Well, we’ve survived our first week in the countryside.  We’ve had a few challenges in our initial adjustment period, but I’m not complaining.  Let’s just call it challenge assessment. 

As many of you know by now our first week brought a plague of mites.  (We call them mites, but identifying them as such has been part of our dilemma.)  Whether they were chiggers we picked up while hiking (which is very probable,) ticks, fleas, lice, bed bugs, or a score of other nearly microscopic pests, these little bugs had a field day with the smallest member of our family, Sarah.  Evidently, she is the most delicious of the four of us because she was bitten ALL OVER her tiny body.  It was truly sad.  Anna and Christa also got their fair share of bites while my outer layer of fur provided almost complete protection. 

In an effort to stem the scratching tide and eradicate these little beasts, Christa did laundry for about 3 straight days.  We then sprayed mattresses, second-guessed this, then bought new mattresses for the girls, vacuumed, set off a  "bug bomb" in their room, and have applied copious amounts of insect repellent both before and after sleep.  We have not discovered any more of the pin-head sized pests on Sarah’s body, but she still seems to be getting bites here and there.  We’re thinking it might help to prune back our "jungle" of a backyard a little.  What do you think?

In the midst of tackling these tiny tyrants, we’ve also been getting to know our neighbors thanks to a water line that needed to be replaced.  Yeah, plumbing issues follow us wherever we go.  In order to replace the water line that leads from the street to our home, a 6-8 foot deep trench had to be dug in front of our entrance.  Mind you, this isn’t our home!  We’re just living here.  So we’ve been negotiating how much we are willing to pay for labor and new piping, etc. on our friends behalf.  And we’re praying it all works out since it would be nice to have running water return to our house.  We’re also hoping (and praying) it was installed correctly and that the water will flow again by this evening.

The irony is that when I returned to Xining yesterday to sign some more paperwork for our labor permits I noticed that they were also tearing up the concrete in our apartment complex back there.  Evidently there are some issues with the "piping" that need to be addressed.  So there really wasn’t any escaping it (i.e. water loss) for us whether in Xining or Jianzha.

On the brighter side, the girls have enjoyed the freedom of the enclosed back yard and the spaciousness of our temporary home.  They’ve been eating pears fresh off the tree in our backyard.  Christa and I got a rundown on library procedures and have met some of the local staff.  Hopefully, by next week we’ll have our work permits and can then apply for our visas.  Please keep this in your daily vertical communication!  Thanks.

P.S. No rat sightings yet.  Maybe the mites carried them all off.