Home Sweet Home...Almost

Well, we arrived in Shanghai two weeks ago, so we are "home sweet home"...almost. We are in a furnished apartment temporarily, until our household goods arrive and clear customs. We hope to move into our new house by Thanksgiving. The picture to the left is a view from our apartment balcony. The rooftops in the distance are of the neighborhood we will be moving into, and then downtown Pudong is beyond that!

Our first week in Shanghai was a little rough. Dave was only here with us for three days and then had to leave on business. The boys had a difficult time the first week of school. They both have wonderful teachers and we really like Concordia, but it is never easy being the "new kid". Both of their teachers paired them up with a buddy, so that helped.

Luckily, our first week ended with trick-or-treating...twice! There was trick-or-treating in Regency Park (where our new house is) on Friday night, and trick-or-treating at Seasons Villas (where our apartment is) on Saturday night. The boys, and Maeve, had a blast with the Steed girls. It was a perfect ending to a not-so-perfect week. For those of you wondering, the kids received many of the same kinds of candy we have in the States. However, they also received peanuts, tiny apples, dried fruit, and seafood biscuits!

Our second week in Shanghai went much more smoothly. The boys are already more comfortable with school and with riding the bus. We also found a church that we really like (named Sacred Heart, believe it or not!). There are many families who live near us, and whose children go to school at Concordia, who attend that church, so it was especially nice for the boys to see familiar faces and to feel more like part of the community.

As for little Miss Maeve, she, too, is settling in. She was very uncomfortable our first few weeks in China, but now she is back to her sassy self! She is even starting to speak a little Mandarin to our driver, Feng Xin! She greets him in the morning with, "Ni hao, Feng Xin!" (Hello, Feng Xin), says, "Xie xie" (thank you) to him after he puts her in her seat, and tells him, "Zai jian!" (good-bye) when we get back home. It's really cute and Feng Xin just loves it! (Maeve is sitting next to a huge patch of shamrocks in the picture to the right!)

Dave loves his new job and all of the challenges that are going along with it. This week he is off to Singapore, and then he'll be off to Poland the end of the month. He also gets to go to Croatia within the next month, so he is really excited to visit his old stomping ground.

As for me, I am trying to keep the ship afloat. All of the mundane chores that I always complained about in the States have suddenly become an adventure. I'm still not sure if my clothes are getting washed properly in the washing machine, nor my dishes in the dishwasher, and the traffic in the aisles of a Chinese grocery store is more dangerous than on the streets! But, that being said, I love living here. I feel so blessed for our family to have this opportunity to experience China first hand--the people, the language, the food, the markets, the craziness of the big city, the quiet of the countryside and the beauty of it all.

I'll try to be better about posting updates more often! I just needed to get through these first couple of weeks, focusing on getting the kids settled. Know that we think of all of you daily!