We got back to Jakarta last night. I had less than 5 hours of sleep for two nights… but I am happy, excited, energized, grateful, and in love.
The last couple of days in Shanghai were spent meeting last rounds of old friends (mostly classmates), revisiting familiar places that husband and I used to know well but forgotten by me, and packing.
Did I mention that the slow summer made me feel more in love? I know we rarely talk about it once we are married, dedicating more to the kids, as if we’ve move into next stage. Busy life logistics, work, daily tasks, prevented me to appreciate small gestures and what dating felt like. This summer, husband and I had plenty of dating opportunities as the grand parents were eager to have the kids. It was wonderful, a good reminder of how it all started.
One of our last “date was to try this unique parsley cake, recommended by a friend. We were happily surprised how refreshing it was.
Girls loved spending time with grandmas. The last couple of days, they had lunch with them, and tears were spent. Until next summer?
I don’t recall ever spending this long in Shanghai doing nothing. The only goal was to spend time with families, and slow down. It is nice to visit new places, but also nice to go back to the familiar, to form a tradition, to bound with extended families and friends.
During these five weeks. I adopted new habits
- Watch news every morning and evening. I’ve never been a news person but I enjoyed watching news here as they are not big political events, but rather mundane happenings in the city.
- Bike to everywhere that is more than 300 meters away. Because of the convenience of shared bicycle and well delineated routes for cyclists. I really love biking to everywhere. I volunteer to go out to run errands even with this heat, to get a chance to bike for few minutes.
- Shopping. Taobao is magical and super cheap. I don’t like to buy clutter but I have been shopping almost everyday for things that I just realized I needed.
Habits I temporarily stopped:
- Journaling, habits tracking, 5 years journal. I want to live in the moment and don’t feel the urge to “record” as things happen as it would be The way to savor it to the most.
- Carrying a revolving list of to-do’s. Surprisingly, nothing really bad happened. I did forget girls’ online mandarin lessons few times, but well… nothing really bad happened.
Habits I continued:
- Go to bed early (8-9pm before the rest of the family), wake up 4-5am to have quiet morning and my run in before the family gets up.
- Reading before bed, and whenever I am alone, especially after a long hot run.
- Eat what makes me feels good. There are so many varieties of food around me, many I used to love, many new creations, many popular at the moment. I might try some from time to time, otherwise I stick to bland food, mainly corn, kabocha, greens, all sorts of tofu.
- Following my running plan despite the heat and humidity. I think I’m really getting heat adapted now.
- Strength training 2-3 weeks a week. I signed up for a gym. It is not as nice as the one I have back home but since it’s 10 min walk only, I try to go there few times a week.
Books read:
- The road to character
- Four thousand weeks
- talking to strangers
- Transcendent Kingdom: A novel
- school of mothers
Let me leave you with my favorite running path
Our New Journey 
I really enjoy turning on the local news every morning at my house, too. I never just sit and watch it, but I like having it on in the background as I make my tea or make breakfast, etc. I like to catch the weather report and I hear little updates from our local area.
Totally makes sense to not habit track when you’re away from home. Life feels so different and I always feel like I just don’t have the same “control” over my days. Did you like the book 4,000 Weeks? I read it a long time ago, but I remember enjoying it. Different style from other time management books, but I found his style sort of calm and soothing, I think. I’ve listened to Oliver Burkeman on various podcasts and I have found him to be very well spoken and likeable. Maybe it’s his lovely British accent, hahaha.
LikeLike
That running path looks amazing! That is awesome that you got some date nights with your husband. I was hoping to do that when we were at the lake but then with my brother and his kids there, it didn’t work out. I don’t see my niece and nephew very often so wanted to soak the time up with them. But we really need to find a babysitter and get back to regular dates. We do have our drives to/from work Tues-Thur for catching up although the morning is NOT the time to talk about anything because my husband is NOT a morning person. But we have good chats on the way home. But we need more than those car rides so I’m going to figure out a babysitter this fall.
I miss watching the news! It just doesn’t happen these days with the young kids around. I used to have it on in the morning but our mornings are so rushed and Will is NOT a morning person so mornings are extra rough and I don’t have time to watch the news. But someday I will get back to that habit!
LikeLike
Loved this post! My Golden Hour pretty much stopped during our Portugal-Spain vacation. I am feeling the need to resume it soon. In Poland, the Golden hour shifted to a much later time since I’m struggling with the time change. Like, yesterday I didn’t fall asleep until midnight! So I’ve been reading until I fell asleep and watched a movie.
LikeLike