Happy New Year!!

Well, it was another early morning here yesterday. We were all awake at 3:30 a.m. So more cleaning and unpacking. The girls did take naps though, so that helped. We met our new driver, Mr. Yu. He seems nice but a little nervous. He was great about helping to get the girls in and out of the van.
We had lunch at Johnny Moos. A great diner that promised burger, fries, and milkshakes. And it delivered. Morgan loved it!! As you can see, she ordered a milkshake that was big enough for the entire family to share. We met a woman and her young son (7) there. They too have just moved here, from Nashville of all places. We talked with them and gave them our family card with contact information. She and her husband have their own business and have just moved here to be closer to customers.

After lunch we headed to the Pearl Market looking for tennis shoes. I wasn't so sure about this, but Mark insisted that I could get name brand tennis shoes at the market. And sure enough, I did. I was able to purchase new Nike tennis shoes for about $20 (USD). We also purchased 4 dvds for a total (not each) of $3.50 (USD), including the NEW Bee Movie, Cars, Meet the Robinsons, and Tarzan. There are NO children's cable chanels here and the cartoons are all in Chinese.

Next we headed to City Market, a grocery store that caters to the expat community here. We spent a small fortune on foods that we can find in the US, including mac n' cheese, waffles, lunch meat, graham crackers. But for now, its worth the price.

We headed home. Molls was asleep and Mark needed to work, so I took Morgan to our indoor play area here. She had a ball and made a new friend, Isabelle.

We stayed in for a "fancy" New Year's Eve dinner of salad, mac n' cheese, and hot dogs. This was accompanied by fireworks. They started about 5:30 and kept going all night. We were all pretty tired and in bed by 8:45. Except Mark. He went out for a drink with a friend here who was leaving last night for Korea. He will be gone about a month.

So another successful day for us. Mark goes back to work on Wednesday, so that will be a real test for the girls. It will be interesting to see how we work out the driver situation. There will be some days that Mark will need the car during the day to go to meetings in other areas of the city. Which obviously means I'll be home on my own. Morgan starts school on Jan 14, and that is just one more thing to factor into it. We could walk to/from school and they also have transportation available (about a 5 min ride). So we have options.

Happy New Year! Best Wishes for a happy and healthy 2008!!

Don't assume anything!!

Don't assume the trip to the bank will be quick.
Don't assume the girls will sleep in the car.
Don't assume the ice cream is vanilla.
Don't assume the dish soap is made for washing machines.

I knew it wouldn't take long, and it didn't. We were wide awake at 6:30 yesterday morning and about ten minutes after that Morgan asked...."can we go swimming?" Well, we were able to hold her off all day. It helped us get through our first full day in Shanghai. We cleaned and unpacked in the morning then headed out for an interesting day. First a stop at the bank. We waited about 30 minutes just to use the ATM.

The off to lunch at Element Fresh. A really great place with delicious salads, sandwiches and pasta. They also have a variety of coffee drinks and smoothies. I can foresee this being a favorite. And....they deliver. Check out Molly in her swanky high chair. She loved it. With no breakfast foods in the house, we were starving. We ordered a plate of hummus with pita and veggies. The hummus was delicious, but not like what we are used to. Different seasonings, I think. Morgan ordered pasta, and Mark & Kristen had sandwhiches.

Then we heard it again..."can we go swimming?" After we get some groceries. Let me tell you, this was quite the experience. You know the feeling of being herded like cattle when you leave a large sporting event or concert trying to get to your car??? We had this same feeling while at Carrefour supermarket yesterday. People, people, everywhere. Aisles filled with people. So we weren't able to really check things out. Instead we just grabbed food and cleaning supplies off the shelves that we thought looked familiar. Needless to say, we'll have to go back soon.....just not on a weekend. Lesson learned.

The girls were pretty tired, and we thought we had half a chance of them sleeping in the car on our way to IKEA for some things for the house. This time we used ice cream to bribe Morgan. Both girls stayed awake on the way to the store but ended up asleep during the trip. Not before getting Morgan some ice cream. We picked a single serving tub of vanilla ice cream. Only to pay for it and discover that it was Green Tea flavored. Hm?! Interesting. Thank heaven she liked it. It was actually pretty good and I wouldn't mind trying it again sometime.

We were definitely being "watched" during our day. We were warned about this before coming, but its a little unnerving. I felt a bit like a celebrity. Honestly!! There were crowds of 5 or so people around us. Mostly staring at the girls. Admiring Molly sleeping in the stroller, and Morgan in the shopping cart. This will take some getting used to.

We thought Carrefour was bad. IKEA was worse. Filled with people. Another lesson learned....no IKEA on the weekends. We made it through with a few things and headed for home.

We headed out for dinner to the Flying Fox. Not sure if was supposed to be English or Irish, but a pub style restaurant for sure. We had a really good meal and made it home in time to for Mark and Morgan to swim before the pool closed.

It was an early night for all of us. We were in bed by 8:30. Overall, everyone is handling the jet lag pretty well. Of course we've been awake since 3:30 am, but we're using the time wisely. In fact we've been cleaning. And the dishwasher soap we bought at the grocery store...turns out its NOT for dishwashers. Mark has been mopping the floor most of the morning. But hey, at least its getting clean.

Nothing on the agenda today except to finish unpacking and cleaning. Most likely some swimming. It will be a quiet New Year's Eve here.

One last thing....we learned that our driver Mr. Song is leaving Shanghai for a new job opportunity. We will miss him. Mark made a real connection with him during his first few weeks here. And in just one day, he and Morgan were quite comfortable with each other. He would lift her in and out of the van and buckle her in her seat. He also escorted her around the van to the sidewalk as Mark and I got Molly out. So today, we will meet Mr. Yu, our new driver. We hear is nice and can speak English. We can only hope he is half as nice and as good a driver as Mr. Song.

We made it!!

After more than 20 hours of travel time (15+ in the plane), we finally made it "home" to Shanghai. It only took 3 changes of clothes for each of the girls (Morgan before we even left Metro Airport, Molly & I on the plane), a full package of wipes and two sleepless parents to make it all work. Actually, the girls did GREAT on the plane. We could not have asked for better behavior from either of them. Morgan loved playing with the buttons on the seat and her new Leapster video games. We had a female pilot and she thought that was great. Molly slept a lot and only fussed for about 2 minutes at one point. She ate great and was her usual happy self for most of the trip.

On our flight from Tokyo to Shanghai, we met another family from Oregon on the move to China. They have two young children and live pretty close to our neighborhood. We hope to be in touch with them soon, once we've settled.

So tomorrow we hit the grocery store to stock our kitchen cabinets and buy cleaning supplies. We might hit IKEA too if we have the time. We should have enough to live with until our sea shipment arrives. Keep checking in for more updates. I'll try to post everyday, with pictures if I can. We want to stay in touch as much as possible while we are away.

Not your typical moving day!!

After months of preparation, we are finally leaving for China!! We've said our goodbyes....more like "see you later's"....and are ready for this new journey. This day has been harder than we expected and it's not even noon yet. We will miss our family and friends dearly and we hold them close to our hearts and in our prayers always.

We are just about ready to board our flight. Amazing how you can stay in touch even while traveling. We will keep everyone up to date as soon as we can. The next few days will be long and hectic as we settle in to our new house.