Bickel Blog: Time flies when you’re having fun

The cherry blossoms at Wuhan University (main campus)

Since the last update we have settled into our new routine and been able to take a little adventure/business trip to another city.

A view of the top of our apartment building from the hospital where Scott works.

Life here is very different than Birmingham. Because we do not have a car and most everything we need is within walking distance, we spend a lot of time in a very small radius. Many people live and work in the same area, which has both positives and negatives. For example, Scott’s office is a 10-minute walk from the apartment (including the journey down 6 flights of stairs). Between the office and apartment is the large teaching hospital where he spends time and a park where we all try to go to get some physical activity (a track, soccer fields, basketball court, and exercise equipment that the kids use as a playground).

A place nearby for a quick lunch ($1 for eggs and fried rice)

What is interesting is that, even though we spend our time within a small radius, when we have to go anywhere outside of our local area, or venture to the grocery store (20 minute walk), everything seems to take so much longer. We were just discussing this with our friends from Texas who have lived here for several years. We have no practices to get to, games to rush to, meetings, etc… but we cannot seem to get the kids to bed before 9:30 every night! Maybe it is the fact that we only have 1 bathroom, no dishwasher, and hardly any space to store much food, which means a trip to the grocery every 2 days! Just going to visit our friends, who live 2 stops away on the subway takes about 45 minutes. We need to walk 15-20 minutes to the train, go 2 stops, wait for a bus or walk another 20 minutes to their home. I would guess that’s only traveling about 5 miles!

Some friends from the hospital took us fishing

The children do not watch a lot of TV in Birmingham, but not having a TV here has been a blessing. We have been able to read books aloud, which when you have a good book, all of the kids have looked forward to that time. Based on some recommendations from social media, Scott heard about a book called the Green Ember and downloaded it before we left. It has been a great book and the kids ask constantly if we are going to be able to read it each night.

The Bell Tower in Xi'an (taken with an iPhone!)

Using the "selfie stick" on the Muslim street in Xi'an

Finally, our trip to Xi’an was a tremendous success. We got to visit our friend Jenny, who traveled from Beijing to meet us and we got to explore this ancient city. Xi’an is about 3,000 years old and many of the sites are well over 600 years old. To put this in perspective, think about Christopher Columbus leaving Europe for North America in 1492; that was about 520 years ago! We visited the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, which are thought to be around 2,000 years old and were just discovered in the early 70’s. A farmer was digging a well and found them. Due to the fact that the government owns all of the land, they gave him 30RMB (about $5 today) and turned the site into a large tourist attraction. They are still working on the site and recently discovered some new items. We also visited several other sites that were close to our hotel and got to ride bikes around the city wall. While there, Scott and Jenny visited the local hospital to tour their rehab department. Scott gave a lecture and then they saw a few patients. In return, they provided us with the hotel, tours, a driver and English speaking tour guide, and a few wonderful meals…what a blessing!