Work Ethic

It's been a great week.  Once again a busy week.  Work is keeping me very busy and then also trying to find a place to live has taken up any free moments.  Our plan is for me to find a place and then move in a few weeks before the family gets here so I can get everything organized and ready to go.  Our house will be furnished with beds, couches, chairs and appliances but things like bed sheets, towels, dishes, clean supplies will be furnished by us.  So after I get settled into the place there will be trips to Ikea and Walmart to get everything.  Alauna and Mikayla will be here the week after Easter.  They will get a chance to see Nanjing, finalize the housing situation, visit the school and Mikayla will meet with the school counselor and schedule her classes for next year.  I can't wait to see them.  It is great seeing them daily on Skype, but it will be so much better to see them in person.  

I have been coming to China/Taiwan for many years beginning in 1990.  I have really learned to appreciate and love the Chinese people and their culture.  One thing that has really stood out to me is their work ethic.  On a daily basis you will see people working extremely hard to make a living and provide for themselves and their family.  I am grateful that my kids will get to see how hard people work for just the basics of life.  We have been very blessed and Alauna and I have always tried to teach our kids to work.  We were both taught by our parents to work hard.  My dad can still outwork any of his kids.  Below are a few pictures of some examples of the hard working people that you see on a daily basis living in China.

These ladies are mending clothes.  They
sit outside shops and you take your clothes
and they will mend them.  You see they are
bundled up because it was about
40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Look behind the guy with the green jacket.
There is a guy with a long pole
hanging his laundry from the power lines.

This lady is collecting sheet metal.  She will
load up her bike with metal and then take to
be recycled.  You will see people do this
with plastic, Styrofoam, cardboard and
anything else that can be sold for money.

This guy is delivering water.  I think he can
fit seven large water bottles on his
motorbike.  What is even more impressive
is seeing him carry two of them up many
flights of stairs on his shoulders.  

The weather has finally broke through the cold and is now actually warm.  We are supposed to get 5 days of sun.   I have been here for three weeks and we have only had 2-3 days of sun until yesterday.  The locals say there are only two seasons in Nanjing, winter and summer.  I guess it turns really hot very quickly.  Yesterday and today were beautiful spring days.  Soon enough the intense heat will be here.  

As mentioned previously we have our final move date.  We will leave the US on June 6th.  We have now listed our house to rent.  That seems to be going well and there has been a decent amount of interest in the house.  It will be great to have the house rented.  

Things have been going well here in Nanjing.  Can't wait to see my family again.  Everyone take care.

Boyd