FINALLY

THE BIG DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!! I cannot even begin to express to y'all how excited I am!!! Tomorrow is moving day. We will offically leave our current home of one month at 9 a.m. on Friday. We get the keys to the apartment at 9:45 a.m. and I plan on being in my new home by 9:46 a.m. In fact, I am so eccited that I have drug my husband to the IKEA store several times this week to make purchases that "we just HAD to have, even before moving in." (I'm quoting myself there.) So now are are moving four rather large IKEA bags along with our other 12 pieces of.....well......stuff. We seem to have aquired a large amount of stuff in the month of being here. So in total we are moving 16 pieces of "important things". A far cry from the 6 pieces we arrived here with.

As soon as we are in I'll get some pictures of the new place and post them. Just in case any of you are interested on seeing our home for the next 11 months. Also, that way y'all will know what the place looks like before you come and visit. HINT! HINT! Hope y'all have a great weekend. I know I will!

Electric Power

Michael and I have discussed it several times. In the event of a medical emergency, we would like to be brought to this hospital. Perhaps something was lost in the translation of this place's name? Or perhaps they just want us to think they have something the competition doesn't. Either way, the thought of having electric power is reassuring!

Golden Tree & Pearl Tower

This is was very beautiful to see. Hanging off this tree were hundreds of red ribbons. The locals would purchase a ribbon and throw it up into the tree. It woud bring them good luck. This is a culture that puts so much stock into luck. It seems to me that most things here have some kind of bad or good luck attached to them. This beautiful tree was certainly of the good nature. By the way, that's me and the boys in the center of the picture. They are in their new, fancy stroller. Another bribe from Michael. :-)

This is China's Pearl Tower on the left. It is a television tower. People can go up into it, though we haven't yet. It's on our to do list. I'll take some pictures when we're up and post them.

Home Sweet Home...Almost

Several of you have asked with apartment we picked. So, drum roll please..............Option #3! Ok, so maybe which apartment we picked is not a very exciting topic for you but, it is for us. After 3 weeks of hotel life we are MORE than ready to be in our own place. Only 10 days, 8 hours, and 51 minutes to go. Believe me, I am literally counting down the minutes. We move in on June 1st. Yeah!

I just want to say that I love my husband. He may have moved me to China but, he bought me this nice computer I am currently using so that I could keep up with you family and friends. Since we have been here, I have been able to Video Chat with my family back in Alabama and that has been such an awesome blessing! Gabe loves to talk to his Nonnie, Poppie, Mimi, and Uncle Chris on the "new con-pewter" as he calls it. And this morning I was able to Video Chat with my friend Judy back in Kalamazoo. It was so great to talk to and see her. So, if anyone else out there has a Mac with video, let me know so we can video chat. I can also talk to anyone who has an AIM account and a microphone. Just let me know.

I love you Michael, you buy the best bribes!

Things are going well here. Well, almost anyway. I got ripped off by a taxi driver today. He purposly drove the long way to the store so it would be a higher fare. Boy was I mad. And being that I only speak 5 Chinese words, I couldn't even argue with him about it! The usual fare from our hotel to the place we went is 15 RMB. Our fare today was 22 RMB!!!! I wrote down his taxi ID number and the taxi complaint hotline number, thinking I would call and complain. The only problem was I DON'T SPEAK CHINESE AND THEY DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm still more than a little mad about it? I guess I should get over it. And the truth is, the amount of money I'm complaining about is less than 1 U.S. dollar. It's just the principal of the matter! Anyway......



Here is my new favorite picture of the boys. Hope y'all enjoy it as much as we do! We love all you friends and family lots and lots! When are y'all coming to visit? :-)

Steering Wheel

Here are a couple pictures of us riding the "steering wheel" (as Gabe says) at one of the Zoo's here in Shanghai. It was a pretty old, poorly maintained looking farris wheel. I was more than a little scared to ride it. Who knows about China's saftey codes on those kinds of things! But it must have been ok because we survived to tell the tale.

Shopping

This is my Mom shopping for my sister Emily a shirt. Lots of shopping like this everywhere. It is great fun bargening with the people. They act so upset about the price when you offer less but, as soon as they see the cash it suddenly becomes all good! Can't wait to shop to furnish our our apartment with lots of fun things!


This was a shopping stall in a part of the old city. My Mom is in the center back part of the picture holding Maddox. It was a very colorful stall as you can see.

PICTURES!!!

MADDOX AND THE GIANT CRAB. WE WENT TO THE AQUARIUM HERE IN SHANGHAI. DESPITE MADDOX'S FACE IN THE PICTURE HE REALLY ENJOYED THE DAY THERE!


GABE LOVED THE BOATS HERE ON THE HUANGPU RIVER. HE SAYS HE'S READY TO GO SAILING!


A VIEW OF THE HUANGPU RIVER AT NIGHT.


THIS IS A SMALL PART OF THE "OLD CITY." IT WAS VERY CROWDED THE DAY WE WERE THERE. IT'S BEEN MODERNIZED THOUGH, WE ATE LUNCH A MCDONALD'S JUST AROUND THE CORNER.

Gotta love English!

Finally!!! By chance just a few minutes ago I was able to change the language setting for my blog website to English. I would like to claim some kind of "amazing personal power" made the discovery possible but, truth be told I just stumbled across it by accident. But the point is...now I know what I am actually doing. Well, kinda anyway. ;-)

By the way, look at the previous blog then vote. Read on and you will understand! Have a great week!

HGTV’s HOUSE HUNTERS, SHANGHAI

Welcome to House Hunters, Shanghai! Below you will see our top three choices for housing. After reading the descriptions of each, cast your vote, via a post, for the accommodation that you think we should pick. They all have their good and bad points. Since y’all are our valued family and friends your opinion matters to us! Vote soon. I know pictures would help but I still can’t get the site in English. But I will say they are all very fancy and new! I guess you will have to use your imagination. I gave the best descriptions I could without writing 4 pages on each. ☺

OPTION #1 (Century Residency)
Location: West Downtown Shanghai. 15 minute ride to grocery shopping. “Western” style grocery shopping is a 20 minute ride away.
Michael’s Commute: 2 hours (one way) via personal driver. Crazy driving here in downtown Shanghai. Would be lots of stop and go through downtown.
Apartment Specifics: Approx. 2,152 square feet. Located on the 18th floor of a 30 story building. Awesome view of downtown Shanghai. Fully furnished with stuff they pick. 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, combined living/dining room, kitchen, maid room/laundry room. Washer/dryer and typical kitchen appliances. Two large HD/plasma/flat screen TV’s.
Apartment Description: You enter this one into a small entry way. To your right is the entrance to the kitchen and laundry room. To your left (from the entry way) is the dining/living room. Off the living/dining room is the hallway with all of the bedrooms and bathrooms. The master bath is attached to the master bedroom. The other two rooms share a bath off the hallway. The living room is not visible from the kitchen since the kitchen is off by it’s self. This apartment has one balcony off the living room.
Apartment Complex Amenities: Twice a week housekeeping. Indoor swimming pool located in basement, gym, tennis court, indoor and outdoor children’s play equipment. The indoor children’s playroom makes McDonald’s best playroom look like nothing. It is literally the size of 4 McD’s play sets. It’s huge! The clubhouse where all of this is located is across a busy street.

OPTION #2 (Shimao Riveria Garden)
Location: East edge of Downtown Shanghai. On the east side of the Huangpu River. 10 minute ride to grocery shopping. “Western” style grocery shopping is a 35 minute ride away.
Michael’s Commute: 10 minute ride to subway station, 10-15 minute subway ride, then a 2 hour drive via personal driver. Approx. a (one way) 2 hours and 20-25 minute commute total.
Apartment Specifics: Approx. 3,300 square feet. Located on the 41st floor of a 50 story building. Amazing view of the river, Pearl Tower and the Jinmao Tower (all major sites of Shanghai). Fully furnished with stuff they pick. 4 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, combined living/dining room, kitchen, maid/laundry room. Washer/dryer and typical kitchen appliances. Two large HD/plasma/flat screen TV’s, plus smaller one in master bath. Has private elevator.
Apartment Description: This one has a mother-in-law floor plan. You enter this one into a small entry way. To your left are the living/dining room and the master suite. To your right is the entry to the kitchen and laundry room, also the hallway with the other bedrooms and baths. One of the guest bedrooms has a bathroom attached. The other two share a bathroom off the hall. The living is only partially visible from the kitchen since the kitchen is in the opposite direction. The apartment has no balcony.
Apartment Complex Amenities: Daily or weekly housekeeping. Indoor and outdoor swimming pool, gym, sauna, indoor and outdoor children’s play equipment, restaurant, mini golf, mini beach, squash. The outdoor pool is unbelievable! It’s actually a large wave pool with a 20 x 50 yard sand beach running along side. The clubhouse where all of this is, is at the base of the building where this apartment is located.

OPTION #3 (Green Court)
Location: Far East Shanghai. Actually in an area called Pu Dong. This area is a huge Ex-Pat area. It’s much less busy and there are actual grassy areas. Our friends that live in Shanghai live in this area. There is a huge community center close by that offers play groups, activities, cooking lessons, etc. Grocery shopping is literally across the street. Also a specialty store that sells “western” style groceries is across the street.
Michael’s Commute: In the AM it would be a 30 minute ride to a train station via personal driver. Then a 45-50 minute train ride. Then a 30 minute ride to work via personal driver. Approx a 1 hour and 50 minutes commute. In the PM traffic would be worse for the ride back to the apartment from the train station. So he would possibly ride the subway. The PM commute would be approx 2- to 2 ½ hours depending on traffic.
Apartment Specifics: Approx 2,841 square feet. Located on the 4th floor of a 6 story building. No amazing views here because Pu Dong (where this one is) is comparable to a suburb. Fully furnished with things we choose. 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, combined living/dining room, kitchen with bar counter, separate laundry room. Washer/dryer and typical kitchen appliances. Two large HD/plasma/flat screen TV’s.
Apartment Description: You enter this one into a foyer area. Off to the left is the living/dining room and the ½ bath. Straight ahead off the foyer is the kitchen. Off the foyers right side is a long hallway. At the end of the hallway is the master suite and all along the hall are the other 3 bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry room. This apartment has three balconies. One off of the master suite and two of the three other rooms have one each.
Apartment Complex Amenities: Weekly housekeeping. Indoor swimming pool, gym, indoor and outdoor children’s play equipment, aerobics room. The clubhouse where all of this is located at is across the street and around the corner. So an optional membership to an outside health club is offered. A shuttle bus would take us there.

That’s it. If you have any questions post it and I’ll answer it. So family and friends…vote away!

I don't read Chinese

So if you are wondering why there are no pictures up and not very many new entries, here is why. I don't read Chinese. And when I open up the website for blogger it comes up in Chinese. So, it was a miracle I even figured out how to post anything. I have looked at Apple's website (since my computer is a Mac Book) but I can't seem to find the answer to my question there. Anyone have any pointers? I'm also having trouble finding a phone number for Apple support or I would just ask them. I would really like to be able to show y'all some of the AMAZING stuff we have seen and experienced. I just can't figure it out. HELP!

We have been spending our days wondering around some of the better-known areas. This week is a major Chinese holiday (their Labor Day) so everything has been even more crowded than usual. And with 20 million or so people living in such a small area you might be able to picture just how crazy it is around here right now. Gabe and Maddox always attract a TON of attention. I know you might think the Mom in me is bragging but I'm truly not! Every time we stop pushing the stroller around within 20 seconds there are no less than 15 locals around jabbering away at us. Yesterday my Mom counted almost 50 people crowding around. Pointing, laughing, touching (Gabe HATES that), and wanting to take our picture. We try to be polite as they are just curious. But these people have no sense of personal space. Those of you who know Gabe well know how he is about being touched sometimes. He seems to be dealing with it as well as he can though. Maddox just smiles at everyone. I think he kind of likes all of the attention. Yesterday while we were eating lunch at McDonalds (yes McD's. It's about the only thing Gabe will eat so far. Except the $8 box of Pop Tarts we found) two little boys came up to us and were wanting to talk to Gabe. It was so funny watching them with Gabe. No one knew what the other was saying but they were all smiling and laughing. Each of the boys had a whistle made out of a seashell around their necks that they took off and wanted to give to Gabe and Maddox. So we gave them two "matchbox" trucks that we had. The little Chinese boys could not have been more excited!!! And so were Gabe and Maddox. They have been blowing, as Gabe says "the Chinese shell whistle the Chinese boy gave me" nonstop since then.

Michael left for 4 1/2 days in Italy this morning. So it's just mom, the boys, and me. I think we will all do fine though. It's really not that hard to get around right now. When we want to go somewhere we just get a hotel employee, who speaks some English, to tell the taxi driver where we want to go. When we are ready to come back to the hotel we show a taxi driver the hotel business card. That works ok until you get a taxi driver who can't read. Then things get a little complicated. But thank goodness that's only happened once so far!

Tomorrow we will be going to meet up with Amy (and her husband & son) whose parents we went to church with in Montgomery. It will be great to see some "normal" people. They have already been so helpful with the move via e-mail. So it will be great to finally meet them in person. They will also be able to show us around the Ex-Pat area near with they live. Ex-Pat (I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling) refers to someone who lives in country that's not their home country. There are two major areas in Shanghai where Ex-Pats live. We will be living in one of them. In those areas are community centers, other Ex-Pats, and English speaking people. The community centers organize activities like basketball leagues, cooking lessons, play groups, etc. It will be great to have those connections to help us feel more at home and make friends.

Well, enough rambling on for now. Hopefully I can figure this blog site out soon and give y'all a visual on the things here. If you have any suggestions on how to get English on the blogging site let me know! Love y'all!

New Time Zone....What New Time Zone?

Michael and I awake to the sound of two children saying "Mommy..Daddy...time to get up. All done sleeping." Oh, how sweet. The only problem is it's 2:30 a.m. I'm thinking the boys have not adjusted to time zone yet. So, here we are, two hours later. All of us playing at 4:30 in the morning. I feel sorry for the people sleeping in the rooms next to us. Hopefully they are deep sleepers.

Things went ok yesterday. We experienced a couple of Shanghai taxi rides. Let's just say my Mom's knuckles were very white the entire ride. And her hands a little stiff when we arrived. The boys just thought it was a kind of amusement park ride. They loved it!

We went to a "CarreFour" store. That's their kind of grocery store. My Mom and I wanted a curling iron. It was quite an ordeal. Trying to ask the store employees where those were was a riot. We each had no idea what the other was saying. We were making motions that look like using one and the girls working there had no idea. We did notice that most of the women here have straight hair. We did fine a curling eventually. We just happened to stumble across them. They were with the vaccum cleaners. Of course, with the vaccum cleaners! I should have known that.

Well, I hope to get some pictures up soon. Keep checking. Miss y'all!

24 Travel Hours

24 travel hours later and we made it! We got into the hotel last night around 10:30 pm. I could fill up pages and pages about the flights and the travel but I won't. Like I said while in Tokyo, the boys did as well as they possibly could have. They were champs!

First Impressions:
*It was dark when we got here so not many.
*They drive like maniacs. Mom, Maddox, and myself almost died. I'm not kidding!
*The Regent Hotel where were are currently staying is really swank. But, it's a hotel. And the idea of finding an apartment soon sounds better and better.

Well, I need to get my stuff together. Two kids to take care of and all that. I'll post again when I have actually seen some stuff and I have "good" things to report. Love y'all!!

We've made it...to Tokyo anyway.

Ok. So we are sitting in the airport in Tokyo. It's 5:17 p.m. here (Tuesday, May 1st), which means it's 4:17 a.m. in Kalamazoo, and 3:17 a.m. in Montgomery. I envy those of you lying in your comfortable beds at home....sleeping so peacefully. My body is acting like it's asleep. But alas, a time to sleep will come. I hope so anyway!

We will begin boarding our plane for Shanghai here soon. So I don't have much more time. But I would like to say...praise God! He truly is good. Though the flight from Detroit to here was a LONG 13 hours, the boys could not have handeled it better! While I know God was taking care of their spitits and their bodies, I would just like to say that having Nonnie along to help out was also a huge blessing!

So the bottom line is this. Only 5 more travel hours to go.

P.S.- Much love and thanks to Mandy, Drew, Noah, Jason, Sarah (& baby), and Tyler for sending us off. We already miss y'all!