We are settling in for the night and I thought I would write a quick blog before bed. We had a very successful trip to the ikea in Shanghai with about 50 other people from SSIS (2 buses). I was happy to be able to feather the nest a bit since it looks like our shipment won't be here for at least a couple of weeks. Ikea here is just like everywhere else, it was just a bit more crowded. We are planning another trip into Shanghai (just the Smiths) for golden week which is September 29- October 3.
Abigail and the rest of the primary school ran in their own Terry Fox run this morning. They ran all around the school property, not sure exactly how far. Mark, James and the secondary school (middle and high school) will leave the school to run their own Terry Fox run by the lake tomorrow. For those Americans reading this Terry Fox was a Canadian man who lost his leg to cancer and tried to run across canada in effort to raise money for cancer research. Unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer and Canadians all over the world honor him by organizing races/ charity runs each year. In fact, I remember running the Terry Fox run in Malaysia when I was 10. I also ran it in Houston with James when he was 7.
We continue to settle into China. Some aspects of our life are simpler, such as all going to the same place at the same time and returning together in the evening. All the kids' activities are in the same place. However some things seem to be a challenge. Of course not speaking the language is hard. The supermarkets here are a nightmare so we try to buy our groceries at smaller shops. Unfortunately the place for the freshest meat is different from the wet market where we buy our fruits and vegetables, and the bakery where we buy bread is separate as well. We do a lot of walking!
Life did get a little easier this week because I realized that the little shop downstairs in our complex sells really good (and fresh) fruits and vegetables. I was impressed that the man that runs the shop speaks very good english and even has a website with his inventory! He delivers up to the apartment at no charge! So I email down and he brings it up!
Mark and James will be going away to "camp" next week. Every fall grade 3-12 go camping for three days. Grade 3 sleeps in the school gym and as the children get older they go further and further away. High schooler sometimes travel outside of China. So Mark will be going with his grade 9 homeroom class to Hangzhou and James will be going to Wuxi. They stay in 4 star hotels so it isn't really camping. They will participate in an outward bound program during the day. Mark has told me that he is in charge of karaoke for his group!
Speaking of Mark, he is officially a "head of house". When the students enroll at SSIS they are sorted into a "house". There are four houses and they participate in various competitions throughout the school year from staring contests to chess tournaments to various sports competions. At the end of the year points are tallied and there is a cup for the winning house. So Mark is officially the head of the Monkeys (there are also Dragons, Tigers, and Phoenixes). I think he is going to have way too much fun with this :)
I am coming down with a little bit of a cold and so am going to stop here. We are thinking about all of you in Texas and hope everything returns to normal as soon as possible, just glad everyone is safe.
Love you and miss you all.
Love, the Smiths
