Meet our ayi...

Sun Xia (Susan) has been with us now for 1 1/2 months. She has a 7 year old daughter and has previously worked for a Canadian expat family and her last employer was an Expo family from Nepal. Her english is very limited, but is very good compared to some other ayi's I hear about.

She is really great with Rilynn and Brady. She spends more time with Brady as Rilynn is in school, which is nice because he gets his mandarin exposure from her while Rilynn gets hers in school. She wants to learn more english and she also wants to teach Brady mandarin, so hearing them speak to each other is quite entertaining. Every evening when she leaves she yells to Brady, "Ming Tian Jian" (which means- See you tomorrow) and everyday Brady yells "Min tin tin".. LOL, he's trying!! It's really cute :)

One night we were struggling with the new chopsticks I had bought for the kids, so Brady yells out for Susan. She comes over to help them and then says, "no good".. Next day she shows up with a Thomas the Train training chopsticks :) She wouldn't let me pay her, only said "gift for children".. It was really nice!

She also has been bringing in some food for Brady and I to try. She says, "Chinese food" and then we eat, not really knowing what it is.. LOL.. I am probably the pickiest eater ever so this is good and bad for me :) At least it's forcing me to try new foods, but have yet found something that I've liked! We had some sort of bread with a bright purple filling, thought maybe fruity? Nope, a violet potato as her translator said.. Yeah very blah!! I tried offering her some of my Mac and Cheese with a grilled cheese sandwich, but she declined :) "Chinese people no eat cheese!" LOL.. I could not live without my cheese!! Eeeeeekkk..

However, last week she was soooo awesome!! After last Friday I really felt that she is now becoming a part of our family and truly cares about us and the kids, which is wonderful!

Chad didn't get home until Saturday and Rilynn was up all night Thursday with the flu. She was still sick all day Friday and I was exhausted. Susan made a phone call and next I know she comes over with a bowl of olive oil and rubs it on Rilynn's inside arms and on her tummy, which she told me was to help the nausea. She sat next to her and rubbed her feet and arms. She boiled some water for her to drink (hot water supposed to help?). It was so great to see her being so caring! She usually works from 11:30-4:30, so when it was quiet at 4:30 I figured she had left for the day. Next I know she comes back and heads to the kitchen to make Rilynn some rice soup. Rilynn wasn't feeling it, but Brady ate a whole bowl full!! Next I know it's 7:30 and she had stayed while I got the kids ready for bed. Then she tells me, "You, go shower".. LOL.. Thanks, but no thanks, I'm good :) I pretty much told her to leave and go home or who knows how long she would have stayed! She then even told me to call her tomorrow if I needed her, which was Saturday. Thankfully Chad came home on Saturday afternoon because next I ended up with the flu and then Brady.. It was a rough weekend!!

Chinese New Year is coming up on Feb 3, which is custom to give your ayi a bonus. The bonus is usually a one month salary, has to end in an even number (8 is best), and to be given in a red envelope. We also need to give our driver one too.. Thankfully, I have the internet for all the help related to their customs!

Our ayi, Sun Xia (aka Susan)

Officially Shanghai Celebrities..

OK, so not even close, but we are in a Shanghai magazine :)

There is a couple free english magazines here that I like to read, one being Shanghai Family. Rilynn brought one home from school this week and I was almost to the end when I spotted a pic of me, and then Rilynn, and then Chad, and then Brady, all in the same ad. The ad was for the Christmas Party we had went too.. LOL.. Not really expecting to see that!

Definitely not the best pictures, but still pretty cool!

Can you find us?

Staying caught up...

Trying really hard to stay pretty current with my updates, or else I will get really behind :)

We've seen these ropes hanging outside our windows on and off for the last week or so.. Well, thankfully Brady was able to see the cleaners.. LOL.. We were skyping with auntie Val at the time so got to see them too.. Obviously we are easily amused!!

Seriously though, we are so high up and they were only using suction cups and sitting on a seat that looked like a wooden swing.. No thank you!!


Val took this picture from Skype- Kinda looks freaky like someone is trying to break in!! HA

Brady enjoying the view :)

On Monday we met up at the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium with 3 other moms and their toddlers. It was pretty cool. It had 3 floors and a large underwater tunnel. We were members at Underwater Adventures in the MOA, so this was right up Brady's alley. He loved it! Also helped that he had his new friends with him too :)

The escalator went under the tunnel.. Again, easily amused :)

All the kids loved the scuba diver!

Last night we were invited over to our friends house from New Zealand. They are in Building 1 and we are in 7, so just down the road. Had some a great conversation and a wonderful dinner. Tried lamb for the first time, and will probably be the last :) She also ordered 2 pizzas as backup since she already knew what kind of eater I was!! Ha. However, I DID eat everything on my plate! Holly is really great with the kids and they were having a blast. Next thing I know it's 9:30! Ooops.. Chad came home at 11pm, went to bed, then up and gone at 6am to head into the office. He left from there to fly over to Japan for a couple days, then back here on Saturday.

And last, but not least- My mini photo shoot :)

Tomorrow night Rilynn's school is having a big Chinese New Year celebration. The kids and I are going to check it out. More to come on that :)

Lost in translation..

Before we moved here I was in contact with several other moms who had done this trip with their family. I just couldn't understand how they all needed a driver and an ayi (cook and clean) while they stayed home and had their kids in school... If you know me, then you can understand that I may be a tad OCD regarding cleanliness, so I thought no way would that be me.. What in the world would I do with my day???

Well, here is an example of why everything takes soooooo much more time here. This is what my day yesterday consisted of.. Also of note, Chad has been gone since Sunday and will be gone all week...

-Wake up 6:30am and get ready for day
-Get kids up and both ready
-Grab a quick bite to eat
- Receive text from ayi, "I can have day off, OK?" Not really the best way of asking, but fine..
-Mr. Hou picks us up at 7:45
-Drive 15 minutes to drop Rilynn off at school.
-Brady stays in car, I run in with Rilynn- They sanitize our hands and take our temperature (forehead scanner) at the secured entrance.
-It's 8:15, but we're not meeting up until 9:00, so it makes no sense to go home.
-Needed to look at paint, head over to B&Q (China's version of Home Depot) - Closed
-Need some stuff for our Thailand trip, head over to Decatholon (Huge sporting goods store) - Closed- Mind you that I am getting Brady in/out of his carseat each time.. UGGH.
-Then I remember that Pines (good import store) opens at 8:30. Head over there, found some chili and shredded cheese- only came to about $15 for both, crazy! Thankfully remembered to bring my reusable bag or I would have to pay for a bag. Every store here charges for a bag and unfortunately for me I always seems to forget my own..
-It's 9:00, head over to Slice (great kid friendly coffee place)- Every other Tuesday, moms from one of the message boards meet for coffee from 9-11. This was our 3rd time going and today was the most people that I have seen. We probably had ~13 moms with kids there. Met a lot of new people and some people that I've already met. A really cool thing here is that I am getting to meet people from all over the world! Talked with some moms from Germany, India, Canada, UK, New Zealand, and all over the US.. And along with that is that Brady was able to play with all of their kids too :) Give a boy some cars and a DVD player and he has instant friends! LOL
-It's about 11:20, where did that time go?? Needed to go to B&Q again to check out the paint. 3 other moms without drivers were heading in the same direction. We all piled into our van, but then decided to eat lunch first. Ate at Pistolera, MMMMM, Mexican food :) Look at Brady- notice the blank stare and then the stink. Poopy diaper. Great! Absolutely dread changing his diaper when we are out, or for that matter, dread when I have to go. I think I've only seem one changing table here and you never know what kind of toilet you are going to find... Grab a diaper. Nope, nothing in there.. UGGGHH. Do I let him go comando and chance it or pray for turds. LOL. Turds.. Use mommy thinking and empty them in toilet, and voila, clean diaper :) Time to pay.. Our food came to 155RMB. Open wallet, hmmm.. Am I missing some money?!? Pull out all my smalls bills and thankfully had just enough! I was never a cash person so I'm still learning, but I really need to do better as most places only accept cash. Then I remembered that I had given my driver some money to mail auntie Val's birthday card..
- All pile back in car and head over to B&Q store. Say good-bye to friends and Brady and I venture into the store. Get about 10ft and already have people coming up to us, saying something. No idea what, so just smile and keep walking. Walked around store, tons of stares and chatting, but still cannot find the paint. Finally, found it. Employee walks up, I ask, "English?" He says little.. Yay!! Ask about VOC in paint, already lost him... Look around to find those letters somewhere.. Found- say "low".. Blank stare... Back and forth, finally it clicked. Pointed to a can.. OK- now finishes- say "no flat".. Blank stare again.. Walking up and down aisle looking at all the cans, and some even have english, but unfortunately all say flat. UGGH.. About 15 minutes later, finally found an Eggshell one.. WOOHOO!!! Now the price, 440RMB (~$75) for one gallon!!! OK, I just want a little color in the living room, as the flat white walls with light marble flooring is looking just a tad too sterile.. Now on to the color.. Sample sheets are gone.. Great. Do some pointing, have 2 employees with me now, just want to bring something home.. No luck, but pull out a master color key.. No help there. Alright, maybe I could buy a smaller can or buy one to try and see if I could return it if I didn't like it.. Getting no where with the 2 employees. Pull out IPhone translator- look up "return"- still not understanding.. Try a couple other words, then told "Stay here".. Text Mr. Hou to see if he can help me. He comes in and I am trying to explain to him. He speaks some english, but apparently after this, not a lot :) I speak very slowly- Buy paint, gestures- paint a wall, translator- no like, return? The three of them do a lot of chatting and then we start moving. Walk past the service desk.. HMMMM.. Head over to consult desk.. We are told to wait 30 minutes.. Ummm, it's now 1:30 and Brady needs a nap. Now we are joined by the original employee who apparently went to find someone who spoke English. So I have the lady behind the desk, 4 employees, and my driver all speaking in Chinese.. Have no clue what on earth they are talking about. Back and forth, back and forth, end up being handed a business card?!?! Not even going to ask.. Need to leave. So, after all of that I left with what I'm assuming is a painters contact info :) The problem is that even if they don't understand you, they just nod, so you assume they understand.. Hence, our driver, he has never said he doesn't understand, just smiles and says, "OK"..
- Finally, drive back home.. Mr. Hou tells me that my manilla envelope (which contained paper cards the kids made) costed 188RMB ($28!!!!) to mail.. UM, what?!@? Whatever, it's done. So, Val you better cherish those cards :)
- Home- YAY!- Throw Brady into bed, it's now 2:00.. Hear him playing for awhile then finally silence. Ahhhhh.. Oh wait, it's already 2:45. Crap, no ayi to leave him with.. Wake him up and hop in van to get Rilynn.
- Pick her up at 3:15, crazy madhouse with all of the cars waiting outside the gate.
- Brady was good today and they both love the playground in our compound. Off to playground we go. Need to stop at leasing office first. It's time for our monthly allowance to be picked up :)
- Into the hot playground we go. Just last week they gutted it and put in a new setup, which is nice. However, the temperature still needs some work. It's busy and the kids find some new friends to run around with.. Pull out my phone, Sudoku.. Ahh, relax :) It's now getting close to dinnertime so we need to go.. However, now some Americans with 2 little girls walked in, so of course Rilynn begged to stay :) Talked to mom who was from MI and another one was from Ireland.. Great meeting new people, but we needed to leave. Unfortunately for me, Brady was not in the mood to leave yet. So, full temper tantrum emerges, carry him out, kicking and screaming.. LOVELY.. It's now dark outside.. We walk home.
- It's close to 6, decide to have leftover pizza from Pizza Hut :)
- Shower for Rilynn first, then Brady..
- Tuck them into bed and thankfully no fussing..
- 8:15- AHHHHHHH, relax.. Played on computer a bit- Just today was invited to a baby shower next week, playdate on Saturday, and another museum playdate on Monday... There is definitely no shortage of people here to get together with :)
- 10pm, off to bed..

There is no such thing as a 'quick trip' anywhere I'm finding out... No Target runs. No one stop shopping. So, now I can understand what they all did with their days :)

I thought this post would be fitting for some random photos that I've taken.. Hence, the lost in translation title...

MMM.. Jellyfish head.. I took this today at a store called Metro (warehouse type- Sam's Club). I also took one of Donkey Meat, but didn't turn out :)

At museum- Funny thing was there were only about 3 kids in line :)

Chinese version of The Thinker :)

Bookmarks I bought for the kids-

Rilynn's name is pronounced Rui-Lynn

Brady's is Boo-rod-ee

LOL.. Close :)

Family Day..

We had a great family 3 day weekend. Since Saturday was a holiday Chad was off of work today. It was also Rilynn's last day before going back to school tomorrow.

We went to the Wild Insect Kingdom and to the Shanghai World Financial Center today. It was nice to actually experience some new sightings with the whole family :)

A little history- The Financial Center (also known as the bottle opener building) was built in 2008. It was awarded in 2009 with a Guinness World Record for having the tallest observatory deck. It has 101 floors and is 492m high. The Center is the Shanghai Stock Exchanges and also includes office buildings, a hotel, stores, and restaurants.

It was kinda spendy having our whole family go all the way up, but in the end it was worth it! For all of us it was 450RMB (~$68)..

We were brought up to 94th floor first via a very modern lighted elevator. Almost felt like we were in a sci-fi movie.. Looked around, then headed up to our final destination, the 100th floor! It was so crazy to be that high up. We were 474m up in the sky and had glass underneath us to make it feel like we were walking on the sky, or as Brady was doing "flying" through the sky, since he got down on his tummy to look out the glass :) We found out today for sure that our children are NOT afraid of heights! Chad and I will definitely be coming back at night to see the lights.

Picture to give you a perspective of how tall the building looks on ground level

Here we are:) Look by our feet and you can see the glass underneath us.



You are here :)


Walking across the glass floor


100th floor!


The Oriental Pearl Tower- Had held the title of tallest observatory deck back in '95. Is still the tallest tower in Asia and 3rd tallest in the world.


Jin Mao Tower- In '99 was tallest observatory deck and tallest building in Shanghai, but was passed by the financial center

Even though it wasn't the clearest day, the views were amazing!! It felt like we were up in a plane we were so high up.

Nearby was the Wild Insect Kinddom. Had heard it was worth checking out. They had all sorts of different animals- A sea lion, monkeys, koi fish, spiders, snakes, bugs, lizards, and crocodiles. They also had a petting zoo, consisting of goats and bunnies.. LOL. I may have nightmares of things crawling over me during my sleep, but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves :)

This was different. There were goldfish in the water and you could pay 10RMB ($1.50) and you get a net and an hour to catch and keep as many goldfish as you wanted. You would walk out onto the rocks and catch your fish. Needless to say, we did not participate in this activity :)

The petting zoo :)

Stare down between Brady and the frog :)

Had to throw this one in too... Rilynn and Baby modeling their matching PJ's from Santa :)

I'm hoping for a more laid back week coming up.. This weekend we began potty training Brady and it just doesn't seem to work too well being away from home.. Spent 530RMB ($80) on supplies so he better get it this time around!!! LOL

Miss you all!!

Happy New Year!!

Since it's a new year I figured I better get caught up with our recent outtings from last year :)

The kids and I went to check out Yuyuan Gardens, however we didn't make it to the garden part, just the bazaar section. There were streets and alleys of vendors hangling us to buy something.. Kids were a little annoyed at first, but learned to tune it out quickly :) We will definitely be going back for the garden part, we were there all day and didn't even make it that far..

Can you find the Starbucks and McDonalds? Thought it kind of cool seeing those within the Chinese buildings..

A dragon turtle? Not quite sure on that one :)

We were drawn to the strong sense of incense and crowds of people. We had to pay 10RMB to enter the Temple of the Gods. The kids and I first just sat on the side and watched them worship quietly. It was interesting to see that side of the culture.. It was a weekday midday and there were people of all ages there.. They had different buildings with each housing a different god for them to worship.

The statues were huge!

They would go and purchase the incense sticks, pick a fire pit, light them, and do their bowing and praying in the middle of the temple.

A couple videos from the temples. Really enjoyed experiencing this part of the culture...

Right after this pic was taken began our mob of onlookers. We were in an open plaza and they had Christmas music playing. The kids were dancing around and next thing I know we are surrounded by a large circle of people watching them and taking pictures. They even went as far as picking the kids up to have their pic taken with them!! This is a part that I just can't get used too.. I couldn't imagine doing this in the US..

Streets of the bazaar

We met a family from New Zealand who just moved here last month and live in our same compound. They have a 10 year old girl who the kids just love to play with!! So, we've had a couple playdates with them :) Our first one was at the Shanghai Zoo.. It was a gorgeous day and they were hardly any people around, so it was great!!! Overall, most of the animals looked good and well taken care of.. However, the elephants were by far the worst, they looked so sad and sickly :(

Zoo standards definitely not the same in China!!! This picture looks pretty bad with the kids and lions in the back!! LOL

Kids with Holly from NZ

LOVE technology~ We were able to watch the Vikings game live last week, although it was Tuesday morning for us :)

We met up with a group of moms and kids for a day at the Science and Tech Museum. Brady loved it so it was nice to have Rilynn be able to check it out too :) After the museum we headed down to the underground fake markets. It was a fun day, but very exhausting!! We were gone from 9-4:30 and then I had to hurry up to get ready for another Moms Night Out :) Chad came home and off I went with a couple other moms here to meet up with more. We had 12 people show up. It was a lot of fun and plus I had a couple GREAT chocolate martinis!!! And this time I managed to come home with my wallet. LOL

A robot drew pictures of the kids

Sitting in our melon getting ready to be eaten :)

Here we go! Open up :)

Only in China....This ride is a small roller coaster type, where you sit on a piece of fruit and go through the ride that takes you through the digestive process. It's all in Chinese and quite comical, especially the ending!!! LOL.. They ever take your picture right after you see this :) Enjoy!!

Since Rilynn has been home for break I am letting her pick some places that she would like to visit. It's hard for her to hear and see pics of where Brady and I go while she is at school. Unfortunately, we didn't had much luck with the playgrounds that she wanted. The first was in our compound and we walked over to find out it was closed d/t renovation. Then yesterday she really wanted to check the one out where Brady was crashing into the mats. It took awhile to get there and then we found out that one was also being renovated!! UGGGH, poor girl :( Thankfully, there was an arcade right next to it that the kids had fun at..

They loved this game!!! Rilynn got 3 strikes in 5 frames :)

We rang in the new year last night by eating at an AWESOME mexican restaurant, Pistolera.. Chad was in heaven :) Then bought a bag full of DVD's from a vendor next door.. His movies were only 5RMB each, which is less than a buck each! Home to watch them and the kids didn't even last through the first one.. Chad and I made it until midnight and were able to see some fireworks from our bedroom overlooking the river. It was nice.. Looking forward to see some the celebrations of the Chinese New Year which is in a month..

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!