Attached Pics.
.jpg)
Archives
When we arrived in Shanghai, China it was a big move for myself and my family. It helped alot to be able to write down our experiences and e-mail them to our friends and family. They all gave us a lot of much needed support during that time. After a few months of "adjustment", it became commonplace for me to write updates. Here is an arichive of e-mails sent before creating this website and updates after the website was created.
Family Photo Album:
E-mail to our Friends and Family 11/24/08
Hello All,
I spoke with Scott’s 102- (almost 103) year-old grandfather today who ever so gently reminded me I have not sent out an update in awhile. So, I guess when a 102-year-old tells me to write an e-mail then I need to hop to it!!
First of all let me apologize for not writing in a while. I’m finding it more and more difficult to find interesting things to write about. It’s like both lives (in Huntersville, NC and Shanghai, China) have somehow blended and become one. Our daily activities seem trivial compared to when we moved here almost 2 years ago. So go get a cup of green tea and find a comfortable seat ‘cause this is a long one.
Our summer at home was as wonderful as always. We love seeing family and are consistently amazed at the generosity of our friends back in N.C. They always make us feel as though we never left and we appreciate that more than they will ever know. Now back to Shanghai where some things never change…
Carrefour (that big grocery store that I like to compare to Wal-Mart) still sends me off the deep end. I try very hard to only go when I really need to and never on a weekend. My friend likes to go there and get her frustrations out by pushing all the local’s carts around when they get in her way. I on the other hand just stand there politely waiting for my fuse to blow. I’ve decided it’s much better for my health to pay the big bucks and go to City Shop where all the other Expats hang out. Although last visit, my peaceful shopping experience at City Shop was somewhat interrupted when Metallica blasted through the loud speakers in the grocery store. God knows they try to make us American’s feel like home!
We all loved having Grandma and Grandpa Paxton from Ohio here for a week. We realized just walking outside our apartment is an adventure and that we really don’t have to plan much in order to get the true taste of Shanghai. We really enjoyed sharing our lives with them and thank them for making the long trip out here.
We’ve found one bar that plays OSU games (not in real time because that would be middle of the night here) but with 7 million expats in Shanghai, the tiny bar is so crowded it’s impossible to get a seat. And, although 20 years ago I would have loved that scene, now having my own seat is much more important, especially in China!
I did get to attend a Chinese wedding with some friends of mine that was great fun. Instead of presents the bride and groom get money in a red envelope, which you hand off promptly at the front door. Once you give them your envelope you get a free pack of cigarettes! What a bargain. So we all walked in with our cigarettes and found a place to sit at the Expat table. This is when the party started. Luckily we brought our own wine because the local wine was terrible and the only other choice was Budweiser. The food started coming right away and didn’t stop coming until it was time to go home. We ate and drank all the way through the ceremony and the festivities. The bride changed into 5 different dresses throughout the night, all beautiful. Chinese custom dictates that the bride and groom visit all the tables to toast their guests. But, since a drunk bride is never a pretty sight, her mother trailed along (with her own huge bottle of Budweiser) to drink for the bride. Wasn’t that nice of her? So the bride’s mother was pretty toasted when they arrived at our table. It was hilarious. After the cake we all went outside where, of course, they had a huge firework display for our entertainment. The next day we all felt a little sick, maybe it was the duck soup or the millions of different kinds of fish we tried, or perhaps the unknown beef consumed or the Chinese wine we had to drink after ours was gone. I don’t know, but it was an experience.
We took a short trip to Hong Kong, on one of the most crowded, hot and rainy weekends of the year. Hong Kong is a beautiful mountainous city with escalators everywhere. We went during October holiday and regretted our timing immediately. There is nothing like going to an amusement park (Ocean Park) and waiting 2 hours in line for a 2 minute ride with Chinese locals preferring to be packed like sardines while using our backs to read their maps. Combine that with the lovely aromas from the fried squid take-out restaurant and we just had to laugh. As always poor Sophie was always a topic of confusion and interest. She’s a trooper with that now, mastering the art of ignorance. One of the highlights was taking the Midlevels Escalator, a one kilometer long escalator that goes up a mountain past great markets, little restaurants and bars. You can hop on or off the escalator if you see something worth exploring. It was interesting. All in all, Hong Kong was a beautiful city that we’d like to go back and re-visit but only during a non-holiday weekend.
We also just returned from a trip to Xi’an this past weekend, which is home to the famous terracotta warriors found in 1974 by a farmer digging a well. This was an amazing, eye opening experience into China’s history and culture. I wanted to wait one more year to experience this so Sophie would find it interesting but the timing was such that last week worked out much better for us. So after 3 days of touring temples, ancient villages and warriors, both kids came back with a little more Chinese history then the day before. Sean really enjoyed it and learned quite a lot, but he’s always found the warriors fascinating. Sophie did alright picking a 6000+ year old village as her favorite part of the trip. Sophie liked the fact that the Banpo village people considered all women Gods because they bear children and were treated with the greatest respect. At that time the children knew their mothers but never their fathers, obviously monogamy was not a word back then! One more thing, we were in two small car accidents while we were there. It was hilarious in that after each accident both drivers got out of the car screaming at each other appearing to start serious battle, while spectators pulled them apart. Meanwhile the passersby would stop and add their 2 cents until a huge crowd gathered. After about 20 minutes one driver took out his wallet and paid another driver 150 RMB ($22.00) to cover the cost to fix the van and then the drivers got back in their respective cars and drove off. Within minutes our driver was back to his old self laughing and joking around with our guide. So, no changing of insurance cards, no police and both drivers left satisfied that they had successfully told the other one off. All for the bargain price of $22.00! I think there is something to be said for that.
Which brings us to the present…
Thanksgiving is this Thursday and again we are going over to our friend’s house for dinner. My friend Lena is an amazing hostess and even better cook, so we’re really looking forward to it. There will be 20 people enjoying turkey, stuffing and all the other traditional trimmings. The right-sized turkey is somewhat hard to find here. As I mentioned last year, the Chinese do not eat Turkey so all the turkey is imported which doesn’t really make sense since they eat everything else. Anyway we can only buy 2 sizes, 10 lb. and 22 lb. The 22 lb. does not fit in most ovens here so we’re making 2 turkeys and I’m making one of them. This should be interesting!!! Lena has a lot of faith in me!
Sean and Sophie are getting ready for their Christmas parties and performances at school. This year Sean is playing a mean game of soccer. He’s really stepped up to the plate and is now dealing really well with the more aggressive style play here. He’s loving it and wants to play football next. NOT HAPPENING IN CHINA!!! I don’t trust the hospitals! Sophie is sticking with her gymnastics on Saturdays and refuses to do anything “team” related. She’s open to hip-hop classes next but we’ll see. Sophie is growing up way toooo fast!
They are both feeling the strains of the economy back in the U.S. by the sudden increase in their friends leaving to go back home. Companies are pulling families out of China pretty fast now to save money. Sean and Sophie are seeing friends leaving every day. I think it would be very hard to leave now. It took a lot of adjustments to get here and to like it here, and then to have to leave suddenly would be very hard. Most families are very upset about having to come back before their contract is over.
Our plans for Christmas include a trip to Cambodia to learn more about the culture, Hinduism and Buddhism, and to see Angkor Wat a World Heritage Site and the symbol of Cambodia.
Since Thanksgiving is on Thursday I feel the need to end on a nostalgic note: The time of the year is upon us in Shanghai that it is going to get very cold. Many people that live very close to us don’t have heat in their homes. I volunteer for an organization that brings sick orphans to Shanghai for surgery and have seen the look of total defeat on their faces. The world can be a very cold sad place to be right now. So, even though our stock portfolios and 401k’s are plummeting, the auto industry is a mess and we’re facing possible tax increases, we should keep in mind how much we do have and be very grateful for it.
The very best holiday wishes to everyone!
Love, Jennifer, Scott, Sean and Sophie