It seems to be a continuation of blessings for Paul and I. Here’s
the rundown of what’s incredible right now (in somewhat chronological order):
-
We weren't expecting to be reimbursed for our original
flights to China this year because we had to return home with Beau and miss
almost 2 months of work. We also weren’t expecting to receive any pay for the
month of February as it was Chinese New Year and we were traveling through
various countries. However, in a moment of sheer brilliance, we decided to make
our case. We spoke with administration at the university and told them we hadn’t
technically broken contract since we returned and also had taken it upon ourselves to get
our classes covered by other teachers (this was a big one). We were told to
write a letter of request and we would have to wait to see what happened from
there. Last week we checked our accounts and WHAMO. An extra 20,500 RMB which
is around 3,000 USD. It may not seem like much in America but here that goes a
LONG way. Not to mention it will cover our summer trek through Europe (which,
by the way, we would NOT have made so extensive if I’d actually believed I
would get into Yale!).
-
Our taxes were significantly more complicated
this year without W2’s and with Chinese contracts so we had to wait some time
for them to be completed. Because of this we both missed deadlines for
receiving financial aid from our schools and were expecting to have to cover EVERYTHING
with loan money. We were sent both of the account outlines and, low and behold,
I was given a $7,000 scholarship from Yale and he was given a $2,000 scholarship
from Fuller. Unexpected scholarship is the best!
-
It’s been a little stressful trying to figure
out where we’ll live when we return. We’ll be in Europe until August 7th,
orientation at Yale starts August 19th and somewhere in the middle
of that is my sister Taylor’s bridal shower and our welcome home/re-going away
party. I decided to apply for on-campus graduate apartments because it is
incredibly expensive to live in New Haven and these apartments take up a little
less space in the pocketbook and also looked pretty neat-o. Not to mention it
would be an opportunity to meet other graduate students and be on a beautiful
campus (that’s the part I’m most looking forward to; I must admit Wuhan isn’t exactly
“beautiful” in the traditional sense). They had really low apartment availability
to applicant ratio so I didn't think anything would come of it but we received word
this morning that we were offered the exact two-bedroom apartment we wanted.
Note the two bedrooms; this means to
come visit us as we’re a hop, skip and jump away from a number of delightful
destinations.
-
Last but not least – ok, probably least – is that
we were given free tickets from a Chinese friend to the Wuhan vs. Shanghai
soccer game today. Thanks Jin Xun!
Besides all of the aforementioned we’ve been trying to soak
in as much of Wuhan as we can before we can’t. A lot of that has been hopping
on buses and arriving at wherever that takes us; this has made for some “interesting”
adventures – in China you never know what you’ll come across!
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| Great place for a nap |
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