Lets Go Kiddo

It’s been a while, I know, but after weeks of settling in, setting up, typhoons, life, and everything else I took a few days to just not.  Like NOT!  I settled into a groove, if you can dig on that.  With Kiddo and J in school, I could just do me.  Go to the grocery, have an afternoon coffee and sit on the sofa, play a video game, read a book, or just veg out on TV for a while.  I needed it.   Speaking of coffee— we decided to ditch the auto drip in favor of a pour over pot.  It’s been great so far.  Delicious.  We’re both (J and I) getting used to it a bit, but we are really starting to dial it in and make a wonderful cup of coffee.  Besides that, J can get up and do her coffee thing and I can snag a half cup to get me going, but then, I can make my own and it takes about as long as using the electric kettle to boil water.  The drip part of it only takes a min or two, so it’s quick and easy. To stay with the happy mood, we’ve a...

I’m going to keep this brief and just say that Typhoon Bebinca was an experience.  We survived and there was no major damage to the apartment.  The grounds took a beating, however.   I was a LOT of wind.  The sliding doors to our patio rattled a few times pretty hard, but nothing of consequence.  We just kind of sat around as a family and played with Kiddo and kept things as normal as we could with a typhoon raging outside.  We got lucky— The path was predicted (about 24 hours previous) to come and just smack us, but it kept south and we just took a glancing blow.  Landfall was right around 09:00h, but by 15:00h, Kiddo got to go over to her new friend Y’s place and play there a bit before we had a very yummy chicken stir fry that I made.  It was simple, but I was prepared for a much worse storm, so it was just using up what we had in the house.   Here's some pics and vids, but there’s going to be more below that. ***** OK, part two. ...

I’ve done tornados.  I’ve done earthquakes.  Looks like I, now, get to do hurricane.  Technically, it’s a typhoon, but one in the same at the end of the day.  Wouldn’t ya know it’s coming to slap Shanghai on the first holiday break we get in the city.   Worry not, constant (and not constant) readers…. We are well stocked and provisioned.  We have bottled water and plenty of food in house.  We have a gad range and a lighter, so even without power, we can cook food.  It might not be gourmet and it might not be elegant, but it will be edible.  Noodles and ramen if all else fails, but we do have ice and insulated bags and we can make that work for up to 48 hours needs be as well. Part of me is a little nervous about this storm that’s coming.  Part of me just accepts it.  I can’t sharpie it away from Shanghai, so all we can do is roll with it and make the best of what will come.  We are on the 6th floor, so we have little chance...

It’s Saturday here, but the girls have school today.  However, it is a 3-day weekend for them as it is the Autumn Festival here on Monday and Tuesday, so they have those days off and next week is only a 3 day week.  It’s a give and take, right?!?! I took today off.  I know what you’re thinking… Everyday is a day off.  Somewhat true, but I do manage the house and that’s not always the easiest task as an expat.  Besides the language barriers, there are also the cultural barriers to contend with; then you can add to that the how, where, and why of expat life.  I can’t just run to Target if something is needed.  I gotta figure that out.  Then, there is Kiddo to and from school, meals, laundry, cleaning, et al.  It gets busy.  Trust me on that. Also, this week has been busy for me.  On top of getting a Chinese phone set up with as many of the apps as I can think of, we also got our IKEA order delivered.  So, that means I’ve spen...

After almost a month in Shanghai we are finally starting to get some traction and putting the pieces together to make our space a home.  It’s been an effort and I can’t thank J or Kiddo enough for their patience and perseverance in doing this as a family.  It’s not been easy.  There have been a few meltdowns; from all of us.  Nothing major, but J and I have had our moments of just having enough of enough.  Kiddo, for her part, has had to do all the new stuff - new friends, new school, new house, new bed, new everything - and she’s been a trooper as well. There’s still some building to be done before it’s done, but for the most part, it is done.  There are little holes and things that need to be filled in, but we will get to that when we finally finalize where and how it all fits together.  I’d hate to get a lamp or a rug or something like that and then decide we want the room to face this way instead of that and suddenly those little parts don’t fit ...

The new washer and dryer unit was delivered and we got that up and running to tackle laundry mountain this weekend.  Then, Kiddo’s bed was delivered and her and I got to building it.  I needed J to help with a few parts, but for the most of the 3 hours it took to build, Kiddo just hung out and helped as needed.  Mostly it was passing me parts and screws and the like, but she didn’t get impatient or push me on “when’s it going to be done” and just hung out and helped.  With the exception of lunch, she was with me and we just had on tunes and built the thing. As you can see, she was over the moon happy and excited.  So far she is loving the thing and has SO many plans for the underside of it and how it can be a den for friends, a shop, a restaurant, a hotel, a hideout for her new friend Y and her.  Y, I should note, lives in the LQ complex and they play most nights.  They’re a nice family and the girls are about the same age so it’s nice that she has ...