It's Been SO Long, A Lot Has Happened!

It's been SO long since my last post....which should tell you one thing. I have been busy! Life here is going great and we are getting to see and do more as we get more comfortable in our new culture. Since my last post I have been to Switzerland to visit Melanie (my other expat friend!) and then to the states for Christmas with our families and friends, and then back to China. After Christmas I began working at the Shanghai American School as a Substitute teacher and I am LOVING it! The school is an absolutely awesome place to spend alot of time. To be a part of such an amazing international school is thrilling to say the least! I am mostly working just 3 days a week, they offered me full time but I felt I still need to see so much of China and I am just not wanting the 5 day per week commitment right now.

I am also proud to annouce we have had 3 guests since Christmas as well. First, my sister arrived on the 15th of February and spent 6 days with us. We had a blast seeing all of Shanghai and flying to Beijing to see the Great Wall, The Olympic Center and Forbidden City. I also introduced her to some local street food. Thankfully she didn't get sick!! We had an amazing time together and enjoyed sister to sister time... It was long overdue! Thanks Brenda for coming to see me!

Our second visitor, Mandy Monjaras and her daughter Ashley (our old neighbors in Denver) arrived on February 28th and stayed until March 7th. We had a great mother/daughter time as our daughters are also best friends. We also saw much of Shanghai including some traditional magic and dancing. I also introducted Ashley to the "Wet Markets" where you buy your live fish, ect...and have them freshly "cleaned" for you on the spot. She was a great sport and thought it was hilarious to watch the fish flop on the ground before their untimely death! (Mandy, is that disturbing?) (Wet Market photo below)We also flew to Beijing, this time Tenley also came with us and she got to see the Great Wall for the first time. What a great experience for 6 and 7 year olds to see such wonders of this great world! Mandy and Ashley, thanks for taking your vacation to see us!! It's meant SO much! (Ashely, I hope your thumb is better---she broke it on her last night here!)

Our last visitor, was Jamey Fifield. Jamey is a great friend to Trent and all of us for that matter. Trent took a few day's vacation and they also went to Beijing among other places. Jamey is always fun to have in China as he is willing to do and try anything! (ANYTHING!) He points out the things that we often overlook and makes normal day to day stuff a blast! Thanks for a good time Jamey!
Tenley and Tayton are doing great! They are absolutely thriving in their schools and in this environment. Tenley has taken up tennis lessons and loves them! (picture above is Tenley with her tennis racquet) Tayton has a few buddies that he loves to play with and loves to ride his bike to school everyday. China is treating us well and our family time is in abundance now! Trent continues to work an obscene amount of hours, but having him here all the time makes such a big difference. When we lived in America, I found it hard to keep up with what country he was in. Picture below is of Tayton playing the drums at Madame Tussads Wax Museaum here in Shanghai.

We are staying commited to learning Chinese and taking lessons weekly. We feel pretty confident getting around now...although I have to say, Chinese in a Southern accent sounds pretty funny! As long as they understand me, that's all that matters! My friends all want to go shopping with me as I have it in me to always get the lowest price and still leave with them smiling at me. (southen charm!)

I will try to post more blogs in the future. We leave for Thailand in two days and I will have lots of pictures to upload from our first Family Vacation! We are all more excited than words can express to get away to a new part of the world!!

More to come!! Stay tuned!

No place to go but up!

This is what a typical shopping day looks like for me. Shanghai is so large you can't lay stores out over acres of land...you build them up! This is a picture of my shopping cart on a straight escelator. The first floor is small shops, the second floor is home goods and the third floor is groceries. So if you are on the 3rd floor and finished with you shopping but suddenly realize you forgot the lightbulbs, you have to go back down to level 2 to get them; then return back up to level 3 to check out! I don't make these mistakes anymore, my shopping has never been more organized!

Life Goes on.....

It's been two months since my last post which says alot about life here....busy. I have done what I said I wouldn't do...OVER COMMIT! I have come to realize that this is just me. I like being out; doing, living, experiencing, and socializing! Why change just because I am in China.

Trent is getting really busy with work and really understanding why employer's are sometimes smart in allowing people to work from home.....because they never stop working! Overall he is really loving life here and really enjoying his schedule. He is traveling on average 1 or 2 days a week which is much better than being gone for two weeks at a time like when we were in the states.

Tenley is loving first grade and making tons of friends! The time elapsed has finally caught up to her and she has mentioned she is really missing her close friends. Just the other day she pulled a shirt from her drawer (a long sleeved one). It was the time she has pulled out her winter clothes. She said it smelled like Ashley's (Monjaras) house. (maybe we washed it at mandy's house when I was staying the night or something) I think it was a little nostalgic for her.

Tayton is growing like a weed! Even my friends here are noticing how fast he has shot up! He is really slimmed up (not my chunky boy anymore). He is going to be built just like Trent I think.

He loves school and has made lot's of friends! This past week, school was closed because Hand, Foot, Mouth disease was going around like candy. He really missed school and looks forward to it reopening on Monday.

First week of School

Well, alot has happened in the past two weeks. Tayton started preschool last Monday, Tenley celebrated her 6th birthday on Tuesday and then started school on Thursday. She is pretty excited about being a 1st grader.

Lets start with Tayton and his school. He is going to a preschool that is located on site here at the Racquet Club. It seems to be a great school, it's close and he LOVES it. He is in the Dragonfly classroom and they began learning this week how to describe their looks. Tayton's teacher said, "okay Tayton, what does your hair look like" (I think she was hoping for a color description), and Tayton replied, " it's good". She said she could help but laugh because of the confindence he had when he said it.

Tenley is now the big 6! She is so excited to be 6, but is already talking about being 7...... we had a party here at our house with her new friends she has met since arriving in June. She had 7 friends representing countries, Holland, Australia, Canada, Scotland, America, and China. You should have heard the accents!! I LOVED it!! All the little girls are so precious.

Two days after her birthday she started school. She really likes her teachers; Mrs. Walker from Australia and Mrs. Priti (assistant) from India. When she got home from her first day the first thing out of her mouth was, I get to have 3 recesses. (a MAJOR accent on 3)

I am posting some pictures of our apartment for those of you who have requested to see what our house looks like. Also, there are some pictures of the clubhouse, where we spend a large amount of time. There is a great place for kids to play while us mom's and dad's sit and socialize. It's really great and very family friendly.

Trent is starting to travel in and around China more. Next week he has to go to Turkey for a week. He has started language lessons which are pretty intense. I start mine next week. I was waiting to get the kids in school to devote more time to it. We both really want to use this opportunity to learn as much as we can.

My weeks get's saturated pretty quickly when you consider a day or two shopping (food, ect..), a day of language lessons, a day of volunteering at the school. and maybe a day of free time with the girls. It takes so long to do everything so if you have to grocery shop, you will not get anything else accomplished that day before picking the kids up from school. After school we are trying to go to the pool each day. Summer is getting closer to being over so we want to soak in the sun while we have it. It's a great way to unwind also!

Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?

"Where's Waldo?"

Sorry it has taken us so long to get another post up. We have been busy getting acquainted with China and playing "Hide and Go Seek." For example, Vanilla Extract, do you know how hard it is to find such a thing in China. I did finally find it and my kids (and Trent) are happy to once again have homemade banana muffins and chocolate chip cookies.

School will be starting soon, 10 days to be exact (yes I'm counting). Tenley is very excited to meet her teacher and make more friends. I think she has met every child living at the Racquet Club, but it is just not enough for her. She is quite the social butterfly.

You have to understand that living in a new culture you are going to get random questions from your children. The other day Tenley asked me, "mom, why do all the people here have black hair?" After the lack of a brilliant answer I told it like it was, "because God made them that way." Anyone else have a better answer? Belching in public is also very common here (not rude). A few weeks ago our driver belched very loudly in the car with us in it. Tenley was quick to shout off, "excuse you!" I couldn't help but laugh because neither of them were in the wrong.

08/08/2008

We went to TGI Friday's on Friday night to watch the opening ceremony's for the Olympic games. It was really great to be among the Chinese people to watch it all unfold. A truly historical event for them really. They are obviously proud and honored to be hosting such an event, probably more so than any country to ever host the Olympics.

Meet our Ayi, Sally! She only started last Monday but we have already fell in love with her. She has been a great help in teaching me and the kids Chinese words and phrases.

We finally got pictures of our scooters! These have been a great purchase so far. We can just hop on them to go get Cold Stone Icecream (yes they have Cold Stone!) or go to the local market to pick up a few groceries. The kids love them and say they want their own...yea right!

Here is a video from our balcony that is located just off the living room. It has an awesome view and the balcony is quite roomy. We have sat out there a few nights and drank wine while we enjoyed the quiet landscape with beautiful lighting.

Getting Settled In

We are finally settling into life here in Shanghai. Our shipment still has not arrived with everything from our house, but we are hopeful it will arrive within two weeks.
Living at the Racquet Club is best described as living in a bubble; as I have heard it referred to. Inside the walls of this place you have a bit of normalcy and peace. Outside the walls is a bit of a different story. It's not that it's bad....it's just different and takes time to adjust to it.
Traffic is absolutely crazy here and it takes a long time to get anywhere. For comparison purposes, imagine Denver traffic at 5:15pm on any weekday and multiply that times 100 to get an idea of daily traffic here. Really!
I finally gave in and hired an "Ayi" (chinese for nanny, housecleaner, cook) to work part-time at my apartment. (my arm really had to be pulled, wink,wink) Her English name is Sally (can't pronounce her Chinese name). She is awesome and absolutely adores my kids. She comes in the morning so I can go out and about to run errands, work out, or just have coffee in peace. She leaves just after lunch. She cooks the MOST amazing Chinese food ever! Today she made a wonderful soup and homemade dumplings filled with pork. YUM! The kids loved the soup and Trent can eat his weight in dumplings. She also does some of the shopping for me at local markets where she can get a better price than me. She tells me I pay too much.
After nap's we go to the pool everyday. The kids are loving all the pool time and so am I. Half the pool has a sandy beach with a sand bottom and the other half is blue tile (basic pool). We still can't figure out how they keep it separated so well. Tayton plays in the sand with his trucks while Tenley explores the bottom of the pool to find sea shells and treasures. I swear that little girl is going to be in public relations or a scientist!! She's never met a stranger and loves everything about nature...dead or alive.
I suppose that is all for today. We miss you all like crazy and are counting the days until we are home for Christmas!
Call us on our local Denver telephone number! Email me for the number if you don't already have it