special delivery!

That's right- our unaccompanied air baggage came last Friday! We said goodbye to it on December 20th for our DC packout and here it is in Shenyang a short 37 days later. One special thing about China is that not only is it far away, but the customs process takes a bit longer as well. Plus we had Christmas & New Year's and we all know it's hard to get much done then anyways.

What does this mean exactly? It means our wardrobes have doubled. It means we have more than 2 dinner plates & 2 salad plates off of which to eat! Our kitchen knives, dutch oven and cast iron skillet (FINALLY) are here! With a few extra throw blankets around things are much cozier. The fridge is now covered in magnets & christmas cards which I think has become one of my initial strategies to personalize and warm up our empty apartments as we move around the globe.

magnets in the UAB along with fridge decor helps our kitchen feel a little more familiar

R roasted his first batch of Shenyang coffee (Guatamala single-origin) Saturday and it turned out pretty well. He's glad to have his burr grinder as well. With my mini-chopper I shredded mozzarella and minced onions and tomatos for a pizza absolutely from scratch (I made the sauce and dough myself and topped it with bell peppers onions and bacon) Monday night. Last night I employed my recently arrived immersion blender to make leek and potato soup with veggies bought at the market (post forthcoming on the amazing market).

leek & potato soup- yummm!

Honestly having this first shipment made it a little more real that they're actually sending the rest of our stuff to us and what a blessing that is. We are fine going with out and making due, and I feel simply spoiled that they're (slowly) shipping all of our stuff to us.

terrible iPhone picture of box 1 of 4 delivered Friday and only 2 mugs were harmed in the shipping- I was just so excited!

The next shipment of stuff to arrive will probably be some of our household effects that were in storage in Hagerstown, MD while we were in DC. This would be stuff we packed up in September when we left Atlanta so it will be fun to see what's there!

As far as we've heard it's supposed to make it to DaLian (a nearby port city) February 18th, but then it has to go through customs. Our UAB took 2 full weeks in customs in Dalian so I am trying to mentally prepare to receive it in March. The rest of our stuff from the DC apartment should get here after that because they packed up our storage unit stuff a week or so before we packed out of Oakwood.  So maybe by April we'll have everything (including consumables) but we will see!

With this incredible blessing I have to remind myself that it's all just stuff. While it does greatly enhance our ability to host new friends and feel at home, there's plenty to enjoy without it, and many expats live right here in Shenyang (or elsewhere in the country) without this privilege. I was particularly reminded of this talking to a new friend a couple weeks ago who told me how emotional it was for her to give her Kitchenaid mixer to a friend in the US before she moved here. She knew it was the right thing to do because this friend would actually USE the mixer and she couldn't take it with her.

My Kitchenaid gets here with our HHE from the warehouse, and this sounds so silly, but I hope I can use it to bless people in the community here. I hope I'll invite others over to bake and have others over for meals frequently. If you're in the Eastern hemisphere, consider a visit. China is a curious place and sometimes you just need refuge as a stranger in a strange land. Hoping we can establish that refuge in the course of two years.