Rainy Season

The rainy season has come a bit late this year and we're not quite used to the constant downpour.  It seems to rain hardest when the girls walk to the bus and walk home.  After struggling with mushy socks and shoes, we purchased new waterproof boots and coats.

 

Amid the rain, Ben and the girls finished their last week before the mid-autumn festival holiday.  We also made our way to the Geology museum which was a crazy find.  They had tons of fossils, rare elements, and the girls were intrigued by an ancient skull (from 11,000 years ago).

other new finds: butter-bee & pomegranate tree?

Ben and Nina have been celebrating friend's birthdays.  At Nina's classmate's party, the kids sang happy birthday in three different languages (English, Spanish, and Chinese)!

Our first visitor

We were happy to be visited by Ben's godmother, Bridget, affectionately known to the girls as "Yaya." She was in China for work and made a special trip, extending her stay, to come see us in Shanghai. It was fun for us to show her some of the sights and try some new things as well.

 

We made our first ride on the bullet train and it was wild to go 18.6 miles in 7 minutes! Bridget was wheelin-and-dealin' like a pro at the markets and got some of the workers to sell her items from their "secret stash." All-in-all the trip was wonderful but far too short as she had to leave quickly to get to a myriad of other items back in the states. Thanks for a wonderful time!

Rhythm of regular life

At this point, we're just moving with the flow of regular life: school, laundry (in our apartment), homework, screen time battles, Wednesday night dinners with friends, planning our weekends, walking and biking all over (new scooters will hopefully help the girls, who have been troopers), etc. We were surprised by how much we enjoyed some random sights, included Post Office Museums, dinosaurs, and the shops in Tianzafang.

 

After nothing but sunshine the last few weeks the weather has gotten gloomier and the temperature dipped a bit.  So many well-meaning people from all over the world have warned us about how cold it's going to get this winter, citing the dampness that comes from the humidity. The Australians are wearing coats to work in this frigid 74 degree temperature ("but there's no sunshine").  We've laughed at these warnings and tried to acknowledge their concerns and reference the extreme cold, ice, and snow that accompanies a Minnesota winter. We've been told that that's a "dry" cold and we'd better get more blankets.  Time will tell.

To the Great Unknown

Now that we've settled down a bit, we are finally able to reflect on our journey so far.  There are, naturally, plenty of times when we look at one another and say, "we live in China." And, while we still have our fair share of Shang-highs and Shang-lows, the highs tend to outnumber the lows.  We continue to marvel to be in a place that makes each weekend feel like a fantastic vacation getaway.

HD Link

Upon this reflection, we find that, once again, Cloud Cult speaks to us (see Nina's first video, Pip's baptism, 10 year anniversary, etc).  While the band can make you go through a full range of emotions, we tried to put together a video to show our transition out of our life in the states and into our life here in Shanghai.  There are many similarities (finding kid entertainment) and many differences (ummmm language) but we're still together as a supportive and inquisitive family.

So build a happy ship, cuz this livin' is a trip.

You gotta sing the kind of song that you like singing

.... to the Great Unknown.

Hitting our stride

We're finding routine and getting into our new schedule. We've figured out bus routes, some semblance of meals, shopping, heck, we've even got our tantrums back to a predictable schedule. The girls have converted from vacation-mode back to regular kid-mode with their love for bouncy houses, McDonalds, rollerblading, and exciting trips from the tooth fairy (Nina managed to lose two teeth in one day). Overall life is good and one month in, it feels like we've been here for a lot longer than that.  

We all still look forward to weekends when we get to hang out, sleep in, and wander. We put in significantly more steps on Friday/Saturday and Nina has been a champ. We greatly enjoyed recent trips to Yuyuan Garden and The People's Square.