{Trucking Right Along}

While the first week crept by painfully slow, this week flew quickly. Having Jeff here and overcoming jet lag has been a blessing, and I've been able to relax and enjoy my surroundings more. We officially finished training yesterday, and tomorrow I will begin floating around centers in Shanghai until I get my and Jeff's visas back. That... could be a while, considering getting Jeff taken care of has been a little trickier than myself. In spite of that, things are going smoothly and the transition has been smooth.

It has been great to have that " insta friends" in my group to bond with through this experience, and I look forward to having contacts in different cities as we branch out and travel over the next year. This month we will have two weeks off for the Chinese New Year, but the likelihood of having paperwork back by then will be slim, so it will most likely be spent touring our current city rather than traveling.

I look forward to spending my last Sunday off in a LONG time with Jeff at church and relaxing before a long week of work. I went to church on Christmas with a guy in my group, and enjoyed the experience. It's different meeting in a conference center, but the message and structure remains unchanged. It was also a welcomed experience to have someone genuinely curious and unbiased about my faith come along and understand me and my beliefs better.

Poor Jeff has been experiencing jet lag the last couple of nights and has been very kind to me as I sleep through the night. He's also getting used to the new style of mattress, which I'm personally a fan of, is a little ( lot) harder than what we are used to back home.

Today we'll be exploring some tourist sights around Shanghai, the fake market ( China town in a mall), and getting adventurous foods. Hopefully pictures to follow.
Stay tuned!

-Ashley