First few days

The first few days of somewhere new, there is always some first impressions...

The bugs are different here. If you really look at the bugs on the windows, in the house, on the car, on the ground, etc, you'll notice they are mostly small. But the bugs in the trees sound BIG...and there are thousands of them! Next to our house, there are many very tall tress lining a canal and there is the unmistakable sound of cicadas - THOUSANDS of them. It is very hot here and they are buzzing like crazy! Then, they will quiet down and something must fly through there to stir them all up again, and the sound is quite loud. Now, if you walk to our local grocery store, there are trees lining the street the whole way as it is a planned community. But, these trees next to the road are your more typical and moderately tall trees. The bugs in those sound different. You can still hear cicadas, but you can also hear other bugs that sound even bigger and louder than the cicadas. I have yet to see a really big bug closer to the ground though. I'm sure if I walk through one of the many crops in the outlying areas, I would find a few. :)

The kids are definitely absorbing all the new sights and sounds. They look enthralled as they look out the window of the car. We saw at least two frogs tonight and it was interesting to see them notice the difference in the size of the frogs here versus frogs back home. They really like looking at the frogs. :) And they MUST be growing by leaps and bounds, because just today BOTH boys' shirts and shoes were too small for them! We had to run out an buy new shoes for both of them! Their shoes fit fine yesterday. Isn't it amazing how quickly they can grow?

Speaking of kids...

Kids here hold a certain celebrity-ism. Chinese people absolutely adore children! They especially love foreign kids. They stop and stand around the kids for as long as you let them. They want to touch and hold your children. In fact, this is one of the few times I see so many Chinese people at one time, smile for so long. It is a little disconcerting. And even though the focus is on the kids, they are always looking at us as well. I thought I could get away with putting on little or no make-up while I was here since, heck, I don't know anyone. But, I'm not so sure. haha If people are going to be constantly looking at me by association with my kids, then I may feel the pressure to look my best. For most of you who know me well, you know how I hate that! hahaha

Brandon immediately attached himself to May (our previous hostess) and wants to know if she can live with us. Brandon calls her May-May. Ryan, however, managed to give a [hard] stare down to a chinese boy about his age and made the boy cry. He even put a forward lean into it for extra imtimidation. I swear, if he had been wearing his cowboy hat, he would have been living up to his very "American" image.

I noticed the water in our house has a yellow tinge to it, so we are making a visit to Culligan a top priority.

A few things I wish I had thought of to pack or get before I left (I can't believe I didn't think of everything!): Large (standard) trash can liners, a translator (with english written on it), a GPS unit, my personal preference of brand name tampons, an iPod waterproof case, an iPod arm band (you do a LOT of walking here), a memory foam mattress pad, and I'm sure there is going to be a LOT more things I will come across very soon.

Everything here is smaller. Smaller trash bags for smaller trash cans. Smaller portions at restaurants. Smaller shopping carts, smaller cars, smaller people, the countertops are lower, smaller paper towel rolls, etc. We went to Ikea and got a bite to eat with a drink. The drinks were 8 oz - no refills. Excuse me? I'm American...where is your 32 oz-ers? haha I could hardly believe it...8 oz!

Don't expect anything to be ice cold. You have to ask for ice all the time. The soda machine at Ikea didn't even offer ice! The refrigerators in stores everywhere offer you a semi-cold soda pop. Definitely something I'm going to have to get used to here.

China is a "green" country. Be prepared to bring your own bags to the grocery stores to hold your stuff at checkout. Paper plates, bowls, etc are somewhat difficult to find.

This is definitely the place to buy a rice cooker. They have the BMW's of rice cookers here.

Don't expect to find clothes dryers. We have only found ONE stand alone clothes dryer and it is about $1300 by itself! Needless to say, we are researching other options at this time.

Food for thought...

Remember when soda cans used to have those pull tabs? Well, also try and remember that when they did have pull tabs, the soda cans fit your mouth differently. Imagine this. There must be engineers out there somewhere designing soda can tops to fit your mouth better. Because, if you'll notice, that today's modern pop up tab has a different feel that inevitably feels better because you don't stand around thinking about it. That is, until you again have older versions of soda pop cans and go, "Hmmm. This doesn't fit my mouth as well and, thus, I'm not enjoying it as much." Expect to find this kind of thing here. Granted, I have no idea if other parts of the world are also experiencing older styles of soda pop tops. My own experience is limited. Really. :)

These are just a few of the thoughts, impressions and observations I have had in the first few days of living in Shanghai. It's all about perspective, isn't it? I will be curious to know what I will have to say in a couple of years here. Only 24 MONTHS for my friends out there...23 1/2, really. ;)