The Shanghai Kid

Just over 2 1/2 weeks ago we were eating dinner at our house with my brother Taylor and his wife and 2 kids.  They were talking about their newborn baby's passport and visa to be able to go back to their home in China.  Taylor had to go back to China before baby June's visa would be ready and that was going to leave Jen traveling half way across the world with 2 kids under the age of 2 by herself.  All of the sudden Taylor looks up at me and says, "So Hil, do you want to go to China?"  He told me he would pay for my plane ticket if I could go and help her get home.  I immediately looked at Adam and said, "I don't know, Adam, can I go to China?"  Just in case you didn't already know, Adam rocks.  Without hesitation he said I should go and to have fun. "If you are going clear to China, you might as well stay for a week."  Not a lot of husbands say that.

And so last Wednesday Jen and I set out for Shanghai with Will and June in tow.  They did pretty well on the long flights.  Will was definitely the bigger handful of the two so June and I had a lot of time together while Jen wrestled with Will.

There was an empty seat next to me on the long flight and June slept for quite awhile there.

We made it without any major problems and Jen was very relieved to have the extra help she needed.  With 2 people it wasn't so bad, but we both agreed that she wouldn't have been able to make the trip by herself with a 22 month old and a 1 month old. It would have been a nightmare.

Fortunately I've already been to China so we didn't feel the need to make it to all of the tourist-ee sites in Shanghai while I was there.  I was able to focus on the important things like getting Jen situated and getting some massages. :-)

Baby June and I bonded this week and now I won't see her until she is a year old.

It is the simple things about being in a foreign country that I find interesting.  I was glad Taylor and Jen had a driver so I didn't have to worry about how to get around. With signs like this I would have really been in trouble.

The big grocery store chain has 3 or 4 stories so they have big escalators that get you and your cart onto each floor.

I was looking for some food to take back for my kids to try, but had absolutely no idea what I was looking for.

It was a good thing Jen was there to help me find something yummy to take back. 

Jen and Taylor have moved to a different part of Shanghai since we were there last year.  They are in a complex with a lot of green space in-between the 100 buildings that make up the complex.  Each building has 36 stories.  Here is a view from their 6th floor balcony. 

During the summer they have these insects that make a loud noise all of the time.  I took a video off of the balcony so you could hear the buzzing sound that is always in the air during summer in Shanghai. It gets really loud.

Since they now live in an area that has more foreigners you can easily go to any number of American restaurants or get any type ethnic food you want.  In fact, the day before I left I realized that I hadn't even had any Chinese food during my time there so we went to a local noodle house.

I was there for a week and had Mexican food, Greek food, Thai food, Korean BBQ and Papa John's pizza.  Why all of the ethnic cuisine?  On one of the first nights I was there we were trying to decide where to go and eat and Taylor started rattling off a few choices -Thai, Korean, Indian, etc. When I replied with, "Oh, I've never had that kind of food before " after each option he couldn't believe it. "What!?! How is that possible?" He was determined to broaden my horizons and I must say that I liked everything I tried.  The only thing we didn't have time for was Indian food, but we'll get to it next time he is in town. 

 I got a kick out of the fact that their driver always wore white gloves while driving.  I looked at some of the other drivers around town (they are easy to spot because they all drive gray or white mini-vans which everyone refers to as "business cars" since all of the foreign business people use them) and some of them also wore white gloves while driving.  I guess they take their vocation very seriously.

We did make it to a museum in Shanghai, but Will wasn't very enthusiastic about the visit so we made it quick.

Before I knew it it was time to say goodbye to Jen and Taylor and start the long journey home.  In my next post I'll get caught up on everything that went on at home while I was gone.  The kids had so much fun with Adam they almost forgot to miss me.  It's good to be home.