Last night in our house....

Tonight is our last night sleeping here (for approx. two years). We are a little (OK, a lot) overwhelmed, but excited too.
Sorting is done, inventory is taken, packers are coming tomorrow, we are almost out of here.....yikes! New carpet is in, after a couple of rescheduled dates due to the biggest snow storm in Portland in 40 years.
























We had a great time this Christmas and will cherish these memories forever. Christmas was celebrated with the Nakadas in Portland. We spent the weekend before Christmas celebrating with the Flennaughs in Seattle and drove seven hours back home in the snow storm. Glad we made it home safe.

Pray for safe travels......less than a week to go!

Snow week!

Wow, an ice/snow storm in Portland, and the last week of school for the kids is getting cut very short....What was going to be a five day week is now looking like only a day or two. And, they quite possibly have already had their last day and didn't know it! We are disappointed that the goodbyes may not be what we anticipated or expected. This is all part of being flexible and not worrying about details right?

Less than a month, the countdown is on

We have tickets to fly! January 3rd is the big day. We are so excited!

The Flennaugh household has been a little busy lately. There are a lot of lists in our house (and they do not pertain to Christmas). Every closet is sorted, we have piles in each room and most hallways, and today I bought a six months supply of mac and cheese, popcorn and energy bars. One car is sold....yeah! The Christmas tree is up, stockings are hung, Christmas cards are almost done....and tonight we signed the rental agreement:) A lot is going on, not to mention being Mom to a very emotional six year old boy who does not really want to go to China, and a delightful (at least tonight) eight year old girl who is living her "best week of her life!". Tomorrow we all get our last shots for Japanese Encephilitis, and that means the Flennaughs have a Wii! Bribery is a good thing sometimes.


The kids sung in our church's Christmas choir last weekend, and we have started saying our goodbyes to dear friends. It will be an emotional month and tears will continue.... but in all we are ready and we are enjoying our days. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Thanks.

Dalian Video

If you would like to see a clip on the city in China where we will be living, this is interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RycWxNyvVcA

Back in Portland, other thoughts...

We are back home and I must say, it is a wonderful place to be. Although I missed my comfort food and normal life, nothing compares to how much I missed Nicole and Trejan. The week Damon was in China before I joined him was hard on all of us. This was the longest time he had ever been away from the kids, and boy are we glad that is over! While I think about our move I remind myself that being together is the most important piece of my happiness puzzle.

Nicole is getting excited about moving. She is ready to move "right now!" Trejan on the other hand has only been slightly contaminated with Nicole's enthusiasm (she is very contagious). He hasn't really come up with much to say that is positive, but the lack of negative comments makes me hopeful. We have been talking about living in China for so long, two more months of waiting seems like a long time for young kids six and eight (well, Nicole turns eight in two days.)


While we were in Dalian we accomplished some other things I didn't mention before.

1. We went to a "fabric mart" where there were many floors of any type of fabric you can imagine. There are women there who will sew for you anything you wish. The Chinese dresses we have seen in the past have always been a little thin and on the verge of ripping, so I decided to have a couple hand made. It was a little stressful, but in Mandarin (we realized that our studies have actually helped us....) Damon and I managed to explain to the seamstress that we wanted two dresses. One for Nicole and one for our four year old friend Mia. I picked out a piece of beautiful silk and I also selected a warm cozy fabric to line the dresses, more suitable for Portland winters. They turned out absolutely beautiful, and the quality is amazing. Nicole is even excited, which is a minor miracle (since I don't think she has worn a dress even a dozen times in the past year).

2. We looked around some areas where the locals shop. If we want to save money and speak only Mandarin this is where we should shop. I am not sure how long it will take me to have the courage to buy much there, but it was defiantly good to experience walking around. There are a lot of "wet markets" where locals sell produce (and unrefrigerated meat and fish). On my first trip to Dalian (last summer) this was overwhelming, but this time it was easier for me. I am pretty sure I will stick to the refrigerated meats at the expensive (relatively speaking) grocery stores.

3. We opened a Chinese bank account, I think we only have 5 RMB in our account (less than one dollar). But one less thing to do when we move...

4. We visited the Intel Medical Clinic. Beautiful! It has the cleanliness and professional atmosphere we are accustomed to. We are part of International S.O.S., and will be in good hands. The clinic is right outside our door, at "Campus Village" which is the name of the neighborhood by the International school.

The life we have in Portland is comfortable and easy. I wonder at times why we are giving this up, but then I think about how much we will gain from this adventure. With much packing and planning ahead of me I continue to remind myself that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Damon and I are both stretching ourselves and we know that it isn't going to be easy, but we are assured that it will be rewarding. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and thanks for following our blog!

Damon got to have a little fun during his hiring trip. Here he is at the "North Tomb" or Beiling Park in Shenyang (North of Dalian). It was constructed somewhere around 1650. Apparently it is the tomb of the 2nd emperor of the Qing (pronounced ching) Dynasty (pronounced Dynasty). Most people there found Damon to be much more interesting than the dead guy. My apologies to Mr Huang Taji.

House Hunting Trip - Dalian American International School visit

We are here in Dalian, with beautiful weather and a very optimistic outlook. The flight here was uneventful, which is the best way to travel. All of the flights were on time and the only complaint I have is minor. There was a big puddle of coffee that I set my backpack in and so my bag smelled awful, good thing this happened to me and not Damon since he hates coffee. (yes, he is from Seattle... not sure what happened.)

Our house hunting trip has been wonderful, and we are thrilled with the apartment we have secured. When Damon first asked me if I would consider moving to China (almost two years ago) I never imagined living quarters like this. The apartment/villa is gorgeous, much better than our house in Portland. I think it is bigger as well as more upscale. The school is a very short walk, we can actually see the school from our neighbors window. They are building a playground/community common area. There is a workout facility walking distance as well as a "western style" restaurant. Although this area is isolated from the city, I feel very good about having a safe place for the kids to ride bikes and run around with freedom. It is very clean and quiet, nothing like living in the city.

The actual apartment is very nice, there are three bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus a study and maid quarters. There is a laundry room and a gorgeous kitchen. The windows are huge, and most rooms have a balcony and sliding glass doors. Nicole and Trejan's bedrooms (they are not planning on sharing a room) have adjoining balconies. Intel provides us with full furnishings...nice couches, dining room set, beds, bedroom furniture, all appliances, everything you can imagine (even two flat screen TVs).

We are so excited, and it will be wonderful for having guests. I think the maid quarters would be cramped for anyone, but it is another extra room for sleeping. (We have decided we most likely will not have a live in maid.)

Yesterday we spent some time at the Dalian American International school where the kids will be attending. We met the kid's teachers and I am so excited! Trejan's teacher (Mr. Krumtinger) is a 6'9" basketball player who loves the outdoors. When we met him he was on the floor working on a hopscotch game the kids were going to play with vowel sounds. He seems like a lot of fun, and there are only 11 kids in the class! He has Trejan's cubby ready and name tag on the table where Trejan will sit. It looks like a fabulous class room. They have the same blocks that we have and lots of colorful and fun teaching tools.

Nicole's teacher (Ms. Adams) is extremely energetic and enthusiastic. I am very thrilled with my first impressions. I think Nicole will love her. She is an Oregonian and was talking Duck football with us. One of the first things in the classroom that we noticed was a bulletin board with the solar system and planets on it! She is teaching the kids about the lunar calendar. Ms. Adams is excited for Nicole and has her cubby ready and waiting, her class only has 14 students. amazing!

It is neat that they have been thinking about our kids since Sept. There are some other families with the same move date that we have (early January) and I think it will be a smooth transition. Chinese New Year break will be soon after the kids start, so that will be nice. I am hoping the kids will get situated and then have a little one week vacation to experience our new environment.

Chinese Medical Examination

In order to live in the Peoples Republic of China you must have an "official" medical examination. Well, our idea of a health check is nothing like that of those in China.

First, we walked up to the building hardly believing that this was where we were going for a medical exam. There was a pile of smashed up concrete and garbage as we went through the front doors. We waited a long while to pile into the crowded elevator. The wait was long because of a number or things.....
1) we were nervous about what to expect
2) it smelled of something indescribable (as many places in China do)
3) it was crowded
4) people were staring at us (as usual)

When we finally entered the waiting room, thankfully Intel had hired a company to help us with paperwork and to help translate for us. We waited for a number of "tests" that we needed to go through. We were ushered into these test rooms past others who were patiently waiting. No wonder people hate Americans.

Blood test: This woman was good.....it is by far the fastest blood draw I have ever had. This lady was very efficient, although she didn't have clean gloves (just ignore the blood splatters from the previous person). I was happy to see that she did have clean needles, she disposed of them after each person.

Heart, blood pressure: basically this is to see if you have a pulse and if your blood pressure is OK. If your blood pressure is high, I don't think it matters much, they reminded Damon to take his medicine.

The eye exam: A women sitting there with a chart asks (in Mandarin) for me to cover one eye, which I was able to figure out. I pointed my hand the direction the chart symbols and changed to the other eye. The interesting thing about this exam is.....they don't look to see if you have contacts, and if you have glasses (as my friend Geneal does) they have you take them off, try it, then put them on, then try it again. Apparently it doesn't really matter either way.

The EKG test: after standing in line behind a VERY flimsy curtain, lay down on a dirty table. the woman asks me to lift up my shirt, and I didn't do it far enough.....bra too. She puts these suction cups on my chest. They looked like they were about 50 years old. Then these cables that looked like jumper cables for a car were attached to my wrists and ankles. She turned on some machine and I think I felt some electrical currant, but I'm not sure. I guess I passed the test.

Ultrasound: I wish we did have a curtain for this one, even a VERY flimsy one would have been better than nothing! I laid down on a table (again, dirty) and pulled up my shirt. A woman squirts cold greasy lotion on my stomach, moves the ultrasound around my abdomen. I think she was looking for......actually I am not sure what she was looking for. I had to take a deep breath, I guess she couldn't see one of my organs very clearly. What a weird experience. She gave me a small paper towel that I was to clean the lotion off with, but most of it got on my shirt as I was trying to sit up and pull my shirt down and get off the table as fast as possible.

Urine test: This was by far the worst. The bathrooms were smelly, dirty and let me say....not western style toilets. When I was getting ready to go into the bathroom Geneal gave me a look that said "good luck" and her words of encouragement were, "I have NO words....." They gave me a cup to pee into and a test tube. This cup given to me was smaller than a dixie cup, more like the cups that I measure my kids' Tylenol. There was no counter or anything, so after I filled up my cup, I set it down to pull up my pants. Good thing I did this order correctly, otherwise I would have been pulling up my pants with one hand while holding the test tube of pee with the other. YUCK!

I am glad this is something that I don't need to ever do again. This is a test for people over 18 years of age. whew! I would hate to see Nicole and Trejan go through this!

Damon left our house this morning at 5:20 (or something crazy like that) for Shenyang (northeast of Beijing, north of Dalian). He is doing some interviewing and then on Friday Oct 10th I will fly to Dalian and meet him there. We are planning to go on our "house hunting trip" and finalize our apartment. I am nervous to fly there without him, but thankfully Mike and Geneal (our friends from Pheonix that we met last summer) are traveling with me. I am praying that our flights are all on time and that we get through the Beijing airport safely. Damon assures me that the international terminal is a piece of cake since the Olympics this past summer. It is a good thing they added that, because when we were their just over a year ago it was not very welcoming to english speakers.
I am sad that today was the last soccer game for Trejan that I will get to see him play this season. I will be missing his last two games with this upcoming trip. Nicole will have one left after we get back. Enjoying this fall is bittersweet, I will miss friends so much, and it is hard to imagine that for two years we will be having such different experiences.
October brings such a busy time for us anyway with both of the kids' birthdays, Trejan's "Webkinz birthday" party is in three days (Oct 8th, wednesday) and we are all very excited. Last bday here for two years....
We have been getting our house painted to have it ready to rent. I love it and am sad that we won't have more time to enjoy it. (Although the kids are already tired of me saying "don't touch the walls!)
I am going to try to enter posts every few weeks until we move, and then more frequently when we are in Dalian.
Pray for us in the next couple of weeks as we make some big decisions.

September '08 - Still Here

Well, we finally have a leave date set in stone(ish). If our plans hold, we'll be on an airplane Jan 5th. This will give the kids a week to get acclimatized to China before starting at the Dalian American International School. We have tons of stuff to do before leaving... at least we started our shots. Hep A, Hep B, ... Hep Z - Not quite but it seems like it. The kids are lucky as they are ahead of the game for immunizations. Right now we're trying to get the house looking decent for our future renters. We agree that a can of dark blue paint spilled onto off white rug leaves something to be desired although I do think I can see an image of the Virgin Mary in the splatter. (visiting hours are 9-5 M-Th, closed holidays, 5$ admission).