One year ...

Katrina and I have been thinking about China even more than usual over the last few days. Believe it or not, it was one year ago this weekend that we returned from Wuhan.

A Cliff's Notes review of our time since then for those of you who were late to the game:

- We spent the first few weeks (late January) in Des Moines getting past jet lag and reverse culture shock.
- We then spent a good chunk of February in New England with Katrina's family.
- From late February through early June, we lived with my parents in Des Moines and had temporary jobs. Katrina worked as a substitute teacher with the Des Moines schools; I found a decent job through a temp agency.
- By late April, it became clear that we would be moving to Columbus, Ohio, so Katrina could start work on her doctorate in literacy education.
- In late May, we made our first trip to Columbus and found an apartment while I interviewed for my job.
- We spent much of June in Massachusetts for Katrina's mom's wedding.
- After the wedding, we took a whirlwind trip to Searcy to get our things out of storage and see some friends. In the process, we realized Katrina had left her driver's license in Massachusetts and had been driving illegally for a week.
- We moved in to our apartment July 1; my first day as assistant city editor at The Advocate in Newark, Ohio, was July 5.
- Back to Iowa for a few days in mid-August for my sister's wedding. I was one of the groomsmen; they had the ceremony at the Salisbury House in Des Moines.
- Katrina started her doctoral work in September and finished the first quarter with flying colors in December.

We really miss China. It's just hard to feel that we're doing the same kind of important Work here that we were doing over there. Not to mention the dozens of friends, both Zhongguoren and Meiguoren, we left behind. But it seems that this is where we need to be for now.