A look Back and a Look Forward..We are so Blessed

So I am finally getting back down to posting on here. I have spent the morning resting and sleeping and the last hour downloading pictures from my friend's picasso site of shots I did not get last year. It brought me back to pictures of last fall with Danny's birthday party with Alivia and a day trip down to the city with friends. It has brought such nostaliga to me, as many of the people in the pictures have graced our lives here in China, and have since moved back home or to new assignments, or will be very soon. I am so grateful for each one of them and realize that they played such a great role in my transition here to China and life in general. I was also amazed to see how much the children have changed in this past year. Danny has grown up so much and Josh has gone from a baby to a little boy. Yikes that is so crazy to me, as when we are in the daily part of it, it does not seem to go by that quickly.

The fall has brought us back to our home here and I am glad to say that with now living in the house rather than the apartment, I truly feel like we have a house. In addition, Danny started at the American School and it amazes me what a community this opened up to us. We now have sporting events and theater events opened up to us. We took in our first baseball game with the kids in September and it was so much fun. They even handed out cracker jacks. Danny was singing the Take me out to the Ball game song for the rest of the weekend.

Our other new thing this fall is that Josh started school. He began a little preschool with the hopes that he will learn Chinese. His class is called Chinese immersion--they speak in Chinese and then repeat in English until they completely get rid of the English. My wow moment was yesterday when I dropped him off to school. He was a little clingy to me, so his teacher began talking to him in Chinese and all of a sudden he was pulling out and then hiding again his hand in his jacket and smiling. She was playing hide and seek with his hand and he completely understood her in Chinese. Amazing and so exciting at the same time!!!

Finally, our other big change is that we no longer make the 2 hour trek to church down in the city. Shanghai authorized another location for the international church to be opened just 5-10minutes from our house. Praise the Lord (on numerous levels, not just the commute)! We now get to go to church with friends of ours and the children that Danny sees in school. We are really excited about it. The only down part is we do miss our friends Erin and Jeff that we would see each weekend at the other church.

Overall, we are plugging along and falling into place here in China. We feel settled and blessed here. We had a great 5th birthday celebration for Danny a couple of weeks back, and a great Halloween celebration as well. Looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving here with our friends here in China. Then just a few weeks and we will be in the great United States with our families. Love to you all...

Our Worst Day in China

Today is by far the worst day we have had in China. It brought to us the clearly inhumane treatment many of the Chinese people suffer on a daily basis. Our ayi, the lovely woman who comes to help me with the house and kids (very common here in China--see previous blogs) told us that she was pregnant. While normally this would be joyous news, in China it is not. This is because she is already a mother. She has a wonderful son who is 13 years old. In China you are only allowed one child. Therefore, she had to go to the doctor and have an abortion. This is nothing short of TORTURE!!!!

I, of course living in China and even before living here, was well aware of the one child policy that they have in place. However, it has taken knowing a person going through this pain to realize how messed up this policy is for the people of China. First, most people here desparately want more than one child. People actually look into ways to get around it, like getting a divorce because you can in some situations have another child legally when married again. Additionally, they are not given contraception or surgery to "tie their tubes" so a pregnancy would not occur. They are penalized for having a second child and penalized if they give that child up for adoption. Finally, they have to pay for the procedure to terminate the pregnancy.

I cannot imagine having to go through such torture and then have to pay for it as well. Insane!!! No wonder she told Dustin she was not only grieving the loss, but was angry.

Yet, with many things in China there is no place to funnel this anger. No representative, no courtroom to hear the case, no newspaper to write to about your injustice. Many Chinese have gotten very bold online where they have been able to be anonymous. Yet, I have read recently that China is trying to take that away. They won't shut down the site (although they have done that before), no they are seeking to take the anonymity away. This way China feels they can say, "Look our people are free to share their thoughts online jut like the rest of the world." What they won't say, but every Chinese person and hopefully the rest of the world knows, is that if there is someone disagreeing with the government, a couple of things may happen--they may disappear, they may be detained and "questioned" or they may be sent to be "reeducated" at a work camp (i.e.--the two elderly people that petitioned the government for something before the Olympics). No one is left complaining or voicing an opposing opinion for long, so taking away the anonymity of it, takes away the people's ability to complain or object to something.

There is not even a system of social assistance. Counseling. You can forget about it. It is a society that has been taught to suck it up and move on. In fact, I would go so far to say that they have to be careful to talk to anyone other than close family, because just regular venting about a subject could lead to one's detainment or worse. Therefore, most Chinese people are very reserved and rarely share their views on subjects, especially to outsiders like ourselves or even neighbors.

While forcing someone to take contraception or have their tubes tied is extremely invasive in a person's life and rights, it does in China's situation seem downright humane compared to the current method they impose. I personally would take this method over having to have an abortion every time I became pregnant during my reproductive years. How many abortions must a Chinese woman have to endure during her life?

Living in China we will obviously be faced with many heartbreaking and frustrating situations like this one (not being able to do something to directly solve it for our ayi and other woman), and while Dustin and I questioned how we could even work in a country like this one after hearing this news from our ayi. We are left with the fact that even in our small way, we are affecting China in a positive manner. We are living there, sharing our values and our views and whether we are in China or in the US we alway have the most powerful tool that God gives to each of us. Prayer. While I currently feel like storming into a building screaming about the injustice and torture that is occurring, I know my true power comes from me getting on my knees and bowing my head. It may seem like an ineffective method to some, but I can assure you that my life alone has been an example of the power of prayers and the answers from God. I will be praying daily for this issue as well as true freedom for the Chinese people. I ask each and everyone of you that reads this blog to please pray about this situation. Even a quick prayer (what I like to call a "flare prayer") is heard by God and answered.

Answers and change may not come quickly, but it will come. May God bless the Chinese people and their leaders. May God bless you and open all our eyes to the gift we have been given in living in the Western world, especially the United States of America.

My Eye...Here we go again

I woke Sunday with a weird white fuzzy spot at the bottom of my vision on my left eye. I felt it was odd and just like when the tingling/numbness started on my left side last year, I felt surely I was going crazy and just imagining thing. Yet, by Monday it was still present and after talking to a friend who is an opthamologist I had a little more information. If it moves around no big deal. If it remains the same, not so good. Unfortunately, I fall into the latter category. I sent a message to my neurologist at home, and set up an appointment with an opthamologist here, not really holding my breath though on the care here, but hoping for the best.

Tomorrow is Danny's day to go to his new school for the fall (American School--he is currently at an international pre-K school). It is a day for them to assess his readiness for their pre-K program and for the parents to get a tour of the school. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. He is not considered accepted to the school until he passes this part of the admissions requirement. Danny however, is so excited.

March Madness...and I Do Not Mean Bastketball!

So, I must say that I meant to cover March in more detail, but it was so crazy and absolutely overwhelming to us that putting one foot in front of the other is all we could manage to get through this month. It was by the shear grace of God that we survived it without any major nervous breakdowns. (Okay, I came close but the good Lord saw me through it and I learned that God supplies to us everything that we need in the moment and he will see us through to the next one). So what made it a month of Madness? It had to do with our new landlord, Dustin's work, Danny's teacher and general safety and etiquette here in China.

The month began of course with our move and more importantly, at least to understanding the madness...our introduction to our landlord. She is apparently the typical Chinese in that she is constantly negotiating, even everything which is clearly required of her in our contract. I say she is typical Chinese as this is what Dustin deals with on a daily basis. People constantly fighting against you, trying to give you substandard things, or cut things out of the contract that has already been negotiated and signed..this is from your own employees as well. Personally, I give him such credit for being able to do business here...it may be my legal background, but it makes me really annoyed and upset (okay, at times, irate) to renegotiate what I deem is a firm agreement. If it was me I would have left screaming all the way to the US a long time ago. :)

We have enjoyed the house as soon as we moved in, as it is just great to be in our own space and not in an apartment. Yet, most of the things that were suppose to be completed and fixed by the landlord never occurred before we moved in. Hence I spent most of March trying to get these things fixed. In addition, new things broke or needed to be fixed, so I was constantly working to have people come to fix things at the house. I am so grateful that we have a good agent and her office is a strong advocate for us. Otherwise it would be impossible to have any of it done. In addition to our landlord negotiating to not have to do things, it appears that while I provided a detailed list to everyone of what still needed to be fixed, no one would remember. This required constantly sending e-mails and calling my agent to have people fix it.

For example, I have had 10 separate conversations concerning the light on our hood above our stove and the lights next to it. I have had probably six different and sometimes the same workers look at it and tell me they are ordering it. I am having my seventh person come tomorrow to look at it, maybe fix it tomorrow. This was after someone came from the management office to write down what light was needed yesterday. I told Dustin yesterday that one would think that out of the five other times they came, told me they were going to order it or fix it, that one of those five people would have thought to write down what needed to be ordered and actually order it. Apparently, life is far from that simple here. Yet, this is a perfect example of working or trying to have someone fix something here. It requires a lot of patience. Frankly, if there was a better hardware store, such as could be found in the US, I could have read about the electical work, taught myself how to do it, bought the supplies and done it myself in the time it has taken them to organize this repair. Unfortunately this is just one of the repairs. We had everything from holes in the wall (created by the landlord herself when she ripped the hooks that were in the wall out that her first "painter" failed to remove and patch), mold growing on walls, to a heat vent sounding like an airplane was taking off in the family room.

The repair work and what needed to get down was a discussion that took most of March and included many people coming to the house to look at what needed to be done. Some even took pictures. So, you can only imagine my frustration when the landlord came to fix things and it turned instead into a marathon negotiation of her trying to get out from paying to have it fixed.
The afternoon was filled wth everything from her saying she would do some things, to saying she was not going to pay for another thing. It also involved her barging (literally she marched up the stairs and into his bedroom) into Josh's room while he was napping. This of course was right after I had told her not to go anywhere without me because he was sleeping. This process went so long I had to have a friend go and pick up Danny from school and keep him until she was gone. When she left we had not really gotten anywhere. We ended with me just pointing to the contract and saying this was what was required and this is what we expect to be done.

Towards the end of our time together she ended it with a comment I will never forget. "Us Chinese do not care so much about the money as the friendship." My first thought was...you have got to be kidding me..you just spent the last three hours arguing about whether you were going to pay for what you were required to pay. I think I ended up laughing out loud and said back that she should not have kicked me out of my own house the first day if she wanted to be friends (see previous blog for this story). Dustin told me later that this was her attempt to get me to accept her terms of not paying anymore. (I cannot believe this would work on anyone). He said he would have turned it on her and said if we are such good friends you will pay for it all. Of course, this is why he is the business man and not me. I just wanted to strangle her on the spot.

The happy ending concerning our landlord is that someone, we are not sure who, must have got a hold of her and explained things to her. She came to the house the following day and literally she was a completely different person. She was curteous, by Chinese standards, and she had people with her and they actually fixed most of the issues. She also said a painter would come to fix the walls. (She had left it the day before that we could pick one wall and she would fix that (there were at least 10 or more walls that needed to be fixed)--can we all say CRAZY). In the weeks to come in March, all the items except the kitchen lights have been fixed. Although it was done to Chinese standards it is still far better than nothing at all.

So, what else was happening through all this? Well, one of Dustin's employee's quit and went to work for a competitor, his new hire that was suppose to be trained was given no training, which meant Dustin had to add more to his already busy plate, he had numerous work meetings, late nights (as in midnight and beyond--try doing business with that little sleep) and still found time for our family on top. Personally, I am amazed by him and how he handles the stress of this job and all that he is able to accomplish here for his company and for us. Yet, I know Dustin will quickly be the first to down play anything he has done or does do...it is after all for the Lord and it is through the Lord that anything, especially here, gets accomplished. (There is a short novel here that could be written about all these issues that happened, but for obvious reasons they will remain out of the blog. :)

This of course brings us to the issue of Danny's school. We were quite shocked to find out about the middle of March that Danny's teacher had put pictures of children on his facebook page and then posted sexual comments about them...one really bad one was done by one of his friends. This information was obtained and copied by one of the parents and we spent a long weekend waiting to find out if Danny was involved and a long week dealing with the aftermath of it all. His teacher was obviously terminated and the search for a new teacher began. We found out about the situation on a Saturday and it took until Sunday night at a parents meeting to find out that Danny was not involved directly. The meeting was quite fascinating as Danny attends an international school and there are people from all over the world. To watch the interaction of parents as they tried to converse in English with most of them having a different native language and also different cultural and legal sytems, and with this being a highly emotional issue, it was quite fascinating. Thankfully by the middle of that week things began to settle down. The biggest blessing is that none of the children were adversely affected and continued on with their normal lives completely oblivious to all the craziness that was going on around them.

I belive the sadest part of our month was the passing of Dustin's grandmother the same weekend we were dealing with Danny's school situation. Dustin was unable to make it home for the service as it was held that Tuesday, but he was able to skype with his family right before the service. It is so wonderful that we are able to use this technology to stay connected.

The final aspect of our month was really just a culmination of the rudeness and total lack of ettiquette that is China. This society is built on a Me First mentality. It of course does not bother a Chinese person, as it is their norm. However, for any western person coming from a society of where one has etiquette (i.e.--not spitting on the ground--and I am referring to inside a store or not peeing in public--and yes no surface is safe, etc) and kindness and care for one's fellow man. The lack of it here is grinding and literally just wears you down. If you talk to most patriates, they will tell you that you can last a couple of months before you will just need to get out. We made it three...January through March, we decided at the end of March that we would leave China for Hong Kong during Danny's spring break in March. It was the best decision we made.

Now that we are back from our vacation and I am looking back on March, I can tell you that while March was an extreme month life in general here is not for the faint of heart. Yet despite all the craziness of it there are many blessing to witness here as well and God shows us these blessings even in the midst of the madness.

Trip to Hong Kong

After the CRAZY month of March, we decided that for Danny's spring break we would head down to Hong Kong for a long weekend (April 7-11). As I was completely fed up with the lack of etiquette and manners of many in Shanghai, we a stay at Disneyland, for obvious reasons...they are trained in their friendliness and at the hotel we stayed in when Dustin was getting the work visa paperwork done last year. They are also fantastic in their kindness and care. We headed off and of course there was an immediate two hour delay from the airport. We fly into Shenzen, which is directly across from Hong Kong still on the Mainland. It is by far cheaper to fly here, but it is also plagued with delays.

We arrived in Shenzen and while we waited for Dustin to check about a car to take us across the border to Hong Kong (yes, Hong Kong is a part of China now, but it still has its border checks. People in Hong Kong have much greater freedoms than the mainland Chinese), a lady--clearly Chinese by her complete lack of awareness of anyone else--nearly took out Joshua in his stroller with her suitcase. What always shocks me about these encounters is that rather than taking two more steps to go around us completely to reach the counter, she picks the 6 inches that were between Danny and Josh to barge her way to the counter. I do not think I will ever truly understand this and how they view the world. As I was already teetering at keeping my cool around rude Chinese people, this was just the end. I started muttering and crying all at the same time. Poor Danny and Dustin, who did not witness, nor could probably understand what I was saying, were a little bewildered by my ranting. By the time we got to the McDonalds downstairs in the airport, I had composed myself and apologized for the outburst. I was though so glad to be heading to Hong Kong!

We hired a car and took the trip with another family into Hong Kong. It was a great drive and actually faster than I expected. We were dropped off at Disneyland and then hoped on their bus to take us to the hotel. We were all excited, but obviously the boys were over joyed to be staying at Mickey's hotel. :)

We ate dinner at the restaurant that contained a huge buffet. The boys enjoyed the dessert part the best with Mickey shaped cookies and ice cream sundaes. We went back to the room and watched a Mickey Mouse clubhouse show until the fireworks show. This began and we were able to see almost all of it out the window.

Early the next morning we headed out to the park. It was drizzling and called for this the whole day. It did not dampen our excitement though as we had packed our rain gear and we were all set. The boys decided to start with the Dumbo ride and this time we let Josh go on it. He loved it! It was by far his favorite ride. We were quite blessed the whole day in that every time it really rained hard we were in the shows. We saw Lion King and the boys really had fun.

We made it an early evening and headed to the other restaurant in the hotel and ate. They play a movie each evening and we got to see Dinosaur. It was a big hit with the boys and Dustin and I were able to enjoy our meal while the boy watched the show. We headed back to the room and again got to see the fireworks before bed.

The following day we went to the park again, as they had a promo of 2nd day free with the hotel stay. So we hit all the rides we wanted to see again and stood and took pictures with Mickey and his friends. Donald was Josh's favorite and Mickey is still Danny's favorite. So cute to see the boys interact with them. We didn't stay the whole day, but instead headed back in the afternoon and took a taxi to our other hotel.

After unloading at the new hotel we headed out to view the Peak, which is a famous spot in Hong Kong to view the city and Victoria Harbor. Unfortunately, it was cloudy that day, but we enjoyed the tram ride up and down the steep hillside. We finished the night off with eating at Dustin's favorite Italian Restaurant in Hong Kong--Fat Angelo's. It has good food at a great price and has fun things for kids.

The next day we headed down to Stanley, a famous beach and marketplace. It is also where most of the expatriates live. We took a double decker bus and Danny just loved this so much. The views were absolutely amazing of the city and then the coast. It took about an hour to get there by bus. It was raining again, but we were able to duck in for lunch during the heaviest part of the rain. We enjoyed sitting and looking at the ocean while eating our pizza and listening to all the British expatriates with their own families around us. If you did not know you were in Hong Kong you would have sworn you were in England for the rain and the accents of everyone.

That evening we just grabbed burgers in the mall attached to our hotel and looked at some of the shops. It was great to just see some store names we recognized.

The next day we hoped on the plane home, greatly refreshed from our trip and ready to make it through the last two months before heading home to the US for the summer.

And let the Craziness Begin..or Maybe Continue

The boys got up early this morning, and I quickly went around trying to prepare for the movers to come. Yet, when they arrived at 9am I realized that I was no where close to ready for the team of movers that besieged our apartment. They had workers literally in every room. I first went around with the supervisor and his assistant and went through what stayed and went in each room. The assistant would then mark the door, item, etc with a sticker for the workers. I also had to indicate where in the new house it needed to go.

It is not until they box up your stuff that you realize how much stuff you actually own. Now remember that we have no furniture from the old place coming with us. Yet, we still managed to pack half a small truck full. They were extremely fast, sometimes faster than us, as they ended up packing up the paint and Spackle that Dustin wanted left out. It was in a box and in the truck before we even thought to say something. The move was chaotic and a little stressful for me, but was going smoothly. We had the boys staged with our ayi (we paid to have her come watch the boy in all the chaos) in front of the TV with one of their favorite movies (Ice Age). Yet, when they got down to the last things in the house it was clear the boys were really getting agitated. It was close to lunch and Josh was hungry, and he completely lost it when they unhooked his booster seat from his chair and began to put it into a box. He literally ran across the room sobbing "cha" (his way of saying the word chair). We quickly scooped him up and tried to sooth him, but it was no use. So, Hong Li and I bundled up the now both sobbing boys (they tend to both cry when one or the other is crying) and headed to the clubhouse and the indoor park (it was raining pretty good today and cold). This seemed to do the trick. We ran into a lot of Danny's friends and classmates which was nice for him as he missed them being home sick all week.

Dustin stayed behind and did the final walk through with the supervisor to make sure nothing was missed. We then grabbed some McDonalds and headed over to the new house. If we thought the pack up was chaotic, the move in was even crazier. There were again people everywhere. This time they were unpacking our things, or at least the things they put in their plastic containers. I was running from one room to another trying to help direct where things went and where boxes should go. Finally, we were madly trying to unpack as fast as we could so they could have their plastic containers back. I had every counter in every bathroom, and kitchen covered and much of the floor space in Josh's room covered in boxes.

After the movers left, I worked to get the beds made up for the boys so they could take naps, and then my ayi and I began working again. I put things away and Hong Li worked on cleaning the incredibly dirty floors. Dustin and Tom went to buy us our new ride (or my new ride I should say) a new scooter (I promise pictures soon).

We made some good headway, and after thanking Hong Li for all her help during our crazy day, we crashed on our new sofa and relaxed watching, yes, you guessed it, Ice Age.

One Year Anniversary of Moving to China

So as we sit in our apartment tonight, I cannot believe that it was just a year ago that we moved here to Shanghai and that tomorrow we move again from this apartment we have called home, to a house that will be our new home here in Shanghai.

So much has changed since we first stepped off the plane. We have already said good-bye to three great families that we have been close to here as they took new assignments abroad and back home. The boys have also changed drastically. Danny arrived more as a toddler as he was still in pull-ups, and Josh was still really a baby. Now Danny has grown into a little boy who when I look at him now looks more like 7 than 4 and Josh is no longer a baby but a toddler heading into little boyhood himself. Dustin and I have successfully plowed through numerous ups and downs here and I believe have kept our family firmly grounded and closely knit together. This being mostly to God's wonderful grace and blessings, than anything that we could have done.

The time has gone so quickly, and now we have graduated into the role of those that welcome the newcomers. They are really easy to spot--they are the ones that look a little (or a lot) uneasy, a little (or a lot) lost, and have the look of complete relief when you talk with them and give them encouragement and support. I have been amazed at the steady stream of people that have moved home or abroad and how many have moved in. It does not matter the time, they are constantly moving in and moving out. It makes life interesting here, but it is also what makes everyone so supportive, welcoming and close knit. We have such an awesome community here and we are so blessed in so many ways.

Day Two of the Move-In

This morning, I headed over and did as much of the cleaning of the kitchen and the cabinets as I could accomplish. My ayi came directly to our new house and helped while Dustin played with the boys outside. The man arrived to put our furniture together, and finally our landlord, our agent and one of the workers here at our new community arrived. The man working on the furniture worked steadily from the time he arrived until 12:30 to put the sofas, chairs and Danny's bed together. Our landlord walked around with our agent and the worker, working on the things we had specified the day before. Much of this was not actually fixing it, but rather discussing the issue and to me felt like renegotiating whether it was going to be done. The funniest moment was when the worker was actually fixing the light in our upstairs hall bath. He was almost done and was working with the lightbulb and then going to put on the cover when the landlord begins flipping the light switch up and down. I thought she is either definitely crazy or just does not care or think of others at all (probably the latter one). I am shocked the worker did not tell her to quit it, or worse.

We got a fair amount done before lunch, and decided to head back to the apartment for the boys to nap. Dustin had to leave for a meeting at 3:30 and would be gone for dinner. I was so incredibly grateful that my friends were bringing us dinner. It was great to head to the house and not have to think about what we would eat.

As the boys slept, I tried to get things organized for the movers to come in the morning. We then just relaxed before the big move.

More fun with a foriegn language

Hello blog world!

It's been a very long time since I have wrote anything, and since I've got 30 minutes to kill before the calls start for the evening, I thought I'd give it a shot.

As you all know, I've been working to learn the Chinese language. There are times I make great progress, and then there are weeks on end that I seem to go backwards.

A few weeks ago, I had a major breakthrough. This is one of those moments when you not only understand a lot more, but you also understand how they think.

This, again, has to do with time. In Chinese, when you say ahead physically, it is qianmian. Behind you is houmian.

Now, if you want to say the future you say yihou, but if you want to say the past you say yiqian.

The character qian (前）and hou (后）are the same in both words.

In my world, you stand looking forward at the future. In China, you stand looking forward at the past. Amazing.

This small difference makes things a whole lot clearer. Chinese people rarely plan... as if they don't see any point in looking "down the road". Well, if you grew up from the very first part of your ability to think with the orientation that you can only see the past, I can see why planning would appear to be meaningless.

I think I have also told you that they see time rolling down a hill, right? You see, to say morning you say shangwu and to say afternoon is xiawu. Shang (上) means above or up and Xia (下) means below or down. So, you start your day up high and end it low.

Jackie does much better at giving details of day to day life. She can explain the fun I had today dealing with the move. I cannot believe that we have been here a year. Parts of it seem like we have been here 20, others seems like yesterday.

Like I was told during my first few days here, you have Shanghigh and Shanglow days. That's all part of it.

And the Move-in Begins and so Does the CRAZINESS

The contract on the new house we are renting specified we got the keys three days before the term began, but we asked and were granted the right to get the keys four days in advance. I asked for this so I could go in and clean the house on Thursday before our funiture was to be set up on Friday (they were to deliver it on Thursday) and before the offcial movers came on Saturday.

Dustin and I arrived at the house early Thursday for what is suppose to be the walk through. We brought the kids with and our ayi all to the house thinking it would be a quick walk through and I could get started cleaning. Oh were we ever wrong. When we first walked in we noticed a few things. The paint colors we picked were great, but the other walls that were suppose to be patched and painted (their were hooks in a lot of places) had not been completed. Nor had anything else we had pointed out the last time we went through with our agent.

Our landlord is quite the interesting character. She is Shanghaiese and owns a couple of properties in the city--which makes her in the upper class of Chinese in regards to wealth. Many Chinese still just own one change of clothes and dream of owning a bicycle of their own. She apparently paid someone to do the walls and they only did the paint chips we had given, non of the other walls. She was visibly upset screaming into her cell phone in the aggitated Chinese that we have become accustome to hear. She then got off the phone and went around and started yanking them off the walls leaving holes in the walls.

The rest of the walk through took until 12:30. Of course during the walk through IKEA's delivery group brought our funiture in. It was quite the household of people and activity.

We decided it was best to leave, eat lunch and then have me come back to clean on my own. We had now a very short time to do this as at 3:30 we had a meeting with the clubhouse of where we were moving from (the SRC) to try and keep some sort of membership with them. It is a huge part the expatriate community here and most families gather here, their kids do sports here and use their pools. I really wanted this membership, and the contract we signed with our new landlord included it. She just was not able to get it herself. We are hoping they will allow us to get one even though she is the one paying for it. Our landlord already tried to talk us out of this agreement this afternoon, but we simply said it is part of the contract and we want it.

I arrived back at the house to clean and the landlord and the representative from our realtor office were still there. I began cleaning while they were talking back and forth. I got some of the drawers done in the kitchen when the agent says the landlord wants me to leave. I of course say "excuse me? Are you kidding me?" We have an agreement. The agent explains the landlord wants to wait until we know about the membership at SRC before she allows me in. I try and argue my way through it based on the agreement we have with the landlord and the fact that she already accepted our money for the coming month. I did not get anywhere. I said I would have to call Dustin to get me, but then decided I would walk as I did not want to wait with the landlord. I was so furious about being kicked out that I did not want to spend another minute with her. I made it to the front door, and the landlord is looking all contrite, but turns out she still wants me to leave, but she is saying she will drive me. As I realize that it is raining out and I do not have an umbrella, I agree to have her drive me. Yet as we begin driving, I tell her to take me to Starbucks instead of home, as I do not want her to know where we live, or somehow try and be a part of the meeting later today with SRC.

So now we are driving in her car with the agent in the back seat. I am praying that she takes me to Starbucks and not somewhere else. The agent is first trying to translate the landlord's conversation with me. As we are heading out of the subdivision to Starbucks, the agent is telling me that the landlord said she has a friend that has a membership at the SRC already and is moving. We could have this membership. I kindly remind them, as kindly as I can that the new rules under the new management is that the memberships are not transferable. The agent visibly shows an "ah shoot" face. The landlord continues to try and talk to me and I completely shut her down with the statement that we will wait to see what management tells Dustin and I at the meeting at 3:30.

So we now turn the corner (remember our new house and old apartment are only 5 minutes by car and Starbucks is located between the two) and the agent gets a phone call. Meanwhile, we are on a fairly busy street and the landlord is trying to talk to me, in Chinese, still about the membership (she clearly is wishing that she did not agree to pay for it--it is not cheap, but we increased the rent and she will get the money back, so we do not feel bad about it).

As she is trying to talk to me, she is slowing down in the lane of traffic. By the end of what she trying to say, we are practically stopped. She is able to convey to me that she wants to wait with me at Starbucks until Dustin arrives. This is crazy I thought, as she just kicked me out of the house I was suppose to have rights to today, and she thinks I am going to sit and have small talk with her for over an hour? CRAZY. So, I tell her that I am just picking up the coffee and heading back to check on the boys. She of course counters with that she will drive me home. As I am at a total loss of how to get out of this offer without completely being rude, I agree. Through this crazy conversation I somehow manage to get her to resume normal speed and enter the parking lot of Starbucks.

While in Starbucks waiting on my coffee, I text Dustin in as a discreet of way as possible, as I know they are staring at me in the store. I tell him of being kicked out and that I was on my way home. He and Tom were out buying our outdoor table set that we will use in the dining room until our furniture that we are having made is finished.

I head back to the car and start praying as we enter the community that she one does not ask to come up and wait at our place, and two that she does not ask to come to the meeting with the SRC. Of course, we are almost to our house when my phone rings and it is Dustin. I kindly tell him that I am on my way home to the apartment, and that I would have to call him back "Lindsay". I of course had to say the Lindsay part twice, but he finally got it that I did not want them to know it was him on the phone, as our crazy landlord would probably take my phone from me to talk to him. She finally pulled into our parking lot and I could not get out of the car fast enough.

After cooling off from that adventure, Dustin and I went to meet the management for SRC. We were very happy to hear that the changes they are making are tied with not wanting to deal with the landlords and not with the expatriate. They said we would have no problem keeping a membership. We then headed back to tell the news to the landlord and our agent. After all the craziness of the day, our new landlord accepted it quite well. She said she would have the cash for us on Sunday morning. We left to head home, with nothing at the house clean, but happy to have the SRC membership.

One sick boy, Moving, and the God's Amazing Support through it All

This week is our crazy week which is jammed packed with preparing to move and moving. Adding into it Dustin's busy schedule and now a sick boy. Wow!


Danny woke early on Monday morning at around 3am. He seemed warm, but went back to bed and from his wake up time at 5:30 until 8:15 when he left for school he was my normal happy4 year old. I ran to the store with Josh and my friend Lindsay to buy some groceries before the crazy week really began. We got home and I laid down for a nap because I am still quite fatigued and my condition is still acting up from my two weeks without Hong Li, our ayi. I laid there for a little while until Dustin came in and said Danny had been sent home from school with a rash and a fever. Dustin mentioned that he had been running around, so he might just be over heated. I took his temperature and found it was at 102.7F. I looked at his throat and saw white spots. I quickly called the doctor to find that they were booked until Tuesday at 10am.


With Danny being sick and having a doctor's appointment in the morning, I contacted my bible study group to let them know what was going on and why I would not be able to join them. Then I set out to explain to Danny why he was not going to be going to his friend Jule's (pronounced Ula) birthday party. After lots of tears, we were able to come up with a pizza and movie night to make our sick guy feel a little better.


The next day at the doctor's appointment was told the dreaded news--they suspect hand foot and mouth disease, which means no school until it clears up--probably a week says the doctor. So now, I have to prepare for a move and have two boys home through it all.


That afternoon, while Josh was playing quietly in the playroom while Danny slept I was sitting there thinking of how fatigued I was and this was after I took a nap myself earlier. Dustin was out that night on a business meeting, and it is in those moments that I can feel so overwhelmed by everything. Yet, I was reminding myself of the truths that this is my new normal and that God sees me through each and every step and provides all that my family and I need. It was at this moment that the phone rang.

It was one of the women in my Bible study on the phone. She explained they had organized at the bible study this morning to bring us meals at the end of this week and through the begining of the next. I was speechless. God is so awesome in how he can answer us so quickly. He was saying, yes Jackie I do meet your every need and hear your every call, and using the wonderful women in my study group to do so.


It reminds me of Isaiah 40: 28-31--"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary and tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to te weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary." So I am so grateful that God is so amazing and he uses every means possible to support us through this life. What peace that brings...We may make it through this week after all. :)

Great time with friends and shopping at IKEA

In one week from today we will be moving into our house in Ranch Sante Fe (a nearby subdivision of homes rather than apartments) and also celebrating our 1 year anniversary here. I cannot believe it has gone this fast and how much this city has changed for us over the past year. Since our new home will be unfurnished we took a trip to get some mattresses and sofas ordered from IKEA. IKEA on a weekday is hard to get to due to traffic, but is usually not too crazy. IKEA on a Saturday is a different story. Traffic was great and I was hopeful the store would not be to bad. Dustin went on a Saturday once before we moved here and said literally there were so many people that you could only move as an entire group throughout the flow of the store. This is mostly due to the large group of people that come to sightsee rather than purchase. Thankfully, there were only a few hundred thousand in the store due to the holiday and people not returning to the city yet. They were still stopping in the middle of the asle taking pictures of each other like they were in Disneyland, but for the most part we got through to the check out with little headache.

The headache came when I went to get the kids some hotdogs from the restaurant in the store. They are inexpensive and a fair number of Chinese buy them too. That is where the headache came in. I went to get into line (always have to use that term loosely in China) and a grown man looked at me with Josh in the cart and Danny holding my hand and sprinted, I mean literally sprinted to get in front of me. Now this would not be such a big deal except the rest of the group he was with apparently do not sprint. One of course had no problem cutting right in front of me, and then there were the two ladies that decided that they needed to be so close to me it would have been considered indecent touching. She was of couse shouting up her order and handing money over the top of me. So needless to say, I was biting my tongue--okay, I was muttering under my breath or at least just muttering about the rudeness of people. We got to the table and ate and had Dustin go back and get the ice cream cones. He returned to tell me that someone actually backed into the line and stole an ice cream cone (they cost 1 yuan which is 15 cents). Pretty crazy stuff.

We got home and prepared for our friends from Germany to come over for dinner. There daughter Jule (prounced ula) is in Danny's class at school, and Monika is the other room/PTA mom with me. They also have a little boy Mathis that is just a little older than Josh. We had a really great time and it was the perfect ending to our crazy trip to IKEA. Next we will see how the delivery and set up company does--they are having to bring it one day and set it up the following day. Should be interesting.

The Dragon Dance and the point of exhaustion

With our week off (Dustin still had to work on and off throughout the days) for Chinese New Year we wanted to see a few things around town since we were not leaving on a trip. (About half the expat community leaves, and based on the traffic level a good 80% of Chinese people leave the city as well).

Monday, even though the weather was not ideal--drizzly and cool, we trooped down to Xintandi area of Shanghai and met Lindsay and Joel and their children to watch the dragon dance. We came in at the tail end of it, but it was almost perfect timing as they were going into each restaurant (Xintandi is a swanky pedestrian area filled with restaurants). There were a group of men holding sections of the dragon up on sticks and one man holding a ball on a stick that the dragon chased or followed. There were also two traditional Chinese Lions that were made up of two men each. They did a dance at the entrance of the restaurants to the music made by men drumming on a gong. Then the dragon went in and then they all came out. This was repeated over at each restaurant. This is why it was good we came at the tail end. We saw two restaurants like this and then they went to an area with a canopy and did a more formal dance.

We left from this and travel to a different location for dinner, called Blue Frog. We eat there regularly as it is western food and has a great kids area. The kids all enjoyed having a kids only table and then going to play while the adults visited. It was a great day and we were all glad to see the festivities.

Tuesday we relaxed and Wednesday I woke up and was completely exhausted. My cleaning the house for a week and a half and taking care of the kids got my condition flared up. Dustin was so sweet and had me stay in bed. He even took them to the clubhouse where I was to meet my girlfriends for lunch and let our kids play together. He stayed while they played and then called me over for lunch. I was completely wiped out, but went over to eat. When we got home I crawled back into bed and stayed there until 4 that night.

We all went to bed early that night, only to be awoken at 11:30 by fireworks so loud, if I did not know better I would have thought the city was being bombed. It lasted well into the night and then again early the next morning. Amazingly the kids slept through it all. Thankgoodness. We saw in the paper the next day an explanation for the loudness of the fireworks. Fireworks are set off for 19 days straight and each day has a different meaning. Apparently, the third day is for wealth and prosperity (hence, main reason for the amount of fireworks--everyone wants more money) and the loudness is in an attempt to wake the wealth god to seek your fortune. Also, it starts before 12 because apparently the early bird gets the worm. Our neighbor that was shaking the city at 11:30 should apparently become extremely wealthy this year as he was early and extremely loud. If only it was this simple, right?

We (every expat we have run into) is in agreement that we are tired of the fireworks. If this puts into perspective how it has been here (day and night)--I absolutely love fireworks, and I am sick of them.

On a sad note, I heard from my ayi and her mother passed away on the 8th. I am so grateful that she was able to spend time with her mother during her last few days. She said she would see us on Monday, and for that I am so grateful. She is such an enormous help to me.

Our First Chinese New Year

Our celebration began with getting Danny dressed in traditional Chinese clothes for his party at school. This was actually closed off to parents because the teachers are going to sing traditional songs and dance. It was a lot of fun for Danny and they gave each student a Chinese Tiger as 2010 is the year of the Tiger.

Saturday which was Chinese New Year's eve was a lot of fun. We went over to our friends' Lindsay and Joel's house for a party. It was great to get together with friends and have the kids all play while we visited. Later Joel had bought a bunch of fireworks and put on a show about as good as at least our home towns if not Indianapolis' show. The kids really enjoyed it as did the adults. We left around 10 and got home to watch more outside our window. Someone was setting them off in the grassy area behind our apartment building. This was not allowed, but no security person stopped them. As this was going on, you could hear more going off in the distance all around us. We got the boys to bed and got ready ourselves and then the real displays began. At about 11:30 we saw out our bedroom window the show that everyone described to us. Fireworks just filled the sky from every direction and as far as you could see. The closest display easily rivaled what Chicago or NY would put on for the 4th. As I watched them though, I could not help but sing some patriotic songs and pray that God may continue to bless our nation. While I know the Chinese invented them, I cannot separate them from the meaning of the beginning of our great nation.

The fireworks continued throughout the night and were still going off in the morning. I got to check my e-mail, drink my coffee and watch fireworks off our balcony. Pretty cool!

Cake Factory Field Trip and the Superbowl Game

Danny's second field trip this year was to a cake factory. We were (okay I was, because I tried to put a happy, everything is fine face for Danny) worried though that we would not be able to go because the Wednesday before our ayi received news that her mother fell and was not doing well. We wanted her to go but were also left with the delima of what to do with Josh during the field trip. Here your ayi is your babysitter/daycare place, as since there are ayis that are reasonable, such services are unavailable here. Thankfully she called on Thursday, after a mass scramble to find an alternative, and said her mother was doing better and would come on Friday.

Our ayi arrived to tell me that her mother was doing worse, but said she could stay for the morning field trip. We agreed she should leave as soon as we got back. Danny and Iraced to school and stopped by the store in the club to buy some Teddy Grahams. He had been wanting them for weeks, and I thought it woud be a great thing to bring as our snack on the bus. He was so excited by the idea. (Isn't it wonderful how the small things excite our little ones!)

The cake factory was a lot of fun. They showed us a short film in Chinese about frosting a cake. Then we were ushered into a little holding room where we were blasted with air. After this "cleaning", we traveled down a long hallway and watched the workers making cakes. Once we reached the second floor the kids were handed smocks so they could decorate their own cake. If only I had a video camera to tape Danny and his friend Tayton's facial expressions when they were handed the pink smock. I quickly tried to console both of them and we actually got them to put them on.

Decorating the cake was great. They were given little cakes on top of a lazy susan cake platter. Watching the four and three year olds decorate was so neat. They really got into it and were quite proud of their creations. After working on the cakes the kids were able to play in a really neat area that had a indoor jungle gym and lots of fun toys. We then boarded the buses and headed back home. Our ayi left and we prayed that all would be okay. She was already planning on being gone for Chinese New Year, but this added an extra week to her leave. I pray I will make it through without her. With my condition, I just cannot do a lot anymore.

The superbowl was Monday and as the Colts were playing the Saints we had to be there. Drew Brees for the Saints played at Purdue while Dustin and I were at school, so we were looking forward to seeing the home town play his team.

We originally planned going to a bar/restaurant further from our house, but were blessed that one right down the street from our house was opening up for the game. It was a great time, except to have to watch the Colts lose. The bar/restaurant is run by local expats, and have a very kid friendly atmosphere of no smoking if kids are present. As the superbowl for us was on at 7am, they served a breakfast. They had a great corner with a giant sofa and tables that we took over. They were extremely sweet and while they did not have coffee to serve (my drink of choice with breakfast) she later made a coffee run across the street to Starbucks for anyone who wanted something. The kids were great and went between watching, eating, coloring and playing with the small toys we had brought with us. So, while we were sad walking home that the Colts lost, we were so happy that we were able to watch it here.

We Thought We Were in Control

Life in China is quite fascinating, as there are so many stresses that one would not imagine here. It begins with those that you would not even realize would be a big issue like trying to find cleaning agents that work, safe to have around children, and are for the purpose you want (the best is how on the foreign imports they put the Chinese label on top of the English directions, so you have to guess at what needs to be done) and then there are the massive stresses like our spouses jobs, their travel, fitting into not only a different culture, but melding an extremely international culture together.

Yet from these stresses and the crazy life we live here, flows such a beautiful blessing from God. Our growth in our faith and our understanding. We are clearly shown over and over here that we are not the ones in control. God is in control. Our job is to Trust him in all things. That when things do not go as planned (which is like a daily thing here--whether it is in our lives or our friends' lives) there is a plan and this change will be okay. It may not be what we want, but it will be okay.

What has brought this to the top of my mind today is that we are in the process of moving to a house in a neighboring community. It was actually cheaper to rent than our current apartment. We have paid three months rent, ordered some furniture to be built, and just got word last night that the landlord will be unable to secure the membership to the club where we currently live. This was part of the our contract with her, but it looks like it will be impossible to acquire.

So, where we were plugging along thinking everything was in control, now the insane part of life here pops out again. The club here is the place that I spend most of my time at, between the school activities, the parks and the pools (I still have not gotten to the gym here) and meeting friends here, it is also where Danny takes soccer lessons. The new management is trying to enforce a rule that they will not sell memberships to you if you live in the neighboring communities. They also are not allowing the lifetime memberships to be transferrable. This is quite crazy in that they literally are cutting off a huge part of the people that pay money on a daily basis at their club (Most people I know live in the neighboring communities). These people unlike us may have a membership for a little while longer, but when they go to renew it or transfer to the next expatriate in their company they will run into problems. It baffels Dustin and I why any company would want less money coming in. Dustin is going to sit down with them tomorrow and see if we can come up with some solution.

Yet, even if they do not, Dustin and Iare going to continue in our process to move (we could try and use the clause in the contract to get out of the lease and get the rent already paid back, but then we would have to see if our current place has been rented out yet and what new price she would be trying to charge us). We decided that in a house, we can get a jungle gym for the kids to play on and build a sand box just like we have in the US. Our new place does have a clubhouse and pool, it is just not as fancy or offer nearly as much to its members. I spoke with my friend Lindsay and she suggested we put the boys in soccer at the British school (also just down the road). So, in the end, while it is not what we necessarily wanted, it is something that we are going to accept and realize that it will be okay. We will figure out and adjust to the change. God is in control (thankgoodness) and this brings me such peace.

Getting into Preschool

So we have begun the process of getting Danny into the American school here that is down the block. He will start preschool there in the fall. The school can be summarized as just down right amazing. Think your closest ivy league private school near you and the school here is probably very similar. (Of course the price tag is as well. Yet as all the schools here are private so there is little choice in this matter). The fascinating part in this all of course is the application process. Back home, unless trying to get into some ivy league preschool--which we would not be trying to do, you simply choose the one you want and they begin at the beginning of the school year. Here there is a booklet application. Plus referrals from Danny's current preschool teacher. They also wanted to see his performance review from the school (yes, I had a parent teacher conference this past fall--it said things like--can spell his name, colors within the lines most of the time, has trouble jumping over a six inch Kleenex box--we hope the Kleenex box jumping won't be black mark against him :) ). After this process was completed, Danny and I (Dustin had to work) were invited to attend a performance by current elementary school children and then take a tour of the school. I signed us up (already trying to appear interested and involved) and Danny and I went this past Thursday.

They had a nice little buffet breakfast before the performance for the perspective students, their parents and the parents of the children in the assembly. The admission staff were really nice to Danny and gave him an interesting coloring book about making the transition to Shanghai. Danny and I watched the performance and then he began to color as it was a little longer than we expected. After the performance we traveled around with two other families to look at the school. The staff was extremely informative and kind.

I did find it funny though that the one lady coming with us (turned out to be the head of the admissions department) kept taking notes throughout the tour. I did not take note of it until we saw a board, towards the end of our tour that advertised getting involved in cub scouts. Danny went over to it excitedly and I talked to him about how Dustin had been a part of this group as was his Uncle Jeff and that he could do it as well. I notice the lady began writing when Danny had gone over to the board, but did not think much of it until later I just happened to see her clipboard. Sure enough she had written down cub scouts. Thank goodness Danny had been well behaved as he and probably myself were being graded as we went along.

The good news in it all is we found out just the other day that he has been accepted, and we just await him being given a seat, as they call it, and doing his interview--yes they actually schedule a time for even the preschoolers. In all fairness at the preschool level they just invite them to the classroom and they play and they are observed while they do this. Apparently for the purpose of making sure they are ready to be in school. Whew!!! Pretty amazing stuff.

Fun Weekend of Family and Friends

This weekend was quite fun, as it was filled with a lot of time with friends and with family. We spent Saturday morning playing outside with the boys on the soccer field in front of the clubhouse. While we all left our house a little on the tired side (okay, I was exhausted and I believe Dustin would have said the same), running around in the crisp cool air (in the 40s here) really made us all feel better. I was bundled up in my fleece and my crazy guys had all stripped off their jackets but kept their hats on (the one part I made sure was required). It was so cute to watch Danny and Josh chase after their soccer balls and Danny repeating drills he learned in his class.

We all headed back home for hot cocoa--they just brought in marshmallows--a huge find, so how could we resist. We had lunch and a relaxing afternoon. Then Dustin and I got ready to head out with some of our friends. We are so blessed here now with two things--great friends, and an ayi I trust and speaks good English--thus making a night out possible.

We drove with one of our newer friends. They arrived this past fall, and are actually from southern Indiana. We arrived at a Middle Eastern restaurant with belly dancers. I would say only in Shanghai, but I think the true answer is that only in Shanghai would I ever end up at a restaurant such as this. The attitude we, and our friends have taken is that while we are on this adventure here in China, we might as well be adventuresome with our choice of restaurant as well.

The food was actually very good--lots of humus, great salads, unleavened bread and kabobs. Okay we stayed far away from the lamb testicles--you can only be so adventuresome--at least I think so. Yes, this was really on the menu. I know because thankfully the menu was in English and Chinese--if it was just pictures, as most menus in the city are, we may have ordered it by accident--meals based on just ordering from pictures is filled with prayer that you are not eating anything crazy.

So our first belly dancer came out (there actually were three of them and they did two dances and left you to eat in peace for a while. This was good as they blasted the music so loud you would not be able to carry on a conversation otherwise), and our table either paid too much attention as it being our first time, or, I will phrase it kindly as, "too polite to say no" marked on our forehead (you can fill in something else if you would like). I say this as I somehow got pulled up to dance along side our first belly dancer. So, I was beat red, completely uncomfortable, trying to follow this Chinese belly dancer, all while my friends were laughing hysterically and taking pictures and video (thanks to all the fancy phones everyone has over here). This might not have been so bad if I had the talent of being able to move my hips, but alas this is not my gift or talent. So, after what seemed like an eternity on earth, I was able to return to my seat. The great news in this all, is that we some how had been marked as a table and I got to see all my friends (minus the guys) up dancing throughout the dinner. We had a great time that evening, but I cannot say that I will be returning to that restaurant anytime soon--unless I do not make eye contact with anyone but those at our table. :)

Sunday came fast and early, with the boys being excited about our plans for the day--Disney on Ice. Our family and a group of our friends (many of those at dinner the night before) had bought tickets together and planned to go to the one English performance. We met our German friends, Markus, Danni, Angelina and Timo and headed first to Starbucks (did I mention the night before had been late?) and then onto McDonald's to pick up food for the road. We then caravaned over to the auditorium. When we got there we saw what can only be described as a good portion of the expatriate community here in Shanghai--at least those with children. It was a nice performance and all the children really enjoyed it.

After the show, we headed onto church, where I helped in the nursery and Dustin enjoyed a group of musicians from Michigan that were visiting the city and played with our praise team.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and reminded us how we are blessed.

Our Unexpected yet Interesting Tour of Shanghai

Our exciting news before we left for Christmas break is that we will move from our apartment and rent a house in a neighboring subdivision. We will move at the beginning of March. We are so excited to have a free standing home with no apartment below being worked on, or neighbor's to hear, or hear us and most of all our own yard. With the new house we decided to go with an unfurnsished place. Our current one provides all the furniture, but as it is rented, it is not in great condition and it is not at all our style. We have also found that the Chinese description of things like desk and sofa bed are quite different from ours, so we are looking forward to furnishing the our new place with furniture that reflects more of us. While we are excited about this part, it is also quite an undertaking before we move in March. Dustin and I plan to, like many other expats, have some of the furniture made. It is extremely inexpensive by US standards here, so we are excited by this prospect. Today we decided to travel to three different places to compare their work and the all important aspect of cost. Dustin and I left Josh home with Hong Li, our ayi, and decided to take the metro (Shanghai's subway) to get to our destinations.

We called the farthest place located on the other side of the city, about an hour and half subway ride. They spoke excellent English, but were not open today. So we decided to still venture to the others located closer to us.

We headed out to be greeted by stand still traffic. This caused us to switch the roads we took and hence also the subway station. This therefore added 40 minutes to our first destination. We arrived at the first location and stepped out into the street. It was a typical Chinese street, which means practically chaois. Trucks were trying to back up a one way street, while pedestrians tried to get past (this was an alley type street, so no room for sidewalks) while bikes, motorcyles, scooters and electrical bikes all whizzed past us. We safely made it across the street and started looking for the store shops.

Shops here in Shanghai are these little postage size shops that hold an amazing array of items. We went along counting down to where our shop was suppose to be located and then it unexpectedly jumped in numbers. We could not find the shop to save our lives. We looked down alleys and across the street, and even relooked up the address. We finally gave up and decided to go one stop down in the subway to get lunch and look for some plastic golf clubs from Toys r us.

We got out of the subway station and went to cross the street to the mall. They are currently building a pedestrian walkway because the street is so dangerous to cross. It of course is not finished, so we will brave the street crossing with everyone else. I describe this street a little like the old game of Frogger, but a lot more dangerous as the speed of the cars, trucks, mopeds and bikes are all at different speeds that are coming at you. Of course before we got to the street we got to walk through fresh concrete. All I can say is only in China. Now they did place bamboo mats down, but the cement was still oozing through this and onto the bottom of our shoes, yet this was not really a problem compared to the fact that they did not have these mats reach all the way to the street. As Dustin said we have now made a permanent impact on Shanghai. Of course, this is only until they decide to tear it up again, which could be a soon as next week.

We made it across the street in one piece only to find the sandwich shop closed. We ate Burger King instead and then struck out at Toys r us as well. We hopped back on the subway and headed to the next stop.

This again was a cool traditional Shanghai street. We got a little turned around, but finally found the shop. We were so excited as the sign and door looked promising, until we read that it is closed until Wednesday. Strike 3, time to go home.

We called Tom to meet us a little earlier than we planned at the subway station. We rode back, sort of in utter amazement that everything we tried to do today did not work out. As Dustin noted, this is often typical here in the city. We found Tom right away and we headed back home.

Of course, typical Shanghai style we got stuck in unreal traffic. We sat for maybe thirty minutes and then Tom was able to get to a point where we could turn around. We followed this one vehicle through some streets and then ended up at the new massive Train station. This will be the hub for numerous trains coming into the city from all over the country. The funny part of this is that we had a pretty good hunch we were not suppose to continue on this route, but the security guard was sitting in his chair smoking with the gate up and obviously did not care, and the car we were following just drove straight through, so Tom just continued on as well.

What we experienced in our barely holding it together ancient minivan, I am sure should only be left for such rugged off road vehicles as a hummer, or the large dump truck we ended up following for a while, as the other more off road type car we were following literally left us in the dust. We did make it through the construction zone (and I mean literal construction zone). And as we expected when we finally arrived at the other end of the site, two security guards, who were taking their job more seriously, were stopping cars from coming in towards the site we were attempting to exit. We jut smiled and tried to look straight ahead while Tom drove us straight on.

We made it home in time to pick up Danny and marvel at our less than successful, yet quite interesting trip. We did not accomplish anything we set out to do, but it was a great picture of the city from the streets, to the massive unofficial construction site tour, and we were able to spend some time together, which in this crazy city can be hard to do at times. I guess we call it a blessing in disguise.

December in Shanghai

As we all were sick for most of the month of November and December, I got really behind in blogging, so this is a recap of December activities.

Most of it was spent at the house with two sick boys. Some of it with Dustin and I sick as well. Dustin did have trips the last week of November and in December before we left, which made being sick for all of us that much more fun. :-)

The rest of the month was filled with high and low parts. The amazing part was that my little baby turned 2, yes 2 on December 1st. Where in the world did the time go? He is looking so big now and grown up, I can barely believe it. Now if we can just move past the getting into everything and throwing fits stage, and I really won't know what to do with myself.

The cutest part of the month was watching Danny in the church program (he was a shepard), and his school program (they were all reindeers and sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer--Danny was Blitzen). The church program he had a speaking part (along with the rest of his class) and a song. He did a great job with both. The school party was cute and Santa even stopped by the school (Santa was quite witty with a surprisingly Australian accent and had on tennis shoes--pretty fitting for being at the Racquet Club)

We decorated the house a little bit for Christmas as other people who were staying had gone all out and I could tell Danny (okay and myself as well) were missing the decorations. I went to the flower market with the girls and got a small artifical tree and some other items. They did have amazing fresh arrangements and wreaths, but I felt for two weeks it really wasn't worth it.

An unexpected highlight of our month was that my brother came in on business and we were able to pick him up and bring him to our house (i.e.--clubhouse) for dinner. It was a quick visit but so nice to have him here with us.

The low part of our month, besides the crazy colds was saying good-by to some of our friends. My good friend Kate and her family Dean, Allison and Clark headed back to Minnesota and our new friends Liam (in Danny's class) and Jamie, David and Mackenzie headed to Iowa. They will be greatly missed here, as everyone within our little group here is like part of our family. It is a hard part of living here, but we will all adjust.

We headed home for the rest of the month, and we boarded the plane pretty exhausted from all of our colds, but excited to see everyone and just be out of China for awhile.