In a word we have been forced to adapt to our surroundings this summer. From the few weeks that we expected to land here in Ontario to 6 months we have certainly been ‘through the wringer’ as they say when it comes to adapting to what was expected to what was the outcome. I think it would be hard to list all the places we have stayed but it has tested our creativity and our perseverance of the situation given us. Whether it was due to the COVID 2020 situation or not we had to come up with plans as they were presented to us. We feel we have done pretty well considering the fact that our visit was initially supposed to be short and turned out to be half a year. Some of the planning was already done as we always planned to stay at the trailer at Tranquil Acres Campground but in staying Ontario this long we considered buying a house, renting an apartment, getting a short term rental cottage or none of these options and just sticking it out at the trailer, which we decided was the best option overall. Having Paul and Lyse’s cottage for almost 3 months was a blessing and having my mom’s condo in Ottawa and Matt’s apartment in Morrisburg all helped immensely when needing a place to switch up the monotony of one place to live and one area to discover.
I find the most dramatic change is what we see looking out our window. When we left Beijing we were leaving a view of a massive city in its day to day routine of life, its busyness and its natural vibe. Now here at Tranquil Acres Campground we look at nature when it happens by our window and it is amazing that we can be equally intrigued by what we see. We went from viewing regular dance and yoga and tai chi classes out the window to the odd squirred, chipmunk or robin and we adapted.
We have certainly been lucky with the weather this summer and we reflect on this quite often. If we had been experiencing rainy, wet weather well I know this blog would have not been as positive for sure. Long summer days here at the campground have let us appreciate outdoor living once again and know that it has a calming affect on us. We become grounded here with family and friends.
As of today we are waiting for our invitation letters to return to China, this time to Tianjin as John has accepted a teaching position with Maple Leaf Schools at Tianjin Teda. This adventure awaits us and we are looking forward to a new school and community. Of course we missed out on an opportunity to be in Beijing from late in February until end of June however we have seen the benefits of not returning as well. Tianjin is only half an hour from Beijing by fast train so I would imagine there will be some weekend excursions to Beijing to visit and revisit some historic sites. Again we look forward to continuing our adventure with this major glitch in the middle of it but as I said originally I feel we have been able to rise to the challenge of adapting to our surroundings to the best of our ability and hope there won’t be any more glitches in the plan but who knows!
