This is our Paris

I write this with a great fear of getting my hopes up. You see, because in this wonderful job Nate has, nothing is certain. I am quite superstitious you know. I "knock on wood" frequently, but mostly I try to keep my mouth shut. I have been snake bitten too many times by saying things like, "My kids never sleep in my bed," and now I have two little boys who are in my bed every night. Or, "I'm really good at driving in this parking garage. See!" This was said a day before I scrape the right side of the car on a wall as I make a turn. I even monitor what thoughts are in my head! I can never think, G could really use a nap, but he is being so good, because at that moment, he won't be. It happens to me a lot. Even as I am writing this, I am starting to second guess the wisdom in continuing. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that one little silly blog post can't really change a decision that has already been made. The decision can change, yes, but not because of this. Can it?

Since Nate isn't speaking Chinese while at his first post, he has to speak it in his second. We got information regarding this, and a bid list about a month ago. He had to bid on all the Chinese-speaking posts that fit his time frame. That was 6 jobs, 4 cities. Not very much variety, but it made the research really easy. The four cities were Chengdu, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Taipei.

You can imagine our joy and delight when we see Taipei on the list. Why were we so happy? Well, Nate has been talking about Taiwan almost every day for over 12 years! (He probably even talked about it for a couple more before that, but I didn't know him.) He has been telling our children about Taiwan since they were born. That is where he served his mission. He loved it. Because he loved it so much, and loved the people and the language, he even got his degree in Asian Languages. Which, by the way, didn't really come in handy until a year or so ago. We eat Taiwanese breakfasts, we celebrate Chinese New Year. He has wanted to go back ever since he came back. He has never made it. He has put other priorities first. Mostly jobs, wives, and babies. (Yes, he only has ONE wife. Wives just sounded better.) I have never been there either, but I already love it. The kids already love it. So that means it was an easy choice, right? Not really. There are so many more things to worry about. Schools, timing, job, career track, what that means for the 3rd post, money, housing, weather, commute, etc. etc. etc. It was actually a really hard decision. Those other 3 cities are awesome. Lucky for us, we couldn't go wrong with any of those choices. AND sometimes it doesn't really matter what you want. You'll go where "they" need you to go. But, since we have to make our choices whether it matters or not, we did. And after thinking long and hard, and watching videos, and researching, we decided on this order... 1) Taipei 2) Chengdu 3) Guangzho 4) Beijing. It was hard too because we haven't even started yet! It was hard to know what we want or what we WILL want. Jakarta is populous and polluted, so maybe we would want a change? We are talking about China here, so those two P's aren't going anywhere. Everything said and done, we thought Taipei would have the easiest living conditions. And it has the sentimentality. There is a great Mormon community there, and it has a temple. Chengdu sounds like a wonderful post. Everyone loves it there. It has pandas! If we would have gotten our second choice, we would have been pretty happy. Guangzho has great schools, and church. Oh, and Hong Kong is close by, which I've heard is cool and has a temple. We would have been happy here too. And Beijing is amazing, of course. We just thought it is huge, and we might want a break from that. And I think we would like it more when our kids are older and can take advantage of the schools. But again, if we would have gotten our fourth choice, we would have loved every minute of it.

But we didn't. We got our first choice. This is our Paris. Only better! We can take our 5 kids there, and the people will love them! And it has such a strong sentimental pull for my husband that it makes it the coolest place on earth. And not only do we get to visit there, we get to live there! We get to see and do and taste and smell (for better or worse) everything that Nate has been telling us for so long.

Nate told me when I was on my way to Costco. I wasn't sure what he was telling me at first. I was like, I know I know you want to go to Taiwan. Then he said something about an email. I thought, wait, an email?!! Yes, he got an email confirming where we would live in 3 years. Weird. But cool! I didn't really have anyone to call who would share my excitement, so I just started shouting at all the Chinese people I saw. "Hey! Hey you! Are you Taiwanese? Because I'm going to live there. Cool, huh." They thought I was crazy. I texted Nate like 3 times even though he wasn't responding. They were really dumb texts. I think one was just, 'oh my gosh.' This whole time I was dying to tell my daughters. I spared the boys the confusion. I've just barely got Mads to understand that Washington DC is still in the United States, and that Virginia is a state, and Utah is another state. Indonesia is such a fantasy place to him, I didn't even want to bring in Taiwan. But, of course, I couldn't tell them because they were in school. I decided to tell them as soon as they got off the bus. I wish I would have thought to write down my predictions of their reactions. I would have been dead on.

B.A. - Squeals, jumps up, and gives me a much-too-long hug.

Rhon - Barely smiles. And when asked why she's not excited, "How can I be excited when it is 4 years away?" Very logical, but it's only 3 years away, Smartypants.

Dare - Gives a big smile, tells me cool, and then immediately turns to her friend to share the news. "After Indonesia, I'm moving to Taipei! Then I can go to Taipei 101!"

Turns out, we do have people who are excited for us. It was really fun telling the moms at the bus stop. And, of course, Liz. And Nate's family is thrilled for him. And the Patch family wanted to celebrate with us. So we got ice cream. And went to the park. I got 10 more mosquito bites. I better get used to it. And hot weather. And rain. Do you know how much it rains in Taipei? MORE than in Jakarta. I didn't think it was possible.