Just a Regular Old Day

So today the boys greeted me at the early hour of 4:30am. Now why would you ask would the boys be up at this time? Well, here in China they unfortunately believe in having just one time zone for the entire large country and do not see the need for the concept of daylight savings time like we have in the US. Hence, the sun actually rises at 4:30am. Even with the darkening curtains Danny somehow knows it is daylight outside and feels he should be awake to greet the earliest rays of sunshine. I on the other hand long for the days when he was a baby and slept to the fantastic hour of 7am. Oh what I would give to sleep until 7am.

The 4:30 ams are exceedingly difficult due to two other factors. One being that Dustin usually works late into the night trying to talk with the States, and this week especially since his boss is in town and they have extra meetings in the evenings. I usually either try to stay awake until he is home, or since I am a light sleeper (especially since becoming a mother) I wake up when he comes into the room. The second factor is that my neck is still causing me problems, and I have a lot of trouble sleeping this past week.

Thank goodness for Folgers and a Starbucks which is close. I of course am not looking forward to June as the mornings are only going to get earlier and earlier. Back home, I had a clock in Danny's room and made him stay in his bed until he saw the clock reach 6am. Due to the increasingly earlier mornings, I am going on a search for this type of clock tomorrow. It seems like this would be a simple thing to locate,an alarm clock you can see in the dark, but this is China, and nothing is straightforward or easy to find.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly. I took the boys to get their haircuts. They had the same stylist as last time, and I was again pleased with the result. We ran into a nice women I had met before. I have only seen her so far, but her son will be in Danny's class this fall. We exchange information and plan to get together sometime soon. It is nice to connect with people, because in many ways it seems hard to meet other moms here. It seems they are either working or just not with their own kids, so most children we run into at the park are with their Ayis. If we do run into moms, it is hit or miss whether they will be friendly or not.

After eating an early lunch I convince Danny to walk to the Starbucks. I felt I would surely not make it to the end of the evening with out some additional boost of caffeine. We arrived and we enjoyed splitting a muffin three ways while we watched people go by on the street in front of the shop.

As Danny was missing Dustin I decided that we would have a fun evening together rather than our normal routine one. I woke Danny up from his nap early and we headed to the sand park. We brought our toys with and this attracted some other boys that had similar toys to us. One little boy came over and wanted to use some of our stuff. He brought with him a nice dump truck. We invited him to play sort of at the same time that he was helping himself to our things. Danny asked politely if he could play with the boys dump truck and he refused. This was quite hard for Danny to understand as we teach Danny that he is to always share his toys with others. The refusal was of course harder to understand since the boy was actively using a number of Danny's toys. I of course was not surprise that his Ayi came shortly after and with broken English was trying to figure out what the little boy was doing. It was quite clear that the little boy showed her little respect and it was hard for her to get him to do as he should. He left shortly after and we kept playing just Danny, Josh and myself. The park was crowded, but with either children with Ayi's or mothers from countries I could not quite place from their language. It seemed like a park filled with children whose behavior left little to be desired.

The interaction with the boy and others that we have met, brings me back to my greatest concern for Danny, which is his upcoming school year. I have heard from many moms, this is where Danny will meet most of his friends. Yet, I am concerned about how these children behave. I guess this would be a concern anywhere he went to school, but it seems a little more prevalent here as I find there are a lot of absent parents. i.e.--they have allowed their ayi to replace them in their children's lives. This sort of amazes me, as I am looking forward to an Ayi as well, but to do all the chores that keep me busy and away from the kids. I hope that I will have more time with the boys, not less.

Another interesting site at the park is that some mother had some sort of portable toilet that used a plastic bag attached to the plastic seat. I was completely shocked that she literally helped her child sit on this contraption and go to the toilet just along side the park. Not off to the side where there might be more privacy, but straight in the middle right where everyone had a first hand viewing. I guess I should have been happy that she didn't let her go on the grass, but I could tell Danny was captivated by what was going on. While I do not want to be a total prude, and I am sure it made the mother's life easier than racing back home with her child, but I at least thought within our community there would be some normalcy of what is appropriate in public. I mean Danny is getting to the age when he should not be watching some little girl go to the bathroom--let alone the rest of us. All I can say is only in China, only in China. Life here can be so bizarre.

This brings me to the funny/sad/frustrating story from our new friends. They moved today, and yesterday she called me to tell me she went to see the new house and check on the cleaning and projects they were suppose to fix. Amber said there were spots in the grout in the entryway that had needed to be fixed. She walked into the entry way to find that instead of using a grout that matched what was on the floor, they used white to fix the spots that needed fixing. So you can only imagine what that floor looks like with two different grouts throughout it. As I said before--bizarre. Who in their right mind would think that this was a good idea, or that this would be acceptable. Yet, what was their response? You guessed it, they were shocked that she had a problem with the two different grouts. Go figure.

We ended the day on a fine note, as I took the boys to the clubhouse for dinner and they were well behaved.

Overall, the day was pleasant and I always enjoy being with the boys, especially on our walks and at the park. However, I can not help but be a little lonely, and feel a little lost. While I occasionally meet a mom at the park or on our walks, we rarely have a long time to talk. Also, there is just not a lot for me to be involved in right now. I try and remind myself this is only temporary. By this fall we will have an Ayi, so I should not have to spend most of my day cleaning, Danny will be in school and I will meet people through that and also through any sports programs he does. I also hope to take some language lessons, which will hopefully allow me to get around a little easier.

So for now, I will cultivate the few people I have met that seem interested in getting to know me better. I will try to ignore the others who either give their snooty looks or completely ignore me. It is so hard to tell if this is because they cannot communicate with me, or if they do not want to communicate with me. The boys and I will continue to enjoy the parks and pools and we will continue to give thanks for a place to call home here and more importantly for our home back in the States. I will also try and focus on the fact that being away from home is always harder when I am exhausted, for this is when I long for the comfort of what is familiar. I pray for a good night sleep, successful hunting for an alarm clock and that the doctor I see on Saturday about my neck does not look at me as if this pain is just between my ears.

The Dinner Party

Today we hosted our first dinner party. Dustin's boss was in town for meetings, so we decided to do a home cooked meal for him, and invited another co-worker and his family to join us as well. A dinner party here is a little different from home, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I do not have my usual serving dishes or regular dishes. I had awhile back added on to my serving, but realized Monday night that I needed more plates for dessert and appetizers (there is no such thing as nice paper plates here). Secondly, our oven does not cook consistently, nor do we truly know how to use it properly, so cooking is always interesting. Finally, finding items here is usually a challenge.

So my morning was packed with heading first to the store we could walk to from our house. The boys and I bought some fresh ingredients there as well as some fresh flowers for the house. We then headed to the bakery near our house. Dustin and I decided the night before that I would just buy a cake for dessert as our oven is less than consistent and I forgot to bring with me cooling racks (good luck finding such a thing here in China). The bakery has everytime we have gone in, had a gorgeous black forest chocolate cake. Unfortunately, today they did not have any cakes at all. They had a book of cakes, but after my feeble attempts using my phone dictionary to trying to ask about the cakes and how long it would take to make one for me, I retreated in utter defeat. I decided I would have to come up with some other alternative that will be simple and taste good.

After getting home from those stores, Tom, our driver, was back from dropping Dustin and his boss off and he took us to the Carrefour. Thankfully, I was able to find most things (i.e.--dessert plates and appetizer plates, but no ice bucket) After running through the store as fast as I could and praying that Tom would keep up with me a little more (he was pushing Josh, but walked everywhere at his normal pace--he obviously could not tell from my attitude that I was in a rush), we finally got most of what we needed.

I stopped outside the Carrefour at a flower shop and bought two low arraingements for the table and just marveled at the price of them. I paid $30 total for two arrangements and an empty vase to use in my hall bath (I had bought some flowers earlier). In the US you would be lucky to get one arrangement made with carnations for this price and that would not include the vase. Each arrangement here had at least four to five red roses with other flowers mixed in. I was so excited about it and could not wait to see how the table would look with the flowers, and my white dishes and new dishes that have an Asian design to them.

I had Tom stop at the market I went to this morning, as I forgot to get fresh basil and it is the only place I know that carries it. I was quite proud that I told him where I wanted to go by telling him to take me to the newspaper store. He understood this because this is where he stops for us to buy the English paper.

We finally arrived home at 12:00 and I quickly got the boys fed and up to bed for naps. I then tackled the cleaning (our floors were disgusting), setting the table and getting all the food prepared. I was so excited about the table, as I was able to hide the burn marks (tables are not made well here, and the previous owner set something on the table and destroyed the finish in the shape of the bowl they put on the table). We had bought what we thought were placemats when we first moved here, but it turned out to be table runners. I used two sets of two on each side of the table to hide the marks and placed the arrangements between the two runners in the middle of the table. It turned out sort of striking with the dishes in white on top and I used my new dishes on top of that as salad plates.

God so blessed me today in preparing for this party, for the boys slept almost until everyone arrived and I was able to have everything ready except the last minute cooking before the guests arrived. This enabled me to know the food would be ready, but also to enjoy my guests as well.

It was a wonderful evening. The dinner came out great and I was able to bake lemon cheesecake cookies and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They were simple and everyone enjoyed them.

It was a long day, but extremely satisfying. I truly love to entertain and it was a lot of fun to have our first dinner party here in China. It is also nice as tomorrow, for the boys and I, all we have to do is play and relax.

A Day with Friends

After all the scare with Josh's arm, he is still doing great and back to his usual happy self.

Today we headed out early (6:30 am) to go see our friends. The guys joined a group of other men from our firends' neighborhood that goes bike riding every Sunday morning (church here is in the afternoon, so you can do something most of the day and still attend church). The boys and I stayed with Amber and her son. We had to leave so early because they live across the city on the other side of the river and the bike ride leaves at 8am.

I will let Dustin blog about the bike ride, but I will just say that they were gone for a couple of hours, and they went off road bike riding. (A little different from what Dustin was thinking--he thought it was on the surface streets). However, I believe he had a great time and is looking forward to doing it again.

Amber and I had a fantastic time talking and watching the boys play. They grilled out and we had a great little barbecue lunch. We ended the day with going to church together.

I told Dustin on the way home, you do not realize how much you enjoy just visiting with friends, being in their home and inviting them to yours, until you do not have that for a while. They have been our real first friends here and we are so grateful to have met them. It can be quite lonely and isolating here, and friends make that so much more bearable.

We have a busy week coming up with lots of meetings for Dustin and our first dinner party.

Tour of the ER, Carsickness, and Intro. to Bureaucratic Pains

So as I alluded to in the last blog, going to the ER is not like going to your local ER in the United States. Just getting there is the biggest challenge here. We were grateful that Josh was able to make it until 4 am because this eliminated the problem we faced in the middle of the night—Danny would have to come with us. We had decided previously in the night that both Dustin and I would have to go to the ER. First, I had to be there because Josh wanted to be in my arms and we felt he would freak out if I was not present. Secondly, we needed Dustin in order to pay for it (our only credit card with no foreign transaction fees is in his name only—we ran out of time before we left for China to add my name) and to do any translation that may be needed. We were headed to the Western hospital (i.e.—caters solely to the expatriate community) and has only western trained doctors, but we were not sure if the nurses would speak English.

Therefore, we had no one to stay with Danny, so we were grateful he was able to sleep most of the night before we took off for the ER. Handling a new ER, in a Foreign country, with a sleep deprived three year old in tow was not what Dustin and I wanted. The Lord blessed us with not having to do it that way.

Danny was able to sleep almost to his normal time to wake up, because unlike in the United States where you jump into your car and go, this is not the case here. You first have to call your driver. Thank the Lord our driver answered first the text message and then called. He said he would be there as soon as possible, but it would be at least an hour before he could reach us. Our other choice was taking a taxi, but this would mean trying to obtain a taxi at this hour and taking the kids without car seats (I think we mentioned how they drive here before, so you know our concern). We therefore decided to wait for Tom to arrive. This also gave Danny the ability to sleep to just a little before 5am which is about when he normally wakes up in the morning.

We tried to distract Josh during this time, and to also try and assess a little whether he could grip anything or lift his arm. Before he awoke, I was really concerned that he may have torn something that would require surgery to fix. This would mean us traveling to Hong Kong to have the procedure done. Needless to say, I was anxious to get to the hospital and find out what was wrong. In playing with him, we could tell that he could close his fingers, but he did not much have much grip, and he completely refused to use his arm at all.

Amazingly, our driver Tom (he must have sped or the traffic was light, or a combination of both) arrived in just 30 minutes (he I believe has really bonded with the boys, especially Josh, so I imagine he tried his best to cut the time down to reach us).

Upon arrival at the ER, we entered and stood for a short time at a desk. Oh how I desperately wished they had a bell to ring on it and was tempted to call out, but as Josh was sitting comfortably in the stroller, I controlled myself. A security man that was outside when we arrived and followed us in, finally on his own went to search for someone. Within a couple of minutes, a man came out and thankfully he spoke really good English. Josh was already in the system as I had taken him to the clinic within our community for his last cold. The clinic is tied to the hospital, so their records are linked. They quickly got us into a screened off bed area and we waited for the nurse. The nurse also spoke excellent English and I calmly told her what happened. She looked at his arm for swelling and said the doctor would be right in. Dustin and I were greatly relieved to finally see the doctor, who was from Australia and to hear him almost immediately tell us that Josh was suffering from is what is called “classic pulled elbow”. Apparently, the article I read years ago was correct. Do not walk with your children by holding their hands. The part I missed or forgotten was that it was a pulled elbow and not a dislocated shoulder.

A pulled elbow is where a ligament, which in young children are really pliable and move about a lot, gets pulled out of its normal spot and gets stuck and is unable to move back on its own. The doctor said that in some cases it does go back on its own, but in the other cases they are just able to move it back into place. I cannot describe the relief I felt—not only in that Josh was going to be okay and that we would not need to travel to Hong Kong for further treatment, but that I did not hurt my child in some terrible way. (I had let my mind go to the point where I was picturing myself having to explain to Josh when he was older how I ended up paralyzing his arm—not the best picture to think about. Of course in hindsight, one would not think you could hurt someone that bad with just holding their arms while they walked across the room.) The doctor spent no more than 90 seconds just bending Josh’s arm up and down at the elbow with his finger pressed into the crease of his elbow. Josh of course was crying his heart out, but after that, he was fine. The doctor mentioned that it would take a little bit of time for him to forget the pain and therefore stop favoring his other arm.

We headed home shortly after that, and were amazed that Josh was fine and we would be able to continue on with our day as scheduled. We had planned to go and finish getting our resident permits and Dustin’s work permit, and we were running out of time to do it. This was one of the last days we could go except for this Friday and the coming Monday.

When I got home, I put Josh to bed as he was exhausted and I could already see that he was forgetting the pain because he used that arm to put his two fingers in that he sucks on while he sleeps. When he woke up he was like nothing happened at all. He shoved cheerios in by the fist full and finished off his hot dog in record time.

Dustin picked us up (he had gone to the office to fill out some of the papers needed for the afternoon) and we headed to Pudong to apply for the permits. As is quite common in Shanghai we hit traffic pretty quickly. Soon after hitting the wall of traffic was the fact that Josh decided the stop and go traffic makes him car sick, and he emptied his entire lunch all over himself and car seat. Thankfully (or not) as this has happened before, I now carry a change of clothes and some bags. So in the middle of stop and go traffic, I got to work cleaning him off and trying to clean up the seat. I placed Josh back in the seat on top of a bag (the seat was soaked) and waited to put his clothes on until we arrived. The rest of the drive was fine, just long.

We arrived about two hours before the office closed. We were ushered ahead in the line due to the kids. Unfortunately, we got to the lady at the desk only to find out that we were suppose to have reregistered with the police after we reentered the country from Hong Kong. We had no idea that after the initial registering with the police—this was done upon our arrival at our apartment—that we would have to do this each time we left the country as this registration was good until the end of next month. After some negotiation, they were willing to process the application to a certain point and then hold it until we returned with the appropriate paperwork. Therefore, we left a bit empty handed. Halfway home, Dustin and the women assisting him worked to coordinate how they would get everything finished in time. It was decided that tomorrow they would go in the morning to get the form from the police and then the women would be able to go on her own to file the rest of the papers.

So after a very long day, we ended with our favorite standby of Papa John’s pizza and headed to bed early.

We are so grateful that everything resolved itself well with Josh and it was comforting to find the ER to be as Western as it was here in China. We can only pray this will be our last trip there, but with two active boys, one never knows for sure.

The Stiff Neck, Arm Trauma, Dinner with Friends and the Night before the ER

As you can tell from the title this was a long day, so hang in there through this description of our day—I tried to break it down into sections.

The Stiff Neck

Today I awoke and could hardly move my neck. This alone would be difficult, yet added to this was the fact that even after Advil I was in excruciating pain. This pain was not only constant, but also sharp stabbing pain when I moved certain directions. The one blessing was that Dustin was working at home today. Yet, one problem was that he actually needed to get that work done, as he has extremely important meetings next week that he needed to prepare for today. So, that left me limping around the house and just grinning (not sure how successful I was on this part) and bearing it with the boys. The Lord did bless me with Josh going back to sleep really quickly after waking up and Danny was engrossed in coloring. I therefore was able to leave (while Dustin worked in the office) and get a massage. Now the massage I received the last time was really good, and I have to say the one I got today was equally good, but the problem was it was exactly the same as the previous one. Unlike the United States, where our massage therapists (at least the quality ones) have the ability to target the knots they feel in the muscle and work them out, I am guessing from my massage today that this is not a possibility here. They must be trained in a certain method and this is what they do each and every time. It results in a relaxing massage, but does not get any of the knots actually worked out. Therefore, while I felt relaxed, I still could not move very well and was still in pain—it was just tolerable pain. Unfortunately, it moved back to excruciating by the afternoon.

The Arm Trauma

One blessing in my excruciating pain was that Dustin and I had agreed we would go to the clubhouse for dinner. I therefore was not in the middle of dinner preparation when our friends called to see if we wanted to meet them for dinner. Due to my neck and the fact they were fairly close to us, we settled on them joining us for dinner at our clubhouse. While waiting for them to arrive, Dustin ran back to the office to finish an e-mail quick. The boys and I hung out downstairs. Josh of course was getting into everything and when he started pulling on the stroller (I keep it out between the family room and dining room partly because we use it all the time and partly there is no other place to put it), I went over to move him away since I did not want it to fall on top of him. I made the decision to let me walk away with my help rather than picking him up because he likes to practice walking and I thought I could avoid the ensuing fussing that usually follows taking something away from Josh. I detached his hands from the handle bars and began walking him across the floor. I was holding his hands while he held onto my fingers. I have done this numerous times before and did the same thing with Danny when he was little, but little did I know this is not a good method and can cause problems as I was soon to find out.

I am not sure if it was the fact that Josh was crying and arching his back (this is Josh’s favorite thing to do when he does not get his way—he cries and arches his back—becoming sort of stiff as a board) or the fact that I picked him up from the ground just enough to have him sit on his bottom, but something went terribly wrong. At first, I was oblivious simply because I thought he was still just crying from not being able to play with the stroller. I picked him up from where I sat him on the floor, and this was my first clue something else was going on because he did not quiet down. Normally, when I pick him up he calms fairly quickly—unless he is really mad, and then it takes a little longer.

I brought him over to the sofa, and I noticed that while he was still crying, he was not using his one arm exactly the same, but I was not sure if I was just being a little crazy about it. I moved his arms around and felt around on him and he did not cry any harder, so I just held him wishing he could tell me what was wrong. After a few minutes of sitting there, he quieted down, and while I was still a little concerned, I was relieved that he was not crying anymore. I told Dustin what happened, and he said he probably just felt a twinge in it, but was fine. Our friends called to say they were arriving, so we packed up and headed to the clubhouse. We were a little ahead of them, so we ducked into the office and then the library at the clubhouse. As I still felt something was not right, we decided to get Josh out of his stroller and let him crawl for a minute. Of course to my great horror, he could not crawl. His arm just crumpled under him.

Since he did not seem to be in pain, Dustin suggested that he probably was just sore and did not want to put pressure on it right then. He reassured me that he would probably be fine in minutes. We met up with our friends in the restaurant and they after we explained what was going on with Josh uttered similar suggestions. I, of course, had read some article years ago that said something about not walking with your children holding their hands. I was kicking myself for not heeding their advice as Josh was not obviously hurt as a result. I was racking my brain for what the article said and I feared that they said it could cause a dislocated shoulder.

Dinner with Friends

Our friends were so kind and it was comforting to be in their company. She apparently had dislocated her elbow as a young girl and said that he would not let us touch it or at least would be crying and in a lot of pain, if something was dislocated. Josh was allowing us to maneuver it, but sometimes would cry out and sometimes would not. Hence, we finished our meal with our friends and went home, still praying that Josh would use his arm. We did have one glimmer of hope in that he pulled it up to drink his milk.

The Night Before the ER

As we thought he might be in pain and that was the reason he was not using his arm, I gave him Tylenol before bed. He slept for exactly the four hours that it covers and then woke up. He was exhausted of course and while we listed the pros and cons of leaving for the hospital immediately or waiting for the morning, I was finally able to get him back to sleep after more Tylenol and a lot of rocking. So, Dustin and I prayed we could wait to morning to have a doctor look at Josh. Just the sheer logistics of going to the ER makes it something you only want to do if absolutely necessary. Josh again woke up at 4am and everything I tried did not calm him down. He wasn’t moving his arm at all – sort of like it was paralyzed… Dustin and I therefore decided we had to go to the ER.

Meeting People at Church and Flamingo Dancer's Pictures

Today we went early to church so that we could attend the newcomer lunch. We had a nice time and got to try out a new restaurant (serving Turkish fare) close to the church. However, due to us attending the lunch we had to go to the earlier church that does not have the nursery. It of course would not surprise anyone that Josh made it through the singing and then wanted to talk and crawl around while the pastor talked. I therefore, made my way over to the Starbucks across the street. What is interesting about this area of town is that while it just looks like a row of stores and restaurants to us, it must be some either scenic or important area to the Chinese. I say this because we have seen more Chinese people having their pictures taken here than anywhere else in the city.

For example, when we arrived for the lunch this morning, there were no less than four brides and their grooms posing for shots in front of these stores. Now I will say they have nice light posts (sort of old fashioned ones) which one couple was posed around, and they have nice arches that act as an overhang in front of the stores, but I wonder if they leave the Starbucks and Papa Johns in the background, or if the photographer photo shops that out. I could not imagine paying for pictures and having Papa Johns—with the people watching through the window-- in the background of the shot.

So back to my trip to Starbucks with Josh. We ended up getting the coffee and there were no seats available to sit down. I therefore headed outside and to both Josh’s and my amusement there was a couple getting their photos taken. The first amusing factor for us—well I will say me as I am not sure Josh could process all of the comical aspects of it—was how they were dressed. The woman was dressed in what I can only describe as a knock off of a flamingo style dress. Big ruffled sleeves, no middle section to the dress (this is quite amazing for China) and a short ruffled skirt in black and gold—think Purdue colors. Her boyfriend/fiancé/husband was in a matching yellow/gold shirt. It of course was no ordinary shirt—think of the pirate shirt episode of Seinfeld and you have it to a tee—except Jerry’s was white. If you never saw this episode of Seinfeld, try to picture the cover of a cheesy romance novel—they seem to be in these types of shirts a lot. Then in contrast to the rest of the outfit was the guys tattered dirty looking jeans which stood out like a sore thumb and made me wonder if she could only convince him to wear the shirt and not the matching pants, or whether they were only taking the shots above the waist and he thought “who cares how the pants look”.

Once I got over the fact of the outfits, I started to focus on what shots they were taking and the scene as a whole. One funny fact was that the photographer had an assistant. This in itself is not funny, as many photographers have assistants. What was funny is that as the photographer would take pictures, he would hold things up such as a large flower (think stuffed animal kind) up in the air near the photographer. This struck me as funny because the flower he used I have seen used in photo centers in the United States. The difference is that in the US it is used to get the children such as Josh’s age to smile or look at a certain spot not people in their twenties.

The last aspect that was quite funny was the poses the photographer had them in. While watching, all I could think about was where in the world are these people going to hang these shots. I will try to describe two different poses they took. The first had him sitting in a chair they borrowed from the outdoor part of Starbucks (this was all taking place under the arched cover way in front of Starbucks). She was standing behind him, and I mean like at least a foot behind him. They had her arrange her hands in a way that reminded me of a traditional India dance move, sort of crossing her arms in front of her with her fingers outstretched upwards, then to add some flair they had her fling her head backwards and look up at the ceiling. I was so captivated that she would want her picture taken this way, I forgot to see what pose they had him doing in the forefront of the picture. The second pose, I can only assume was to focus on his manliness. They had her on the side of the chair next to him and actually—I kid you not—had him unbutton the ruffled shirt down about half ways. So there he is sitting in the chair with this ruffled pirate shirt with his chest showing. There are two things that are funny about this, or at least would make me pause before taking such a picture (other than the fact that neither Dustin or myself would ever wear such an outfit) is that not to be unkind to the man, but it was quite obvious that he was not one that frequented a workout facility. Thus, I am not sure why this photo in particular was on their list to take. Now back to something I said earlier. Where in the world are you going to hang this photo???—definitely would not be in the family room or sent out in cards to friends.

Anyway, this blog was just to try and put a little perspective into what we run into on a weekly basis. It does not make much sense to us at all, but it is a very fascinating part of the culture—this scene especially. Needless to say it made the time fly while we had to wait for church to end.

Lunch with New Friends

Well, the Lord is wonderful – he has brought into our lives a family that is quite similar to us both individually (Dustin and I) and as a family. We are so thankful that we have met them and that we all enjoy each other’s company so much. Friends here in China can only be described similarly to college. It is the only other scenario in which you are away from everything familiar, away from your family and going through a similar experience together. They are your whole support network and you become close quickly. Since we have met our new friends we have been in almost daily communication with them and today we decided to get together for lunch. We met at Pete’s Tex Mex a Mexican restaurant about 30 minutes or so (depending on traffic) from our house. We had a great time and even found out that they knew people from the town where Dustin was born in Arkansas. After lunch we followed them to the flower market we had been to previously, and they showed us a whole section we did not know existed. Here you can have things framed and they sell paintings, accessories and furniture. This was a great find for us, as we have absolutely no pictures up in our house and have no accessories. All the beautiful pictures that our friend Rachel took of our family have been sitting in their packaging because up until this point the only frames I could find were at IKEA and they were not in any shape that would work.

Overall, we had a wonderful day and were so pleased to be able to spend time in a restaurant laughing and talking with people similar to ourselves. It is amazing how you do not realize how much you have missed something like spending time with friends until you have that blessing back in your life.

Hitting the Low and God's Blessing through it All

So the past few days, Dustin and I have just been struggling and having what they call here, having a Shanglow day. After talking last night we are realizing that while we are settling in here and making a home there are certain things in our daily lives that have accumulated into our Shanglow feeling.

First we have pinpointed, and I have mentioned this before, the loss of ability to drive. While it is great to be shuttled everywhere and our driver could not be nicer, there are many things that make this change hard. First and foremost both of us enjoy driving. Secondly, we did not even realize how time in the car for us back home, was quiet time. And then of course the obvious which is that it is your freedom. To not be able to go where you want, when you want is an adjustment. Yes our driver answers to us, but we give him Saturday off and we share him. So, if I am still at the store, and Dustin wants to head home he has to wait til I get home, and then wait for our driver to arrive which takes another 30 minutes from our house.

The second thing we pinpointed is we are getting virtually no alone time, or down time. Dustin was used to being able to go biking (very hazardous here on these streets) and I was used to my schedule at home and my support team of Dustin's family and mine.

Finally, mostly for Dustin, as I come from a larger city originally... He is adjusting to not being able to get away and go to the State park or be in a place where you do not see hundreds of people all the time. Even the apartment lends itself to being around strangers at all time.

So, what did we learn in all of this. Mostly that our transition is still in progress, and seemingly the small changes are what are adding up to what make us feel that we are not at peace, or as Dustin described, just restless and what I describe as our Shanglow days. The other lesson is just in how God continues to support us and bless us in this journey. We both went to bed sort of down and focused on what were facing and wondering how to address the issues. We both prayed and it is amazing at how God works.

This is our morning today:
Dustin had a fantastic and supportive meeting this morning. I got an e-mail from one of the girls that I met at church and we are scheduling to get together with them as a family and individually. Dustin got an e-mail from one of the men he met here and was invited to join a group of men that go biking each Sunday (through a safe neighborhood). The e-mail for the women I met also was filled with information about restaurants, stores etc. She even included addresses and phone numbers. I also had mentioned my cold that I have right now, and she offered to drive over to me some over the counter medication. To most this in itself is so kind, but the fact that she lives on the other side of the river nearly an hour an half away makes it that much more special. Finally, Dustin and I realized that we will need to get an Ayi sooner than later. This will be the only way that I will be able to get some respite time for myself. As usual, Danny, Josh and I went to the park this morning and we were alone for no more than 10 minutes, when a women and her son arrived. She not only shared with me a park that we can go to that is near by and as close as we will come to a State park with not a lot of people, she also has a name of an Ayi that might work out for us. Finally when the boys and I arrived home we ran into our neighbor who also lives on the 5th floor (there is only us and them on this floor on our side of the building). She was so incrediably nice and said that when she was not running out the door, that she would love to get together and talk more and get to know each other.

Amazingly, all of this happened before noon today. (In addition, the antibiotics are working and I am feeling much better--the Starbucks I got this morning is also a great help. :-) )

All I can say is WOW and to say what a faithful and great God we serve. I encourage anyone who is feeling down, has some problem, talk to God. I actually just sort of sobbed and complained to God, but the great thing is he listens to even that and answers, which is evident in our day so far.

Well, I am off to go tackle the dust on the floors, the dishes and laundry before the boys wake up. (Looking forward to getting that Ayi :-) ) We are going to take advantage of Italian night at the clubhouse and eat out tonight. I am hoping it is good and we can turn it into our Wednesday night tradition.

Easter Celebration

Today is Easter and we have another beautiful day outside. The boys awoke early and we headed down for their easter basket surprise and breakfast. After eating, Dustin hid eggs in our family room and the boys really enjoyed running/crawling around to find them. We then headed up to Skype with the grandparents and had the wonderful treat of being able to skype with our neice and nephew, who happened to be at one of the grandparent's houses. (We had already had the treat of skyping with our other nephew a week or so ago).

After skyping, Danny and I headed down stairs and worked on coloring eggs. I had found a coloring kit that is just Q-tips filled with paint and it was fairly easy for Danny to use. I let Josh play with one of the plastic eggs, as paint and him are not yet a good combination. Danny enjoyed painting eggs and even created one like his Pops always makes--a mud egg using every color that you have.

After painting we had a nice meal. I was unable to find ham here (our traditional Easter meal), so I settled on pork roast. It turned out pretty well. (We are still struggling to figure out what setting to put the one dial that regulates the fan and the other dial that sets the temperature on to have things turn out correctly and at the correct time). After our meal the kids headed up for quick naps.

At about 2pm we headed off to church. We decided to take the alternative route we used one other time to see if it is any faster. We were quite pleased to arrive a little over an hour later (better than the two hours or more that the other route provides). As we were early we stopped into the Starbucks that is across the street from the church and grabbed a drink. We then headed over to the church to hang out in the courtyard since all the chairs at Starbucks were filled. Danny was really excited to go to class today (he actually is every Sunday, but this was especially true today because they had told the kids that they would go easter egg hunting). While they were in class, they did an easter craft and easter egg hunting and then also received a little bag with treats and toys inside. It was really nice and Danny of course was thrilled, except for the seaweed candy that we promptly got rid of after tasting--not very tasty.

Our service was also wonderful. They had the choir sing a Cantata and then the congregation did a few songs with a short sermon from the Pastor. The funniest part of the service was everyone trying to clap along with the songs. Everyone was clapping at a different time (this is why I choose to just sing and not clap along, because I know I cannot do both at the same time). The other part that was funny although also very sweet and touching is that they had different people do solos from the choir. When it was one man's turn, he was so passionate, but he was completely off key--off key to the point of being a little painful, yet he was so obviously passionate about what he was singing, it was still quite moving.

Overall it was an extremely moving service. First I have to explain how many people were in attendance. We had five to six people per pew, people sitting on extra chairs next to the pews, people standing in the back, and then all the way out of the church, with people even standing outside the church doors. Everyone was singing and quite literally it was an all out celebration. I just kept looking around the church at different people's faces and everyone was so excited and so genuinely happy to be there, with everyone from all over the world represented. It just makes me wonder what sacrafices they all must have made to not only be there, but to be a follwer of Christ. It was to say the least quite magical (mixed with the funny moments of singing and clapping that I mentioned earlier).

The service was also nice because we sat in front of a great couple from the US (actually Springfield, IL) that have a young son named Ethan. We had a nice visit and they gave us there card and said we should do lunch some time. Her mother was in visiting for her second time already, and it was nice to chat with someone from the Midwest that was also about our age.

Overall, our Easter was a wonderful celebration and we pray that you had an equally joyous day celebrating that Jesus is Alive!

Outdoor Pool has Officially Opened

Today I awoke and was just exhausted. Dustin was so sweet and helped me clean the house. I think we have mentioned that the amount of dust that accumulates and the speed at which it accumulates should be in the Guinness book of world records. We had a beautiful Saturday here, with the weather in the high seventies. After picking up and cleaning, we walked down to the market and got some items that we needed for the weekend. As the day was nice and we received a notice that the outdoor pool was opening, we all got our suits on and headed to the pool.

This was the first time we had seen the outdoor pool and it was extremely nice. It has a patio that wraps around it and in the more summer months they have barbecues there every Saturday night. (We are looking forward to this.) At the other end of the pool is actually sand. There is a sand volleyball area and the rest of the sand actually goes down into the pool like you are at the beach.

Today the pool was not very crowded. It was us and two other families. The water is still a little cold, but the kids enjoyed the sand. We met a nice family from Brussels and the kids played together while we talked. (The whole aspect of coming to the pool has brought me to the funny side note of how the locals dress here for seventy degree weather. It is obviously an example of how hot it is going to get here, so do not hate us too much for our seventy degree weather right now. As it will be miserable here soon. To give you an idea of how much hotter it is going to get, the local Chinese people are still all dressed in coats. Babies our in numerous layers. I even saw a person wearing a parka yesterday (I was in shortsleves and could have been easily in shorts as well). Another funny note is that we are in our swimsuits and all the lifeguards are dressed in sweatshirts and athletic pants. They must think we are all crazy.) Anyway we had a great time at the pool and headed back to the apartment for lunch.

While Dustin watched the boys in the afternoon, I went to get a massage. They have a place right at the clubhouse, and Dustin and I were prepared to pay a pretty penny for it. I was so happy when I received one of the best massages of my life and only had to pay $33.00. What a treat.

I got home and Dustin was so sweet and made dinner. We had a little shock when we watched the news to hear them mention the little town that Dustin's grandparents and Uncle live in and near. They literally said "a little town in Arkansas, called Mena was hit hard by a tornado." They of course said nothing further, but we figured it was pretty bad if it made BBC and CNN news in China. We were so grateful that after waking Dustin's dad up in the middle of the night that he said all our family was safe. Unfortunately for them, much of the town was destroyed.

We are looking forward to Easter tomorrow. I brought things from home and they are planning fun activities for the kids at church, so it should be really nice.

Flowers and a bonzai tree

Today we left early to head to the flower market. There are plenty of flower shops here in Shanghai, but they all just carry fresh cut flowers, or plants already in pots. Our landlord, or the previous renter, left beautiful wooden flower boxes on our two patios. There are also two pots and a small tree (dead before we got here) for us to work with. The only place to obtain flowers to plant is at the flower market.

The market was comprised of an area that was enclosed which housed all the fresh cut flowers and bonzai trees and then a small outside area that had all the flowers to plant in your garden. Both areas (as most shopping areas of China) were divided into small little shops or areas. All with different owners. We walked through the enclosed area, and all I can say is that it is a bride's paradise (most were catering to this with large signs). The flowers were gorgeous and numerous stalls had orchids that were astounding (if I didn't think I would kill it quickly--I seem to lack in the green thumb department--I would have bought one).

We trooped outside after our tour and quickly settled on some beautiful flowers. We also picked up a small azalea tree to replace the dead one, some ivy to hide our meter box, and a large pot that has three tomato plants growing in it. Dustin did our negotiation and we loaded up the car. Our driver was clearly amazed at the flowers and plants and probably wondering what in the world we are doing with them all. Dustin ran back in to the enclosed area and came back with a bonzai plant (This is a tree that you keep miniature by pruning and shaping it). We were all excited to see it as it is a Japanese Maple and just really neat.

We headed back home and I got Josh down for his nap. Danny stayed up and "helped" me plant the flowers. (I think he did more playing with the handles that came on the plants--he was everything from a space explorer to a cowboy). It was great to have his company, and just listen to his imaginative play. The planting took longer than I thought and was a lot of work, but the results are beautiful. They turned our empty balconies into our own private garden area. I also love looking out at the flowers from inside the apartment.

Overall, we were quite pleased with our success and pray that they will survive as we are not quite sure what we bought (except the azalea tree, the tomato plant and the bonzai plant), so we are a little hazy as to how much water they all need. We will keep you posted.

Nothing as Simple as It could be

Today we planned another trip to IKEA. At this point, I love this store in that they have a lot of western dishware and kitchenware, but for the same reason I love it, I also dislike it, for with two kids the sheer size of it makes it nearly an all day event. I use the word event here, because to many Chinese that is what IKEA stands for. One can find them standing in front of tubs filled with such things like a cheese grater, or melon scoop and they are just marveling and talking excitedly to one another about what the tool may be used for in the kitchen. (They do not eat a lot of cheese, if any, and the average Chinese person certainly does not make the melon into cute spheres.) Anyway, it is also an event due to the sheer square footage of the store. It takes one a very long time to move from one department to another picking up the items that you need. (This is even true with my trusty list and a good understanding of where everything is located.)
So, needless to say when Josh decided to take forever to go down for his morning nap, and therefore was still sleeping at 10am, I had to wake him and head out the door for our trip to IKEA. If we did not leave then, we would never make it home in time for afternoon naps. This morning I was absolutely exhausted (no real specific reason here, other than motherhood in general is an all consuming role), so I did what I rarely do and asked Tom, our driver, to stop at Starbucks. I felt like the typical expatriate, because I always see vans or cars pulled up in front of the Starbucks waiting for people that run in to get their coffee fix. As we headed on, I tried to relax about the trip in front of us. It seems that going into the city to any store other than the Carrefour that is closest to us, is a big trip and I have to get myself mentally prepared for it. The first dilemma I always face is scheduling everything around the boys’ naps schedules. This would be fairly easy back in the States, as I know where everything is, can estimate the time it will take and know of restaurants, etc. that I can stop into should the need arise. Here in China, this has proven impossible to do. As I was mostly stressed this morning about getting home for naps and what we were going to do for lunch, I decide the easiest thing to do is eat at IKEA shortly after we get there. I felt hopeful that the trip would be smooth as we were leaving much later and so I thought traffic might be lighter.

Unfortunately, this was not true and we spent the next hour and fifteen minutes in traffic to get to IKEA. To put this in perspective, we did not hit any traffic on the way home and were back at the house in 25 minutes. I begin chiding myself in my mind for not packing for the boys as if we are going to be gone for the entire day. I realize that I only brought Josh’s milk cup and no back up milk for him. It is near to impossible to find milk here in the city outside of the supermarket. Restaurants do not have it to sell, and so I know that if we run out, we will be stuck. I also realize as Josh decides he wants to eat crackers (I give in to this since the only alternative is the high ear piercing screech that he does so well) is that I did not bring a change of clothes for the boys. If you remember our blog about him getting sick in the car, you realize my very real fear. I quickly try and think if there will be a store close to buy clothes should we need to do so. I realize though that I have no clue and so therefore begin praying fervently that neither boy will require a change of clothes.

We arrived at the IKEA at about 11:20. I needed to make a return, so we headed for that department. The clerk spoke fairly good English, and actually I was a little disappointed, as I had looked up words and practiced how to say everything in Chinese, and was looking sort of forward to the challenge of trying out my language skills.) The only problem I ran into was I had a bag of table runners I wanted to get store credit for, as I did not have the receipt with me. (We originally thought these were placemats, and found out when we got home that they were all table runners, thus why I have a whole bag worth of table runners). I was hopeful since they had the tags that clearly said IKEA that I would be given the store credit, but this was not the case. I completely understood that they required the receipt, but now had the bag of table runners and needed to do some shopping. The clerk suggested putting them in the lockers that they had at the front of the store.

As it was past the boys lunch time, we again stopped and ate. While the boys ate, I ran over the lockers and tried to obtain one. (Tom stayed at the table with the boys.) Unfortunately, when I tried to get one, I did not have the appropriate coin. Tom went over instead, and got it open and received a receipt that was suppose to have a code on it to reopen the locker. The problem was that the code was smeared on the receipt, and we could not read it. Tom went over to the security and after about 10 minutes of discussion, he filled out some form.

We started our excursion around the store and tried to be as efficient as possible. It still took well over an hour, but I was pleased that I was able to track down some more elusive items (salad forks—the Chinese do not eat salad, so this must be why the forks are sold in a separate container from the original set). After making our rounds and paying, we headed back to get the bag in the locker. Although we thought we had worked out the problem of the smeared code earlier, this was not the case.

After another 10 minute conversation with security and some sort of manager (Tom not me), Tom came back to where I was standing and asked if I had the receipt for the bag in the locker. This was not good, I thought. As the fact that I did not have the receipt was the main reason we had to put it in the locker. I tried to explain to Tom that I did not have a receipt, but of course he does not understand English and could not understand what I was trying to say. As I was trying to explain to Tom, the security officer came over along with the manager. I began to explain to them, and thankfully the manager either understood me, or took pity on me, but regardless they opened the locker and gave me the bag.
We then headed to get a detailed receipt (this is needed in China, but for whatever reason it is not automatically given to you. You must go to a special counter to get it.) With the special receipt in hand, we headed out and as I said earlier we were blessed with smooth sailing in regards to traffic. Danny was asleep in the car in minutes, and Josh fell asleep two minutes before getting home.

Tom helped us upstairs, and I put Josh down for a nap, set Danny up with a show on my computer (our DVDs from home do not work in DVD players here, so we must route it through the computer), and began putting things away and doing the dishes.
I made dinner, but the oven never got hot enough to cook the chicken (I am still working on trying to figure out the oven and which fan needs to be on at what temperature, to make the food come out at the right time and be done). So we settled on Papa Johns .
We get the boys ready for baths only to find out that the hot water only gets to just barely warm. (This is a small aggravation as they shut the hot water off completely yesterday from 9am to 5:30 pm to work on “a problem with the water heater”.) Obviously, they have a little more fixing to do. We get the baths done with Dustin using our pitchers that boil water that we keep in the upstairs bathrooms. He heated it a little and then would pour it into the bath tub to keep the water lukewarm for the boys. (We typically use the pitchers to boil the water (i.e.—you can not drink the water here in China without boiling it first) for using to brush teeth etc. We are blessed that our kitchen sink has a high powered filter on it and we do not have to boil this water.)

Overall, a good day, it was just a long one. It amazes me how nothing here is quick or as simple as one would think it should be, or at least with how quick and simple it is back in the US. This I find is all part of the adjustment to living here. I really only encounter it when we venture past our little community and go farther into the city, or when things happen with dinner or the water. While I did not need the extra supply of milk, or extra clothes, I must remember next time to pack a little better for the just in case moments. (Especially with traffic like Shanghai’s) I might just leave some clothes in the car.

Tomorrow we are going to go to the flower market in search of flowers to plant in our flower boxes on the patios. This should prove interesting as we will probably be the only foreigners there. Thankfully Dustin is going to help me out and come with us.

Excitement in the small things

Today the boys and I are so excited. We were finally able to purchase the long elusive sand toys. The Carrefour finally had them in stock--maybe for Easter. We were able to stock up on buckets and shovels and trucks for the sandbox park. The boys and I went quickly to the park before lunch and they had such a blast. We are planning to go back after naps, but it has become cloudy, so I am hopeful we will be able to still do this.

The trip to the store went really smoothly today. Partly because Danny rode in one of those car carts. It just happen to be empty and sitting by the entrance. He has been wanting to ride in one since we started shopping here, but they have always been full before. For whatever reason the cart was really hard to push, so Tom our driver was so nice and offered to push Danny around in it. (He must have been laughing to see me trying to maneuver it around. It took all my body weight to turn it, etc.) It also seemed less crowded this morning. In China to buy produce you have to bag it and then bring it to a little station where they weigh it, close the bag and put a sticker with the price over the closing. (You may remember a previous blog about my first store experience on my own when I forgot to do this step). This station is usually packed and people push and shove to get there stuff done first. It is quite crazy actually. There is no respect in regards to who got there first. I have gotten used to having to make my way up there and then sort of guard my turn to have my stuff weighed. It is not the place for the passive. If a person is passive here, you will never leave the store with any produce. You could tell today though that there were less people buying the produce because I was able to walk right up and be helped with no problem.

The behavior of crowding and pushing to get in is also apparent in the meat section. In China (I am not sure why this is the case except that it may go back to the concept they are used to of the open street style markets) there is some meat and poultry that is already wrapped up but the majority of it is just open sections of meat parts and pork parts. There are usually huge crowds of people lifting up sections of meat or pork and trying to get the butcher to either wrap it or cut it to their specification. I of course avoid this section completely, and stick to the prewrapped meats and poultry. (This brings me to a short discussion that all wrappings are not the same. They use the thinnest plastic to wrap around the meat, and inevitably it all ends up leaking all over for me. I have come to have to bag every thing that I purchase and then rebag it when I get home.) What amazes me about this section is one the sheer amount of people in such a small area, two that they all seem to have their hands all over everything, and third that no one has gloves on, and no one washes their hands afterwards.

These two areas of the supermarket had to be the hardest part for me to get used to in shopping at the grocery store here. (That and the very different food they eat--or how it is bought--i.e. head and legs on chickens, etc.). In coming home today though I realized that none of this phased me anymore in the least. I believe maybe I am finally getting over some of the culture shock and moving into the realm of realization that this is just how it is done here in China. (I am grateful though that I am able to find what I am used to as well).

So, overall, I find myself adjusting even more. There are still definitely times (like crossing the street, or trying to get to the subway with no elevator or escalator) that I just have to shake my head and wistfully think of home. Thankfully though the Lord is allowing us to come to see this truly as our home in China or China home as Danny likes to call it, and not just where we are until we can get back to the States. I am beginning to again look forward to delving deeper into the local culture here and seeing the sights and mingling with the people here. This of course leads me to my farewell as I better go study some language or this dream may never be realized.

Our trip to Shenzen and Hong Kong

We just got back from our first trip while living here in Shanghai. We accompanied Dustin on his business trip to Shenzen and Hong Kong.

To work in China and stay longer than a visit, you must leave the country and apply for a license. Once this is obtained, you can re-enter the country and continue the process of obtaining a work visa. This is the main reason Dustin had to travel to Hong Kong. We left last Wednesday and flew into Shenzen. (This is still within mainland China, but is north of Hong Kong.) There is a lot of businesses located in Shenzen.

The flight to Shenzen was fairly uneventful. When we arrived we quickly went to eat at a restaurant near our hotel as it was already past our lunch time. We quickly found out that not all hamburgers are the same, or should really be allowed to be called hamburgers as I am not sure what was between the bun and under the cheese tomato and lettuce. Let’s just leave it at the fact that the “hamburgers” remained mostly on our plates and that the boys and I had a lunch consisting of French fries. Dustin had to run to a meeting, so the boys and I headed to our room for naps. After naps, Dustin was still stuck in his meeting, so we took a short walk. After the walk, as Dustin was able to text me that he was not sure when he would be able to leave the meeting, I took the boys to an early pre-dinner meal at the hotel restaurant. Danny enjoyed the pizza I ordered, but unfortunately, Josh would not have any of it and settled on eating the fries that came with my meal. The staff at the hotel were very sweet and we also met two nice men in on business from Nashville, TN. After our pre-dinner, we met up with Dustin for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The food was delicious and we were finally able to fill up. As it was way past their bed times we got the boys to bed quickly. This of course always proves to be fun for me, as I sleep with Josh and Dustin sleeps with Danny. Sleeping with Josh really just translates into me wrestling with him until he finally succumbs to sleep. Danny and Dustin are usually snoring away long before this happens.

Our second day we headed from Shenzen to Hong Kong. To get there we took a ferry, which was exciting and fun, but a lot of exercise for Dustin and I. I cannot remember if I mentioned before but there are not many elevators in China or escalators—at least that go down. Therefore, I was in charge of taking the boys and poor Dustin was our human pack mule. We had limited our bags to one large suitcase and two carry-ons, Dustin’s briefcase and the large backpack that I use for the diaper bag. Let’s not forget the two strollers (a necessity as Saturday we are taking the boys to Disneyland). So needless to say we had our hands full. To get from Shenzen to Hong Kong you are considered to be leaving the country even though technically Hong Kong is under Chinese authority again at this time (was previously run by England). Since you are leaving the country you must go through customs and security, etc.
So you can only picture us—Dustin with all the bags either strapped to him and pulling one, and me with the two children and the backpack diaper bag, as we stand at security and customs. Each time it is your turn, you have to smile and look at them as they compare you to your passport/visa picture. This goes for the children as well. It is not an extremely fast process, but usually they take one look at us with all the gear and kids and put us in the shortest line (thank goodness).

We finally made it to the ferry. This is only after going up two flights of stairs to the security and then down two flights to the actual ferry (this was loads of fun let me tell you). The ride on the ferry takes an hour and the boys had a great time looking at the boats that went past us. By the end I was feeling a little green around the edges and Josh had decided I was his personal jungle gym (all moms know this feeling well—and dads too). Dustin finally saved me, and I focused on the buildings as we came into port. We of course had the same fun time climbing out of the ferry as we did entering, and by the time we got to the taxi Dustin and I were exhausted. We made it to the hotel which was just gorgeous inside. We stayed on the business floor, which was wonderful, as they definitely pamper you here. It has its own private check in and lounge area. The continental breakfast was served in this location for this floor alone, and actually most of the time during the day they had some sort of food out for people to enjoy. The staff on this floor was just fantastic and so sweet to the kids. One glorious benefit of being in Hong Kong is the staff speaks English (goes back to being an English colony). The only small pain about this floor is that the elevator did not go directly to it. Therefore, we had to carry the boys up and down each time we came or went.

Unfortunately, as we were running late from the ferry, Dustin had to go later than he wanted to to get the work permit paperwork started. The boys took naps while we waited for Dustin’s return. Thankfully they both fell asleep, but awoke early when Dustin returned. We all headed to an Italian restaurant for dinner that Dustin eats at whenever he is in Hong Kong. To get to the restaurant, we took the subway. This is easy to use, but yes, involves numerous stairs to get to it. After our meal we took the kids to see the light show that is really famous in Hong Kong. You look across at Hong Kong Island and the buildings there light up at different times to music. The show starts at 8pm, so it was a late night, but a lot of fun. I thought surely the boys would be fast asleep soon after our busy day and short naps. Unfortunately, Josh had other plans. He did not succumb to sleep until close to 2 pm. I got a nice tour of the lobby, but eventually ended up in the lobby for our floor as the lobby downstairs was too busy and loud. (Apparently, nothing starts until well after 8pm and goes late into the night). Josh finally fell asleep and I snuck back into the room and just crawled into bed with the clothes I had on.
The next day worked out great as Dustin had meetings all day, and this gave the boys time to catch up on sleep. I took them back to the KFC for lunch (as I could not find anything else they would eat). (There is a mall attached to our hotel and the subway is attached to the mall—it is all very convenient) After lunch we enjoyed the park that was attached to the mall. After naps Dustin came back and we decided to just eat right there in the mall. We actually had a great time and picked up some purchases we all had been wanting. We headed back for an early bedtime as Saturday we planned on taking the kids to Disneyland.
Saturday worked out just perfectly. The park did not open until 10:30, so Josh was able to get his morning nap. After nap we were able to take the subway directly to the park. Danny was so excited (he knew we were going to Disney before the trip began, so he had been anxiously awaiting this day). The subway involved two switch overs, but it really was quite smooth and easy to get there. The last train only goes to Disney and it was really cute. The car windows were all shaped like Mickey Mouse.

We were all excited to go to the park as this was our first time to ever take the kids to Disney or really any park for that matter. Danny’s face was so cute to see as we arrived. Everywhere you go in the park the staff gives the kids stickers with the characters on them and this was a huge hit with Danny. (By the end of the day his shirt was covered). The funniest part of Disneyland was actually watching the Chinese people go through the park. (Even here you are still quite the minority, but at least there were more foreigners than we have previously seen). There were grown men and women standing to get their pictures with the characters and riding such rides as Dumbo. (I actually saw an elderly man riding one of the rides and laughing like he was three years old himself). It was neat to see, but not at all like what you would see in the States.
Danny to our great joy enjoyed all of the rides (for the longest time he was extremely timid, so it is nice to see him enjoying things such as this now). The park is smaller than the US ones, but still has all the same great features. Our funniest moment was after we got off the “It’s a small world” ride and ran into a women and her family that I had met here at in our community in Shanghai. Talk about a small world.

We spent the better part of the day at the park—10:30-5:30 and all of us were exhausted by the end. Overall, the trip was so enjoyable and such a delight to see their faces light up with each new experience. The best was when we met Mickey Mouse. Danny ran up and gave him a big hug. He then pulled back and asked where Minnie was. Then he asked him where Pluto was. The staff taking the pictures got kick out of it, as you could tell Danny was totally into the characters and believes with the pureness that all children have. Pluto was taking pictures in the booth next store, so Mickey pointed over there and we headed on after many pictures and hugs with Mickey. Danny was most thrilled in that Mickey gave him a nose kiss (touched his nose to Danny’s nose). He thought this was great and very funny.
The day went fast and we are all hoping to possibly return some time in the future. One nice thing compared with the US, is the prices are extremely reasonable. Of course, you have to add in the cost to get here, but not bad if you live close.

Sunday was reserved for us flying home. The staff at the hotel had told us we could take the subway to Shenzen and avoid the Ferry. This was great for a couple of reasons. First, no sea sickness for me, second, it is much cheaper and finally, it involves a lot less stairs. Overall, Dustin and I were thrilled with this option. We arrived in the airport to be greeted by really long lines, so we were only able to grab some Chinese food (KFC was outside of security and we did not have time to get it) before getting on the plane. Josh of course had gone straight through his diaper and I had to change him immediately. Thankfully, I always travel with a second pair of clothes for all of us in one of the carry-ons. We were happy to find out that the plane was not full and hence Josh was able to get his own seat. (Interesting fact—China airlines do not allow you to have a seat—i.e.—you cannot even buy one—for a child under 2 years of age). However, since the plane was not full, we were able to take over the seat next to Dustin and give Josh his own space. This worked great, as he fell asleep before the plane landed in Shanghai.

It was great to see our Driver and get into our own van. Even though it was not like walking into our home back in Indiana, it still felt wonderful to walk into our house. Tomorrow is a holiday here in China, so we can all use it to relax and unwind.

Overall, the trip was a great experience. We didn’t get to see a lot of the two cities, since this was mostly a business trip, but it was nice to be together and I will never forget our time at Disney. It may have only been one day, but it was time away and filled with watching the boys’ faces light up with pure joy over and over. What a blessing.