First day of school eve!

Hello from Suzhou! We are about to turn in for the night, first day of school for everyone tomorrow so lots of nervous energy! So we had a busy week preparing at the school. On Thursday night SSIS organized a social and had a lot of local businesses come and set up tables for us to learn about various restaurants, book stores, grocery stores, local fitness centers, chinese classes, spas and more. So we had a chance to sample thai food, ice cream, coffee, wine and free manicures from the spa! It was a really nice event actually. The school is arranging a wine club that faculty can join and order wine for a discounted price and have it delivered to the school! We're not in the public school system anymore folks!
Yesterday was the school open house and the kids met their teachers and found their classes. Mark met his students and I helped hand out uniforms to the masses. We were there until lunch and then decided we would take on a local shopping area called "walking street". It was quite something,.. stimulation overload! We did well though, Mark purchased a webcam for our skype and a cable and I bought some clothes for work seeing as work clothes for me over the past five years has meant workout attire.
This morning all new staff and families were picked up and taken to the local police station. They opened it on Sunday morning just for us! So now we have our resident visas all taken care of. We also explored the park across the street which is called Central Park and is quite expansive with a lake, many paths and a couple of playground areas. We have also been exploring our compound a bit more in the evenings and found a dry cleaners, kids' clothing store and our very own cheap dvd shop (75 cents)!
So we are continuing to settle in. The kids have had a nice long summer break and I think are ready to start school and activities as well as make some friends.
I hope this finds everyone well. Please drop us a note (or call on skype!) I'll write next weekend all about our first week at school.
until then,lots of love from Suzhou!

New stuff

More news and updates from the Smiths! Sunday's pool party went great, we had a nice time chatting with other staff members from SSIS and the kids enjoyed the pools (1 for laps and 1 for play). James actually met a girl who is a year ahead of him who is just as into pokemon as he is - I couldn't believe it! Monday morning bright and early we were taken into old Suzhou to a medical clinic in an office building for our physicals. I thought only Mark needed to have one but apparently I was required to have one as well. So we were poked and proded by chinese men and women who did not speak english, for about 45 minutes. Again this was as a big group, the school picked us all up. All in all we had our blood drawn, vision tested, ultrasound (of the abdomen), EKG, dental check up, and a chest x-ray. All in 45 minutes! We literally walked from one room to another. When we were finished it was off to the school. They have a big multipurpose room set up full of things for the kids to do while the parents work this week, so that's nice. We went to Carrefoure (sp?) last night which was so much better than Auchan. Among other things we bought lo mein, dumplings and nan bread for dinner, which fed us all and we had left overs in the fridge. The total cost for dinner was $1.50 US! Today was a work day at school, I helped Mark set up his new room and met with the director of the school. It looks like I will be taking on a position full-time but won't find out what until the end of the week. Sometime close to Christmas, I should be subbing a high school english class while a staff member is on Mat leave. So I'm excited about that.
We braved the wet market tonight and I prepared my first meal in the apartment kitchen. Stir-fry and rice, not bad. We also had satellite installed in the apartment so we have more that 2 english channels to watch now. Tomorrow we are back to the school and James will be testing all morning to get placed at the proper levels. There is a staff social tomorrow night. So we are off to bed. Lots of love to all from China!

Days 2 and 3

Hi Everyone! I wrote this long post this morning and then lost it! ARGHH! So here I go again. Mark wrote about our first day in China so I thought I would fill you in on Friday and Saturday.We were picked up on Friday morning with all new staff and their families and taken to SSIS (Suzhou Singapore International School). I was quite pleased with the building - very big and modern. We were introduced to all the other newbies and their families - most of whom were from Canada, Australia and the US. We had lunch in the school cafeteria with the elementary school principal (a nice British guy) who told us Abigail will still go into the second grade because their cut off day is the same as Sugar Land. She will still be one of the oldest but that's fine. After lunch we went to the SIPAC where we learned about the area of Suzhou we live in, including Singapore's investment and what the future looks like. The best part of that was a huge miniscale model of the area. We were all trying to find our apartments and see what is close. I realized there is a park around the corner where James could ripstick that is hidden by buildings so we hope to check that out this evening. After the SIPAC we all went to Starbucks (one of four in our neighborhood). I was a little skeptical about how it would compare to home but my frappucino was dead on! Some returning teachers took small groups on walking tours around the area and pointed out some small markets where they sell western food. I almost cried tears of joy when I saw duncan hines, nestle, kraft, lays, and .... fresh milk!!! After Auchan I had no idea what I was going to feed my children. We were also shown where to get fresh fruits and vegetables, the expat clinic, an ATM that always accepts international cards, a foreign book store that had great stuff for the kids, and a fabulous french bakery! I felt so much better after the tour. We ate dinner as a big group and sat with Mark's new principal who is a nice lady from Calgary, bought 6 dvds for 75 cents each and went home exhausted.Yesterday we were picked up in the morning (again with new staff and families) and taken to the Master of Nets Garden. A famous and ancient garden in old Suzhou. Then we visited the Suzhou Museum. This gave us a chance to see some of the older parts of the city. We were dropped off for lunch at our own apartments and a rest and then picked up in the evening for a canal tour on a boat which was neat and then dinner at TGIFridays. We sat with the director of the school who was really good with the kids, I was impressed. The food was great and again we went home exhausted.Today we will be picked up and taken to the school for a full tour and a BBQ as well as a pool party at the indoor pool. The kids are excited. Abigail has made a new friend with a little girl from Toronto but James has been a little more reserved. He'll get there - I think it's that whole 11 year old thing.Starting tomorrow we will be joined by returning staff and their families so the kids will have more opportunities to make friends.I'm off to get ready for the day. We love you and miss you all!

Day 1

Wow! What a day!
Today started at 4 am (don't you just love jet lag?) for Karen and I and the Girl Child was up at 6. Luckily, the girls went back to bed and got some more rest before starting the day. Once everyone was up, around 10, we set out as a family to find food. There was a bit in the fridge and pantry, so we had already had a light breakfast, but we were curious as well. We strolled through our apartment complex and found that there is a small collection of shops in the complex. Outside of the complex, across the street, we found more shops, including a small market. It was all in Chinese, so we didn't go too far in, but it was nice to know it was there. We found a restaurant that my department head recommended (he lives in the same complex) and had some western fare for lunch. We came back home for a rest and jet lag got the better of us to the tune of a few power naps. When we were all up and about again, we rode with one of our real estate agents to the Bank of China and we did banking as a second language, that was interesting. We then walked, via Coldstone Creamery (had to get ice cream) to Auchan to get a few things for home. Auchan is like Wal-Mart on steroids, twice as big, twice as full, and, since it was in Chinese and not Ebonincs, half as confusing at checkout. We finshed the day with Papa John's pizza and a DVD.

So far so good! I'm not planning to post everyday, jut day 1 is kinda special. The school has bunch planned for the next 7 days so, as the Boy Child said, the adventure will continue!

Love to all.
~m

new pics!

took the link to these pix off. Shoot me an email if you're interested.