4 Sick in the City of Shanghai

So I have been absent from the blogging scene for awhile now, partly due to the holiays, and a trip we took to Japan (I promise I will get this up soon), but mostly because we have all been sick on and off with various things since the middle of November.

I feel like I am hanging on by the sheer grace of God, as after a week of Josh with the croup, and Danny home with pink eye (and Dustin in Korea), we followed that up with this past week of Danny with croup, Josh with some respirtory illness (partly from his cold and partly from the strong fumes coming for the renovation of the 1st floor apartment--just thank the Lord now that the US is smart enough and someone along the way cared enough to get rid of the toxic chemicals in paint, etc.--I laugh to think that they now sell paint that has no fumes--here they either lack the knowledge, or more likely they do not care). The same issue that bothered Josh's lungs has aggravated my asthma, and then of course the same day Danny was home with the croup, and Dustin left for an over night trip, I caught the flu. Yikes! Pretty crazy, but I am not done yet.... Dustin just came down with what I had last night.

I am ready to not have anyone sick for awhile. My friend did tell me that they went through this their first winter here as well, plus this is Danny's first year in school, so we are catching all the fun things kids swap there as well. Hoping that when we return from our Christmas break back in the States, we will be stronger and healthier.

While I feel like we have been layed up for a while, we have been able to accomplish some nice things along the way...

Dustin's trips were extremely success in that he accomplished what he sought to do while away. Secondly, between colds (I had about a three day window between the really sick days) I was able to track down some Christmas decorations (while we will celebrate at home in the States, it is just strange to not decorate after Thanksgiving), so we now are the proud owners of a small tree that sits on one of our side tables. I bought cheap ornaments (thankfully plastic) for the kids to deocrate it, and we have some cute other holiday accessories. I had found a small wooden nativity set (without wise men) at Hobby Lobby before we came back this summer, and Danny was able to color them the other day. While we were really sad about not being with family for Thanksgiving, we did have a couple different celebrations with families we have met here--God has so blessed us by the people he has placed in our lives here (yes, I will get blog up about our celebration here). And finally, but hardly least, we celebrated Josh's two year birthday (I cannot believe how grown up my boys are getting--it is such a joy to watch them develop from babies into little boys).

We are finally in our last week before heading back to the States for Christmas. This entire fall has flown by with such speed. While the fall with all its holidays, and our two boy's birthdays, normally goes quickly, here in China everything seems to take on a faster pace. This week is no exception to how busy our lives seem to be here. Dustin leaves tomorrow for Shenzen (near Hong Kong) to meet with his employees down there, and will return the following day. He will then spend the rest of the week preparing for meetings back home. While I am doing last minute errands, seeing friends that are moving away back to the States, and getting us packed to get home, plus Danny's school party on Friday. Whew! I pray that we will be able to get healthy despite our busy schedule as we are so excited to see our family and friends back home.

Playdates and time with friends

One great part of school for Danny is he now knows children closer to his age and enjoys getting together with them outside of school. This week we played with his friend Liam on Tuesday and Tayton on Friday. Both of these boys are American and are about his same age. For his playdate with Liam, we headed over to his house and played there with his older brother Mackenzie. The kids had a great time and we finished the time off by going to the park. Friday we had Tayton over to our house, and the boys really had a great time. They played with the trains and cars and then ended up downstairs with our pretend swords (made out of that foam rubber material).

On Wednesday, I had a great morning with my friend Erin. I had Josh stay home with Hong Li and it was nice to just visit and not have to worry about what Josh was doing (i.e.--ready to pour the salt and pepper out on the table, etc...) We again went to the pearl market and browsed around and then headed over to eat lunch.

On Saturday we went out with our friends Lindsay and Joel to celebrate Joel's birthday. We each had our ayis come and watch the boys (we did not leave until almost 7, so the boys were mostly ready for bed) and we headed out for sushi. This was my first time experiencing sushi (unless you count the airline's version of it), and it was really good. This gave me a small preview of what we might experience on our trip to Japan next week.

Overall, the week was great. It has really cooled off here--going from 80 to 50 and now 40 in a span of a couple of days. It is finally feeling like fall and I am looking forward to the holidays. It is so nice to see Danny meeting and enjoying friends here in Shanghai and I am enjoying meeting all of their moms a little more in depth.

Shopping and Trick-or-treats

Today was a great day. We headed out early and went to a store that a lot of our friends buy accessories from here in the City. The store was extremely neat in that it had gorgeous Chinese furniture, lamps, pictures, and just knick knack things. We ended up picking up Chinese placesettings, which includes a little plate, a small bowl, a tea cup, chopsticks and its holder, and the Chinese spoon. We have been wanting to get a set like this so when we entertain and serve Chinese food we have something nicer than the cheap chopsticks I had gotten us at Carrefour when we first moved in.

After this store, we headed to have lunch at Blue Frog, a popular restaurant for expats that is located in the same district area of the store. They have a nice area for the kids to play and we were given table near this area, so Dustin and I could sit for a little bit and keep a good eye on them as well. Josh had a great time just walking between where Danny was playing and us. We had a nice lunch and then headed over to the flower market.

We went to the flower market to pick up some artificial orchids to go in this vase Dustin had bought a while back. We have been wanting to get over here for some time, but the weekends just seem to get so busy. Josh began having a melt down, so we headed home quickly.

After naps we had a nice dinner and then got the boys dressed to go trick-or-treat. They had a party/festival at the clubhouse, but numerous people said it was crazy last year, so we did not bother to go see it. We took the kids to the community next to ours where there are houses rather than apartments. We started at my friend Diane's house, and Josh was just hilarious. He did not get it at first and actually looked like he might cry, yet after the second house he realized the concept that when he yelled out trick or treat (in is cute version) that the people would then put candy into his basket. He was running to the next house after that. So cute--he dressed up as spiderman as well, which had the little muscles in it and everything. We stuck mostly to our friends houses and their closest neighbors.

It was a great night, just a little warm and as we were winding down and heading home, Danny summed up the unusual warm weather well by saying "I'm roasting in this, can I take it off?" So we headed home with Josh wiped out in the stroller and Danny with his spiderman tied around his waist, both excited about the candy they received.

Halloween School Party

So most of this week was devoted to getting ready for Danny's school Halloween Party. Monika and I had decided on having the kids do two craft projects, one being a pumpkin magnet and another being a scarecrow. I had earlier gotten the pumpkin pieces cut out, but I was amazed at how long it took us to get the scarecrow parts cut out and certain sections preassembled.

On the Friday before Halloween, the school had the party in the morning, as some children like Danny leave at 1:30 and others stay until 3:30. The teachers and staff had decorated the preschool, and many of the parents dressed up in costumes along with their children. Danny was so excited to go as Spiderman this year. He is really into dressing up as superheros right now, so this was the perfect costume.

The party went extremely well, and there were a lot of parents that stayed to help and to also take great pictures of the kids. We started out with a song about going apple picking and then gave each child a variation on a carmel apple for them to try. We did our story about fall festivals (not sure how many children except those from the midwest, which there are a couple, followed this concept) which gave us our segway and explanation of a scarecrow and then we had them start on this craft. They were all excited about it and they turned out really cute. After that, we did the pumpkin craft and then went around the clubhouse (the preschool is located within our clubhouse) for trick-or-treating/showing off the costumes to the staff of the clubhouse.

Overall it was a great day, but by the end I was exhausted. We had a relaxed rest of the day and looked forward to taking the kids around tomorrow.

Danny's Birthday Party

We had a great day with beautiful weather for Danny and Alivia's birthday party. I cannot believe that at the end of October it is in the 80s. As the two are such good friends, have all the same friends, and their birthdays are just a couple days apart, Lindsay and I decided it would be fun to celebrate together. We had the party at Lindsay and Joel's house as they live in a house with a yard compared to our apartment. Our goal was to keep the kids between the backyard and the kitchen for snacks. It worked out great! We had some relay games, the package game (like hot potato, but when it stops you get to open a layer of the package and get a little gift), a scavenger game, and then a pinata. The kids and parents alike had a great time. The craziest was the pinata and watching them go at it. We had little ones like Josh (he was so excited to take a swing while I held him) and then a little older kids that were already 5. The 5 year olds were amazing at hitting it. We asked everyone to forego gifts and have their children make cards for both Alivia and Danny, and these were so neat. The children were all really creative and we have great keepsakes from all his friends here in China.

After the party we headed back to our house and opened presents (from Dustin and I) and watched a movie while eating pizza.

Overall, a great day with all our friends here in China.

Danny's First Field Trip--the Chinese Vegetable Farm

Today we said goodbye to my mom and left the house to head to Danny's first field trip. My mom stayed home with Josh and Dustin took my mom to the airport--her flight left before we were back from the fieldtrip. While it was too bad I was not able to take her to the airport, I think in some ways it made it a little easier as I had something to focus on other than her departure.

We got to school and Danny's teacher handed out these blue smocks. Each class had a different color and it was there way of being able to spot and count the children. This was a little funny in the fact that a child could not come unless a caregiver came with them. I say caregiver as there were plenty of kids there with their ayis and not a parent. I could not imagine with the caregiver present that a child could get separated from the group, yet I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

At 8:30 we headed to the busses and took off for the organic vegetable farm. It was not too long of a drive--about 30 minutes, and we arrived at the farm. Unfortunately we lost a lot of time in waiting for everyone to use the bathrooms--while not a squat pot (typical Chinese toilet) there were only a single male and female bathroom in less than cleanly conditions--plus apparently half way through the toilet seat fell off the one in the women's bathroom. Not so easy with a bunch of preschoolers--the oldest being 4.

After waiting about 20 minutes in hot sun--apparently the little cool off we had a day ago was gone and it felt strangely like summer again--our guide came out and took us to our first area. While she spoke English, she did not really give us any information except what the plant was, and how to pick it. Our first stop was lettuce. We went from one spot to another, and while it was a lot of fun to watch the kids pick vegetables, I wish they would have at least talked about why they were an organic farm and how that is different from other farms. The kids finished up with getting a plant of their own--bak choy--Chinese cabbage to grow at home.

After our tour and picking vegetables, we had our lunches that the school provided to us. It was tuna fish on pita bread (mind you it was sitting in the sun for the entire time we walked around--so all the moms ate after giving a silent prayer) and half a turkey sandwich--it is not a big surprise that most moms ate the tuna while the kids atebthe turkey sandwichs. They also provided cut up vegetables. We all ate in a circle on plastic chairs that the farm provided.

We finished eating, and then went down to the market (another missed opportunity for them to talk to the kids) where they were packaging up the vegetables for the local grocery stores. Danny helped me pick out two pumpkins and some vegetables for us to purchase and take home. I was really excited to see the pumpkins and told Danny we would carve them on Sunday before church.

We headed back to the school, and after I got Danny down for his nap I headed off to the store to get items I needed for Danny's birthday party the next day. After trying to be fast at the store--they had rearranged everything in the store, and I did not know where anything was located--Dustin and I settled on McDonalds for dinner.

Overall, Danny's first fieldtrip was a lot of fun and most importantly he had a great time. I was so grateful to be able to share this memory with him. We are looking forward to tomorrow when we celebrate his birthday as a family and with a big friends party.

End of a Great Visit

The rest of the week went fast with my mom, as we headed back to the fabric market on Wednesday to pick up her things, and then to the Pearl Market again on Thursday to finish getting the items I needed for Danny's birthday party. We had such great visit and the kids just really enjoyed having her here and showing her our China home. We hope next time that my dad will be able to join her and we can show him around as well--although I am not pictureing that the Pearl Market and Fabric Market are not going to be high on his list. :) Thankfully, tomorrow when my mom heads back to Chicago, Danny has his first field trip. This should make the transition of having Nana head home a little easier on him and me as well. The other great part is that now there is only a month and a half until we are back in the States for Christmas, and we will be able to be with our family and friends.

Back to the Fabric Market

Today after dropping Danny off, my mom and I and Josh took off back to the fabric market. This time to pick up her clothes. We were both silently praying that all would be fine with what she ordered. We arrived and headed to the first place. They looked at us and told us it was still being sewn and would be ready at 2pm. I told them this was unacceptable as I had to leave no later than 12 to be back to pick up Danny from school. They said they would get it back by 12 for us. As we walked away from that stall, we both prayed the rest would not have that problem. Usually when you say it will be ready on a certain day it means it is ready at the beginning of the day unless specified otherwise. I was a little shocked that they said it was still being sewn. Thankfully, the next place had the items, but two fit great and two needed alterations. One of my mom's other things was made too small--which is always interesting as they take your measurements, so it is strange they had it so off. It became quite apparent that we would be returning on Wednesday for most of the things. Yet, she was pleased with the work that was done and we both felt much better about most of it. We went back to get her coat, and they informed us that it still was not ready. They agreed to deliver it to the house, so she could try it on. This way if something needed to be changed there would still be time to do it before Wednesday.

We arrived home and picked up Danny and had a low key evening at home. Dustin arrived home after the boys went to bed, but it was so great to have him home after two weeks of business trips.

The Flower Market

Today after dropping Danny off to school we took off to go to the flower market. This market is where we got all our flowers (which are quite dead by the way--apparently my ayis--the three we have had so far--have no better luck with plants than I do) for our flower pots on our balconies. This market is also where they have Halloween decorations, a toy store, many aquariums and fish and the frame and picture shop that Dustin and I had our pictures framed at this past spring. I wanted to show my mom it as well as look for some Halloween things for the party at Danny's school. I also wanted to check out the toy store for some small toys for Danny's birthday party that is coming up in another week.

Thankfully, it did not take us long to get there, and once there Tom said he would watch Josh while we quickly ran around. I first went into the Halloween store and was able to pick up a few things for the party. I was hoping for some nice stickers and other items, but they did not carry that type of thing at their store. We went on then to the toy store. We spent quite a bit of time coming up with toys that would work for the gift bags and for prizes. All of it was cheap cheap toys and trinkets, that would probably be below what the Dollar store would even consider selling back home. I was shocked therefore when the women wanted an enormous amount of money for them and would hardly negotiate on the price. I was so annoyed with her that I made quite the show of putting everything back except a set of crayons--usually this is when they will cave in their price, but she just stood there. We left the store with a lot less than I wanted, but I was unwilling to pay more than I would in the US for things I knew would break within a few times of playing with it (sometimes it doesn't even take that long with things made here and sold here--apparently their standard for quality is extremely low for what is sold domestically here).

After going in those shops, I just quickly showed my mom around the rest of it. We then headed back to the van to find that Tom had let Josh sit in the front and pretend to drive. This is all fine as he had a great time, but if you have ever made this mistake yourself you will know--Josh now believes that at 21 months he should be allowed to drive the van. He screamed and arched his back making it so hard to get him in his car seat. He did finally allowed me to buckle him in, and we traveled home to get Danny from school.

The Trip to the Pearl Market

Today we had plans to pick up my friend Erin from the subway station and all go to the Pearl Market. The Pearl Market is a building with numerous shops of all sorts selling scarves, glasses, watches, sports jerseys, jewelry (hence the Pearl market name), cheap Chinese toys, etc. We each had certain things we were looking for while we were there, and we also planned to go out to lunch. I planned to accomplish this all and still get back by 2:30 to watch Danny swim in his class.

Unfortunately, the day did not start off well for our plans. The big problem was that while I had a map to show Tom the subway station we needed to pick up Erin at, it did not have many roads listed on it. I was able to get across to him the plan of picking her up and then going to the Pearl Market. Our mistake was in asking another driver in our parking lot how to get to the station. He sent us to the wrong station. In addition, the time it took us to ask him, left us behind our schedule from the beginning. We finally got to Erin and picked her up, but we lost about 40 minutes in the whole process.

We arrived at the market and we started our shopping. This is a little more work than back home, for two reasons. There are no price tags--you just have to barter and they are small shops and you sort of have to go from one to another to make sure you are getting a good deal. This of course all takes a lot of time. We were collectively able to each get some items that we either came there needing, or wanting. I was able to get some costumes for the boys to play in and a pair of sunglasses, Mom was able to get a lot of jewelry, and some soccer outfits for the boys, and Erin was also able to pick up some jewelry. However, this all took up the entire amount of time that we had before I needed to get back. So we scrapped the idea of lunch and had Tom take us to the closest McDonalds. We then ate in the car as we brought Erin back to the subway station.

After dropping her off and apologizing for the crazy morning and rushed lunch, we traveled as fast as we could back to the clubhouse. We got there about half way through Danny's swim class, but it did not seem to phase him too much. (I had been so worried that he would look out and not see us there watching him).

Overall, the day was insane and extremely stressful for me, but we got a lot of the things we had wanted to get at the market. (I failed to mention that Josh was with us the whole day--poor guy was a saint because he was in the stroller all morning, then did not get lunch until late. It was also crazy because of the constant negotiating for the price, at the end you just wish they would give you a fair price and allow you to pay it. While you may get a good deal negotiating, I always feel like this is probably not the case, as you have no concept of what it cost them in comparison to what they are saying is their lowest or "best" price.)

Danny Turns 4 Today

Danny woke early this morning, and as he slept in Dustin and my bed last night I was able to wish him a happy birthday as soon as he woke up. We headed downstairs for milk and coffee and he was so excited to see his signs up on the wall. We had a nice morning, with birthday well wishers calling for Danny, and he opened up his cards. I took a picture of Danny holding his cupcakes, and we then headed off to school. Danny carried his candles while I carried the cupcakes. He was so excited to show his teachers and friends.

In the morning, my mom came with me to my bible study. She was able to meet the women and join the study for the morning. After lunch, I worked on making Danny a Lightening McQueen cake for the evening. I worked up to the last second, and then we ran over an picked Danny up. He was so happy and telling us all about sharing his cupcakes with his class and teachers. When we got home Danny talked with Dustin on the phone, and then we put in a movie to watch. We ordered pizza and made popcorn. We finished off the day with Danny opening up some presents that my mom brought for him (We are celebrating again once Dustin returns from his trip) and eating cake.

Overall, it was a great day and so much fun to watch it through Danny's eyes.

Back to School and the Fabric Market

Today Danny headed back to school after his long holiday and my mom and I headed down to the fabric market. This was quite an undertaking, as I pick Danny up at 1:30 and the market is at least 40 minutes from our house. The other reason it is an undertaking is that the shop owners and tailors speak limited English, if any, and you have to negotiate the price.

I was pleasantly surprised that at our first stop (a store that makes leather coats) had a shopkeeper that spoke English. This was so helpful, as we could really make sure they understood the concept we were trying to say--i.e.-zip out lining, hood outside collar, etc. Once we listed out everything my mom wanted, and they took measurements, I haggled over the price. I have gotten fairly good at this, but it is still exhausting at times.

We went from stall to stall so my mom could see all they made there and the different options (there are numerous coat shops, numerous shirt makers, etc..). She had an idea of what she wanted, so we moved fairly quickly from location to location ordering her items. They all indicated they would be finished the following Monday, which is what I had expected.

We hoped in the van and raced back to pick up Danny. We got there right as his class let out, so all was fine. We had a low key dinner and then made cupcakes for Danny to bring to school for his birthday. He was so excited to help me frost his cupcakes and decorate them with skittles. I cannot believe he turns 4 tomorrow. After tucking them in bed, I quickly made some signs for Danny--he loves making signs for other people (especially Dustin when he comes home from trips) and he is so overjoyed when people make signs for him. I crashed into bed thinking of how much my little guy has grown over these past 4 years.

Riding the Bus to Gubei area of Shanghai

Today we met Lindsay and her children and Kate and her children at the bus stop at 8:30 am to head down to the Gubei area of Shanghai. They have some shops there and we thought it would be a fun activity to do with the kids.


The bus ride was a lot of fun and Josh and Clark did pretty good sitting still until we arrived. The traffic again was not bad and we made it there in about 30 minutes. The bus dropped us off at one of my favorite donut shops from the States--Dunkin Donut. We each got a drink and donut and sat down and enjoyed our treat. All the kids were really cute with my mom, as they all called her Nana. We took pictures out front and then went over to one of the shops to walk around.


After walking through there and getting some raisin bread at a great bakery, we decided to venture up the road to look at an antique furniture store and some other shops. This was quite the adventure as we had to cross an extremely busy road that runs underneath the main elevated road of the city. We looked like quite the sight as we were by far the only foreigners around and with all the children as well.

We did a quick run through and then headed back to the bus stop. The children all had a great time on our little adventure, and when we got back we decided to eat lunch all together at the clubhouse. The older children sat at a table by themselves, with the adults and little ones and the table next to them. They were so excited to be sitting alone.

Overall it was a great day, but made me sad to think there are not many times like this in the future, as Kate and her family will be leaving to move back to the States this Christmas. The one promising part is she is from Minnesota so hopefully we will be able to get together in the future.

The Playdate

Today was a lot of fun. We headed over in the morning to my friend Lindsay's house for a playdate. Her daughter Alivia is a good friend of Danny's and her son Logan is not much older than they are at age 5. Kate our other friend joined us with her two children Allison who is Logan's age and Clark who is just a little older than Josh at age 2. The kids played and we were able to visit for a while. My mom was also able to see the difference between a community where we live (in an apartment-although it is two floors) and a community of what they term here as villas (which is just a stand alone house). We ordered pizza and the kids all ate outside while we all grab our lunch around the kitchen counter. It was so cute to watch Josh and Clark who were both so excited to be sitting by themselves with the big kids!



After the playdate, we headed home for naps and more fun at some of the parks. Lindsay, Kate and I planned to get together on Friday and travel on the Shanghai Racquet Club bus (the bus for our community) down to the Gubei area of town. It should be an adventure with 6 kids!

Dustin Takes Off and Showing Nana Around

Dustin left early this morning. He spends the next couple of weeks in Thailand, India, Singapore and Hong Kong, before heading back to us. Poor guy has quite a crazy schedule and when he hits Hong Kong, he meets up with his boss who will then travel back to Shanghai with him for another hectic week of meetings. We are looking forward to the 24th of this month, when he will be able to put up his feet and relax for a weekend before his busy schedule begins again.

Today after Dustin left, we all had a leisurely morning (it is still the holiday, so Danny is off from school), and we walked down to the store near our house. It was nice to show my mom our community and the little route we take to the store and back.

In the afternoon after naps we went to the park and enjoyed the nice weather. Tomorrow we go to my friend Lindsay's house for a playdate. Our friend Kate and her two children are going to join us.

Nana Arrives

Today my mom arrived from Chicago to visit us for a couple of weeks. This is such a blessing as Dustin leaves tomorrow for three weeks of business travel, and it will be so nice to have an extra pair of helping hands with the boys while he is gone. As it is a holiday we had to rent a van to go an pick up my mom--Tom is back at his home in a different province spending time with his wife and two kids. Before we left for the airport, we were suppose to meet our new landlord (this is our second attempt at meeting her), however, yet again she does not make it in time. We are really wondering where she is coming from, since a 9am meeting was too early for her, and we told her to be here before 10:30 and at 11 she is still no where to be found. We call the person coordinating the meeting and tell her we are sorry but we have to leave.

We leave early before my mom's flight, as we thought maybe the traffic would be bad (the new landlord said she was stuck in traffic). Yet, we find that there is surprisingly little traffic today--mostly due to the fact that many of them have left the city to go back to see their families for the holiday. We arrive at the airport an hour before my mom's flight, and we let the boys walk around for awhile. They announce my mom's flight, and we line up with everyone else to welcome Nana to Shanghai. Danny and Josh made signs, so they are holding those up for her to see. Unfortunately, there were about three or four other planes that ended up landing at the same time, so we ended up standing for awhile waiting. I was getting nervous that she was okay with the luggage and getting a cart, but Danny had befriended the family next to us and he was cheerfully chatting to them. The girl studied in Rhode Island, and she spoke really good English. Danny was telling her all about his signs, that Nana was coming and where we live and where we are from. Finally, we spotted Nana and Danny held up his signs and screamed out to her. She made her way around and we headed to the van.

As it was still a little early, we decided to take my mom down and see the river and look at the Bund (this is the section of Shanghai that foreigners were allowed to set up many years ago before China became shut off to the world. The architecture reminds you of Europe). We enjoyed walking around and then we headed home for dinner and to finish getting Dustin ready for his trip.

Our Trip to Church via the Subway

Today we attempted to get to church via the subway. As Tom is still on vacation, this is about our only option to get there, and since we have a carrier now for Josh (Dustin can carry him on his back rather than dragging the stroller up and down numerous flights of stairs--remember no elevators, and hardly any escalators here), we felt we could manage it, or at least attempt it this once.

As the subway station is not really close to our house, we took a taxi to the station, and then the trains (3 different ones) to arrive at the station right by our church. The taxi ride was quite the experience, as he took us through a lot of back roads, and it was great to see more of how the average Chinese person truly lives. It was also quite the experience, as he was a lot more aggressive a driver then we allow Tom (our driver) to be. The taxi did get us there quickly, and we headed down for our first leg of the trip.

We got a lot of stares, for while the toddler carriers are fairly common in the US, at least in parks where you might go hiking, they are a new sight for most Chinese. Josh was quite the hit as usual, as was Danny who could charm them with his ability to speak a little Chinese. They had a few pictures taken as we went along, and overall the trains were fairly easy to manage.

We arrived at church just a little after they began announcements, and quickly got Josh to the nursery. Danny came with us, as he did not have class today due to the holiday. The music was great, but Danny was already tired of standing half way through the songs (I have to admit sometimes I get tired too, as they sing for about 20 minutes straight at our church). With Danny being tired, he was also restless, and this made the service extremely long for me as well.

After church, we headed across the street for some Turkish food. We found this place, when they held the newcomers meeting for church there. The food is good here, but Danny was not really interested in eating.

We headed out back to the subway with two tired boys. While it did seem in some ways to be quicker, in other ways it felt longer because we had two restless boys. We were able to find a taxi fairly quickly from the station (thankgoodness) and another added blessing was the driver knew where our home was located (not always the case in Shanghai). We were home in no time.

So today, we did prove that this was a way we can get to church, yet there are still blessings of going in the car--mostly that the boys are able to sleep on the way home if they want to do so. They are working on extending some of the subway lines, so in the future we will not need to take three different trains. We may try it again at that time. Overall though it was a success and we had a good time on our little adventure out of our comfort zone.

Some Much Needed Rest and Family Time

So the nice part of this holiday, is that we have been able to just relax and not do much at all. We have been without a car, as our driver is home with his family for the holiday. Like many living in the city and in jobs like drivers, ayis, etc..they are migrant workers. Due to the system that China has in place, where all services are provided locally and not on a national basis, most families must remain behind as one or sometimes both spouses travel to find work in the cities. In our driver's situation he lives in Shanghai by himself, while his wife and two kids live back in his home town. This is one of the times he is able to travel back to be with his family, so we are so happy he is able to be there for this time.

We as a family have decided, mostly due to the massive crowds that will frequent all the tourist areas in the city, to stick close to home. In addition, Dustin leaves in a couple of days to do a world wind trip to India, Thailand, and Singapore, and he does not need to be racing all over before his big trip.

The past few days, we have spent either playing inside (we have had some steady rainy days here) or playing at the parks in our community. I have also enjoyed a night out with my two friends Lindsay and Kate, at the new Korean restaurant that we can walk to from our community.

Yesterday we decided to walk down to a park that is not too far from our house, it was a nice little space with a pond and a nice pathway. Rather than a regular playground, they had a little exercise park. While this is quite a strange sight for a westerner, they are quite common here in China. Think of your local workout gym, but made out of playground equipment--there were machines that you could in a stationary manner cross country ski, pulleys for your arms, lots of balance machines, etc... Danny and Josh did not quite get that this was not for them to play on, as it did look like some strange playground. After our trip to the park, we stopped and let the kids ride on one of the little riding machines found outside stores (similar to what we have in the US, but instead of Bob the builder, or a horse, it is a colorful peacock, or in our case a cat that you could drive). The boys enjoyed moving the steering wheel, and Dustin and I got a kick out of the fact that the Chinese music that played was all put to Christmas tunes. After the quick ride (actually not so quick, as it plays at least three songs), we headed to the local Cantonese restaurant. We enjoyed some favorites from home like sweet and sour pork (cannot find it with chicken here). I seemed to over due it on the walk today, so I went and crashed for a nap while the boys slept.

Today we spent the morning outside, walking down to the little store first, and then heading to the parks for the boys to play while Dustin slept. We met up with Kate and her husband and kids, and the kids played at the park together and then we headed to the soccer field to play there. It was a hot morning, and so we all headed our separate ways after a while to get snacks and water. Later today we head to church via the subway. It should be interesting.

Watching a Parade

So we are watching a parade today, not the usual one, but it is fascinating nonetheless. Today is National Day in China, and Beijing is celebrating the foundation of "New China" or as we would term it Communist China with an amazing parade. It is quite interesting to be here during this time as most Chinese do not truly understand what took place in the Cultural Revolution and during the time before China opened to the West, yet they truly are proud of what they have accomplished. While I am appalled by what took place during the Cultural Revolution and during the time after before they opened to the West, and what took place in a certain square when I was young, these past few years do give me some hope for China. I do hope they continue to push forward to open to the west and seek freedoms for their people.



The parade itself was quite a show of military, people and floats. Along with a huge choir of thousands of people. What is amazing is that (we have saved this article) that the military involved in today's parade have been sequestered and practicing for 8 hours a day each day for the past 6 months. Can we just collectively say wow! That is a lot of practice to walk in a straight line, yet, they were quite precise in their movements.

The rest of the day we tasted moon cakes (the other part of the holiday here--they combined two to make a week long celebration) and just relaxed. Cannot say that I enjoyed the moon cakes, but Dustin did not mind it too much.

Wonderful Weekend

The weekend was again filled with getting together with friends, which is a lot of fun, but also makes the weekend fly past. On Saturday we had our neighbors just below us over for lunch. He, Christian, is from Denmark and she, Dan, is from Beijing. They have two children close to Danny's age.

Due to the upcoming Chinese National Day Holiday and the Moon Cake Festival Holiday, our ayi asked is she could have an extra day during the week off and work on Saturday for us. This turned into an amazing blessing to me, as she was able to watch the kids while I got ready for our friends to come over. We had asked them what the kids would eat, and Dan said that Valdimar (their youngest) is really only used to eating Chinese food. I have made a couple of dishes, but decided to go all out and make quite a few for our lunch on Saturday. This of course means a lot of chopping, as most things are stir fried in the wok. I made Chop Suey, Fried Rice, Garlic Broccoli, and a Garlic Shrimp dish. I am happy to say that they mostly came out okay. They said they actually tasted fairly authentic, which is a huge compliment.

The kids had a great time playing together, and they stayed for quite some time. It was nice having them at our house, because when Josh got tired I was able to just put him down for his nap. After the boys took their naps, we left with Dustin so that he could get to the church try out for worship team. We waited in the car, as Danny had fallen asleep, while Dustin went into the apartment to audition. After about 40 minutes he reappeared, and we traveled on to go get dinner. We went to our favorite Italian restaurant D'Marco and had dinner and then went to Haggen daz ice cream store. Now this is no ordinary ice cream shop, this is like fine dining for ice cream It was quite the experience. We skipped all the widely fancy concoctions and chose to go with scoops of ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Sunday morning, Dustin had to leave bright and early to meet the tax man. Everyone in China worked on Saturday and Sunday due to the holiday, so Dustin was required to meet the tax guy on Sunday. While Dustin was meeting with the tax man, the boys and I went to Danny's first birthday party for one of his classmates. It was a fun party and Danny had a great time.

We left the party and Dustin picked us up to meet our friends Erin and Jeff for a late lunch before church. We had a nice time over lunch and then walked to church together. It was a great service and we finished the weekend with our usual McDonalds run.

The Long Day

So today was packed full, but overall a good day. I have had more symptoms with my transverse myelitis, so the doctors here had me go for another MRI to rule out that it is MS. So, back in the US, getting to the hospital to do an MRI is not too involved. Here however, it is always a different story. I dropped Danny off at school as fast as I could and Tom and I left with about an hour before my appointment. Normally, this would be plenty of time, but today it is raining. Actually it has been raining here for a little over two days. Quite frankly, I feel a little like Forest Gump where he is in Vietnam and he says one day it began raining and it just keeps going on and on. Traffic in Shanghai is typically not good, but any sort of rain, makes it crazy.

The greatest part of the traffic here is that while there are two lanes, this really means nothing, if you can get your car in front of the others, then they will. On our way to the hospital we had people passing in the lane for oncoming traffic. Also, anywhere that the road widened beyond a single car (i.e.--there was a shoulder or just bend in the road), they tried to push their cars in before the others. Then there are the places where the road went from two lanes to one under a bridge of sorts (where they are doing construction for an elevated road). If you thought merging was bad in the US, you have no idea. Basically, each car just keeps trying to go in front of the other, until they either are blocked by a guardrail, or the actual bridge. Of course, all this crazy behaviour just resulted in it taking longer.

We finally arrived at the hospital fifteen minutes late, but as this is a new MRI machine, I am one of the first to have an exam (this may be good, or bad who knows). I had one done this summer, so I was expecting something similar. Unfortunately, while in the US, they pull you out and do the contrast part and you can sort of move around at that time, here in China they did the contrast through an IV. So, instead of breaking it up into two 30 minute sessions, I had an hour of just lying as still as possible, with nothing under my legs to support my back. By the end I just felt really out of it. (Mostly due to the loud noise of the MRI machine).

From there Tom and I joined the traffic back home to pick up a friend's daughter. She is sick, and both her parents are out of town (her grandfather is staying with her, but he does not speak English, nor understand how the clinic works here). When I arrive they are eating lunch, so I have Tom drive me to the clinic to set up an appointment. We have a little time before getting my friend's daughter, so I grab a bite to eat and then head out again. We pick up my friend's daughter and head to the clinic, then we drive them back, and then Tom drives me home. (The guards at the two stations between our two communities must have wondered what on earth we were doing).

After the clinic I get home and my ayi shows me that where Dustin and I heard water in our masterbedroom ceiling the night before, the drywall has fallen and water is dripping into his closet. My ayi and I move all Dustin's clothes out of the closet and I go and call the office to send someone to come fix it.

Just as the "engineers" (what the office calls the maintenance men here) arrived, Josh woke up from his nap. I bring the men into the bedroom and then run and get Josh. Two engineers look at the ceiling and then need to call a third man who comes and cuts open the ceiling. Inside, to no surprise is a lot of water. They clean up the water and tell me that they will be back tomorrow to fix it. Thankfully, the rain stops. Praise God!! I was envisioning how we would catch the water that would now pour through the large hole they cut. Now I do not need to worry.

After they leave, I head over and pick up Danny from school. I get him down for a short nap and then we all go out for dinner at the clubhouse--we even order dessert. :-)

Whew...what a day! Glad that I can say it is not a normal one. Looking forward to tomorrow when I do not have to set foot into a clinic, hospital, and most importantly...a car.

And I Thought Yesterday was Long

Today was amazingly even crazier day than yesterday. It began similar to any other, with Josh and I dropping Danny off to school. Afterwards, I met Monika at the clubhouse to discuss our room mother responsibilities for the Halloween and Thanksgiving Parties. As she is from Germany and these are mostly American holidays (apparently Halloween is celebrated in other countries, but not where Monika is from in Germany), I explained how our family celebrates these two holidays. We were able to decide on the treats and crafts for the kids and overall we accomplished a lot. I got home and got Josh his lunch and down for his nap. It seemed like I blinked, and I was out the door again to watch Danny swim and then bring him home.


By the time dinner was over and the boys were in bed, I was exhausted. I decided to not go to bed directly, and instead do some stretching. I was just about finished when my cell phone beeped, meaning I got a text message. It was from Maria, our friend's daughter. She had hurt her wrist playing volleyball. I consulted Dustin and we decided I better take her to the emergency room to have an x-ray done. So at 8:30, after summoning Tom to our house, I headed over to pick up Maria. We made good time to the ER and waited to see a doctor. They this time wanted a letter from Maria's parents that I was indeed the caregiver. We quickly got a hold of Maria's mom in the States (her father was in the middle of a meeting in France) and she was able to fax us a note fairly quickly. They x-rayed Maria's arm, and by 10 it was decided that it was not broken, just badly sprained. They gave Maria a half cast and wrapped up her arm and gave her a sling to wear. We headed back home and I arrived back to my house around midnight.

Whew, more of a day than I expected, but glad I was able to help out. You realize how much a child needs you at the age that the boys are at, but I failed to realize that at Maria's age they need that guidance and support just as much.

The PTA Mom

So it is official, I am a PTA mom. Today we had our first official PTA meeting for Danny's preschool. There are actually five grade levels here since they actually start kids at 18 months old. (This personally seems a little young for me, but some mothers I have found feel this is the only way their child can socialize with other children their age, as most kids here are in the school--sort of like a vicious cycle). Danny's class is actually the oldest in the preschool with the kids ranging from 4-5 years of age (Danny being one of the youngest as he turns four in a couple of weeks). The meeting was nice and we got a preview of the holiday parties and the field trips the kids will be taking. There are two moms per class and we are in charge of planning out the parties for the children. It was a little funny as one mom asked if we can be involved in helping the class in any other way--i.e. coming in and reading a book to the class, etc. but this was in a very round about way declined. The classes are small here, Danny's only has 12 in his class, with one teacher and a teacher's assistant. So, I understand in part that having parents come in is not really necessary. The nice part of the PTA is the other mom that signed up for Danny's class is my friend Monika from Germany. Her daughter, Jule and Danny are friends. This should make planning the parties fun. The interesting part is that they celebrate most of the US holidays even though most of the people are not from the US. I figured they would do Halloween, but was surprised they have a Thanksgiving party. I am happy though that Danny will get to celebrate these holidays, as he would be able to if he was in the States. It is though one example of how much the US affects or influences things as there are no other holidays celebrated from other countries

Overall, it will be nice to meet the other mothers and connect with them while helping at the school.

Some Funny Sights of China and the Preschool Romances

So on our way home yesterday we saw yet another funny sight of China. People were actually cleaning by hand, with just a bucket and rag, the highway divide. Yes, the plastic (usually cement in the US) divide that runds down between the different directions of traffic on the four or more laned highway. Just wanted to share some things here that are completely normal to China, but we would just find unbelievable.

Onto a totally different subject, Danny has been going to preschool now for a couple of weeks, and I have enjoyed meeting the various moms at the school, and it is nice that some of my friend's children are in Danny's class. As we headed into the school today, Danny saw his friend Mia and they were talking as they headed in. Her mother stopped me and asked if this was Danny. I said yes and she said that Danny is the only one that Mia talks about from school. Pretty cute. As Danny got settled in and started playing, he saw his friend Alivia come in the door and he screamed out a welcome to her. (He really likes Alivia a lot). Her mom is a good friend of mine (probably one of the first people I met here), and I told her that Danny was excited to see Alivia. She smiled and said that her son last night was asking her about her wedding ring, and that she explained it meant she belonged to their dad and vice versa. Alivia then said she wanted Danny to give her a ring. Pretty adorable.

Overall, it is great to see Danny is definitely enjoying preschool and that the girls he talks about all the time to me think as highly of him as he does of them. Of course I hope the ring thing comes along closer to twenty-three rather than three. :)

Had to Come to China to Meet the Governor

The entire delegation from Indiana


Mayor of Noblesville (also pictured Ramon--works for the sister company of Dustin's here in Shanghai)



Our family with Governor Mitch Daniels

So today was quite a treat, as we were invited to meet the Governor of Indiana and the 29 other people of his delegation. They came to China and then on to Japan to focus on bringing investment to Indiana (always a good thing). The event was held at the Shanghai Yacht Club on the Bund. This is quite the interesting title as the bund is actually across the river from where the Yacht club was located. It served as some confusion to us and to our driver, but we thankfully made it there on time.

We were not there more than fifteen minutes when the Governor came walking in. We were able to talk to him right away and found him to be extremely personable and quite down to earth. The rest of the evening was spent mingling with the different people that had come to the event. Most in attendance either went to Purdue or IU for their degrees, and there were only a handful Americans, besides those in the delegation, and even fewer that were from Indiana. We did meet a nice couple from Noblesville that actually live in the community next to ours here in China. This is sort of unique as Shanghai is such an enormous city, the likelihood of meeting at one of these events and living close to one another is slim.

The boys did great during the event as well. We were told the children were welcome and that people were bringing their families, but it was a little more an adult affair. Danny spent most of the time playing with the tie on my dress, thus why in some of the pictures it looks like it has had someone swinging on it. :-) Yet, I have to say for a three year old and one year old to put up with a bunch of business people networking, and speeches and finger foods for dinner, they are pretty amazing. We got McDonalds on the way home and thankgoodness, because getting out of downtown took an hour and then we had an hour drive home from there.

In addition to meeting the governor, we were able to meet the mayor of Noblesville (this is where Dustin's company's corporate headquarters are located), the president of IU and one of the chancellor's from Purdue (Dustin actually knew him from his time in the Glee Club at Purdue).

Everyone was so friendly and in good spirits for arriving in China just the night before (they had to be suffering from major jet lag). Tomorrow night, Dustin gets to have dinner with the president of IU and about 20 other graduates living here in Shanghai, should be nice.

The Chinese Can't Say "no"

Today was quite fun... but I'll start with yesterday.

As tomorrow is Labor Day in the USA, several American families got together for a cook out. Most of us had forgotten that it was labor day weekend, but had noticed a drop off in the emails from home.

My highlight was baked beans. Real, homemade baked beans. The kind only someone from Arkansas can make. So as we were starting to eat, the gentleman from Texarkana says to his son: "come here knothead".

I about choked and said: "Man, you must be from Arkansas. That is what my Dad called me!"

And so the evening progressed; there were some color characters there, but there is no reason to go into that on these pages.

Today we went and had lunch and most of the afternoon with the Germans. Yes, we were the only Americans and the only people who could not speak German. We had a great time. The kids don't care what language you speak and it was a blast watching them all.

As I was sitting around realizing that I could not understand a single thing. However, a few words did come through, such as Nein. (Which is German for no and is used in the same way as we use it: to tell kids to stop.)

At that moment, I realized that Chinese parents have it rough. You see, there is no direct translation for 'no'. Of course, they can get across the point of a negative, but it is always coupled with an adverb, adjective, or noun. There is no simple negative word.

My language learning continues. Tomorrow is another day of 2 hour class. We'll see how that goes as we are getting to the point where we are making complex sentences. Critical to sounding fluent, but not critical for daily survival. Needless to say, I'm going to stick with it as trying to give some instructions to our driver tonight regarding what I needed him to bring from the office (company chop) and where to take Jackie and where we want to go tomorrow was a challenge. I'll know how well I did about 11 am tomorrow...

Friend's Birthday Party

Today we all woke fairly tired for some reason. One highlight to our morning was that we were able to skype with my brother's son Ryan. He was staying at my parents house overnight. The boys were so cute talking back and forth. Even Josh was extremely excited and shared it with an ear piercing scream which I am sure our neighbors appreciated. (It occurred approximately at 7am on a Sunday morning). After skyping with my parents and Ryan, Dustin and I traded places, and I went back and laid down for a little bit. I could hardly keep my eyes open. At 10, I got up and got the boys a snack and put them both down for naps. Dustin and I got ready for the birthday party which started at 11:30 and then got the boys up to go.

The party was in the upstairs restaurant where there is a huge buffet. Our host (and birthday guy), Marcus greeted us and explained we had the whole back area with three circular tables for everyone to sit. As we had imagined, we were the only Americans present as everyone else is from Germany. (The invitation was sent out by e-mail, so I knew some of the women that were coming to the party). Our other friends we know fairly well were already seated at one of the tables, so we joined them. Danny got to sit by Jule their daughter (another girl from class that he has become a good friend). Another family, that I had just met recently joined us as well. This was great because we got to know them better and also meet their husbands.

The buffet of food is amazing as there is everything from traditional Chinese, to Sushi, to Italian, and the list goes on. They also had delicious desserts--including ice cream/ice cream cones and even cotton candy which they prepared right there for you. As we sat down, Dustin and I made the decision to forgo church as Marcus said there was a surprise for the children at 1pm (they have two children themselves that are really close to Danny and Josh's ages) and we did not want to be rude and leave before the party was over.

At 1:00 our host directed the children (and parents) to another room. Two women from Danny's school (actually one is the assistant in Danny's class) had a whole bunch of fun games and crafts for the kids to play. The first game was to push a large ball across the room and back. It was so cute to watch the children as the ages ranged from a little younger than Josh (18 months I would say) up to about 8 years old. They all had a great time doing this and all worked well together. The second game was a take off of hot potato, but this was a present with multiple layers (enough for each child of course) to peel off when the music stopped. There was a small present tucked within each layer. After this game, the kids all created party hats and then finished with another game where they looked for little papers and then got to pick a present out of a bin in the order of how many of these papers they found. Overall, a lot of fun and a great time for the kids and the adults.

Marcus then informed us that we were all welcome to go back to the dinning room as we had the space until 3pm. They had planned the activities, because they knew all the kids would get tired of just sitting in the dining room while the adults visited. Wow, that was great thinking. We all headed back and enjoyed coffee while the kids played with their new toys. Danny even opened up a little more and played with some of the boys there. It was such a great party and much more than what we were expecting.

We headed back home (much later than we planned due to the fun had by all) and went straight to our beds for naps. Tonight, Dustin is riding out on his bike to get our traditional McDonald's dinner, and we will all relax before tomorrow. We have another big day planned tomorrow as this is when we get to meet the Governor of Indiana and the delegation of mayors and the president of IU that he is bringing with him. We are really excited.

Overall, we have had such an enjoyable weekend. It is nice to connect with not only fellow Americans, but also families from around the world.

American Barbecue and the Difference between Playdate and Party

Today we continued to keep it sort of low key, but I was pleased that Danny did not have much of a cough today. We did walk down to the stores near our house to pick up a gift that Dustin needed and a birthday present for our friend's birthday party tomorrow. There is a neat little store that carries a lot of home accessories, wrapping papers and cards called Tai Tai's Corner (Wife's Corner), so we stopped in there to pick up some things. When we got home we ate a quick lunch and got the boys down for a nap. I made cookies and a vege tray to bring to the barbecue. Danny has been really excited all day, as the barbecue is at his friend Alivia's house. They have become extremely close at school and from what their teacher has told me and Lindsay (Alivia's mom) they are inseparable during play time. I have been praying that the party will go well and that Danny will have a good time. I have been trying to prep him that it is a party and not a playdate, and other children will be present.

After naps, we pack up and head out to the barbecue. Danny is so excited as Alivia apparently tried to give him directions to her house and Danny wants to lead us there. (So cute as he takes charge of us all, by giving directions and telling us to hurry. Unfortunately, the directions lead to the school, so we have to redirect him a little). When we arrive, there are a few families there, and Lindsay brings Danny upstairs to where Alivia and her older brother Logan are playing. Slowly more and more people arrive and it is soon quite a fun barbecue filled with almost all Americans from either Joel's work (Lindsay's husband) or other families that they have met through the three years they have lived here. It was quite nice as I have met a great deal of the women, and it was great to connect their children and husbands to them.

Unfortunately, as I feared, Danny had a hard time at first with the fact that there were other children present and Alivia wanted to play with everyone. Both Dustin and I tried to encourage him to play along with Alivia and the other children. He spent most of the beginning of the party following her wherever she went. The lowest part, was when he came in crying to me, as he could not track her down and he interpreted this as her not wanting to play with him. It was so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time as he sat in my lap just sobbing about it all. I was able to calm him down and we talked through again how this was not a playdate, but a party. It also helped him that first Alivia checked up on him through a window (she had been outside playing while this was going on) and then came in to see how he was doing. Finally, either Danny got more the concept that it was okay to play with Alivia and all the other children, or she gave him more focused attention, or maybe a combination of both. Yet, Danny had a great time the remainder of the party and did not keep coming up to us looking for Alivia.

Josh spent the party in absolute bliss, either playing outside with the slide, or pushing a cart around inside. There were also a lot of older children that we really sweet to the younger kids, and some doted on Josh, which made him happy and feeling a bit more grown up.

Overall, the barbecue was fantastic. Joel had barbecued a bunch of ribs, and chicken for the adults and cooked hot dogs for all the kids. Everyone helped out and brought sides to the party. Someone even brought authentic baked beans. So for a couple of hours in the backyard and inside our friend's home, we were all able to get together as fellow Americans and celebrate the holiday and one would never have thought we were in the middle of China.

We of course were hit with a dose of reality as we walked home and the traffic light was turned off. Normally in the US, everyone would treat this intersection as a four way stop. Yet, here in China, where even with the light you take your life into your own hands, no traffic light translates to a free for all. This of course was all happening in the dark. We thankfully made it across without incident, and walked the remainder of the way discussing what fun we had at our American barbecue in China.

Danny's First Sick Day from School

Today, Danny woke with what has become a familiar sound in our household, the cough sounding like a seal bark which indicates croup. Overall, Danny was not too sick, but I still kept him home from school. It seems that whenever Danny gets a cold it always begins as the croup. Thankfully, as he has gotten older, it has gotten more mild. We have had two trips to the hospital in the past due to croup. We are very grateful that this more mild form coincided with our move to China.

Josh was extremely tired this morning, so I put him down for a morning nap, and Danny and I spent this time on our sofa bed in the playroom watching movies and drinking orange juice. The afternoon Josh and Danny switched places, and Josh went with me to pick up things from Danny's school while Danny slept.

Danny has a notebook he brings home every Friday and when I picked it up this week, they also handed us a scholastic book order form. Boy did this bring back memories of my childhood. I loved to read and my parents always let me pick out some books from the order. I look forward to sitting down with Danny and continuing this tradition. Who knew we would have this here in China.

As everyone was tired from this week and Danny was still recovering from his cold, we ordered pizza and relaxed at home together. Tomorrow we have a big evening, as we are going to a barbecue at a friend's house (Lindsay I have know since we moved in here, and Alivia, her daughter, is good friends with Danny--they are in the same class at school and inseparable at play time). After the barbecue the club here in our community is having their General Manager Pool Party. It should be a fun evening.

Shoe Shopping and a Low Key Thursday

So after the beginning of the week being fairly filled, Josh and I are tired. Therefore, the thought of doing my original plan of going to IKEA made me want to run out of the house screaming. (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy IKEA, but not the trip it takes to get to the store and back). I was also planning to go shoe shopping this afternoon after IKEA. We would have never made it, or at least it would not have been pretty. Therefore, I changed the plans to just go to the little mall that is near our house that has the Carrefour. I want to make something for the barbecue, and the boys are consuming yogurt at an unbelievable pace, so I thought I would run into Carrefour and then check out the two shoes stores I have seen in this little mall.

We got through Carrefour fairly quickly, and headed down to the shoes. Tom was fantastic in entertaining Josh while I looked around and tried on some shoes. Thankfully I was able to find two shoes that would work. I was also able to manage through working with the sales clerks okay. This was clearly a cheaper line of shoes, as I got both shoes for $30, but I think they look much more designer than the price alludes. I am pleased with them and feel they will work well for Monday. The question now, is how long they will last, but when in a pinch it works. (The other shoes I bought here cost much more, and are better quality, but we were in Hong Kong when I bought them and the only store here is by the IKEA, and that was not going to work before Monday).

Now, I am just resting while I wait for either Josh to wake from his nap, or the time for me to go get Danny from school arrives. I think I will watch my new favorite thing--Dustin got me the box set of the TV series Gilmore Girls. I used to watch the reruns of this when I nursed Danny. Now doesn't that seem like forever ago.

This Could Get Addictive...

Today was another fun filled day. Josh and I dropped Danny off to school and then headed off to meet my new friend Erin at the Fabric Market. She and her husband have had clothes and coats made here, so she was kind enough to show me around. I just have to say that I can see how this could become very addictive, except for the fact that you do in fact have to pay for the items, and as I enjoy shopping until I have to hand over my money, I am sure I will be able to keep it within restraint. Yet, if somehow become instant millionaires, I will probably have to buy a house closer because I would be there often.

Anyways, you enter the building, and it is four floors of little cubicle style shops with every imaginable style wool and cashmere coat, trench coats, dresses, suits, sweaters, pants, etc.... You go from stall to stall looking at what they offer and coming up with the style you want them to make. You choose your fabric and choose your stall/shop that will make it for you. You can also bring in pictures and have them copy that style, or bring in your favorite top, dress, pants and they will copy it in whatever fabric you would like. Of course the tricky part of this all is that they do not speak English. So, I will have to ask around to make sure I pick a stall/shop that is good at their job, and I can communicate with them effectively. So excited though...I will keep you all updated as I have heard some funny stories of things not working.

After the fabric market Erin, Josh and I got a quick lunch and then Josh and I headed back home. Josh was exhausted while we were driving home, and I actually had to get in the back seat (the car seats are in the back row of the mini van) and rub his head until he fell asleep. So adorable (well not the screeching that he did before he fell asleep, but once asleep, just precious).

As Josh was still exhausted when we got home, I decided not forego waking him up when it was time for me to go and watch Danny swim. It was my first time leaving him with the ayi (Dustin usually works from home Wednesdays and can keep an ear open for Josh waking up), and I just prayed he did not wake up while I was gone. I figured since he went down with quite the fuss, he may wake up in the same mood. Yet, I headed off to the clubhouse, as I knew Danny would be looking for me through the big window.

I was exhausted and so got a coffee while I waited. I tried a cafe lattee and was really pleased. I had never tried one before, but I really liked it. I was a little early, and so I was the first one there, even before the kids came out. They are so cute when they come out. They help them get changed in the locker room, and then they come out in this little single file line. I have to remember to bring my camera (hopefully they would show up through the glass). The other moms arrived, and we all had a really nice visit while watching our children swim.

My friend Lindsay (I had met her in the spring and now go to the bible study with her on Tuesdays), her daughter Alivia and Danny are really good friends, invited us over for a barbecue this weekend. It should be a great weekend. Saturday we now have their barbecue, and a party following that at the clubhouse (kids included). On Sunday, a new friend invited us to his birthday brunch. This should be interesting as they are German, and I believe everyone besides our family is from Germany. Yet, I know at least most of the moms and some of the kids that will be there and we all get along very well. On Monday we get to go to a party on a boat here in Shanghai to meet the delegation of business people and mayors traveling with the Mayor of Indianapolis, Mitch Daniels. Dustin and I are most excited to meet the Governor of Indiana, as we are big fans of his.

For dinner, the boys and I just went over to the clubhouse. I knew by this point in Dustin being gone, I would be pretty tired, so I planned in not cooking tonight. We ran into one of the ladies from my bible study, who just moved here a couple of weeks ago, and her family. After dinner, we just headed home and got ready for bed. Overall, a fantastic day. I am looking forward to the fact that Dustin will be home tomorrow, although late, I will at least get to see him before bed.

God's Continual Faithfulness

Today was a day just filled with moments of God blessing me in different ways. We headed to Danny's school and from there I went with one of the other moms to a women's bible study group in the neighborhood next to us. We were running a little early, so we were trying to walk slow. On the way we bumped into a mutual friend that neither of us had time to catch up with yet since being back in China. It was great to finally be able to stop and visit for awhile rather than just passing on the go.

We arrived at the bible study and I began meeting the women already present. We had a nice visit over coffee and a light breakfast. We then moved into the other room and did the formal introduction of everyone. It was great to hear everyone's backgrounds, and where they had lived before Shanghai. There are quite a few Americans in the group--quite a few actually from the midwest. Josh did pretty decent in the meeting, he had been pretty tired before we took Danny school--so much so that he brought his blanket with him. As Josh was still doing okay, I stayed a little longer and visited with some of the women after the formal meeting part ended. One of the ladies just got here a couple of weeks ago and was visibly in the part of ready to scream running about how crazy it is to live here. It amazes me looking back, that the culture shock I felt and what she is going through was not in the big things like I thought it was going to be, but rather in all the small things that just drove you nuts. (i.e.--not stopping for pedestrians, etc). After talking with her and another lady that I had previously ran into at our church, we began talking to our host. We were talking about grocery shopping and where to purchase items that you can feel safe about feeding to your family and self. There are quite a few stories here about the amount of pesticides they use here and other methods of not so safe food processing. Our host gave us two fantastic sites--one for ordering vegetables and another for purchasing meat. I am really excited about this, and also the great resource these women will be to me not only in finding things in the city, but also just a great support network.

After leaving the bible study I headed home with Josh, I was able to stay longer than I thought because Josh actually fell asleep shortly after the meeting. When we got home, I was expecting our ayi to have lunch prepared for us (I had requested this last week, and even had Dustin help translate). Unfortunately, when we got home, she did not have anything made. (She had brought in the ingredients this morning, so I knew she was prepared to make it, and was not sure what happened). Josh and I just sort of regathered up our stuff and then headed down to the clubhouse for lunch (I am sure she was trying to figure out why we came back only to leave two minutes later). I was a little frustrated as we headed to the clubhouse, but God turned it into a great blessing. Josh and I had no sooner sat down when some of the women from the bible study came in for lunch (as I was leaving I had overheard that they were going to go out for lunch). I was therefore able to have lunch with them and had a great time visiting more with them. If our ayi had made lunch I would have missed out on this completely.

As Josh slept earlier, I kept him up (with the plan for him to nap later with Danny) and we played until it was time to get Danny from school. Before we went to get Danny I started feeling extremely tired. The kind where I feel like just weeping. The great news to my exhaustion, really an answer to prayer, was when I got downstairs (we were playing upstairs) our ayi was making up what I thought was going to be the lunch. So the fact that there was a major miscommunication actually worked out for the best in the end, because I have dinner already made now. The boys are sleeping now for their nap, and we will try her dumplings for dinner. God is so good.

While I was typing this out our ayi came in to say goodbye and she tried to tell me something in Chinese. The only part I understood was tomorrow. I thought she was talking about the meal she made, so I was trying to say that we were going to eat it for dinner. Of course I was saying this mostly in English with Chinese thrown in. She shook her head and asked for paper (with hand motions that is), and she wrote out a phone number and three Chinese characters. I have no idea what the characters mean. She then spoke again in Chinese with the only thing I understood was telephone (she held up her hand like a telephone) and the number three, I know my numbers up to ten. So, I have decided that there are a couple of scenarios she could have said to me--She might have said she cannot come until three tomorrow and she will call, or I am to call this number at three (which may or may not be hers), someone is going to call me at three tomorrow, or she was saying someone called here today at three and she will see me tomorrow. I am sure there are plenty of other possibilities, but I have no idea. I just had to smile to myself and think of how funny life can be here in China, especially when you do not know the language. Definitely makes you realize you have to depend on God for everything and trust God in everything, because the self reliance thing can only go so far here--you can pretend so much easier that you are the one in control in the US. I guess I will find out tomorrow what this message means. Although, now that I am thinking of it, maybe I will go to the office and see if they can read the characters she wrote out and dig through my contacts to see if the number matches anyone I already know.

Looking forward to a short evening and heading to bed early. I am going to the fabric market with Erin tomorrow and that should be a lot of fun. I believe I successfully told Tom when to pick us up and the street we need to go to tomorrow. Just in case though, I texted Dustin what I told Tom, so if I said something wrong, he can maybe straighten it out. Tomorrow will be another adventure I am sure. Overall, a truly blessed day, and I look forward to what tomorrow holds.

A Fantastic Weekend

This past weekend was fantastic. Filled with a lot of relaxing and spending time together. Friday after work/school we all went and enjoyed the beach (fake one at our clubhouse pool). It was quite enjoyable, even with it being the hangout for all the teenagers. Saturday morning we also headed to the beach. We were actually the first people there, and we left just about the time it was filling up. This also was a great time and we got to catch up with some people we had met in the spring. After the pool, we did a quick lunch and then naps. We followed naps with two quick shows of Bob the Builder.

Danny has loved Bob the Builder for a while but what is really cute now is watching Josh get into it now. We have a little stuffed Bob the Builder that sings the theme song and he loves carrying it around and then dancing to the music. He actually sings the song too, but in a cute half talk half giberish version. After an early dinner, we walked down (the weather actually cooled down this is was really pleasant) and got ice cream. On our way we ran into Danny's teacher and his wife and had a nice visit. After ice cream, as it was only 6pm, we headed to the clubhouse to let the kids play. At the clubhouse we ran into a couple I had met at Danny's meet the teacher's meeting and the first day of school. They are from Germany and have children close to our boys' ages. They invited us to join them, and we had a nice visit about the moving here and life here so far. (He has lived here as long as we have, but his wife and children just joined him a couple of weeks ago before school started).

On Sunday, it was cool and stormy, so we headed for the indoor pool. We let Josh walk to the clubhouse and he was so adorable. He actually stopped and did everything he has watched Danny do---Danny would hide behind the pillars in the clubhouse and play peek a boo, and Josh ran up to these and did the same thing. So cute. Definitely reinforces the idea that they take everything they see in and remember it.

Danny and Josh had a great time swimming and again we were the only people there, which was nice. After naps we headed to church and ran into the new friends we had met a couple of weeks ago, Erin and Jeff. Dustin and I decided to forego our traditional McDonald's Sunday night meal, and headed to Pete's Tex Mex. We had a nice time together there and then headed home for bed.

Dustin leaves tonight for Shenzen (just outside of Hong Kong for a busy week of meetings, so this weekend was so nice to just crash and enjoy each other's company.

This week should be busy for me as well, as I am joining a women's bible study on Tuesday, Wednesday I am meeting Erin at the fabric mart (you can have anything you want tailor made here--I am so excited to figure this place out and have stuff made for Dustin and myself), Thursday is IKEA (we still need more hangers and random stuff like that) and a trip to the shoe store for me. We get to meet a delegation from Indiana on Monday evening for a light dinner and drinks (kids get to come as well)--the governor is suppose to be there too. Unfortunately, I left most of my shoes in Indiana, and the two pairs I have one pink (they are cuter than this description sounds) and one blue will not cut it. I spotted the same place I bought my other shoes at in Hong Kong right next to IKEA, so I will have Tom bring me there as well. Friday we will crash and Saturday we have a party here at the clubhouse. Should be hectic but a fun week. All the activity should hopefully make our week apart from Dustin go quickly.

Another Low-key Day

Today was another low key day for me, which was nice. We dropped Danny off to school, and Josh and I made the trek down to the store. It was at least not too hot when we left, but by the time we got home it was terrible. We played and had lunch. Our new ayi is nice and is warming up to the kids. I am still not quite sure about how well Fong trained her, as I noticed the dishes were sitting in the sink most of the day--this in itself is not a problem by any means, it is that at the end of the day, she took them from the sink and was just drying them off. It made me wonder exactly how she was washing them. I had read stories about ayis not using hot water or soap..I guess many Chinese do not wash dishes in hot water. So, needless to say, I will be maybe reading downstairs tomorrow to try and see what she does first hand. All the little things you take for granted of being the same, and just are not in different cultures.

Danny is continuing to enjoy school. His teacher asked me today if he might be left handed. I guess he writes equally as good with his left hand. I am still used to when they forced you to be one over the other. I guess they do whatever is comfortable for the child today.

Looking forward to the weekend and maybe spending time at the pool. There is not much more you can do in this heat. I was told in usually gets better by the middle of September. Thankgoodness that is sooner than later.

On a funny side note, I picked up a flyer on kids tennis here (we live at the Racquet club, so it is pretty big here), and was amazed at the pace they move the kids through the system. There are two tracks--recreational and professional. Both start at the age of 4, so I am not sure quite how it is determined that you should be in the professional track...Of course, I am expecting if Danny is even interested we would only be relegated to the recreational section. Also, curious of what happens when you decide to start at say age 6 or older. Are you in with the 4 year olds? I guess its called groom them young. We are doing the soccer thing this fall, so maybe we will try out the tennis in the spring, who knows...

We are solo here tonight as Dustin is out with late meetings. I just realized a terrible mistake that I made... I told Danny we would watch a movie and maybe we would make the nights that Dad is gone movie nights... My mistake is that Dustin will be out of town all next week...whoops. Oh, well I guess I will have to revise or make up some contingency.

A Somewhat Normal Day

So finally, we have had a somewhat normal day. The boys were fairly well behaved this morning, and we were able to greet our new subsitute Ayi before I took the boys to school. She seems nice and does a nice job. She does not try to communicate with us too much, but maybe this will change as we get to know each other better. (Of course when I say communicate this is usually talking in your own language and using lots of hand motions, so it is limited anyway).

Josh and I had a nice relaxed morning just playing at the house. No errands to run today--thankgoodness. I was able to go and watch Danny swim again, and even Dustin was able to stop by for a little bit (he worked from home today). Danny actually swam from one coach to another today, granted only for a short distance, but this is still huge. He is enjoying school and brought home homemade binoculars--he was quite proud.

I am enjoying visiting with the moms before and after school. Today one of the other moms invited me to join the beginning tennis lessons with her. Unfortunately, with the new Ayi, I do not know how secure I feel leaving Josh with her just yet. They also mentioned a bible study on Tuesday mornings, that I would love to do. I am hoping that maybe I can do a test run with the Ayi watching Josh while Dustin is working upstairs to see if I might be able to get out to do at least one of these gatherings.

We are looking forward to a relaxing evening here at home. Dustin has a late call tonight with the States...maybe I will watch one of my chick flicks I have been wanting to watch.

And the Adventure Continues...

Well, if we thought the adventure and fun was going to end last night, hold onto your seats. Our ayi arrives today with her friend in tow and announces after we made formal greetings, that she is leaving today for her hometown and will see us in November. This of course is all happening in the fifteen minutes I am trying to get Danny and Josh ready to head out the door. Dustin is let’s just say less than pleased, because our understanding yesterday was not this arrangement. Fong had just stated she wanted September and the holiday in October off. We thought we were just going to meet Fong friend and see if we were happy. Yet today we are informed that this is not true. Since, we like our ayi and do not want to really look for a new one, and I truly need an ayi with my TM condition and the enormous fatigue associated with it, we are stuck. Not happy, but stuck. Please pray this all turns out okay. At least it is for a long enough time that we can get used to this situation, but again, if she is not to our liking, two months is a long time. So, needless to say I was a little rattled on the way to Danny’s school. Thankfully, children, or at least our children are quite adaptive and Danny seemed really oblivious to all the flurry associated with today’s morning routine.

After dropping Danny off, we quickly turn around to do more shopping. I have to obtain a bike lock that will withstand more than one turn of the key (see yesterday’s blog) and get shoes for Danny that are not so large. I am going to head to the farthest Carrefour, praying that they may have the items I have been searching for since we arrived here three weeks ago.
As we make our way around the Carrefour, it seems like my luck is out. They do not carry squirt bottles, nor razors to trim the back of one’s neck (Danny needs this as his hair grows funny in the back and needs trimming here, long before he needs a haircut). Looks like my Mom will be bringing these items to us when she visits.

We arrive home and within about fifteen minutes, Fong is saying goodbye. Apparently, she is not even going to stay through the rest of the day. Oh, well, what are we to do. Prayers is about it. I think I am going to go lay down for the next hour before I go and pick up Danny. I was able to get his shoes and a much better lock for Dustin, so those are at least positives in the day. I will be limiting my time going to these stores from now on, because the traffic is just insane.

The Rest of the Crazy Day

Well the rest of the day seemed to continue like the first part of the day. Dustin called me to tell me that our Ayi has asked for all of September and most of October off. She did say that she had a friend who would take over, but this is extremely disruptive let alone the fact that we have no idea who this women is that Fang is brining over. We tried to discuss it with Fang during our quick lunch before I left with Josh on our errands. It is really crazy, because she is saying the same thing, and we are trying to pin point what it is she wants—i.e.-it took us the whole time to get out of her that she wanted that total time off and that her friend would work it. We are not happy about the situation, but feel there is very little we can do except fire her, and that would be a little extreme, plus the fact that we like and feel she does a good job. This time off is apparently tied to the death of her mother. There is some ceremony that they will perform since she died young and in a tragic way. So after that upsetting news, I took off to the store with Josh and Tom. I headed out to the farther store thinking we would be able to get there an back in time for Danny. Of course this is not true. Traffic was terrible.

Once we did arrive, I went to the store with computer items and tied to buy a cord for our router. Well, lets just say let the circus begin, because it was close to that in trying to get this cord. Now the problem was not finding it. I saw it on the wall and took it right down knowing exactly what I wanted. The problems began after that in trying to buy it. I of course do not speak Mandarin and first had to track down a salesperson focused enough to help us. The salesperson looked at it and started talking in Mandarin to me. I of course shook my head and motioned to Tom. (Who speaks Mandarin, but no English, so while he can usually help, he can never tell me what is going on). So, I believe from the hand motions and pointing that she was upset that there was a hole in the plastic the wire came in. Of course the hole is there because this is how they hang things up in the store. So, I drag her over (not literally) to the other cords and point to the fact that this is how all of them are hanging up. Then somehow the conversations switches and another employee gets involved. They then began having a conversation between them about length of the wire. I had not told them a length, and I know Tom had no idea what I came in there to buy, so I do not know why the conversation came down to this. Yet, finally after about five minutes of them arguing about the size I was able to convey that I just wanted to buy it. After this, the two employees began arguing again, this time shoving the item I wanted back and forth into each other’s hands. Apparently, neither of them wanted to write up the ticket for it. (Here in China, you cannot just take something up to the register and buy it. No, first you need a ticket, then you pay for it, then you bring the copy of the ticket back to the employee that first helped you, and only at that point do they hand you the item). So, after another couple of minutes of bickering about writing the ticket, finally the women employee won and the guy went over to look it up. I paid out, and receive my wire. There is no such thing as fast shopping in China.

We quickly went through Carrefour, only to confirm that Qibao’s store does not have squirt bottles either. We got our other items, and left to look for Danny’s shoes. Thankfully they had a Crocs store right at the entrance and I was able to get a pair for Danny. We then finally headed home, with me feeling a little guilty that I would not be there to pick up Danny. We did amazingly make it back in time to greet him when he came in the door. He tried his shoes on, and of course they were to big. Dustin unlocked the bike lock I had bought him (he got a bike this weekend) and it literally broke when he unlocked it. The insides of the lock poured out onto the floor. There is something about Chinese quality that I cannot ever grasp. Why do they put up with this junk. Who wants stuff that breaks within minutes, or in this case without ever using it. Stuff like this would never make it to US stores, yet now that I think about it, we complain about how many lawsuits there are in our country, but this is what prevents the junk ever being sold. No one wants the liability. Here, no one cares. Literally, the lack of caring about human life here is shocking.

Anyway, we got the boys down for naps, and planned to go to the nice Italian place for dinner for our anniversary. Of course, the boys when we need to leave, are so out of it Dustin and I decide it is not worth the headache of dragging them out of bed and to the restaurant. Hence, we had a nice dinner at the clubhouse where we regularly eat. Not quite the day or night I imagined, but here in China God has shown us that rolling with the punches is much easier--for everyday here is an adventure—with some being more wild than others. He has taught us that regardless of location and where we are sitting down as we look around the table the blessings are the same—one amazing marriage and two amazing children. God is so Good. Here’s to all the years to come and the adventure the Lord may take us on through those.