Settling in

David has been on one long shopping spree since our arrival in Shanghai. He of course is loving it.  He is now quite the on-line shopper.  He has discovered two expat grocery sites that deliver.  You can get some of the foods you miss from home, but you definitely pay for it.  Before we left the U.S.A. he found a second hand shop on line.  We have made several purchases from them, they deliver too. Rugs, fans, pots & pans, cups, lamps, a desk and chair for Solomon, clothes hangers...etc.  It all gets delivered by a little old Chinese man that speaks rapid Chinese to me with each delivery. We recently scored some great storage bins for our closet.  The best purchase of all has been our counter top oven the replaces our dollhouse size original oven.

David and I went for a breakfast date to "Julies" a Canadian Restaurant.  We had pancakes, bacon & fruit. It was good but a bit pricey.

First Day of School



Abraham, Solomon & Triniti ready for the frist day of school in China!

As you can see they are dressed in their "very British" mandatory school uniform.  This is tyhe summer uniform.  There seem to be fall pants, then winter pants & long sleeved shirts for all 3 of them. Along with summer PE clothes and winter PE clothes.   If you think you might play on a sports team you have to purchase a sports KIT for the year.

This is just outside of our apartment complex.  This is the bus stop.  The kids ride the teacher's bus to school with David.  I was on the bus to my school watching out the window when David took this photo.  It was a totally different experience for me having all three kids go to school with David while I go off to a totally different campus alone. It made me a bit teary eyed.  Good job David for taking the photo.

All the people in the are also Yew Chung teachers and most of them will be teaching at least one of the kids. 



Outside the Apartment

Okay so it is crazy hot and humid here.  So if the pictures are hazy it is the heat. I took a few pictures outside our apartment building in our immeidate area.  It is so green here in China and the city streets are clean.

Our 4 bedroom apartment is on the 7th floor of the closest corner of this building.

There are only two aprtments on each floor. 

If you count up 7 windows, the small window far right is the master bathroom, next to it is Trinit's bedroom window seat, then our dining room that look like it has a balcony but it does not. Next the small two section window is over my kitchen sink and the is pretty much the width of my kitchen, maybe add about a foot.

The entry for our section of this building.  We live in Bldg 7, Room 702.  That's they way they say it here. The ramp was so wonderful with our 10 large wheeled suitcases and 5 pull behind carry-ons. The 5 extra large duffle bags had to be hefted up the stairs.

Our security system. so far the doors stay open during all hours so not sure how this box adds security.

The playground and little decorative canal

View from our doorway... the elevator and the neighbors electric scooter.

The neighbor's door and storage closet.