Hi Everyone,
We're alive. And, we love it
here. The last couple of days have been a BLUR, but a positive one. We
finally landed in Shanghai late Friday night, about 10 hours later than
we had been scheduled to do so. Nonetheless, we were in one piece, we
were put at the front of the immigration line off of the flight because
we had a sleeping BLOND kid in our arms, and we were waived through
customs without so much as a second glance. And, the coup d'état: ALL
of our luggage arrived too! We were thrilled. We're talking 10 pieces
of checked luggage and 4 carry-ons, so you can imagine. And, my new
boss was waiting for us as we exited. He whisked us out the exit and
into a WALL of humidity onto a school van and down the highway to the
most POSH Marriott we'd ever seen. Heaven.
The next day's breakfast I had a bunch of foods that I
could not name and we went for a walk before the heat became truly
oppressive. Poor Reese kept asking when we were going home. And,
because we are loved and lucky, she asked about her 3-5 summer "homes"
before we were able to explain that "no, we don't live there" and "no,
we don't live there anymore" and that home is now Shanghai. She's been
doing her best, but she is genuinely confused. The good news is that
there are TONS of other little ones in this group of new families that
have come in with us, so she is well-distracted. In fact, she is one of
4 little girls here her age... and that's only among us new kids!
On Saturday afternoon we were shown our apartment and
were able to begin moving in. We have a sweet 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom
place on the 5th floor in a complex of about 10 buildings which have a
large pool for kids as well as a small playground. There is a small
grocery store on the street level of our building and, as if Pete needed
the temptations, a big fancy bike shop next door to that. Visitors
will be happy to know that there is also a Starbucks and about 10
restaurants within about a block. Everything from Chinese and Japanese,
to Mexican and a burger joint. More to come on cuisine as we explore.
We got a tour of the school yesterday and it's really
lovely. All the buildings are new, some this year, but all within the
last decade. (This is actually true for most of the entire neighborhood
we live in. I doubt anything in this part of town has been here for
more than 10-15 years.) My office is a good size with plenty of light
and overlooking the library (i.e. perfect). Reese's nursery school
campus has lots of running space, grass, playgrounds. Incidentally, we
ran into her teacher yesterday (who is Filipino American) and we love
her. Very sweet, calm nature... just what Reese needs to begin to calm
down. They were holding hands in minutes. One of Reese's newest
friends is Brazilian American and they'll be in the same class. Photos
are coming, I promise. Needless to say, they are both WILD girls
together and made all the more so by one another's energy.
The weather is HOT. And HUMID. I can honestly say,
perhaps for the first time in my life, that it's too hot for me. Yes,
even me. Poor Reese and Pete are positively MELTING. As is everyone
else. Luckily, AC is everywhere, including several units in our
apartment and in every store and office and school hallway. We're told
it will be a lot more bearable next month, and even yesterday was better
than Sunday.
Ah, Sunday. We made the mistake of going to Ikea on a
Sunday. Right? Who is stupid enough to go to Ikea on a Sunday?
Especially in China? We are. Yeah, that's us. Dumb: party of 3.
Saturday we had gone grocery shopping so Sunday we needed things like
plates, silverware, sheets, towels, etc. Apparently, half of Shanghai
goes to Ikea on Sundays. (The other half goes on Saturdays.) It was a
zoo and we were there for HOURS. People come to hang out. It's a
family occasion. Just
ARRRGGGGG!!!
There
was twice as much in this email but then magically this STUPID computer
deleted half of what I wrote and now I need to go cry about it. Gah--
that's so frustrating. This email was monstrous.
I am going to go try and recover. More will be coming soon. Hopefully with photos.
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