I had huge hopes of re-doing the blog and having a http://madrid.cooperfamilyadventures.com domain, but truth-be-told, I don't even have the time to put sheets on the bed (true) let alone spend hours monkeying with the blog. So for now, it will stay http://beijing.cooperfamilyadventures.com.

To go with our "not quite right" domain name will be the tired layout of the blog. Again, time is the culprit here. I have visions of getting it updated, together with Jess when she returns, but we will see. Jess has her work cut out for her turning our house into a home, and ordering furniture to replace what we couldn't bring with us from China. Our landlord was supposed to donate the pieces we left behind, but somehow, that doesn't seem like the kind of thing a landlord would do. Who knows? Maybe I'm not giving him enough credit.

For now, it's more important to get the content posted than to tweak the aesthetics. The blog (when we actually manage to update it) might be interesting reading for you guys (I'm not so sure), but it's like a diary for us. It's a way to snapshot feelings, frustrations, and joys of new experiences before we lose them into the blur of day-to-day living. If you experience the bizarre enough, it eventually becomes routine and you stop noticing it. That's what happened to us in China. Most of our posts were triggered by frustrations at not being able to live like we thought we should, or when our Western cultural norms created a stark juxtaposition against the China environment. If you don't write stuff down when you experience it, then it's gone. Your memories are colored by time and your brain makes up a lot of stuff. I've come to realize that our brains are the ultimate revisionist historians. Write it down now, that's our blogging mantra, and certainly our intention. Unfortunately, lack of time has been the thief of many of my would-be-great blog posts. I still have a half-finished blog post about Dubai on my computer ...

But for now, I'll summarize for you: Madrid is nice, clean, and hot. Our house is nice, not-so-clean, and hot. I can't wait for everyone to visit us. See you soon!

Cheers.