Blending In......Not Really

We have been doing alot of the domestic things that families do on a daily basis. Susan found many places to shop (no surprise, if you know Susan). She has explored the train system and we have been taking the train everywhere. The train system is modern, clean and cheap. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but this was a major achievement. Susan and Matthew are picking up the language faster than me. I've been travelling everywhere. I've been to Beijing, Korea, Shenzhen, Dongguan and 5 other provinces that I can't even remember. It is hot in Shanghai, it's Africa hot, Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot and did I mention humid? It's like living in a giant humidor. That was very suprising for me because Shanghai is about the same latitude as New York.

Susan and Matthew found the Grand Gateway in Xuijiahui. They took me there over the weekend. It's a very large mall that is very similar to what you would find in the States. There's a floor devoted to electronics (yes!), there's a Nike Store, Disney Cuties, Hello Kitty, Rubbermaid, Hallmark, Formula One and other brands that we're not familar with. It was interesting to see the different stores. The mall had two floors full of restaurants and we had a very cheap Thai lunch for 129RMB (that's about $16 US) complete with three dishes and cans of Coca-Cola.


An old family friend of Susan's is currently working in Shanghai and was kind enough to take us to this resort area called She Shan. Hard to believe that is was about an hour from the downtown Puxi area and not too far from where we live. It's the Le Meridian hotel and we had afternoon tea there. The hotel had a lot to do for kids and Matthew even caught some fish in the pond- about 15 of them and he was ready to bring them home and adopt them. Susan had to convince him that the right thing to do was to return them back to the pond. She wasn't ready to be a surrogate mother to 15 fishes. So, Matthew and I returned the fishes into the pond.

We're awaiting our first visitors to our new home. Matthew's Godmother May and her two children, Jocelyn and Joanna and Auntie Momo are currently in Hong Kong and will be arriving in Shanghai this week to stay with us. Matthew is very excited about this and has been anxiously awaiting their arrival. Susan and Matthew will be off and running all over Shanghai with them as they explore the city together. There will be visits to the Shanghai Science Museum, the Acquarium, French Concession area, the Bund, the Pearl TV Tower, the Insect Museum and if Susan can squeeze it in with three kids, shopping as well.

Matthew will start school after May and the kids leave. He's anxious to start so he can meet the kids in his class.

Susan and Matthew's Great Adventures

We've been living in Shanghai a little over a week. Needless to say, it's a bit daunting trying to find our way around. Shanghai is a very large city and when we first arrived, we took a taxi everywhere. Now, a little over a week, I am now dragging Matthew all over town by train and it's incredibly cheap (16 RMB roundtrip for the two of us which is US $2.00) . Our first adventure on the train didn't go as planned. I wanted to take Matthew to visit this area called Xintiandi (which means New Heaven and Earth). Typical tourist trap but, I wanted to save his brain from turning into mush from watching too much Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon (yes, those channels are here thanks to satellite tv). Getting off the train, we were supposed to transfer to another train to get to where we were supposed to go. Instead, we wound up at the Cloud 9 Mall. Okay, not a bad compromise, but not quite where I wanted to go. We exited the train station instead of going down the corridor to the train platform. Fast forward, several days later, I am proud to say that I managed to get Matthew to the Shanghai Science Museum in Pudong and we spent a wonderful day together at the Museum. Today, we went back on the train to the Pudong side and found the Shanghai Aquarium and, what's that across the street? Another MALL!!! This mall had things that I never thought I would see in Shanghai- like Sephora, Kenny Rogers Roasters (who knew that the cowboy would be a celebrity here as well?), Nike and all the other brand names that we're familar with in the States.

Ordering food can be a bit of a problem since we're trying to get by with my limited Mandarin. In frustration, I often pepper my conversation with Cantonese which causes people to say to me "Shen Me?" which translated means "What the hell are you saying?". When we order meals, I often call it "Mom's Surprise" because who knows what I ordered in my limited Mandarin. So far, we haven't eaten anything that I can't identify so, that's a good thing.

We're still waiting for the arrival of our air shipment from the States. We're supposed to receive it on Friday, the 21st. This is after we were told we were supposed to receive it no later than Friday, July 14th. I've learned one thing since I've been here, nothing ever shows up on time.

Rockets Red Blaze

I'm sorry that I haven't updated the blog sooner but, we have been very busy over the past two weeks trying to get settled. I was back in the US for two weeks over the Fourth of July holiday. I returned home to help Susan and Matthew pack up the balance of the house and to say so long to our friends and family. To sum it in one sentence, I had a great time. I couldn't think of a better send off.

We spent time with people that really mean alot to us. It was bitter sweet to see everyone or what may be the last time in the next three years but, we really enjoyed each and every visit. We met with May, Auntie Momo, the kids, Belle and Steve and had a fabulous dinner at London Lennies. I met Steve for the first time and he was extremely likeable and very funny.

We had a lunch reunion with all our friends from the Chinese school in Long Island. It was really great to see how big the kids have gotten since we saw each other last Summer. That same day, Matthew had dinner plans with his friend Robert and we took off to see our old neighbor, Barbara.

The next morning, Matthew had a playdate with his friend Reilly while Susan and I continued to work on packing up the house since the movers were returning on Friday for the final packing. Friday was extremely hectic- the movers came early and spent the day packing and wrapping. It was 6 pm before we finally left the house and checked into the hotel. We had our dinner with the Guys- Tony, Gus, Anthony and Al. We even met Stephanie, Gus' girlfriend and capped off the evening with champagne in the hotel.

We went up to see my Uncle on his farm in Woodstock, New York. Matthew and I had a blast riding on the ATV- my parents even took a ride. We had a wonderful Korean dinner with Terry and Tanya in Flushing. Then we were off having a send off with Susan's family in Chinatown. We spent the Fourth of July with May and her family and I got to drive Tom's cars. I will always get excited when I remember the car going at top speed on the highway.

We met with Boris and Irina and they were the last people to see us before we left the US. We will always remember the send off we received from all of our friends and family.