Chip's Chewable: "Learn Chinese?"

How does the number of native English speakers compare with the number of native Chinese speakers in the world today? How many English speakers are studying Chinese? And how many Chinese speakers are studying English? See for yourself.

Our Changchun Home

Chip and I have lived in three apartments over our three year marriage, and we have never chosen our own home. Our circumstances have chosen for us. As a Resident Director at Spring Arbor University, we lived in the RD apartment in the dormitory. As foreign teachers in Qufu, we lived in the foreign teacher building. And when we arrived in Changchun, we were dropped off with our suitcases at our new home arranged in advance for us. On the whole, we have been blessed with some great homes. Our Changchun apartment far exceeded my expectations. Let's go up to the sixth floor and take a look around!

The Living Room

All the walls are blue and the flooring is nice and smooth throughout the apartment. We have mostly decorated with things we shipped from our Qufu home. All the rooms in the apartment have great large windows.





The Dining Area

Yep, that's a pillow case on the wall. Resources are limited and my creativity is waning. If you have a better idea, I'm open.



The Kitchen

Great shelving (to replace the less than functional cabinets that have huge pipes running through them), good counter space, a little narrow but enough space for two, & we purchased a toaster oven & whole wheat flour, so I'm feeling pretty set.



The Study Nook

The Americans (and as it turns out, Texans) who lived here before us had this great dry erase board calendar on the wall. The desk has already become Chip's favorite spot to perch with his netbook.



The Master Bedroom

This room is good sized & has lots of storage. My favorite part of this room is the Thai wall hanging above the bed that we bought last year during our travels. (The photo doesn't do it justice).





The Spare Bedroom

That's right. There's a spare room. That means we have room for visitors! We will be in this apartment a couple of years, so go ahead and make your travel plans.



The Bathroom

The bathroom scores big points over Qufu where we always had puddles of water on the floor. If you look closely, there are jets in the shower so you can sit down and get your backed cleaned. (Actually, it sounds cooler than it is. The water pressure is super low). Did you notice the washing machine?! Yep, a washing machine in our apartment--pretty convenient compared to carrying laundry down four flights of stairs last year. What you don't see, I mean smell, here is human waste, but if you were actually standing in our bathroom, I would recommend holding your breath when you flush.



The Porch

Great for drying laundry but not really a "hang out" spot.



We are feeling settled and "at home." We have finished our week of orientation and will start Chinese language foundations next week.

And. . .we're back!

We made it back to China! Our trip was smooth--three flights with no delays and good connections. And our boxes (above) shipped from Qufu made it to Changchun. Then we carried them up six flights of stairs (no elevator) to our new apartment.

Above: Chip opening the door to our new home.

The apartment is nice--a little bigger than our Qufu home. We will spend the next few days organizing and decorating our new place, then our Language School orientation starts on Monday.

We met our classmates for a picnic today. There were so many great people (including a couple who stocked our fridge and had homemade cinnamon rolls waiting in our apartment when we arrived). We are excited about being in a larger city, larger community of foreigners, and in larger fellowship with believers.