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!
