Lion Dancers at WISS

Katelyn's Chinese New Year Celebration

Kate's school had their Celebration today. It was a very nice performance.

It opened with the Lion dancers.

Katelyn came out singing!

The costumes were very pretty and the little ones were very cute!

I was very impressed with some of the dance routines.

The fog was a new "special effect". The little girl to Kate's right is our neighbor - Nella.

Snow update

The day after the last post, we woke up to this.......
School was not cancelled which I thought was amazing considering it is Shanghai and this amount of snow is not normal!!

However, the next day it was almost all gone by the afternoon. We had to go to Pudong area to apply for our Residence Permits and I snapped a picture of this truck going down the highway. It was a colorful sight but if a string broke, it would be a huge mess.

I am guessing this is a recyling truck:)

Snow in Shanghai!

The kids had left for school yesterday morning and the next thing I know I saw snowflakes! I never thought we would see snow in Shanghai. I have to say it was a nice sight.



I took Maggie for a walk and we walked around the club to take some pictures. There was definately ice on the pond.

I spotted some goldfish taking cover.

It was so cold. It started to really come down. I thought this was a pretty picture of the bridge.

I think this is a guinea hen but I am not sure. It just buried its face deeper when we got closer. Maggie wanted to charge but I didn't let her get close. I waited a bit to see if its head would pop up but it never did. I think it is too big to be a pigeon. It was the first time for me to ever see this type of bird here. I have seen one duck and some pretty, small black and white birds.

At lunch time I looked out towards the club and I saw a man laying down straw mats on the bridge. It has a pretty good incline. The cars must have a hard time with it being too slippery.

At 5 o'clock, we had quite a bit of snow. I was talking to one mother that has been here for 7 years and she said this is very rare. The last time it did this was 2 years ago.

Jason took the following pictures at his work in Suzhou.

We have had a misty rain today. There are some small patches of snow. The roads were fine but traffic seemed to be a bit crazy. It was nice to see white!

Mall & Flower Market

This past weekend we hit the closest mall which is like a Super Walmart inside a shopping mall with a couple of big stores right next door. There is a B&Q (a Home Depot) and then Decathalon (Sports Authority). We were in need of a little bit of everything and this was the place to be. The sports store is reasonably priced and it has its own brand. We were able to find everything sports related that we needed. Lucas needed black dress shoes. We weren't able to find any that fit him well at the shoe stores so we ended up buying them at Carrefour (Super Walmart). They had a huge selection and reasonably priced. We'll see how well they hold up. The thing I hate is that in certain parts of the store you have to pay for the items in that department. It is a hassle especially when there is only 1 person to check out. We also had to get a pair of eyeglasses for Kate. Now I have read that eyewear is cheap but we didn't find that to be the case. I guess for Kate, since she has a big prescription in one lense, it was what we would pay at a discount back in the states. However, I feel if there are any problems, we won't have any trouble getting help from the store. For us, service is worth so much here! I'll try and take pictures some time and just do a blog about the mall. I guess I get a bit paranoid about taking pictures at certain places. We get quite a few stares as it is and if I pulled out a camera, I know it would be worse.

The kids had enough of shopping on Saturday. Jason & I wanted to go to the flower market but we decided to go first thing Sunday morning when it should not be busy. The kids had no interest in going to this market. Jason had bought me the orchids for Christmas at a flower shop close by.

I wanted to see exactly what the market was like. I had bought the cactus and plants at a store the previous day. I really liked the cactus but I didn't like the pot it was in. So they put it in a pot that I liked and delivered the next day. We had given him our address and said it was too far away (15 minutes by car). He decided to charge us an extra $6 for gas. I was happy to hear he had a truck. I had purchased 2 plants from the flower shop and they had delivered those by bicycle. I just love having plants in the house!

The actual flower market was smaller than I thought it would be. We chose a good day to go because it wasn't crowded. We enjoyed walking around to see what they had. They had everything from fresh cut flowers, orchids, trees, furniture, pottery and paintings and stone carvings. We basically walked around to see how much things were so we could compare.

It has been very cold here. I don't think we have been above the low 30's for the past 2 weeks. If the wind is blowing, it is frigid! We didn't last long at the market and decided there wasn't anything we had to get. However, the weekend before we had found a little store by our house that had some miscellaneous items. Jason & I both saw this screen that we liked. After being at the flower market and comparing prices, we decided to go back and buy it. We didn't see anything similar to it and we both just loved it.

We haven't decided where we are going to put this screen. I think we'll just wait until we get our sea shipment which won't be for at least another month. It's nice having it in our living room to enjoy. We have had our fill of shopping for a while. Once it warms up, we'll start doing some sightseeing around town.

Cloth Market

Okay, it's been over a week since I posted something. I've been busy with trying new exercise activities and getting caught up on submitting medical claims! Mondays I have tennis lessons for 1 1/2 hours which I badly need. My forehand is awful! I enjoy spinning classes on Mondays and Fridays. Power Yoga is something I am still thinking about it. I have to give it a try for a couple more classes. Body Jam is down right hilarious. I just have no coordination but it is fun and something definately different for me. So if I am not physically fit in the next year, I don't know what it will take! I have met some nice women in the classes. I actually met one from Neuchatel! She has been here for 4 years. It is definately a small world we live in.

So, since Jason is busy during the week with work and me with exercise, we have been doing some shopping on the weekends. I have been wanting some new bedding for the boys beds and our "ayi" said the stores are too expensive and cheaply made. So we headed to the cloth market.

It is 3 stories of just little stalls with tons of fabric and an average of 2 girls sitting at sewing machines to make your bedding. The above picture doesn't show all the people and cars on the outside. It was a nightmare. That picture must have been taken in the early morning. I had forgotten to take pictures so we borrowed some off the internet. Jason, Jin Di (ayi) and I just walked and walked until I finally decided to stop and negotiate. It is so funny because the firt price is very reasonable but actually you shouldn't really pay more than 1/2 of the original price. I just offer 1/2 and go up from there.

I have confirmed that I do not like to negotiate. I love a good bargain but I don't want to have to work for it. I would rather just stumble upon it. We did leave the market with 2 bedding sets for under $75 with really good quality material. Jason was happy with this choice. (like he had any say in the matter:)) It is something very different for me and I have been real pleased with it.

I should note that the bedding (duvet cover, sheet and 6 pillowcases) were ready in an hour! It will be fun for me to go back once my sewing machine arrives. They have an area that just sells material for the home which I want to make some different things for the apartment.

First Day of School

Tuesday the 4th of January was Kate's first day of school at WISS (Western International School of Shanghai). I went with her and we talked to the principal and her teacher. Everyone was so friendly and very helpful. It was a trial day to see if they were comfortable with Kate and her daily routines. Kate knew there would be "no problems" of course but we had to make sure. All went well and she was anxious to go back on Wednesday!

The boys started at BISS (British International School of Shanghai) on Wednesday. I had to get their picture. The boys uniform is very similar to what they had in Switzerland. It is Kate's first time to wear a uniform and I love it! We don't have huge discussions in the morning on what she wants to wear.

This is a picture of Kate's school - WISS. I will try to get an angle shot some other time so you can see a more realistic size. It was the ugliest day we have had since being here. I was getting pretty spoiled with the sunshine. The smog was horrible and it really made me feel like it was hard to breathe. Now I think that was more mental than anything but I definately felt different.
I had to ride the bus with Katelyn to make sure all went smoothly. Kate was not too thrilled about it. She sat in the back with some new friends and I sat right up front. I saw this guy riding his bike and carrying all this paper that looked like shredded paper. I was disappointed that I didn't have my camera. Then I remembered that I could take pictures with my phone. So I got it out and had it ready to go in case I saw something interesting.

We had to make a stop to pick up some kids. I was thrilled when I saw the guy on the bike pass us. We caught up to him and I was able to get this picture.

This picture, I was able to capture another school bus from WISS pulling in front of us. It is also a good close up of the "shredded paper".

It was a fun experience. There is a bus monitor that is super nice! She checks on the kids and makes sure they are buckled in. It's great that there are seatbelts! It is interesting, the bus monitor is a teacher's assistant at the school. The bus drivers will park the buses at the school and stay there until it's time to take the kids back home. The drivers sit around and talk or take a nap. It is a job and probably considered a good job I think.