Its beginning to look a lot like...Michigan...

    

Enough snow to bring out the old snow broom!!

Boys first day of school

On Monday, the 28th the boys started school at Concordia.  School starts at 8am - a HUGE change for the boys as their old school started at 9am.  Waking up Monday morning was rough for all - the alarm went off at 6:30am.  After a slow start & a lot of nudges from Mom to hurry up & get ready, the boys were ready to head to the bus - a novelty for them as I used to drive them to school & pick them up (not so easy to do here with only 1 car & Ron needing to get to work - guess I could make him go to work REAL early.....). 

It was also a rough day as the weather was horrible - snow/sleet combination.  Mr. He was going to be here at 7:15am, bring Ron & the boys to the bus stop, which is at the front of the complex, & then bring Ron into work.  Well.......Ron gets a text message from Mr. He stating that he is stuck in traffic due to the bad weather & will be late (he is never late & felt horrible when he finally arrived - kept apologizing the whole day).  Talk about bad timing.   We proceeded to rush the kids out the door so they wouldn't miss the bus.  I had to pass on going up to the bus stop due to the weather (too slippery).  Ron had to change out of his work shoes & put tennis shoes on just to make the jaunt up to the bus stop.  Not only was the walk slippery but it was still sleeting when they left so they were getting wet (the umbrella is in the sea crate & we keep forgetting to buy one beings you don't need it very often when you get picked up/dropped off at doors).  Needless to say, I was very upset that I did not get to see the kids off to school & go over the last minute 'details' (where their lunch card was in their backpack, how to find their classroom in a school that is 5 times at big as their old one, with Justin's class in a different building, etc.).  I managed to keep myself busy during the day, anticipating their arrival home!  Mr. He picked me up at 3:35pm to go to the bus stop.  As I 'patiently' waited for the bus, which was late, Mr. He looked at me & said, "Madame, relax, the bus will be here soon".  Guess I looked nervous!!!  Mr. He was right & the boys came running off the bus a few minutes later!!!!  They both got in the car eager to talk however, Tanner had more negative things to say about school than positive.  In a nut shell, Tanner's teacher is expecting him to catch up to the rest of the class (test the next day, wax museum project which requires us to go to the Fabric Market Saturday to get a costume made - due in less than 2 weeks & with the Chinese New Year & everything shutting down, this should be interesting, Mandarin class - totally lost in - everyone able to read Mandarin - needs a tutor he was told, the list could go on but I will spare everyone the details).  We told him to relax & do his best - if that means he does not get straight A's (all he is used to getting), than that is fine.  Justin didn't complain much & seemed to get along fine with finding his class, his lunch card (better than Tanner who didn't look hard enough to find his - they gave him a free pass beings it was his first day of school), & meeting friends.  He is our quiet one so we will be monitoring him a little closer to make sure all is well.  They were not too excited to go to school on Tuesday & their prayers were answered - they had a snow day!! 

Shanghai has not seen snow in 4 years - guess we brought it!!!  Wednesday was a half day, with an assembly which took up 2 hours.  Thursday & Friday are full days. They have off next week due to the Chinese New Year (Ron will also be off).  I'm sure the kids will adjust well & begin to get into the rhythm of school after the break.  We didn't expect things to go 'smoothly' but it is hard to see your children having a hard time getting acclimated in school when they also have to acclimate to a new country.  We are looking forward to having some nice quality family time during their break with next week starting off with the boys bonding Monday morning while watching the Super Bowl!                   

A 1st - one of many - TOTAL SUCCESS

We decided to venture to a church on Sunday. The service started at 3pm - different time for us but actually nice as it eliminates the rushing in the morning.  The church is called AGIF (Abundant Grace International Fellowship).  A friend of mine, Bev, goes to this church & invited us to go.  We have been out of the 'church scene' for quite some time with the "proposed" move to China & then the actual move so all of us were a bit hesitant to go but we felt that we needed to take the 'plunge'.  Mr. He picked us up at 2:30pm & off we went.  The church was bustling with people getting inside from the snow (Shanghai has been having unusually weird weather the past few days with snow & sleet falling at rapid rates that accumulation is present).  We met several nice people upon arriving & then settled into the unpadded pews, which were very cold.  The worship team came up to start the service.  I was wondering what this would bring - music only, instruments - 4 singers, a drummer, pianist & guitarist started us off.  The first song sang brought tears to my eyes, which I was having a hard time controlling.  How good it felt to sing praises to God again!!  As I looked around during the worship, I was inspired.  Many nationalities were represented & each person was praising God - many with lifted hands, clapping, singing so loud, many off key but the common factor...all singing to OUR God without the worries of what people will say.   After singing many inspiring songs, many of which we have sung at other churches & which tend to be our favorites, the children were dismissed to children's church.  Amanda ran off with Chloe,  Bev's daughter, & Justin, so bravely, went to his class (Tanner is right on the brink of being too old for children's church so he hung back with us).  Upon returning from dropping the kids off, we had a nice lesson by the preacher & sang a few more songs.  The sermon was great but I do have to say, Garth is still my favorite preacher!  Different parts of the service were led by teens, women, men - in this case, sex or race did not seem to matter - again, everyone was here for one purpose - to worship God!!  A different experience for us, yes, but one we are looking forward to journeying down.  God has been so faithful to us during all our times but especially now as we are half way around the world.  He has brought us contacts & friends, a great school for our children, ways to communicate with our loved one's back in the states & the experience of journeying to places unimaginable all while soaking up Amanda's culture.  What a better way to 'thank' Him then to join Him in His place of worship, the place He gave us to express our 'thanks' & commitment to Him!!  As we journeyed home, Ron was stating how he had goose bumps for several of the songs & all the kids enjoyed the church with Justin (our quiet one) so excited about children's church.  Thanks God for guiding us to your house of worship & for placing Bev in my life to guide us there!!   

On commuting...

Shanghai is well known for the horrible commutes, whether you are taking a train, a bus, the subway, your own car...it will be a bad commute.  I was fully expecting to experience the bad commute first hand as I work downtown at the Jin Mao building.   Where we live is about 5 miles from downtown and in the first two weeks here I am happy to report and surprisingly so that my commute has not been horrible.  In fact it has been as short as 15 minutes and as long as 30 in either direction.  Around 8:30 seems to be the worst traffic, but for example, if I leave by 7 I am in by 7:20.  Plus I get dropped off at the door...a far cry from my forty minute commute and then two block walk in picturesque downtown Detroit.  Getting home has been just as easy, usually a 20-25 minute ride.  Another dramatic drop from the 45-60 going north on I-75.  Hopefully this is not just a winter slowdown in traffic, but on the Pudong side of Shanghai traffic seems much lighter than the much more crowded Puxi side, which we tried yesterday and will be blogged on later (not a fun trip!!).   Of course not driving has its advantages as well, sometimes I am getting a Chinese language lesson, other times I am getting work done or taking in the sights of life in China.   As for the Jin Mao building, it is quite tall (88 floors and currently fourth tallest in the world), but I am only on the 11th floor.  It was the tallest building in Shanghai, but now right next to it is the new World Financial Center which will be the second tallest in the world for a short period of time.  A seems to be a nice place to work with great views of the buildings along the river and the Pearl Tower, several banks, shopping, and restaurants.

A 1st - one of many - Total BUST!!!

We decided to take a trip to the Textile Market on Saturday with some friends.  The Textile Market is a place to go when you are looking for custom made comforters.  We have been looking for comforters since we arrived - we did not bring ours from the states thinking it would not be a big deal to find them here - wrong!!!  Duvet covers are very popular here, however, that would require us to buy the Duvet & the cover, which would not be cheap.  So, when I heard about the Textile Market & how cheap it was, I was sold!!  Plans went South when the friends we were going with could not make it (currently moving into their place) & they were bringing the translator.  We thought, for a brief moment, about going solo & having Mr. He help us but from what we heard, they don't speak any English at the Textile Market & Mr. He's understanding of English, however getting better daily, might not be much help to us when trying to ask questions/place an order.  Change gears.....Another thing we need for our place is rugs - the entire house has hardwood floors.  So we picked up our handy dandy book we purchased called "Passport Shanghai 2007-2008 edition "  & found a rug place.  Mr. He met us in the morning for our adventure.  After fighting weekend traffic getting into Puxi, we arrived at the rug place over an hour later.  To my disappointment, the rug place was all a pile of bricks with a concrete block with BIG letters saying "RUGS".  Guess it was not meant to be......Change gears, again......Off to take the kids bowling.  The reference came from a different book, so we headed there.  We get upstairs to a smoke filled bowling alley.  The wait was 30 minutes so we decided to stay - the kids were so excited to bowl that we did not want to crush them & leave.  Well, an hour & a half later we finally get a lane - I think we deserve some kind of medal for roughing this one out!!!  We decided to play only 1 game due to the crowds, smoke & time.  The experience was one like no other but still one to give us a smile!!  After bowling we headed to Zapata's (Mexican).  The atmosphere was very bar like with very little seating.  We did not have a problem getting a table in the upper tier of the restaurant at the early time we arrived.  Prices were high (SMALL glass of Coke was $4.00), however, the entertainment was just that, entertaining!  Many of people coming in for shots & dancing on the bar along with some pictures.  The food was nothing to write home about.  We cashed out at $75.  Overall, a disappointing day in the land of Puxi!!!  Off we went home to shower the kids & wash our smoke filled clothes (sorry AYI).  Once the kids got in bed, Ron & I watched 'No Reservations' while eating good ol' Orville Redenbacher's popcorn.  All's well that ends well.................