When we got off the plane and were riding to our hotel, we were surprised to see that we brought a few snowflakes with us. By the next morning, there was about 1/2" of snow on the ground...not very common in Shanghai, but happens on occasion. It didn't stick around for long. It's still as cold as it was in Michigan, just a wet cold.
Our first adventure out was to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. There were displays on all the continents with big "stuffed animals" to look at. There was an entire room on spiders...ICK, especially since there were 6 live tarantulas in there! The boys enjoyed checking out all the displays.
For Chinese New Year, the boys' school (Concordia International School Shanghai) had an all-school assembly. There was a traditional celebration including a paper dragon, two "tigers" that dueled and visited the kids, a dance by the Mandarin teachers, and a kung fu demonstration by one of the high school students. Here are just a few of the pictures I took...
Derek got to celebrate his 8th birthday in Shanghai a couple of weeks after we arrived. For his birthday, he chose to visit the Shanghai Aquarium. What an impressive aquarium! The had more varieties of fish than you can imagine...seahorses, eels, coral, manta rays, sharks, lionfish, and the list goes on! The boys' favorites were the jellyfish and the sharks. The shark tank was cool - you stood on a moving walkway and the tank was around you.
Next, we took a trip up to the top of the tallest building in China...the Shanghai World Financial Center. There are 100 floors in the building, and it looks like a giant old-fashioned bottle opener. We took an elevator up to the 100th floor, and it went 8m/sec so we were at the top in less than a minute. The floor was mostly glass, so it was a little disconcerting to stand on it and see all the cars driving by.
After a lunch of Japanese noodles (yummy!), we headed over to the Bund on the Puxi side for a little walking and exploring. From that side, you have a great view of Pearl Tower, the World Financial Center, and the JinMao Tower.
The boys have now finished week #2 of school at Concordia. We're finally getting a routine, though I have to admit, it's hard not being the one that drops them off and picks them up every day! Mark is doing a great job of getting them home, feeding them a snack, and getting their homework done before I get home from work. The first week was tough for homework, especially the Mandarin Chinese. The Mandarin teacher expected Alex to be up-to-speed with the rest of the class, but quickly recognized that he'd do much better if they started him from the beginning. He's much happier not having 1.5 hours of just Mandarin every night now...and so are we!
Work is going well. My days are long - leaving at 7:10 for the shuttle bus, getting to work at 8:30, and not getting home until 6:15 makes the days fly by. We're very lucky to have an excellent driver to get us where we need to go...Mr. Yao is a wonderful asset to our family! Mark is adjusting well to his new role, and so far his night meetings have been at a minimum (though we expect that to change soon!).
Tomorrow is another adventure...stay tuned...
