Fullbright

Spencer received the Fullbright award today to do research in China 2018-2019, which means we will probably be going to China in the fall for a year!! You can decide for yourself if those are good or bad exclamation marks. I knew this day would come, but I was kind of hoping it would come later than sooner because now we'll need to move to China for a year. It will all work out, but we'll have to either move and store our stuff (and car) somewhere, or sublet our apartment for the year until we come back. It will be a huge hassle. We'll live out of 3 or 4 suitcases for a year, traveling to roughly 4-8 cities with a three year old and a one year old. And because the stipend is intended for one person, money will be tight and we'll probably need to side hustle to live comfortably. When we went to China last summer we tried to do it on a small budget. Small budget = take a bus/subway. Medium budget = take a taxi. Large budget = take a private car. Small budget = studio with squatty potty. medium budget = 1 bedroom high rise. Large bedroom = 2+ bedroom gated community with central AC. Small budget = gutter oil diarrhea food. Medium budget = Fancy mall food. Large budget = foreign import grocery stores. By the end of our trip we were eating Subway sandwiches with 3 American-style cookies for every meal.

We've had fun imagining the life of a Fullbright-Hays recipient at roughly double the stipend amount, with additional dependent allowances and healthcare coverage. "Man, we could take private cars everywhere and buy $5 Kraft mac n cheese boxes for every meal!" Maybe we'll get another supplemental grant that Spencer applied for to set us apart from the masses once we are in China. I'm not really sure how everything will work out, but at least all Spencer's hard work has paid off and he is a Fullbright recipient!