Christmas in Shanghai

We really didn't know what to expect for Christmas in Shanghai. We arrived at night and it was nice to see driving thru the complex the lighted trees in the windows or on the terraces. One development has Merry Christmas in lights on its security building. The club is decorated with trees and garland. The stores had decorations and Christmas music could be heard in the stores and on the radio. There was definately a Christmas feeling in the air.

A family that we know here had to go back to the states for the holidays. They offered their tree and whatever else we needed. We took them up on their offer and Jason and the boys looked like the grinch carrying the tree back to our place. We bought a few decorations and gave the apartment some Christmas cheer!
We teased the kids by putting toilet paper, kleenexes, combs under the tree. When they woke up the next morning they had some "toys-r-us" wrapped gifts under the tree. It was nice that they did wrapping. We were amazed at how many people were buying Christmas gifts.

It was nice, everyone was wishing us a Merry Christmas but we didn't know if we should always reply but we did anyway. Tony (the driver whom is on loans from the friends) took us to one of his favorite Chinese restaurants. It was funny because we walked in expecting to be seated in that room but they told us to follow them and they took us out the back door where it was very dark and not the prettiest of sights. We continued to follow with glances at one another and they took us inside another building. It was a nice surprise to see that we got a private room. There was a big round table with a spinning piece that went around the center where there was a hot plate for the big pot of broth. It was Chinese Fondue.

We let Tony order and they brought tons of food. We only had chopsticks, a straw and plastic gloves for utensils.

The gloves were to hold the big bone pieces of hot meat. The straws were to suck the marrow out of the bone. I tried but I couldn't do it. I wonder what Tony was thinking?????? It was a delicious meal.

We wanted to buy a new tv for the living room. So we headed to Best Buy. They were very helpful and we got a good deal. Hee Hee They demonstrated to us how to set up the DVD player. I got out the camera to take some pictures and Jason wanted some of the different screens.

Well they delivered the tv the next day but Jason & I weren't home. So he left the tv on the floor. When we got home we thought we would just hook it up. Well we were wrong. Everything was in Chinese and we couldn't figure it out for anything. We had to get Tony to come by the next day to interpret for us. Even the remote is in Chinese. We finally got it working and we were a happy family again! We are enthralled by all the CSI's. We have at least 10 American channels.

However, Jason still hasn't been able to get this screen when we turn on the DVD player. We do have both items converted to English. The DVD player doesn't seem to be working right so we may need to make another trip to Best Buy to return it. That should be lots of fun!!

On our way to Shanghai!

Saturday - December 18, 2010

We woke up early to make sure we made the shuttle bus. We were the first ones down in the lobby but we were getting a bunch of looks because of all the luggage we had. When the shuttle arrived it was crazy how everyone instantly jumped in front of us to make sure they got a seat. We were fortunate that he had a little trailer to haul the luggage. We all made it onto the bus as long as you had a reservation.

FYI, this day was the first day of the huge mess with the airlines in Europe because of the winter storms. As you can see in the following picture, we had quite a few carts which we ended up pushing between baggage check in and the ticket counter 2 times after we were told our flight was cancelled/delayed. It was the longest 5 hours but we were very fortunate that we were able to catch a flight out on a Russian airlines - Aeroflot.

It was nice to finally be on an airplane and up in the air. I was just hoping Maggie made it onto the plane. It was hard to say because we barely made it onto the airplane. The view was beautiful but this picture doesn't do it justice. It was all snow covered mountains amongst those clouds.
We had a connection in Moscow. I guess we can say we have been to Russia - 2 hours. All I know is that it looked like how I imagined it - Cold and Snowy. We had to run thru that airport too because we had less than an hour to go thru passport, security and 2 terminals. We arrived at the gate when they were making the last boarding call. However, Jason couldn't find our tickets/boarding passes. A gentleman tapped Jason on the shoulder and told him they fell out of his pocket. He wasn't on our flight but we couldn't thank him enough. He was an angel!

I think we actually had one all day. It might have been very stressful but we arrived in Shanghai at the same time we were originally scheduled to. We had Maggie and she went into quarantine for a week. Our luggage didn't arrive until the next day but we had all 14 pieces!

It was nice to arrive in Shanghai and go straight to our house. It is furnished but we had to buy some supplies to hold us over until the air and sea shipments arrive.

Jason took these pictures one morning and I have to say it looks like this pretty much every morning. We are on floors 7 and 8 like the building on the right. This picture is out our living room terrace and looking to the right. There are 25 buildings in the Shanghai Racquet Club development.
This picture is directly looking across from us from the living room terrace. We have 2 swimming pools or a pool and a hot tub right below us in the summer time.

The sidewalks are windy and everything is well maintained.

This is the view from the small patio off of the dining room and looks at the Club and tennis courts- 7 outdoor and 6 indoor. There are several other pools outside but at the club there is one huge outdoor pool and then 2 indoor pools with a hot tub. The club has a grocery store about the size of a convenience store. There is a medical facility, spa/salon, 2 restaurants, drycleaning, exercise facility, badminton, squash, and pingpong. I'm still learning all the ins and outs. We should never be bored and all in tip top shape!

The grounds are beautifully landscaped and the trees look so pretty at night with the white lights.