It's been another busy week for the Pruett family in Shanghai!  Sorry again for the long post. With the kids in school, I might have a little more time to post more often.

Tues - Aug 14  (Day of Rest)
Yes, I was able to rest some. Greg went to work and the kids and I stayed home all day.  We went to the pool in the afternoon. I was finally able to meet Jackson's new friend's mom.  She was able to share a lot of valuable info with me.  There seems to be this big "mom network" from their kid's school. Greg is still struggling on how to get us money to live.  He was finally able to find a bank teller that would give us money from our US account.  We needed more cash for school lunch and uniforms on Wed.

Wed - Aug 15 (1st Day of School Orientation)
Greg and I both took the kids to school orientation. The kids were a little excited and nervous about going.  Anna more so than Jackson since she had to take a Math placement test.  Their school is awesome!  It was so nice being around lots of people who spoke English, :-).  They had some delicious croissants, roles and juice.  Greg remembered the name of the juice so we can find some.  The juice that we bought was called "Apple Vinegar". It was really juice in a juice size container. When we bought it, we were thinking that maybe it was translated wrong.  We were wrong it tasted like apple juice with vinegar in it.  I guess we should believe the labels.  At school, they had this checklist for us to go through.  By mid-afternoon, we managed to get through the checklist, buy uniforms and meet Jackson's teacher, Mrs Bouwer.  She was really nice and new to the school. She had only been in Shanghai two weeks too. One thing that surprised me was that we didn't have to take in any school supplies.  They supplied everything, even pencils.  Good thing, I wouldn't know where to get them, :-).  We met a few new families and one of the families live in our compound.

Thur - Aug 16 (2nd Day of School Orientation)
Greg decided to go to work and let me take the kids back to day 2 of orientation.  Jackson was done but Anna had to spend 3 hrs in an orientation get together with the other new comers.  Anna had to be there by 10am so that she could meet with the band instructor and decide on an instrument that she wants to play.  Yes, she will be in the band.  I think we all will need ear plugs when she practices at home!!  I was a little nervous since this will be the first day that I'm out alone with the kids.  I had my taxi flash cards to get to Concordia and back home.  I had my cash and the old cell phone. What could go wrong?  Well, I pushed the taxi button in the house. Instead of getting the taxi, I set off the alarm in the house.  When we moved in, they wouldn't tell us the codes since we shouldn't set the alarm. They never told me what to do if I did set it off.  So, after 5 minutes and it wasn't going off, I decided to call the management office, they said they would sent someone to turn it off.  Anna said "Mommy, I don't think we will make it to school today. It's not going good yet".  I had to laugh.  After the alarm was turned off, we got our taxi and off to school.  At the band room, Anna got to try out some instruments while Jackson and I waited outside.  The night before, she had decided to either play the clarinet, flute or percussion.  She walked out of the room and said "Mommy, I'm going to play the trumpet".  I think I will need to upgrade my earplugs to noise cancelling ear phones!  Next step, how to buy a trumpet by next week.  Jackson and I dropped off Anna at her orientation and we decided we would walk to shopping.  It was only 3 blocks away.  Did I mention how far a block was here? After walking for 10 minutes, we had only walked one block. It was over 100, so we turned around.  Now, we have 2 1/2 hrs to find something to do.  We sat and cooled off in the cafeteria.  After a while, Jackson decided to get coffee sticks (for stiring) and make a soccer field on the table.  We used a chinese coin for the puck.  Luckily, Carol Ann walked up (she is head of Admissions) and Ciaran, her son, was with her.  We had already scheduled a playdate with him on Monday. Jackson was excited to meet him and they started playing table soccer together.  Oh yeah, the uniforms that we picked up the day before, they gave me the wrong one and I had to do a return.  We picked up Anna. She was so hungry. They provided lunch and it was so horrible that she couldn't eat it. She met a new friend, named Hailey, that will be in her class.  She is originally from NC. Anna didn't want to go meet her teacher so I worked on finding a taxi to get home. I was standing in the street waving one down, just like in NY.  We had to get home by 3pm for the maintenance man to come and fix the kitchen faucet. It had starting spraying water out the side earlier in the week.  I was successful at getting a taxi and got us home in plenty of time.  I was so proud of myself, :-).  After the maintenance guy left, the kids and I went to the pool. I talked with Jackson's mom again and she told me about the big pool party that they were having on Friday at our pool.  Out of 15 moms in this group, only 3 of them live in my compound.  Our compound lets outsiders pay to come to our pool.  Normally, not too many people come. Well, Greg had his own adventure on Thursday.  They told him that our work permits were ready and he can go pick up our passports.  That's great! Our passports are needed for our security device at the bank so we an get money. So, he got to the Jin Mao building and they said he couldn't go up without his passport. He attempted to tell them that he didn't have a passport and he wasn't going up to get it.  Finally, they took his US driver license.  He got our passports and heading to the bank and it was closed.  So, another weekend of no money and trying to find tellers to get access to our US account.

Fri - Aug 17 (Pool Party)
It was nice to sleep a little later (if you call 6:30am later). I got some laundry done and started washing the kids uniforms.  Realized that they gave me something else wrong. I will need to make another trip to school.  All the moms planned to meet that the pool by noon and order pizza for the kids.  We had 15 families there with over 40 kids!!  They ordered Pappa John's pizza. I was shocked. I didn't know Pappa John's was here too.  I will add that to my delivery list.  It was really good too!  The kids had lots of fun and we stayed up there for almost 5 hrs.  I don't know the last time that I was at the pool for 5 hrs.  I was enjoying the company and the blue skies.  Yes, blue skies.  The moms said to not get use to it.  They have never seen it that blue for that many days.  The pollution cleared out after the hurricane. We had almost 2 weeks of blue skies.  These moms really know how to have fun. Once the kids are in school, they have luncheons, go to the spa, go to the gym...   I'm not sure if I can get use to doing those things.  They have someone clean their house and drive them around.  I don't have that yet, :-). Greg found out that there was a cell phone office next to IBM.  Since he had his passport, he would swing by there before going to the bank to get a cell phone.  He never made it to the bank.  It took him 5 hrs to get a cell phone.  His friend had to drive him to another cell phone location to "cut" his SIMM card to fit.  After he got it home, he started to realize that this was a China phone and was going to be very difficult to set it up. He spent all night just trying to get Google on it.  Friday night, I ordered Sherpa again for dinner.  We were running out food since I didn't have any time during the week for shopping.

Sat - Aug 18 (Jackson's 9th Birthday)
Jackson woke up excited!  He was planning to call his best friend Hunter back in NC at 8am.  They spent 45 minutes on the phone talking.  Since the sky was blue again, Greg decided to take us downtown to the Shanghai World Financial Center (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_World_Financial_Center).  It has an observation deck on the 100th floor.  It's the highest observation deck in the world.  I think the kids were a little nervous and Greg too. He is afraid of heights.  The elevator went up so fast that you ears kept popping over and over. Jackson loved it. I will post pictures after this post.   After coming down, Jackson decided he wanted dumplings for lunch.  We went into the Super Brand Mall and ate at a famous dumpling restaurant. He loved it. Afterwards, we went into ToysRus.  Yes, they have one here too.  He picked out a Lego ship for his birthday.  Anna got a Lego set too.  Neither of them have any toys here yet.  Oh yeah, we heard about air crates on Friday, they haven't left Raleigh yet.  Until we get out Residency Permit, it can't ship here.  Outlook is another 3-4 weeks before we get our air crates with all our stuff it it. After leaving the mall, we decided to head back home. Jackson wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday so we needed to take the Lego's home and then go back out to Carrefour grocery. The taxi ride home was SCARY. This guy was a crazy driver and it was 35 minutes.  He got into a traffic jam and decided to drive up on the bicycle path to get around it.  I was glad I was not in the front seat. Greg said it was scary for him too. I really don't like taxis. Jackson wasn't excited about going grocery shopping on his birthday. He kept telling Anna that we are going grocery shopping on her birthday too.  He picked out his cake from Stone Cold Creamery.  It was a cheesecake ice cream cake.  We got it home (with dry ice). They even provided candles.  We got to since Happy Birthday around 9pm. Long day....

Sun - Aug 19 (Day of relaxing)
 At the store on Sat night, I bought a plastic bowl. Since our air crates could be another month out, I decided to add to my one pot and one pan.  I had bought pancake mix and syrup ($18 for the two) but didn't have a way to stir it up.  With my one bowl, I made us pancakes in a wok with a wooden spatula!!  Greg and the kids loved them. You have to get creative when you don't have much food or things to cook with. Remember that I said that we had 4 cats. Now we have 5 cats.  The kids have named them all. It was hard to find cat food at the store. Not much selection like in the US. Since I now have 5 cats, I need some cheaper cat food. Feeding these cats could be a big mistake. I will have more cats in a few days when they tell their friends.  They all seemed happy to eat and the kids were excited about finally feeding them.  Greg's friend came over to take him to buy my phone.  They went over to a place in Puxi (old Shanghai). Greg said it was a building where there were stacks of phones that they were shipping somewhere.  He told them the type of phone that he wanted and they pulled it off the stack of hundreds.  He put in the extra SIMM Card and it worked.  My phone is a US phone and has Verizon stamped on the back. It's much easier to use than Greg's :-).


Mon - Aug 19 (Another trip to bank)
Last day before school starts. I started getting the uniforms and bookbags ready. Jackson had a playdate scheduled with Ciaran. Ciaran's mom is the head of admissions at their school. They live in another compound so I wasn't sure how I was going to get him there and back. Do I stay or not. Ciaran was home with his ayi (maid).  I emailed his mom and she was nice enough to let us use their driver to come get us. I was afraid to send Jackson by himself with someone that I didn't know.  The Mom's group sent out an email about a family that was moving and needed to get rid of some items.  I saw a few things on the list that we could use (like a crock post and rice cooker).  The sale time was during Jackson's playdate.  How can I do this?  So, the driver picked us up. We dropped Jackson off at Ciaran's.  I asked the driver, which was hard since he didn't speak much english, to take me to this other compound first before going home. He understood.  I was worried about getting past the security guard at this compound since I didn't live there.  They let us drive right in. I was shocked!  I was a little early and the family was really nice.  I did get the rice cooker and crock pot.  They had some toys too so Anna picked out some Littlest Pet shop animals. She was so excited.  The driver took us back home and helped me carry it in the house.  He was so nice and friendly.  He brought Jackson back later.  It was so nice not to ride in a taxi. I want my own DRIVER!!!!  Greg decided to take another trip back to the bank to get his security device.  He had attempted to log into the online account earlier in the day but had forgotten his password. We had set it up during the look and see trip but forgot to write it down.  Guess what, you can't just reset your password and have them email it to you.  He had to fill out a paper and take it to the bank.  It will take 3 days before they will send him a new password.  At least he was successful at picking up his security device.  Since he had his passport for just one more day, he thought he could transfer some money while he was at the bank. Wrong, they told him that they can only transfer money between accounts before 4pm. Another day (maybe a week), without money.....  Earlier in the day, I was on the Concordia website and found a forum.  That's where you can find drivers and ayi (maids) that are looking for work.  I saw someone had a 1 year old trumpet for sale.  It had been on there since June.  What was the odds that it was still for sale.  I emailed the lady and she still had it.  They even live in our compound.  Greg and Anna walked over and took a look at it.  Her son had only used it one year at Concordia.  Greg bought it and now Anna is a proud owner of a trumpet!  I also found out that our compound has a free shuttle bus service.  There are options to go to the metro and to go shopping!!  Now I only have to take taxi one way.  Greg was excited too that he may have another option for going to work.  He is going to try the shuttle bus on Wed morning. We saw 7 cats at our back door for dinner. I told you that they were going to bring more friends. The two new ones didn't hang around long.  Soon, I will feeding all the homeless cats in Shanghai. Anna said that we are going to ship them all home and give them to our friends!


2 weeks down, 50 to go!!!!



Tue - Aug 20 (First day of School)

The kids got up before me at 6am. They were excited.  They got on their uniforms and ready for school. It was so nice to not worry about what they were going to wear.  Anna has a combination of white or blue shirts and blue or khaki shorts/skirt.  Jackson only has blue shorts and either a white or blue shirt.  Jackson only has one white shirt since they messed up our order and I haven't been able to exchange it yet.  For breakfast, they had cereal and he dripped milk all over his only white shirt!!  Well, I was able to clean it enough for him to wear it. That's why he normally eats breakfast with his shirt off at home.  We will need to start that again when he has on his white shirt. The kids were ready and we were out the door at 7:15 to walk to bus stop.  Anna's trumpet case is kinda big.  It has straps and she can carry it like a backpack.  We walked up to the clubhouse to catch the bus.  I was expecting to see a bus like in the US.  No, it was like a trailway bus.  Nice seats, air conditioning with seat belts.  The kids jumped right on and off to school.  Now, Greg and I had to get to the immigration office to apply for our Residency permit.  They are going to take our passports for another week.  We called for a taxi and after 30 minutes it didn't show up.  (Oh how I want a driver!!).  We called for another one and it showed up in 5 minutes.  We got to the immigration place and took more pictures.  I think every office in China now has 2 pictures of all of us, :-). We gave them our passports again and they told us to not leave the country for a week.  How do they think we were going to leave without our passport?  We can't even go to the bank to get money without it!  Afterwards, Greg and I decided to walk to Thumbs Plaza for lunch. It was 3 blocks away. Luckily, these were shorter blocks.  We had Pizza Hut for lunch and it was really good.  You can see a theme here, since we can't have Mexican here much, we have resorted to pizza. After lunch, Greg went to work and now I am totally alone in a shopping area and mall.  That could be dangerous if I had money. Most places (except grocery) won't take my VISA either. So, I ended up at Carrefour grocery for 2 hrs.  I had some quiet time to walk around and try to figure out some food.  I found a few things that I have been looking for, like Sour Cream. I had to dig through 15 tubs before I found some that hadn't expired.  I bought a small laundry basket with handles.  Everywhere I went I kept looking for a normal size laundry basket but couldn't find one. Greg said I didn't need one since the dryer would only hold a few things anyway. He was right.  Everything that I bought fit in my laundry basket so I didn't have to buy plastic bags.  Yes, you have to pay money for bags here.  I have some bags that I carry with me now but I had forgotten them on this trip. I was able to get a taxi and get home. I relaxed until it was time to go get the kids off the bus.  They were so excited about their day at school. Anna learned how to unlock her locker and had lunch in the High school cafeteria. She really likes her teachers and her new friend Hailey.  Jackson made a new friend too named Tony.  He likes his teacher too.  They are really worried about homework. Me too!  For dinner, I decided to try my new rice cooker. I made pork chops, rice, green beans ($4 a can) and fresh bread.  The rice turned out awesome. It was sticky rice just like in a Chinese restaurant. Greg was impressed.  Next, I will attempt to make fried rice. 

Wed - Aug 21 (Work day)
Greg attempted to catch the shuttle bus that leaves just a few minutes before the kids bus.  He missed it.  We barely got the kids on the bus.  I need to get more things ready at night and get them up a little earlier.  At home, their bus driver waited and blew the horn.  Here, if you aren't on it then you get left. Greg was able to catch the 2nd shuttle bus to the metro and then take the metro to work.  The metro only costs 4RMB (63 cents) instead of taxi 14RMB ($2.22) to get to work.  It takes longer via the shuttle bus, metro and walking. I would take the taxi, :-). Taxis are really cheap. You can pay 14RMB and go about 4 miles for that price.There are lots of stores in a 4 mile radius. You can take a 30 minute taxi ride for only $8. Today,  I worked all day since I had a lot to catch up on.  I have meetings for a few hrs tonight too. The kids had another good day at school.  They learned a few words in Chinese too. Anna said they had hot dogs and fries at lunch today.  I would like to know where they found hot dogs and buns.  I have been to 6 different grocery stores and have never seen them. I talked with one of the mom's here today. She has an ayi that she is looking to split with someone.  That would mean that I would have her 20 hrs a week.  I will be interviewing her tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed that she picks us.  She has another family that she is considering.  It would be nice to get some help with cleaning this big house and doing the laundry. Maybe she can teach me how to cook fried rice. Still no progress on a driver. Still no passports. Still no banking capability. Still no air shipments. Maybe next week.....