Trip to the Bund

2006-10-29 Trip to the Bund

We made a trip today. We took the Metro (subway) to the other side of the Huangpu river, the Puxi side. The kids love to ride the Metro. It is very easy to get around the city with the Metro, but not if you are disabled or with a stroller. We carried the kids in the stroller down and up a lot of stairs.

We walked along the Bund (see the pictures of the older European style buildings). Chinese people love children, especially light haired children. We stopped to give the kids a snack and were eventually surrounded by 30 people. It was our first experience like this in China. A lot of people wanted to touch the kids and of course they all wanted to know if Alex was a nanhai (boy).

We then took the pedestrian sightseeing tunnel from the Puxi side to the Pudong side. We rode a tram car through a tunnel of amazing lights and music.

Once we got to the other side, we didn't get stared at as much. We got some ice cream from Mc Donalds and walked up and down the river. Elizabeth loved twirling and singing. She couldn't finish her ice cream, but didn't want to give it up and throw it away. I distracted her and Kirk threw it away. He then proceeded to tell her that a bird scooped it up and flew away with it. Great....she'll be traumatized by birds forever now. Of course she pulled the drama queen act about it.

We finished the day with good German food at the Paulaner restaurant on the Bund.

Alex is starting to get a lot more confident with his walking and he walked all around without any help for a while. You can see how big he's getting by comparing him and Elizabeth next to each other.

View of Pudong from the Bund side


If you can not see the above clip click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhP92M8Ed5k

Alex walking along the Hungpu River

If you can not see the above view click the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRWhsmSoIgw

Lizzy Singing and Dancing (she needs help with her singing)

If you can not see the above video click the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzixh7DJI08

Guess Who is Walking

Guess who is walking....

Alex is starting to walk across the room unassisted. If you can not access this video above here is the direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MVmxqGXGYM

Alex Stroller Climbing

Alex's new thing is to climb all over the stroller. If you can not access the video above, the direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjUvm0AFCNk

First Visitor to Shanghai

Nick Gerasimidis wins the prize for being our first friend from home to come visit us in China. Nick works for GM and makes regular visits to Shanghai. Both Kirk and Kath went to school with Nick. It was good to see a face from home!

We also got our first letter in the mail direct to China from the US. It was a birth announcement from our friends Brock and Julie. They had a baby boy. It only took 84 cents to get the letter here.

Concordia Fall Carnival

2006-10-20 Concordia Fall Carnival

Here are pictures from the Fall Carnival at Elizabeth's school. She got to wear her Halloween Costume (She was Jasmine) and play many games with all of her new friends.

Sick kids

2006-10-15 Shanghai Sick kids

Rough week this week. We started out with a Goose Egg on Elizabeth's head on Sunday at the park. Then on Monday, I had to pick her up from school because she threw up. I thought it was just a side effect from the goose egg. Then Monday night she woke up with a 102. 3 F fever. I took her to the doctor the next day and he found that she had Strep Throat. Nice. And of course, guess who was at the doctor the next day......Di Di. Alex had a side effect of the infection too, Scarlet Fever.

It's Friday. We made it through the week. The kids are better, Kirk and I are still healthy. I think I'm still healthy because I made and ate Gigi's chicken soup. Kirk is just not around enough to catch it. Shou Ju caught it and went home sick today.

We went to a pub called the Flying Fox for dinner. They have an outdoor play area and good fish and chips. Then after, we finished with Haggen Daz. Great ice cream. Maybe it's just because it's been a few weeks since we've had ice cream.

We got our air shipment this week. It had been a month since it was packed. We really now understand how much junk we have and how you don't need that much to survive on!

Shanghai Third Week Pictures

2006-10-15 Shanghai Third Week

We had another good week in Shanghai. Elizabeth had her first week of school as well as her first field trip. Alex also started his school.

Elizabeth's school is Concordia. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Chiu. She is very nice and Elizabeth really likes her. Her class and the other preschool classes took a bus and went on a field trip to the local Carrefour supermarket. It is comparable to Meijers. I went on the field trip as well. The kids had fun but lost interest at the end. The purpose was to see what people did at work and people's roles in the communicty. After the trip, we went back to the school and had pizza. (Papa John's....my favorite!)

Alex has started school also. He and I go 2 days a week, Wednesday and Friday from 3 pm to 4:30 pm at the Shanghai Victoria school. It is a parent/tot class and it is held in Chinese. He has two teachers, Laoshi Micki and Laoshi Christine. They are nice and speak English. There are about 9 other students.....all Chinese.....all girls. Needless to say to all of those parents out there with boys.....Alex is the craziest in the class and doesn't pay attention to instructions most of the time. He just wants to barrel around with the toys. We learned the colors red, white and orange on Wed and we learned a Chinese nursery rhyme on Fri - Xiao Bai Tu. Shou Ju has to work with us on that one. Anyway, Alex is getting the hang of things and really likes going to school.

We have hired some helpers around our house. Shou Ju is our Ayi. She cleans for us, watches the kids a little, and cooks for us. She is very nice and a very welcome addtion to our family here in Shanghai. She speaks a little english and wants to learn more so we are helping each other by teaching each other the languages. She calls Elizabeth, Jie Jie (older sister) and she calls Alex, Dee Dee (younger brother). She has already taught us a lot.

We also hired a car and driver. We just don't feel safe always taking taxi's since the kids aren't buckled in. Our driver's name is Leo and he carts us around in a Buick minivan. It is much more convenient to have the driver when I am grocery shopping! He is very nice and the kids love him as well as he is very good with the kids. He doesn't know much English so he let's me practice my Mandarin on him. He and the door lady said that I am really trying.

Today we went to Century Park (we call it the big park) with the kids for a picnic. This park is absolutely unbelievable. They still have the plant sculptures up so that is cool to look at, but even without them, there is so much to see and explore in the park. This time we hung out on the east side of the park. We sat on the bank of the river and had bread, cheese, salami, fruit and of course a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken! It is a perfect place for a picnic. After our picnic we walked around some more and Elizabeth tripped over her feet on a cobblestone path. She now has a HUGE goose egg on her forehead. Thank goodness school pictures were last week.

Our curtains get installed this week on Monday and our airshipment comes on Tuesday so we will have a busy week. Kirk is in Thailand overnight tonight for a presentation at Ford and will be back tomorrow. Check out the pictures. I'll post some video tomorrow.

bye for now -

Kath

Crazy Kids

Alex is starting to respond to questions. See what his answer is.

If the video doesn't play you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c2RyARrrBQ

Shanghai Second Week Pictures

2006-10-09 Shanghai Second Week

Oct 3, 2006 - 11 Photos

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.

Downtown Shanghai (View from Bund)

Here is the view of downtown Shanghai (Pudong) from the Bund. The tall tower is the Pearl tower. All of the lights stay on until about 10pm at night.

If the video doesn't play you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1PjdSQ2Mvo

Elizabeth's first day of school

Elizabeth started school today. She was extremely excited. She has been wanting playmates for a long time and this will keep her very busy. She's attending Concordia International School. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Chiu. It will be a long day for her - 8:00 to 3:20 pm, but they do take naps in the middle of the day. She has her first field trip on Wednesday. They are going to go to the Thumb Plaza Carrefour (grocery store). She will be riding a bus to get there.

Alex was not happy at all when we dropped Elizabeth off. #1. He will miss his favorite playmate. #2. He wants to be at school to play with the kids and the toys too!

View from Apartment (Daytime)

Here is the view from our apartment in the daytime. I am taking the video from the North side of our apartment overlooking Century Park going from east to west. The downtown area is toward the end of the video to the west. You can see the Jin Mao Building and the Pearl Tower from our apartment.

If the video doesn't work you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StX5-2ycHUM

Shanghai First Week

2006-10-04 Shanghai First Week

Oct 4, 2006 - 44 Photos

Here are mostly pictures of our visit to Century Park. They are having a landscaping festival in the park with participation from many countries around the world. We went early in the morning before most of the people started showing up. Due to the holiday it is a major tourist attraction. You will see that Elizabeth and Alex enjoyed the playgound at the park. Elizabeth met a new friend at the bouncy castle.

Hello Shanghai

2006-09-30 Hello Shanghai

Sep 24, 2006 - 13 Photos

Here are pictures from our first couple of days in the apartment. I am trying out different photo sharing sites to see which one is the easiest to use. These pictures are mostly of the apartment and the fireworks show on September 30th.

Summer 2006 Pictures

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=13i7coq9.bc2741kd&x=0&y=3nydd

Click the link above to go to the pictures.

Swimming

The kids love swimming in the pool in the gym that we have a membership at. The name of the gym is Will's Gym and it is just 4 buildings away from ours. They have a kids pool that comes up to Elizabeth's shoulders. Alex can walk in the pool as well (with help of course......still not walking!). The water is a little chilly, not what they are used to. But it definitely tires them out!

Shanghai Fireworks

Here is the view of the fireworks over Century Park from our Apartment. The fireworks are to celebrate National Day (October 1st) in China. It is a week long holiday. Elizabeth and Alex both loved the fireworks. Elizabeth thought they were a little loud and Alex said "Weeee!"each time one would go off. We had a great view from our balcony. There are going to be two more fireworks displays later in the week which are supposed to be better than the one tonight.

If the video doesn't work, you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPj1dvjQ43s

Here is a link to more information on National Day. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200210/02/eng20021002_104307.shtml