Moon cakes, mosquitoes and mmmmmm.....Bank Holidays

On the morning of Tuesday 2nd September, once the children had been dropped at school, I dashed over to RT Mart which is very close to the Holiday Inn and bought two large, heavy bags full of (mostly) food to see us through the first 24hrs in our new home and lugged them back to the hotel. It was a full on experience first thing in the morning! I have yet to pluck up the courage to take pictures in a supermarket as it is a real eye opener for a westerner. The meat counters are largely open with customers sorting through cuts of raw meat with their bare hands. There are live things for sale such as turtles and bullfrogs. The assault on the senses is many fold as there are strong smells and all this is accompanied by the guy on the fish counter shouting something over and over, it is quite overwhelming, but if you don't join the fray, you don't get food! It is of course possible to only buy imported packet food at extortionate prices, but where's the fun in that?!  My favourite moment, once I had sharpened my elbows and shoved my way to the front of the queue for the fruit and veg weighing station, was the chap weighing and labelling the items looking incredulously at my tiny little bag containing (amusingly for him) just the one bulb of garlic. Everyone else had about 20! I'm sure it tickled him all day, the way he reacted :) Glad I am entertaining the locals with our stingy garlic consumption!

 

We packed up and set off for our new home. Once there, we did a couple of bits and then headed off to Metro (like Makro in the UK) to do a bigger, bulk food shop, plus Adrian was very keen to pick up several mosquito assassination methods. We decided to try two different UV lamp things, costing £6-£8 and a 'zapbat' (well that's my name for it anyway). It is a nifty bit of kit, it looks like a tennis racket and has pins that extend so you can plug it in and charge it. You chase your prey, hold a button and fry the victim with sparks and a 'crack' noise...very satisfying! We made it back in time to unload the shopping and then collect the children from the school bus which they now take every day. The stop is a 5 min walk from our house.

 

That evening we had our first family meal in our new home. Traditionally Adrian and I celebrate a move with fish and chips and champagne, we made an exception on this occasion since we were really missing home cooked food, so we had pasta bolognese and cava, it was heaven after two weeks of hotel food/eating out!
Afterwards I took great delight in stacking the dishwasher, rather than washing up, 10 days later that novelty still hasn't worn off!!!

 

I mentioned on a previous post that we had spotted two geckos on the inspection, unsurprisingly Laura wasted no time catching one and it was well over a week before one dared show itself again!

 

Laura the gecko catcher

James's room                         Laura's room

 

 

 

'Our' car a 2.4L Audi A6 and the children and WJ gatecrashing a neighbour's game of football with his ayi (maid)

WJ outside our house

We then had two days to settle in and for me to turn 2 weeks of Adrian's washing round before he set off for the UK on Friday morning to sort out his 'Z' visa.

 

We laughed at poor James one evening as we had been zapping mozzies periodically and he had picked up the zapbat. There was a loud crack and Adrian and I both said, 'Wow, you got one James?' Such a bad mother, I couldn't stop giggling when he said tearfully holding up his hand, 'No it was my finger, it really hurts'. Even though he had seen several mosquitoes electrocuted and exploded, the silly whatsit  stuck his finger on the bat and pressed the button and now had a sore pink finger tip. My inability to control my giggles did NOT go down well with the injured party!

 

On the Friday evening, to distract the children from Adrian's absence, I took them to a nearby plaza (shopping centre) and we had a look in a few shops which enabled Laura to single out some potential birthday presents. They were papped at Hipanda (love that shop!) and had a go on the ubiquitous 'wobble boards' as the children call them. In most big supermarkets and malls they seem to have free trials of exercise machines similar to power plates, and massage chairs. It also seems to be accepted/the norm to go into toy shops and play with things, thankfully. Plenty of locals around us were switching toys on and fiddling with things, so I relaxed my repeated 'Don't touch! Look with your eyes, not your fingers!' admonishments. In actual fact, on a later trip to a sports shop I was surprised to find a long, widened area with a special surface deliberately provided for you to try out scooters :) McDonald's for tea made for happy children and I couldn't resist trying their current special version of an apple pie. The standard one here is red bean, but the special is chocolate with a coconut filling. It was actually pretty good!

 

 

As you can see I also did the paperwork to get a Tesco Clubcard here, Tesco is in this same plaza  and we popped in to buy Mooncakes for WJ. He had given some to us on Thursday evening to eat as a family before Adrian left, they are traditionally eaten during the Autumn Festival (similar to American Thanksgiving/our Harvest Festival - families sit down together to eat). They have pie pastry and all manner of fillings, savoury and sweet. I have seen meat, red bean; one tasted very 'chestnutty' and another of pineapple. They are something of an acquired taste, the children tried them, but weren't keen on them.

 

 

On the Saturday we went to the Expat Show over in Puxi, we had a fun few hours tasting free food (and wine!) and acquiring freebies. We saw a tiger dance (I was corrected that it wasn't a dragon!) and we all had our Chinese names painted on fans. Laura was really entertained by her Chinese name being Lao La which means she is pretty much called Lola here. Her best friend in England is called Lola so she's chuffed to bits! They also had a sit on/in the bike and sidecar that they use for tours round town...

 

 

 

It was such a good few hours, it wiped them out! WJ very impressed the show was free to get in and that all the 'stuff' we had come away with was free too :)

 

On Sunday we decided to entertain ourselves in the compound and give WJ Sunday and the next day off (Autumn Festival and a Public Holiday). It should be fairly easy to entertain oneself here, we have so far found 4 pools - 2 indoor, 2 out; a basketball court, a football field, a sports hall, 2 gyms, 3 playgrounds and 2 small soft play areas. I understand there to be a mini golf too, but we haven't found that yet. Failing that you can scoot/bike round the fairly quiet compound roads. So, we spent the afternoon at our nearest outdoor pool with Noha, Yara and Tinos.  How amazing to be in an outdoor pool crawling distance from home. It feels like we're on holiday and yet this is where we live!!! Brilliant way to spend our first BH weekend here (and took the edge off Adrian being back in the UK at the Minety Beer Festival!) 

This is the outdoor pool in phase V.

 

I haven't mentioned yet that Ikea (1km) away is a significant employer locally, both local and ex-pat, and I have already taken to referring to our part of the compound as 'Ikeasville' as everyone round us seems to work there. Consequently the number of Scandinavian tenants is very high!  

The following day (BH Monday/Mid-Autumn Festival) was another beautiful day, about 28°C so we made a beeline for the pool again. We had to come back promptly as we were having some security devices fitted to limit the chance of break in. Due to the security here, we feel this is unlikely, but these devices are a prudent and simple measure:

 

 

In case you can't work out what that is, it is a baton of wood dropped into the area where a sliding UPVC window would open and prevents it from being forced from the outside (we hope!)

 

Later on, we went exploring in the main part of the compound. We are in phase V over the road, the original development phases I-IV are all on one site and share Clubhouse I. Phase V have (the new) Clubhouse II nearby. Sounds great, only they have already moved II to winter hours which are quite restrictive :( We played basketball for a while and then headed back before mosquito o'clock. The children have been getting eaten alive at school so now I am dousing them in repellent before they leave each morning and keeping them dosed up on anti histamine to stop them scratching their myriad bites as dirty nails and many weeping bites are an infection risk made in heaven. I think I have stopped the attacks now, just need the existing bites to heal. I am told this is the worst time of the year and it isn't like this year all round, I seriously hope that's true! If you are stupid enough to nip outside at dusk without repellent on, you will quite honestly get about 30 bites in 10 secs, it's carnage! (That btw is the voice of bitter experience, we all look like we have chicken pox from the knee down.)

Outdoor pool in Phase I-IV

 

 

The above is one of my favourite signs, frequently spotted. I have decided it means no more than 15 trumpeters to gather at any one time in this location ;)

 

On a happy note over this weekend, despite Adrian being in the UK, both children came up to my separately at different times to tell me they really like Shanghai, apart from the 'wenza' - Mandarin for mosquito, which was good to hear.

 

It didn't take long for Laura's birthday to come round, I learnt another new word, 'shēngrì' = birthday! Thankfully insider info had tipped me off to bring packet cake mix with me from the UK as it is apparently cheaper than buying the individual ingredients. Even if this offends me slightly, what I hadn't considered at all was that I would not have any scales or a mixer with which to make a cake so actually the packet mix was a godsend. Thanks to the ubiquitous Betty Crocker and her frosting and some M&Ms I managed to scrape together a birthday cake. Present shopping was quite enjoyable due to Chinese electronics prices being a fraction of those of the UK. One of the presents I found in Tesco was a blue robot that I could see lit up and moved and made some sort of noise. What I didn't know was it moved around sideways and spun and played Gangnam Style loudly. As you can imagine it was a huge hit! And all for 38RMB (under £4). 

 

 

 

During the day a duo of workmen came to fix the blinds on the stairs, I took this picture briefly in horror and then hid as I couldn't watch. The chap on the top is stood on a single step of an 'A' frame set of steps and is balancing about 15ft in the air above a very hard floor and a long fall if he slipped...eeeek!

 

Anyway, back to the main business of the day: Laura's main present was a pack of 4 'Digibirds', or 'twitting birdies' as she calls them, which still makes me snigger as she makes it sound rude. These birds sing and tweet individually or you can pair them so they sing as a choir. (Yes, I absolutely DID play with them once she had gone to school!!!)

At her request we went to McDonald's with Noha, Yara and Tinos in the nearby Wanda Plaza as we had done the previous Friday, and then went back to our house for birthday cake.



Outside Wanda Plaza on Laura's birthday with 'twitting birdies'!



Cake with Yara and Tinos :)

 

 

 

The next day I had a lunch appointment organised by the BISS Opportunity Group (PTA). I was pleased I had put on a smart top as the venue was very swanky, I took the below on the drive in:

 

 

The hotel has a rooftop terrace with an amazing view and luckily the skies were nice and clear. Here is a panorama across the Huangpu river (which is VERY busy with all sorts of cargo and ferries):

and the rooftop terrace:

 

It was a stunning venue and I met a few more people and had a good giggle discussing our various Chinese medical test experiences and just generally having a good chinwag over a glass (or two) of prosecco and some pretty good food.

  

This post's random observations: 

• Food shopping is a challenge and we are finding our way, trying new things and discovering if they are 'yummmeeee' or 'ew, gross' (hear that said in Laura's voice!!) Both children have done pretty well with chopsticks, Laura was picking up peanuts with them not long after we arrived :) Tesco is about 10 mins in the car, there are veg (and dodgy, unchilled meat) markets 5 mins away on foot. It can be hard to find recognisable western food, the bread in particular is mostly brioche (thank god for Tesco baguettes!)
• Most western style dairy produce is rare and comes at an extortionate price. Ham is interesting, no idea how it becomes 'chicken ham'. (Nor do I want to know!)
• Unusual foods spotted so far:
• Cookies with seaweed
• Chicken and gristle kebab
• Fish sausage
• and my current favourite...Elaborate bacon!
• (Adult) Toothpaste flavours discovered so far - jasmine, lemon, orange and lotus! I picked what I thought to be mint, but it isn't quite right. I think it may be lemon-mint!
• The number 4 is considered very unlucky by the Chinese due to 4 'sì' and death 'sǐ ' sounding similar. To be honest, to the Western ear they sound pretty much the same :( I have so far to go to even hear the difference, let alone mimic it...) As a result there are no house nos. with 4 in our street. The sequence goes 31, 32, 33, 35 etc. I have also noticed that not many car registrations or telephone numbers have a 4 in them for the same reason.
• I have had trouble locating bleach in the supermarkets, I have found some, but it doesn't appear to be the strength I am used to. More worryingly, childproof caps are not in evidence as far as I can see. I have bought various disinfectants, toilet cleaning products and bleach 'lite' (as I shall call it) and every single one has a simple screw cap...
• On the subject of cleaning, I have heard tales of local ayis who have had to be educated regarding hygienic cleaning methods. Apparently it is not uncommon for the same cloth to be used to clean the bathroom toilet and sink and surfaces (*gag*!) and then they will head into the kitchen to continue cleaning. This is why, despite this house having been 'cleaned' by the compound ayis I was particularly keen to get my (gloved) hands on some bleach and start throwing it around!
• It is quite normal for people to have a nap at the table after lunch. In food courts I have often seen workers and students finish their lunch and lay their head on their bag/arms and have a catnap, alone or together. Odd for us to see, but makes perfect sense!
• It is not advisable to drink the tap water here so we have a water chiller/dispenser in the kitchen. The mahoosive great bottles are only 20RMB (£2) and we are encouraging the children to drink as much as possible because of the heat/humidity (averaging around 28 -30°C and 85-95% humidity). I'm please to report we are already nearly halfway down our 3rd (19 litre?) bottle in 11 days!!!

• Finally for all my musical friends. The reason I will never forget the head teacher's name at BISS...he is Mr. Horne and is referred to using the title Principal. The minute I realised that made him Principal Horne, I knew I would never have trouble remembering his name :)

 

A house tour!

I know I am long overdue an update but it's been a busy few days! I have been jotting things down and will do another post asap...

In the meantime, here is a video of our house so you can see where we live:

Nearly there...new month, new home :)

Some random notes from the last few days:

• James and Laura have been blowing us away with snippets of Mandarin, one morning on the drive to school last week, after no more than 3 lessons, James pointed at a billboard we were passing and said "Look, that means small! It says 'xiao' " He then identified a specific character at the beginning of a line that looked like this:

小

 

Sure enough I checked later and it is exactly as he said...clever clogs!

• Female friends will be amused to learn that when I packed clothes and shoes to last the first 6-8 weeks until the air shipment arrives, I didn't bother to research the climate one jot (or ask Adrian). 'It's hot', I thought, I won't need anything but sandals. Hmmmm, we are not a million miles from monsoon areas so consequently we have seen a fair bit of rain and I only have one pair of canvas shoes, the rest are strappy sandals...doh!

In case I haven't mentioned it before, there have been some truly random music clips floating around. The Benny Hill theme tune played frequently in the Crowne Plaza foyer, we have been subjected to an instrumental version of Winter Wonderland far too many times in the Exec Lounge at the Holiday Inn and I swear one of the children's programs has the Steptoe and Son theme tune as one of its jingles!

I bought a shiny 'tat' parasol the other day for just under £2 as nearly all our umbrellas are black and this is slightly defeatist when trying to ward of the sun's rays. It is 'chavtastic' ;)

• Our first job today was to pick up the Medical Reports. Interesting reading...we both have 'slightly fatty liver' noted - ewwwww! I had the additional Cardio notes of Sinus Bradycardia and Sinus Arrhythmia which made me slightly nervous, but having googled both, am no longer worried. I knew about the Bradycardia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradycardia and the other http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nursing/practice/resources/cardiology/function/sinus_arrhythmia.php doesn't seem to be a concern.

• We went to the house this morning to do the inspection. On the way in we saw a rather large snake sunning itself on the road. While I assumed this was normal, from WJ's reaction and immediate reporting it to Security, perhaps not! Maybe they just fancied it for lunch!?! (Sorry!)  So, we arrived at the house and while it wasn't immaculate, it was good enough and we agreed to do the inventory and take the key. Hooray! 

• We had an 'on the bus, off the bus' experience today. WJ asked to talk to Adrian while I wasn't about and he told Adrian that tomorrow we would have a new driver, but was struggling to explain. Adrian asked a member of the hotel staff to assist with translating and while we didn't understand why, we understood that we were getting a different driver the next day. We were going to Ikea to do a 'house' shop and sat at lunch really depressed as while we have only known him just over a week, we really like him. He is kind and tolerant of the children and really looks out for them. He seems good natured and thoughtful and does his job really well. He doesn't just sit there and drive the car, he runs off to fetch umbrellas if it starts to rain and he has argued the toss on our behalf/stood up for us with other locals so we both took it quite badly as we already have a very good rapport with him. I was pretty anxious as Adrian goes back to the UK next week and I am happy I know how to get around with WJ and didn't fancy starting to get to know someone new 3 days before being on my own with the children for a fortnight. We did a supermarket sweep round Ikea and grabbed as much as possible before we needed to pick up the children and went to find WJ. I started to tell him we were sad about the situation and he fished out his phone. He had prepped some text up and translated it and it said his boss/the company had changed their 'attitude' and he was staying with us. I was so relieved I all but hugged him, Adrian arrived a few minutes later and WJ jogged up to him to share the message and Adrian did actually hug him! So pleased, still haven't got to the bottom of it, but as long as he stays with us I don't really care!!

• Delighted to report that two (exceedingly cute and likely to be chased and poked a lot by Laura and I!) little geckos were spotted during the time we spent at the house today. I am chuffed to bits because a) they are soooooo cute, b) anything that eats mozzies is a big friend of mine.

 TOMORROW WE MOVE IN :)

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!