staying busy....

Life keeps on moving forward here in Lijiang, though sometimes it feels like we are at a stand still. Classes have picked up in difficulty as now we are speaking full time. I'm starting to realize why Mandarin is the hardest language to learn for English speakers. There are a few pronunciations that are just about impossible to create with my mouth. This is OK, I don't mind speaking with an accent. At least that's the way I feel until I hear the Chinese person at the grocery store say "Sank you," instead of "thank you."

Below is a picture of one of our lessons. We put out a 100 or so of the 400 flashcards we've learned and attempted to say them all. It was tough.















Life is becoming more and more normal. Our routine has kicked in and we are learning how to survive in this culture. Not everything is foreign to us here in Lijiang. Some things are very familiar, but not completely familiar, like this picture below:















And there are other things that I'm sure we'll never get used to:



















One thing that will definitely contribute to us making China our home is our first apartment. We just signed a three year contract starting May 1. We are the first renters and have had a lot of say on the remodeling process. We are excited to make it our first home together. We'll upload some pics of the finished apt soon.