Today was filled to the max. I left the boys with my ayi and ran to Carrefour (as I have learned in the 2 years of living here, Do Not Take the Children Here!, as everyone stares and or tries to touch the children’s faces or hair). So, I left as early as I could to run my errands and left them in the skilled hands of Hong Li and a Curious George video (TV shows we bought and brought here with us). My trip needed to fit into a short period of time, yet I needed a lot of things. Not only items for our family, but also food for a lunch I was making that day for friends, and food for dinner I was making for Dustin and two of his colleagues. Finally, I needed to find a new showerhead, as literally the water this morning was just trickling down--not sure what happened over the summer to it, but a trickle is not going to work. I was so proud of how I whipped around the store and even ran to the BQ (similar to home depot, but not as good) to grab my shower head.
I got home and had about an hour before I told Lindsay that it was okay to arrive. Our lunch today was with my good friend Lindsay and her children and a mother we had both been emailing over the summer , who just moved to Shanghai for the first time. She was bringing her two little girls with her today.
I quickly moved into high gear to get the salad ready for the moms (children were going to be just having hot dogs and mac n cheese, so that was simple) Bless her, Lindsay offered to bring something, and I quickly assigned her dessert. The best part of the preparation for our friends arriving was how Danny helped me get ready. (Josh was good too as he went off and played while I ran around the kitchen--sometimes just the offer to remain out of the way is such a huge blessing :) ). Danny asked if he could help me numerous times. I know other parents will realize this actual big accomplishment of Danny here…he has moved from helping and it really just slowing me down, but I want him to learn, so I have him help me, to the point where he helps and it is a great service and help to me. I was so excited and so thrilled for him for how much he has matured and grown up. He is such a sweet guy and I really appreciated the extra help he gave me!
Lindsay and her children arrived first and this was so nice, as we had some time to just visit ourselves. I find that once school starts it is hard for her and I to connect and have that time one on one. (Her children go to the British school--this is fairly common here that some American families end up in the British school system here, but it leaves us and the kids on different schedules).
Our new friend arrived and she was just as sweet as her e-mails. Her two children were shy at first, but then slowly warmed up to our brood of kids (Lindsay has 3 children). In talking with her it brought back such a flood of memories. Her children are the exact same age my boys were when we moved here. She is full throttle into the time of happy exploration, and the overwhelming parts of daily life here. She has two blond children, and her youngest has the most gorgeous blue eyes. This of course has brought them the same crazy attention we received. Plus she said she has brought their double stroller, which does not obviously exist here with their one child policy, so I am sure she gets a lot of attention pushing that stroller. The good news is she has access to her driver fairly frequently, so this should help her settle into life a lot easier. I truly look forward to getting together with her again and getting to know her more.
Once all our friends left, I put Josh down for a much needed nap and grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the sofa with Danny. I was exhausted! Of course we had not sat there long when I received a text from Dustin saying they would be early. So, I quickly drank my cup of coffee and swung back into gear. I prepared the bruschetta I was making for an appetizer and then worked on making the spaghetti sauce (Dustin and I decided we would keep it simple, which has also turned into my new mantra of entertaining…simple easy food that everyone enjoys). I of course had forgotten to get the meat out of the freezer, so I quickly put it into a water bath and was so grateful to God that it defrosted and I was able to complete the sauce before they arrived.
Dustin’s colleagues were very nice (we had met one, but our family had not met his other colleague). I went up to get Joshua from his nap and the poor guy was exhausted (still trying to get over that jet lag). He just clung to me. Then, once I got him unglued from me, (remember I am trying to pull of a dinner party--even if it is with just spaghetti I had still things to complete) Josh just sat in the kitchen with me. Finally, I was able to get him to sit with me on the sofa between Dustin and one of the new colleagues. He warmed up about half way through dinner, and by the end of dinner was dancing to the music Dustin put on—his normal self.
Overall, it was a great day back into our life here in China—filled with friends, new friends, and entertaining visitors. Now tomorrow we have Josh starting school a lunch out with friends and more new people moving into the area, and Danny meeting his teacher and seeing his classroom. Should be another great day!
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