School, routine, THE medical and the house.

Our current school routine consists of getting up between 6.30 and 6.45 a.m., getting everyone ready and down for breakfast and then Wang Jia comes to the hotel for 8 a.m.

We have a short drive to school and currently I am taking the children to their classrooms, but that will change when they take the bus (when we move in to the house - more follows on that subject). When I collected the children on Monday afternoon I learnt that we weren’t using the right drop off/pick up place for private drivers, we needed to use the Early Years (EY) entrance on the opposite side of the school, so we went to check the route and other entrance straight away after school so we were ready for the following morning.

On Tuesday morning James was up and dressed ready for school by 6.30 a.m. :) I took that to mean he had enjoyed his first day and was eager to go back!

Adrian and I were keen to line our stomachs well too since we were only allowed water from 8a.m. prior to our medicals at 1p.m. We went to school to the correct drop off point, but much debate ensued at the barrier we needed to go through as access was through a compound and Wang Jia had to persist to get us through. The same lively debate occurred on our exit!

The Medical was on the other side of the city in Puxi at 1pm, we left the hotel at 11.30a.m. as we were worried about traffic, but we were there just after 12. Sadly we couldn't make use of the extra time by going to get lunch due to the required fast. We waited in Reception and did the initial check in. They weren't happy with Adrian's paper printed photos (he had left his passport photos in the UK ready to do visas next week) so he had to go to a building opposite to get some. They charged him 25RMB (£2.50) and gave him a piece of paper, but no further instruction! He came back to Reception to be pointed across the foyer to another room. Inside was a mini photo studio and they immediately printed 6 photos for him - bargain!

A short while after 1p.m. we went through to the Waiting Area; from there we were called to Registration; part one involved scanning your passport/checking details on screen, part 2 they removed the supporting documents from the application, presumably for filing. We were then sent to the cashier to be relieved of 640RMB (£64) and given a receipt. Each of these processes were housed in a separate room and we were moved along them by one of the staff giving us a room number to go to next. Anything you see from now on in 'italics', imagine it barked in a Chinese accent ;)

The next stop, 'put on shoes' involved putting on blue plastic shoe covers, I then walked into a locker/changing room. First I was put on the scales and weighed and had my height measured. Then I was given a robe and a key, 'take off shirt and bra' and pointed towards some changing cubicles. The gown was a comedy unisex fit, the instructions showed the person tying the inside tapes of their gown around their waist, on me the tapes were in my armpit! Fortunately it did do up enough to be modest though. I locked my bag in my locker, pocketed my locker key and headed out of the door. We were sent to different rooms according to gender and I was pointed straight away to the room opposite where a very serious lady was checking blood pressure. I would have loved to have taken pictures, but the atmosphere was VERY serious and even chatting to other 'victims' was done in a discreet way and a low voice as I felt certain they would tell us off if we didn't show we were taking it seriously. The BP lady welcomed me with 'sit down' and scribbled on my notes and tapped at her keyboard vigorously and then strapped an electronic BP cuff to my left arm. To my right another person lay on a bed behind a curtain. She left the machine inflating on my arm with the orders: 'look straight ahead' and 'relax'. I could hear her instructions to the other person as she completed her checks and they were sent on their way. She came back to me, scribbled and tapped some more and declared loudly 'Normal!' (Yeah, right, just shows how little she knows). Then, 'get on bed', 'lie down'. She then started the cuff off on the next person and came back to me. 'Open gown', 'deep breath' (cue comedy heavy breathing from her in case I hadn't understood) and she listened to my chest, 'bend knees' and she tapped my abdomen (not sure what that was for). 'Sit up' yanks gown off my shoulders and listens to my chest from the back. 'Normal!' tap, tap scribble and I was on my way dragging my gown back on before I came out from behind the curtain.
Next I was sent in for an ECG, calliper things attached to my ankles and one wrist and then cups on my chest, the printout was attached to my other notes. Then I was sent to X-Ray, but it was busy so I was re-routed to the eye test, I was a bit confused by the fact they were W, M, 3 and E shapes. Afterwards Adrian told me you were supposed to say up, down, left, right as they are just three-pronged shapes. Oh well...! They didn't seem bothered! We had to cover each eye with a metal spatula thing rather than your hand which I didn't understand immediately either. Sent to X-ray again, still busy, re-routed to an ultrasound of the lungs, rather uncomfortable as she jabbed the scanner under the ribs on each side. This ended with her dumping paper towels on my chest and 'finished!' Sent to (chest) X-Ray, finally got in! Classic instruction given to Adrian here: 'hold tightly' 'relax'...ummm?!
Final stop was the phlebotomist. Cue rubber band round upper arm, excessive comedy slapping of forearm and two tubes filled promptly with blood. Plaster on, 'hold 3 minutes' and then back to the locker/changing room. Not easy to apply pressure for 3 mins and get dressed simultaneously so I stood and held it for about 30 secs and then got dressed...'shoes off' (the covers) and we were all finished. Not a totally awful experience but haven't felt so stripped of dignity since Laura's birth!

We went out to meet the driver who leant over to open the front door for Adrian and didn't notice he had knocked car into Drive and nearly drove into the front gates/security guard!!! Eeeek!

On the way back we just mentioned to Wang Jia we were hungry (practising our Mandarin) and when we stopped at some lights he jumped out and fetched some snacks from the boot of the car. Bless him! A fried cake thingy called Sa Qi Ma (very tasty actually) and two cartons of warm UHT milk (bleeeugh!) but both of us politely drank them :)

We had arranged for James and Laura to go back on the bus to Noha's house in case the medical ran late but luckily we were back in good time to meet all the children from the bus... only we had the wrong time and nearly missed them! Apparently they can arrive any time from 3.30pm and both Noha and I had 3.45pm in our heads. Luckily we caught up with the bus as it was leaving the compound!

Laura told us she had had next to no lunch and 'went out to play with an empty tummy' :( So difficult as I cannot easily provide a packed lunch while we are in the hotel and Laura is in the Early Years canteen where they have less meal choice. She is a much less fussy eater than James but has very little choice of meal whereas James who eats less well has much more to pick from - ironic. For now there is not much we can do apart from ask staff to encourage her as much as possible and let us know if she has eaten next to nothing.

The following morning (Wednesday) we had a heated debate at the compound gate when trying to get to the BISS EY entrance, we were told we should be taking a different route, longer and down a very busy road. Wang Jia (WJ hereafter!) said 5 min journey would become 30 min...*sigh*

After this I went to the mall next to the hotel with a goal of picking up two reasonably priced rucksacks for the children as book bags not the norm here but rucksacks are. While we have some with us, they are not large enough...

I fairly quickly identified the promotion rack and after some deliberation grabbed a couple of rucksacks with characters from a program the children have been watching here for 89 RMB each so just under £9 which I was pleased about. I also picked a random pot luck selection of snacks for later that afternoon as we were hosting Yara and Tinos in case Noha and Suad's medical ran late.

At 10a.m., WJ came to take Adrian and I to Ikea to scope out our requirements. Naturally this included lunch (meatballs for me again!) While there I mentioned the backpacks and got the receipt out to give him and spotted to my irritation that while one backpack had scanned at 89RMB, the other was 218RMB (approx. £22). For a children's rucksack!!! Flippin' heck! Adrian then said I should go back and get it changed...today's challenge! As we arrived back at the hotel my mobile rang and it was the Head of Junior School, 'Hello, this is Stephen King etc etc nothing to worry about...' Lol, how many times have I made similar calls from Minety Primary?! He was ringing as James had shed a few tears at lunch and he had happened to be there so he was giving me the lowdown, he followed this with a glowing report regarding James' 'exceptional' reading level  and declared him to be 'obviously a bright boy' (I was chuffed to bits!) and then asked if we had any feedback, he would usually ring new parents the following week, but since we were on the phone... I replied that we were impressed so far as the one area I feared we would experience a lower standard compared to Minety was pastoral care, but all indications so far were very positive, the communication and feedback in respect of the transition/settling in of children new to the settling at this point in time had been excellent.

Following this I went back to RT Mart and after a considerable wild goose chase involving much mime and gesticulation on my part I found the right counter for refunds and exchanges. There followed more gesticulation, pointing at the receipt and shortly after the staff member disappeared with both rucksacks and my receipt. Would I ever see any of them again??! About 10 minutes later she reappeared with one rucksack, which she confirmed as the 89RMB one and I was refunded my money and interestingly (unlike the UK) provided with a new receipt with a re-print of my entire transaction minus the 218RMB rucksack. I went back upstairs and bought another identical rucksack for 89RMB. Inevitably I had the slight confusion at the till since I was already carrying one bag so she scanned the new one twice. At this point I brandished the other receipt and pointed at the first bag and said 'eebay' pointing at the new one as Adrian had told me this meant 'one of' and she luckily understood and cancelled one off. I returned smug and triumphant to the hotel to recount the experience to Adrian who sniggered at me and said 'eebay' means a glass/cup of when ordering beer/coffee etc...oh well, I was understood and had fixed the problem and now had a surprise pressie for the children (beware smartypants, pride comes before a fall...!)

Went to pick up the children with WJ and went the correct route without incident. Noha and Suad had made great time and were already back, so normal home routine was reinstated. Came back to the hotel having let the children guess about the surprise new bags and was gutted when James took one look and said they were 'girlie'. To my dismay his eyes filled with tears and he started to cry. Laura agreed with him, said she didn't like them much but it was ok. Aaaaaagh I was going to have to take both bags back again now!!! As soon as they had had a snack and everyone was calm we went off to RT Mart to sort the bags out (hopefully for the last time!) The same lady was still on the desk so I pointed to the bags and the children, pulled a comedy sad face and said 'no like' and used James' little Chinese vocab book to point at the characters for cry 'ku qi' (pronounced 'cwtchy' for any Welsh readers!) James wasn't happy that I had told a stranger he had cried, but I shushed him and muttered 'whatever it takes to get out money back!' The patient lady was great and gave us a full refund so we went back upstairs again and found two matching bags that met with their approval for the same price (I had told them no more than 89RMB)...phew...happy to find that refunds/exchanges seem to be relatively straight forward and certainly a damn sight easier than many places in Europe (where I actually speak the language!)

Thursday

Dropped James and Laura off, Adrian went to work andI went to the bank (yin hang) to check exchange rates. Cue more gesticulating and 'change money' 'yingyu' (English) and I then spent the day in the Exec Lounge starting this blog entry, getting fed up with Vodafone on live chat again (a long and torturous saga about trying to move from pay monthly to pay as you go) and sending thank you emails to all the many people who had brought gifts prior to our departure.

I picked up the children and dropped them off with Noha (Adrian met me at their house shortly after) as we had another inspection on the house to see what progress has been made…precious little L Broken lightbulbs replaced and a defunct dishwasher clogging up the utility removed and a new mattress in the master bedroom (not the one we had the problem with!) but not much else. Adrian told them he *wasn’t happy* with his serious face on, so we will see what happens next…

Collected James and Laura and came back to the hotel for dinner. We are all starting to pine for home cooked food now and Laura’s appetite is noticeably down.

Friday 

Slightly concerned that WJ wasn't outside the hotel as usual at 8am so rang him. He was stuck in traffic and would be there in 2 minutes, thankfully this was the case, but the traffic was very heavy as we set off and several roads gridlocked. We got within a few hundred yards of the school and it was obvious we weren't going anywhere fast so James, Laura and I jumped out and walked 5-10 mins to the Main Entrance. When we arrived, only 2 school buses had made it in due to the traffic. I mentioned the situation to James' teacher assuming there had been some incident. She said, 'Oh yes, this is normal traffic, we don't have a formal lesson plan for the first lesson of the day as we never know what time the children will arrive. Today is probably an Orientation Day for the local Chinese schools, they go back on Monday and it will be much worse then...' Oh good! We have obviously been lulled into a very false sense of security over the previous week!!! Met up with WJ at the EY entrance and decided to leave any other travel until later and went back to the hotel. Noha and I wanted to go to Metro (like Costco) so when the traffic had cleared I texted WJ and we headed to the bank for me to change some money. The system is similar to Argos, you tell them what you have come for (gesticulate, wave money and passport!) you are given an alphanumeric code on a slip of paper according to the business you have to transact and then in due course a screen calls your code to a specific kiosk number. We then went to pick Noha up and go to Metro. We arrived just before 12, I suggested WJ go and have his lunch and he said he'd come back at 2 or I could text if I needed him earlier. I was quite surprised he thought we'd be in there that long, but obviously he has experience in these matters! Queued up for our Member cards, a painless process, they took a phone number and looked at ID and we each had a card. After some considerable toing and froing we headed for the checkouts and I thought I'd better text WJ. He was already in the car park and I realised it was already 2.25pm. We were a good 30 mins from the school (not allowing for traffic), Laura was due out around 3.10pm and I still had to get through the checkout. Sod's Law dictated I had picked the slowest queue EVER and I started to fidget as not only did I need to be back, but we also had to make sure Noha was back to meet her children from the bus...happily we got all of our shopping and made perfect timing for each of the pick ups for the children, it made me nervous though and I will endeavour not to repeat the experience. 
Adrian came back from work with happy news that he is now in possession of his Expert Invitation which allows him to apply for a 'Z' Visa - the residential one, and then we can all do ours....hooray! He has to go back to the UK to do the Z Visa as it is done by the Chinese Embassy in the UK, we can do ours locally here.

Saturday (today)

Laura came in at 4am, I was aware of being woken at 5, so we were a bit bleary this morning even though we had been back to sleep. I handwashed the children’s uniform in the shower and the bathroom now looks like a laundry! I know hotels have a laundry service, but our bodies are under assault from so many different things; different water, food, air quality, mosquitoes to name a few, I didn’t want to add different laundry powder/cleaning solvent into the mix and have us all itchy from that too. Next week we should be moved in and I will have a washing machine again so not long to go…

Bathroom = laundry

We had a leisurely breakfast and then went round to RT Mart to have a look for bedlinen. I had found some great bargains at Metro but unfortunately not the right sizes for the beds in our house :( We know Ikea stock the right size, but as most of you know I am always after a bargain! We had another successful snack haul including pork and beef noodles (5 packs for 80p) and then had lunch close to the hotel. Adrian then went off to meet our Real Estate contact at the house to check on progress again. Laura and I had a nap while James watched TV and then the three of us went up for a swim. As we were up there later and today has been a stunning day with beautiful blue skies we were able to see the night skyline and the various lights coming on at sundown. Adrian came back 4 hours later with a positive report that much had been fixed and that we should be in a position to do a final inspection and paperwork on Monday morning. Very pleased as we need to start living our lives rather than getting by in a hotel.

A couple of random observations/notes for you.

1. Having lived in France and Italy and spent a fair bit of time in Malta, Cyprus and Greece too I am very pleased to report that not many Chinese women wear make up so I feel a lot less shabby here! Adrian believes it to be because it is considered too ostentatious, suits me just fine :)
2. I am finding communication with WJ very entertaining (and sometimes challenging!) and amuse myself by sending him text messages in pinyin, he has always understood me so far touch wood and obviously I am learning all the time. Today's message was 'Ni hao. Wo bu yao shi fu jin tian. Ye xu ming tian. Xie xie.' I checked it with a member of staff at the hotel and she sounded like she understood! The reply I had was 'ok' hahaha :)

Sorry to have rambled on so long AGAIN, so much is new and so much is happening in these early days. It will all be very humdrum soon I am sure and I will be able to do relatively short weekly updates :) I really hope that very soon I will be able to post pictures of our house here....





Panorama from the 18th floor with blue skies - first we've seen since arriving nearly 2 weeks ago.

Pre sundown skyline from 24th floor

 

 

 

Infinity pool hogs!

 

 

 



Orientation Day and starting to get stuff done!

First of all I thought I'd cover some questions that friends have asked in the last couple of days...

Is everything in Chinese?
In the main areas it is in Mandarin/pin ying (sort of phonetic Mandarin in English lettering) and usually English too. We're a little further out from the centre now and less English is spoken, we walked past small restaurants the other night with no menu other than a blackboard full of Chinese characters, not even pictures to guess from! Communicating with our driver is interesting as his English is minimal, but it will most likely ensure my Mandarin comes along quickly as I can't bear feeling helpless linguistically!

What is Adrian's job/what is he doing in Shanghai?
Adrian is 'in telecomms' and was working for Alcatel Lucent in Swindon. The site there is closing over the next year and all employees are being made redundant. Here he is working for ASB/Alcatel Shanghai Bell on an International Assignment. He has been working remotely all through the transfer but actually started going into the office today when the children started school.

What is the food like?
Not massively different from the food we would have from a Chinese restaurant in the UK although here the meat is often more 'entire', so skin and other parts are often cooked in to the dish. I understand Shanghai to be very westernized and should you wish to live off pizza, curry and ice cream it is entirely possible! There is a Tesco (similar) and an Ikea (indetikit) within 1km of where we are now. There is also a Marks and Spencer on the other side of the river in Puxi but we haven't visited it yet. We have largely eaten Asian food while out and have really enjoyed everything we've had :)

Are you driving/do you have a car?
No way would either of us drive over here! Neither of us are nervous drivers, but it is all the unwritten rules and priorities that would floor us. Not to mention, how on earth would you sort out an accident when we don't speak enough Mandarin? We have a driver...more on him later!

Are the school times the same as the UK?

Yes 8.45am - 3.15pm. This seems longer due to needing to catch a bus at 8am and not getting in until 3.45pm on a normal day. If there are after school clubs (a huge selection!) then it is 4.30pm arrival. These times apply specifically to our compound as we live very close to the school. Those that live further away would not get home until 4.30pm on a normal day and 5.15pm after clubs.

Now for the recap:
 

Thursday 21st (additional!)
We met the hotel manager and his family as they have two girls at BISS too, one of whom is in James' class so he now already knows two people in his class :)

Friday 22nd 
We met our driver first thing - Wang Jia is his name and he doesn't speak a huge amount of English which bodes well for my Mandarin! We then headed into BISS for the Orientation Day which really got the children excited about the facilities. We met their teachers and had another good look round. I was delighted by the stock levels in the 2nd hand uniform shop and had a really good haul. We were expecting to spend in the region of £250 for the first minimum set of uniform from brand new and actually picked up considerably more for around £80, very pleased with that! Had a celebratory dip in the pool. Here is a fuzzy shot at night time from underneath the cantilever pool. You might just be able to make out that there is someone swimming over the glass...

 

Saturday 23rd 
We asked Wang Jia to drive us to where we will be living in the name of familiarisation and then he drove us to Tesco (yes, really!) Unfortunately Laura was sick in the back of the car as we pulled up at Tesco. Thankfully years of prepared travelling with Mum meant I deftly caught everything without incident in a handy plastic (airport security!) bag. Poor Wang Jia! Don't think he took it personally but surely was grateful that his lovely Audi A8 escaped unscathed. We decided that Adrian and James should continue on their own and Laura and I went back to the hotel. She went straight to sleep and thankfully there was no repetition. Adrian and James came back bearing a present of a toy giraffe and a lollipop shaped balloon for Laura which cheered her up no end. They also brought back a great little book with some useful words in Mandarin and pin ying:



 

I have heard piào liang a lot already in reference to Laura accompanied by gesturing to her skin and hair colour!

I was entertained that the following two words/phrases also appeared in a beginner's book, gives a small insight to the importance of these attributes in this culture:

 
We moved rooms that afternoon to a pair of connecting rooms for my peace of mind and ease of administration.

Settling in to the new rooms:

    

Laura's bed                                                   James's bed

Today's first: Laura also learnt to tie her shoe laces in the afternoon! Here she is practising with Adrian's shoes to make it easier...

 

 

In bed that night

 

Sunday 24th

We took the hotel shuttle bus to the Metro station and then caught a train to People's Square, intending to visit the Shanghai Museum.
Pics from People's Square: soon-to-be resident 'crazy' in the second panorama ;)

It was unbearably hot and humid and there was a very long queue, so we decided to head off to the Art Museum instead. (Sorry, rubbish shot)

Again there was a significant queue; shorter, but nevertheless, still out in the sweltering midday heat so we took refuge in the Mall opposite. We then spent several enjoyable hours in the cool, spacious high tech Mall with LED lit water fountains synchronised to music and other entertainment. Laura entertained the locals with some 'gorilla dancing' and Chariots of Fire 'slow running' and was quite soon being videoed (again!)

James and Laura were very taken by these ice cream creations for 30 RMB (£3 approx.)...

but we agreed to save those for a future visit in favour of a trip to this chap:

 

We also boggled at the real life spidermen that Adrian spotted carrying out maintenance on the canopy above:

We then came back on the Metro and were highly entertained by the young men next to Laura eyeing up the 'Wash the Pets' App Adrian had downloaded for her. They were quite mesmerised and quickly ceased to be discreet, opting for full on gawping. Adrian suggested they were maybe just trying to spot the phone model as he has the new Samsung S5, but I wasn't convinced! Laura inflicted an urgent 'wee stop' on me in the Metro - less than ideal as many public toilets here are holes in the ground with no paper and seriously dubious cleanliness (think French service station) but she coped well and hopefully won't wish to repeat the experience any time soon! We tried an orange taxi from the Metro to the hotel ('Red is Dead' and blue also best avoided apparently) and arrived without incident.
Once at the hotel, we headed straight for the pool to cool off. All of a sudden Laura became very tearful about missing her best friend Lola so she and I left the pool so she could have a good cry in private and to see if we could Skype Lola. We went up to the Executive lounge to console Laura with a can of Coke and happily managed to speak to Lola on Skype which cheered Laura up no end (I say speak, it was mostly excited shrieking on Laura's part and waving of various toys at the webcam!)
That evening I ironed Adrian's shirts and the children's uniform and polished shoes all ready for the Big Day on Monday. I also managed for the first time in weeks to have them in bed and asleep by 8pm!!!

Both children are being real troopers about all the change. James historically has been a picky eater but is eating really well and trying things all the time, I suspect hunger is lowering his resistance!!

Today's first, I actually used an umbrella against the sun. It made very little difference, purely psychological!

 

Monday 25th
Up bright and early ready for the first day at school. Breakfast at 7.30

a few posing shots around the hotel reception

and then Wang Jia picked us at 8 to head to school by 8.30.
We were very much on time, even early, which is unheard of when I am involved!

 

I dropped Laura in her class first and once she was happy (immediately!), was dragged away by James, keen to get to his class too. Neither child had any concerns and disappeared eagerly...phew! Noha had appeared at this point so we met up and went off to the Community Group (like PTA) welcome coffee for new parents.
We were encouraged (actually not pressganged!) to sign up for a 200RMB (£20 approx.) welcome meal on 11th September and both of us did :)

They have lots of great events to volunteer for but I held myself back from putting my name down for anything specific. I am looking forward to this:

and really hope Laura wants to go, but that she insists as going as Ironman or Spiderman, I would LOVE that! Wouldn't it be priceless??!?!

We mingled for a good hour then I sent my first text in pin ying to Wang Jia to come to the school in 10 mins. He was there, so it must have been understandable! Actually I don't think he left, but I like to think on this occasion my communication worked.
We went back to Noha's to pick up a stool that they had bought on the weekend that was already broken in the packet and after a couple of amusing misunderstandings, set off for Ikea. Trying to effect an exchange was quite an ordeal and involved much miming on my part and appalling attempts at reading phrases from the little book I have from my first trip. After many failures we got there eventually but it was VERY hard work. I really need to get stuck into Mandarin lessons soon (provided by the company, but not arranged yet) as it is driving me up the wall being so incapable of communicating. I can't even make myself understood when trying to read pin ying so I have a really long way to go. The complication of the four different intonations will be a massive challenge, but I will give it my best shot!
We had lunch at Ikea, meatballs of course, and then after another small misunderstanding, caught up with Wang Jia and headed back to Noha's about 2pm. While there I picked up an email from Laura's teacher, sent just after lunch telling me Laura had had a great morning and had made a new friend Jessica, which was a nice touch and very reassuring.
An hour later it was time to head back to collect the children and get the lowdown. They both had a great first day, thank you everyone for your good wishes! The only complaint was the food as they are on school dinners for the first two weeks as we decided it was a bridge too far trying to provide packed lunches from a hotel room. I asked them if they'd made any friends and Laura told me about Jessica and also reported (in a slightly disapproving tone) that Jessica likes Barbie!
Laura's favourite part of the day was painting a T-Rex playing a guitar that she did for Lola :)
James apparently couldn't remember! When pressed later by Adrian he did come up with a considerable amount of detail, although largely it seems they had an extended orientation more suited to their class and an assembly with their section of the school, Infant for Laura, Junior for James led by the head of the respective area and the Principal.
We headed back to the hotel for a snack and to unwind and then tea, bath and bed ready to do it all again tomorrow.

Adrian and I have our medicals tomorrow at 1pm and aren't allowed anything other than water for the preceding 5hrs :( Off to set the alarm for 6 to ensure I have plenty to eat before the cut off!

At long last, an update! And it's a long one...

So, finally I am posting again...

I have tried repeatedly to use Blogger since we arrived at Crowne Plaza, but hadn't managed to open the page. Now we are at Holiday Inn, I have access via Strong vpn which I set up before leaving the UK (on several people's advice!) Pleased to report it is not too slow either!

When I first started this post on my mobile, I was by the pool at Crowne Plaza.
Laura and Adrian were out for a walk enjoying the first sunny day and I started this while 'supervising' James swimming. He had the pool and Jacuzzi to himself :)

So, a re-cap of the last few weeks, my last post was on Sat 26th July...what has happened since then???! How long have you got?!

That weekend involved frantic listing of items for sale/to be given away and thereafter a steady stream of vehicles/villagers on foot collecting the same.

Monday 28th
...was a very busy day, first of all I went down to the other house to let a cleaner in, then it was back to ours to meet the relocation contact (Crown) and make sure the painter was happy (hall, stairs and landing). Slightly disappointed to find out that our 5m3 entitlement for air shipment was gross and we would lose about 20% of that in packing. Also bemused to learn that they would repack everything so there was not much point to packing everything carefully prior to their arrival. They promised they would properly insure and be able to look after my French Horn in transit (they'd better!) They were booked in for Weds 13th August.
Later on GB Liners came to quote, we booked them for Friday 15th August and then I had a few minutes to get ready for my leaving 'do' at the pavilion. It was a low key affair but I was delighted by the number of people who managed to come at pretty short notice. I was surprised by a fab cake from Emma and drank so much prosecco that the journey home involved falling in a hedge!

The cake!

 
Tues 29th

Suffice it to say I wasn't much use to anyone on the 29th! Cyril continued his work on the bathrooms and the painter carried on painting. My parents arrived that afternoon and we chatted through some of the details of the move, they left for dinner and then came back for more catching up with me alone in the evening.
By this point I had some fairly serious concerns about the painter's work and was frantically trying to find another much better painter with whom I felt I could trust the 15 brand new doors.



My Mum reading to Laura at bedtime

Weds 30th
We had agreed to go to Braydon Maize Maze this morning with my parents as the weather was set to be good and we all had a lovely time although it was actually a little warm to be running about in the midday sun!

At the Maize Maze!

In the afternoon I managed to make contact with another painter who at very short notice said he would come by that evening.

Thurs 31st
By Thursday I was starting to fall apart emotionally and mentally, the stress of being in the house with 3 or 4 people working on it, making it difficult moving between rooms and having the children alternately bickering and asking when we were going to do something 'fun' meant that by the evening I was very wobbly and anxious. Adrian put his foot down and said I should book James and Laura into the Holiday Club full time at Malmesbury Leisure Centre and then everything else would get easier. Of course (on this occasion!) he was right but I was so bogged down, I couldn't see the wood for the trees. I rang first thing in the morning and booked them in every weekday for the next fortnight. It's not exactly a hardship, they swim everyday, get to go on the huge trampoline, have a bouncy castle and weekly roller/scooter discos and facepainting!

Fri 1st
Friday was a chance to unwind a little at the Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Family Funday and BBQ. This is an annual event, but due to the ALU Swindon site being closed over the coming months, this was to be the last. So while fun, it was tinged with a slight sadness as they are such lovely social occasions. It was another opportunity to catch up with the other family going on the LTIA and talk things through. It is so helpful to have an ally who is in exactly the same situation as we worry about the same things and is great for the children to know others in exactly the same position.
In other news, Laura pulled her first top front tooth out!

Sat 2nd
Adrian had his final TA weekend, conveniently it was in Cardiff where someone else was having a leaving party so consequently he was able to catch up with a lot of friends before our departure. Adrian's parents (Bryan and Joyce) had offered to look after the children for the day and I jumped at the chance as it gave me an opportunity to finish the downstairs gloss woodwork and paint James' room without little fingers being stuck in the paint. By the time they brought the children back I had painted James' room with 2 coats of paint and put the shelves back up, moved the bed back and rehung the curtains and it was brand new and ready for him to go to bed. After I had put the children to bed, I set to work on the master bedroom and finally finished after a 15hr day with only a couple of very short breaks for food.

Sun 3rd
I carried on and finished the emulsion in the master bedroom and felt chuffed at the progress. (Little did I realise, there was still so much to do!!)

Mon 4th
We completed on the rented house, hooray!
Other than that I can only remember the trauma of injections part 2 from this day. Again I had to deal with a screamingly hysterical James and hold him down for the first one. He then complained and asked to just stand there for the next and received it with much less fuss. We met Adrian at Pizza Hut for dinner to help get over the trauma and all had our favourite meals. Happily our favourite waitress (also called Laura!) was working and we were able to wish each other well as we were all moving on elsewhere in the next few weeks. We also popped round in the evening to meet our newest neighbour, Curtis, the 3rd addition to the Murray family. My emotions were running high again at the thought that he would be nearly 1 by the time we come back next July :( We are very close on many levels with the Murrays and have been very involved in each other's children's lives and I feel quite choked at the thought of not being side by side with them for the next couple of years (Laura is in the same class as their oldest, Isla).

Tues 5th
Matt (painting saviour of the hour!) turned up with his brother bright and early to start work on the doors, but unfortunately Cyril with his extra helper Eric (I promise I haven't made any names up, Albert joined them too at one point!!) was still finishing off the doors and the Park brothers decided it would be better to come back the following day.

Weds 6th
Doors take 2#
Happily Matt (solo this time) was able to start today and quite quickly I was reassured that we had the right man for the job, he was focussed and careful and everything you want from someone painting gloss onto 15 brand new doors!

Thurs 7th
Um, Cyril finally finished I think and Matt carried on painting....

At some point across these days I had a lady round to do the EPC rating, Dave the electrician came and sorted the NICEIC, I filled out the NRL1 (overseas landlord form for HMRC), I booked the gas certificate to be done and someone to fix the broken tiles on the roof. I went to the doctor to collect a load of repeat prescriptions to tide us over until we are set up with the doctor in Shanghai, I booked the carpet fitters, the letting agent, met a solicitor to draft wills...

Fri 8th
I booked my car to be sold to We Buy Any Car the following Thursday at 5pm and tried not to panic at the time slipping through my fingers.
Laura lost her second front tooth!

Sat 9th
Much more clearing out and sorting and another steady stream of people taking things from our house. Another neighbour's son benefitted from our furniture clearout (why pay to store things we would ultimately have replaced anyway?!) and was kitted out with a coffee table and TV table, a kitchen table and 4 chairs, 3 Ikea Billy (I always hear Jules Bray saying those words!) bookcases, a BBQ, pans and plates and some cutlery! We had takeaway for tea on plastic plates as nearly all the pans, crockery and cutlery had now been rehomed!

Sun 10th
The morning started badly as I discovered water dripping in through the en-suite bathroom light switch. Adrian quickly identified the source, but sadly not quickly enough to prevent a very large watermark that had already appeared on the dining room ceiling (only redecorated last November). Despite the horror I felt when I saw it, I knew it was now too late for us to be able to fix it and would have to be dealt with once it had dried out and therefore after we had left. Luckily Matt (painter) was on site glossing the last of the doors downstairs and we were able to add it to his job list in the coming days.
Adrian's parents came round to help dismantle and rehome the play castle in the garden and while that was happening, Joyce, Laura and I walked the climbing frame round to the village childminder's in the drizzle.
We had been planning on having lunch together at ours but quickly realised that with Matt trying to gloss the kitchen door it was not going to work! His brother also glossed the woodwork in the master bedroom that day as I was out of time to do any further painting.
We did a last minute booking for The Churchill and had a lovely spontaneous Sunday lunch together.

Mon 11th
The trampoline was dismantled and collected and the new carpets were laid in the hall and on the landing and stairs.

Tues 12th
Our plumber and son came to do some work for us and confirmed we needed a new header tank asap (hairline fractures) as nobody wants 50 gallons of water to come flooding down through the house. I was feeling emotional again and nearly cried into their cups of tea as I made them!
The letting agent came to take photos but it wasn't feasible due to the skip outside the house and the boxes everywhere. We agreed they should come back the Monday after we had left!
My best friend from school Kate arrived with her son Daniel at about 11 and we decided to flee the house and its problems and have a posh lunch out at the Water Park. Adrian popped in on his way through to Cirencester and although Kate's visit was brief, it was a real tonic and I felt much stronger as a result.

Weds 13th
It was all go packing in the morning as we heard that Crown would be with us between 2 and 4pm. They actually didn't repack everything and we were made nervous by the fact that they had incorrect/incomplete paperwork so they knew nothing about the horn and the bikes. It is very hard not to be anxious but it is now out of our hands.

Thurs 14th
Spent most of the day finding things that should have shipped, dressing gowns and bathrobes hanging on the backs of doors etc <grrrr!> and failing to do anything productive due to phonecalls, visitors and errands. Gas certificate chap came first thing. Matt came round to check if the dining room ceiling had dried out and to quote to fix the damage. He asked a little too kindly how I was doing (with the whole packing up, shipping to Shanghai thing) and embarrassingly I all but burst into tears on him. The address is going to get blacklisted amongst local tradespeople for being inhabited by a weepy, hysterical basketcase of a woman! At 4.15pm I hurried home to strip the car and headed into Swindon on the remaining diesel fumes to sell it. Had to haggle for every penny, but the deal was done.

                  



I have had so many lovely, thoughtful presents,

these are a couple received in the final days... 

Adrian picked me up, James and Laura had gone to his parents' for a sleepover to allow us a clear run at packing up for GB Liners (storage). As the evening progressed I realised I wasn't going to be anywhere near ready by 8.30 am so with the assistance of coffee and peanut M&M's I packed through the night.

Fri 15th
Understandably due to lack of sleep I was a liability by midday, I could barely think straight, let alone talk and by early evening got to the point where I just asked Adrian to tell me what to do as I had ceased to function. A real low was crying my eyes out cleaning James's bedroom windows because a man came to put the 'To Let' board up outside our house :( We went to Bryan and Joyce's to pick up the children and have a 'last supper' together and then set off for the Holiday Inn Swindon.



 

Sad, empty house :(

  

The final straw!

Sat 16th
Up early and straight back to the house to finish off. The children didn't have much to entertain them in the empty house which meant that after about an hour I knocked on a neighbour's door and took her up on her offer to look after them for a bit. They were in heaven as she made chocolate biscuits with them! My morning involved firstly repacking all the bags to meet weight limits and stashing bottles in the hold luggage. Then, my next job was cleaning paint marks from all the new door handles with white spirit and then fixing finishing discs on to each one. This took a surprisingly long time and meant I didn't start cleaning until after lunch. I managed the spare bedroom and main bathroom thoroughly (James and Laura's rooms had already been done) but had to leave the rest as we were out of time. The en-suite is still all post-work 'grouty' and still needs a thorough scrub but we have booked the same cleaner that did our rented house.
Here are some pics of the refurbished main bathroom in all its glory:

And the en-suite:

We were waved off by our neighbours at about 6pm with the car loaded to the brim and headed back to the Holiday Inn. We were on the first floor and there was no lift, not much fun with 4 massive suitcases and 4 lots of hand luggage (2ps each, one cabin/laptop case, one 'handbag') so effectively 12 pcs of luggage. Adrian delivered his car to the person who was acquiring it and then it was time to kick back and relax a little. We had saved the last bottle of champagne from our wedding and now was the time to open it! We had done all we could do...

Sun 17th
We had breakfast, the taxi came at 10.15 and then we were on our way.

 

The journey to LHR was good, we managed to get all the luggage into the building and only got charged £40 for excess baggage. 3 bags consistently 1.5kg over, but the last was about 3kg over.

 

 

I also had my hand luggage searched and my Marmite and mincemeat confiscated - hahaha!

As if we didn't have enough to carry, in a moment of weakness I let the children have a new soft toy each, they both chose a cuddly bulldog in a Union Jack carry bag!

We got onto the flight after a never ending bus transfer round the terminal and to my considerable delight they had Cava on the Economy trolley!

Adrian slept quite a bit on the flight but despite our exhaustion, none of the rest of us did much.

Mon18th
We cleared immigration, were reunited with our bags and headed off to the Maglev. James was very impressed at the 431kph so we were glad we had done it even though it was a faff lugging the cases on. We were met at the Metro station where the Maglev terminates by the concierge from Crowne Plaza who had arranged the hotel shuttle to pick us up. Once checked in, at about 10.30am we all decided a snooze was in order.

I was first awake at about 3 and then undertook the mammoth task of waking everyone else. By 5 we were heading upstairs to the executive lounge for snacks and drinks and then went out for dinner later on at a Ramen restaurant.

First trip out (in the rain!)

Tues 18th
Still raining, went into town on the Metro for a wander and to go up the Shanghai World Finance Centre (SWFC) also know as 'the bottle opener' due to its appearance. The very top of the building has a walkway with a glass floor for you to see all the way down, it definitely made my head spin and my legs go wobbly but wasn't quite as bad as I feared! The ear poppingly fast lift was the worst bit, 95 floors in a couple of minutes:(


First trip on the Metro

SWFC, first tall building on the left



Panorama across to The Bund

 

 

The Pearl Tower and the view down from the bottle opener



Laura keeps getting papped!

Weds 19th
Raining even more heavily! Didn't do much in the morning except sort out paperwork for the Orientation Day, swimming and camp out in the Executive lounge. In the afternoon we went to visit the house; it was musty and needs some things fixing, a thorough clean and airing, but otherwise good. The children were very pleased with the clubhouse - small gym, pool table, indoor and outdoor pool :)

Thurs 20th - today!!!
We moved hotels to one nearer school and the new house. Very pleased to have full internet access again via vpn. Had a swim after lunch in the infinity pool on the 25th floor. It is cantilever and hangs out beyond the building several metres and has a glass floor so that (if you are mad enough!) you can swim out and look down 25 floors with nothing below you. I feel sick just typing that but I had to put my game face on for James and prove I wasn't scared by swimming down and sitting on the glass (I didn't open my eyes though!!!)
Happily I discovered this evening that our house listing is now live:
http://www.maisonlet.co.uk/display.php?pid=14716_2121847&bedrooms=4&price=900-1500#ad-image-0

There, you are now up to date (and most likely asleep in your dinner!)