The last time I published a blog post was in 2016… To say that a lot has changed in our family since then is an understatement. In the last three years:

• Jarek and I both earned master’s degrees
• We started a new career (yes, we–the Foreign Service requires work and sacrifice from the whole family, even the littlest member!)
• We moved across the globe
• Our family of three became a family of four

When I originally started this blog (formerly called “The Buss Stop”), Jarek and I were newly married students who saved our pennies to take advantage of every educational travel opportunity we could get. I remember putting a sticky note on the fridge that said “Play with baby tigers!” to remind me that sacrificing a Seven Brothers burger for beans and rice was worth the money saved.

Now, we are *almost* adults (will we ever reach true adult status?) with two kids and a job. In other words, we have more resources than the poor students we were before, but the way we travel has changed. As a result, this is no longer a travel blog but is more of a chronicle of our lives abroad.

I hope to answer many questions I’ve received from multiple people, such as:

What does it look like to raise a family in Guangzhou, China?

How do we get robots to deliver our groceries?

What are a few of the challenges facing American diplomats in China today?

As I publish content related to what is happening now, I will sprinkle in posts about things that have happened over the last three years. Unfortunately, both parents in grad school plus a baby/toddler prevented any significant travel, but we did have some pretty neat experiences along the way that Jarek and I will share with you (see posts under ‘recent history’).

I no longer have seemingly endless papers to write, so I won’t fall off the deep-end this time around–I promise you’ll hear from me more often!

If you have any questions about what it’s like living in Guangzhou, how we got here, or anything else for that matter, put it in the comments and I will do my best to answer.

Here’s to our newest adventure!

-KB