sweet Pea is so happy

Our courtyard

Most students want to talk to Micah, this student wanted to chase him..he didn't mind at all!

Micah and Lyddie on the rock

Stairs

Everywhere we walk on our campus, we see hills and steps. We walk to the school store every day and I was thinking, wow, this is a lot of steps for Micah, so I counted them. We walked up and down 100 steps each way. Micah has always been pretty tough but he should have a great endurance after living here for a while. We still use the stroller when we go all the way across campus but every day when we go to the school store for basic veggies and fruit, Micah walks and I carry Lyddie.  I've always like stairs for some crazy reason so I can't say I mind too much..I'm just thankful for a nive, scenic campus the feels a lot less like a city!  :)