Finally I have found some time to write here again. One month has passed since the last post... so, here is update number one!
Some days after the last time I wrote, I packed my suitcase and we left for a short trip to Pingyao (平遥). The city of Pingyao, which is located about 700 km southwest of Beijing, is not very big, but it is known for it's high concentration of Ming-and Qing-style residences (especially within the city walls, which, by the way, also happen to be among the best preserved walls in China). In fact, in 1997 Pingyao became a UNESCO World Heritage site and they have been restoring many decaying buildings to it's original splendor. Even though Auro was fighting a nasty cold (runny nose during the day, completely blocked nose during the night which kept him from sleeping soundly, the poor thing!), we still enjoyed our short stay. One day we left the city and visited a village nearby which is not on any World Heritage list yet, but, to our humble opinion, should definitely be! Anyway, here are some pictures.
On Easter Monday, Auro and I got on the plane again and flew back to Belgium. Auro slept most of the trip due to a slight fever, which turned out to be a fairly high one by the time we arrived in Begijnendijk. In fact, we called the doctor when I noticed he had a body temperature of 40 degrees. As it turned out, his common cold had changed into bronchitis and needed to be treated with some antibiotics... Two or three sleepless nights later, however, Auro already looked much better. But, not only did he recover quickly, he all of a sudden started sleeping 12, 13 hours during the night! After months of a really irregular sleeping pattern (= 3 out of 5 nights waking up, usually screaming as if he had had a nightmare), he finally went back to sleeping peacefully. I had almost forgotten what it was like to sleep through the night. I don't know what it was that brought on this sudden change. Was it the medicine? Was it his return to the house where he spent the first months of his life? Had his uncle's lessons in assertiveness anything to do with it? Or was it simply the fresh air of Begijnendijk? Whatever it was, I'm very grateful for it ;-)
