1 Month - Can You Believe It!

That's right, today is our 1 month anniversary of being here in Beijing! It's odd really because a week around here feels like a month so I can't believe it's only been 30 days. It's actually gone by relatively fast...

A few fast updates/small victories:

- Bought a crockpot! And even some meat we could stand to buy and cook. We're getting better at the food thing every day. Chinese food is tasting better and better and we're improving on finding things to make that taste like home (hence the chocolate chip cookies and taco night pictures below).

- We love our branch! The church is incredible and we are loving being a part of the Beijing contingent of members. Shame on us for not participating in more activities and meetings at home. We cling to every session of District Conference, ache to attend General Conference, and I haven't missed a RS activity yet.

- Shopping! Like manna from heaven we have found some great import stores with food from home and even an H&M! I was thrilled...I get really tired of the bargaining and feeling like I'm getting ripped off, so a trip to the mall was a welcome treat. The bouquet of flowers below was from a flower market we went to for a RS activity. That entire bouquet - $7.00. That was a day when I really loved China...

- Noah and Allison Riley (USU friends) are going to be in Beijing this weekend and we're really excited to meet up with them! Also, my parents will be here in two weeks - we can't believe it!

- The weather lately has been absolutely GORGEOUS. What feels normal at home - clean air and blue skies - feels like tender mercies here in Beijing. I literally have tears in my eyes when I open the curtains each morning and can see blue. This entire week has been really nice and we're just praying it will continue for a few more days/weeks. We've heard that the weather really turns in November so we'll enjoy this while we can. :)

- We're still enjoying classes, this week has also been really fun. Our students are great (except for when they write swear words on their papers to be funny) and we've had some pretty funny experiences. I'll post more about classes later.

- Alex's job hunt is still moving along...at about the same rate...he's applying like crazy and making as many contacts as he can. He's gotten a few leads in the last week that he's following up on now. We're still just praying that something will work out and enjoying spending so much time together until it does!