SUNDAY, 3\/16\/14<\/b><\/p>\n
Today is a lazy day.\u00a0 The weather is gorgeous.\u00a0 Kids are out everywhere.\u00a0 I\u2019m doing a little work on US income tax, via Turbo Tax.\u00a0 Later in the day, Judy heads over to Capita Mall to do a little shopping.\u00a0 I make a trip to the Marriott for my swim.\u00a0 When I get home, I place a delivery order for a pizza from Kro\u2019s Nest.\u00a0 There are lots of delivery options available around town.\u00a0 Almost every restaurant has delivery in place.\u00a0 Now that I have an online site that has our correct delivery address, it\u2019s too easy.\u00a0 We spend the evening watching more of season one of \u201cLost\u201d, and enjoying a really good pizza.<\/span><\/p>\n MONDAY, 3\/17\/14<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m so close to finishing our income tax, everything else comes to a halt.\u00a0 I continue to work on deductions, trying to get to a point where maybe I won\u2019t have to pay much more tax.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a refund in our future, but \u201ctax owed\u201d is coming down.<\/p>\n Our ayi, Lilly comes in today.\u00a0 She mentions that the heat is off.\u00a0 What she means is that the Beijing government has turned off all the heat in the city.\u00a0 Because of our location, floor to ceiling windows that face the full sun most of the morning and early afternoon, we never had a problem with heat.\u00a0 I actually had turned off all the radiators in the apartment back in November.\u00a0 The sun, combined with heat radiating from apartments below us, kept us too warm most of the winter.\u00a0 Most days, I had to open one or more windows to cool us down.<\/span><\/p>\n I get in my daily swim, and return to the apartment.\u00a0 As I\u2019m settling in to my chair to do a little computer work, I lose my balance, and fall comfortably into the chair.\u00a0 However, a leg of the chair splits, and I end up looking at the ceiling, although still seated.\u00a0 When Judy gets home, I make sure about which chair (colors, etc.) I need to buy.\u00a0 I head out to IKEA to purchase a replacement.<\/span><\/p>\n As I walk into IKEA, I can\u2019t help but think about all our previous visits.\u00a0 We needed maps, and special instructions for the taxi drivers.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t know how to communicate and ask questions in the store.\u00a0 We always struggled to figure out where to get the bigger items.\u00a0 Checking out was sometimes confusing (again, a language issue).\u00a0 Getting home was confusing because of the lack of a direct route.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, I can direct the taxi myself, I know where I\u2019m going in the huge store.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve figured out how to communicate at checkout, and I can verbally give directions to the taxi driver to get me home.\u00a0 It\u2019s such a different mentality than it used to be.\u00a0 I used to dread a trip to IKEA.\u00a0 Now, it\u2019s as easy as going to the grocery store (which is also much easier than it used to be).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SUNDAY, 3\/16\/14 Today is a lazy day.\u00a0 The weather is gorgeous.\u00a0 Kids are out everywhere.\u00a0 I\u2019m doing a little work on US income tax, via Turbo Tax.\u00a0 Later in the day, Judy heads over to Capita Mall to do a … Continue reading