Back into the swing of things

We've been at post for just over a year now, so I find myself thinking back and asking myself where I was, what I was doing at this time last year. It's new and exciting to find myself living in the same place for more than a year-- it hasn't happened in a loooonnng time. But every time I think about it, the answer's the same, and it's not very interesting: I was pregnant, out to there! In fact, about this time last year, I was hanging out in Beijing. We'd rented a short-term apartment, and Penny and I were just chilling out, waiting for the baby to come. We went on walks, we played at the park, we took naps.

Then I had the baby, and the rest of last year gets blurred into the category of "taking care of Meimei." That was all I had planned. I didn't need a calendar, because I had something scheduled, oh, about every month or so. I was BUSY, no doubt about that, but it was structured around Naomi's ever-changing, ever-evolving schedule of needs. 

Then it was winter. It is COLD here, and we just carried on in our low-key schedule.

Now I'm venturing back out into real life again. Naomi is much more of a person now, and since both girls are older now, they're easier to take places, and more importantly, leave places. (Like at a friend's house or with our Ayi. What did you think I meant?)

So we started Penny in preschool last month. She goes a few times a week, and she enjoys it.

I started teaching a piano lesson one evening... a month. We should probably step things up a bit, but for now, that's what works best for us.

I started Chinese tutoring. A couple times a week, I meet with a teacher, and we have a Chinese lesson. I really like my teacher and her lessons so far (all of twice), so I'm excited to be learning this.

I'm studying Portuguese online. Technically, it's what I should be doing right now. I've had a lot of trouble setting up my account and accessing the websites. It seems like I need to email a different person and get a different password for every single page. And since they're in America and I'm in China, this correspondence takes FOREVER. It's been a week and a half now. I just barely got all the passwords I need, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet. Because...

Today I had some friends over to make dinner rolls! We had a great time, and had some great rolls to eat as well... eventually. (That's the problem with them taking 2+ hours to make, isn't it?) But we had a good time making them and eating other food and playing with Penny's toys.
It's kind of nice to be able to schedule my life a little more, adding structure and society. I've never been good at knowing how much to heap on my plate at one time, though. In the past, whenever my life seems a little slow, I start making plans and making plans and making plans until suddenly, everything is happening at once and I need to slow things down again. I'm starting to feel the stress again, but at least for today, it's pushed me to use my time wisely and find those little pockets of time that might otherwise have been wasted (or used for resting...).
And for the next little while, this is what I have on my plate:

I want to make a trip across town to a shopping center to pick up something for my cousin. I think I have time tonight after Naomi's in bed.

Then we have a BBQ tomorrow night, and I believe I'm supposed to bring a dessert.

Then tomorrow night I have a book club meeting. I haven't finished the book.

It's starting to feel like high school again.