Well, we have almost made it through our first week! The biggest adjustment has been getting used to the weather- it is like being in a sauna all the time. Once you get used to the fact that you will sweat like a pig everytime you walk out the door, it really isn't that bad! I have resorted to charades and pictionary to get things done but the good news is that we hired an Ayi this week (chinese for auntie). She is a housekeeper/cook/nanny. She will work Monday - Saturday 8-5pm at a salary of $240 per month. I felt really guilty and tried to only have her work M-F but she insisted. I think she thought I would pay her less if she didn't work on Saturday even though I would have paid her the same. I am so excited b/c she will do our laundry & grocery shopping too.
I must stress the fact that I said "almost" made it through the first week because last night was the biggest drama of all. The carbon monoxide issue has become a huge problem. We have had the gas company here 3 times to fix it which obviously hasn't worked. Finally, our detector had really high levels last night so we left the apartment and in the meantime, accidentally locked ourselves out. So, imagine us trying to communicate to the security guards that we were locked out, needed a ladder to get back in, and in the meantime our apartment was full of carbon monoxide. Plus, it was 100 degrees outside and the kids were literally dripping w/ sweat. We called the two chinese friends we have that speak english and they both left their dinner plans and came right over. The whole thing escalated into the fire department, the police, the security guards, the landlord, the gas company, and our friends in a huge shouting match. When we got back inside, their were 20 people gathered into our tiny kitchen arguing about the gas leak. And picture throwing Grace into the mix on top of everything else! Bottom line- there is a leaky pipe and they need to tear down our kitchen wall to fix it so we have decided to break our lease and look for a new apartment next week. We are disappointed because we really did like our location. Oh well! Life in China... more to come!

Up and running!

Here it is- the first blog entry from Shanghai. This will be quite an accomplishment since the internet page display from my side is in Chinese! I thought I would have a big dramatic story about the 14 hour flight but actually the kids were awesome (yes, even Grace). The biggest drama of the trip was trying to manage 5 suitcases, 2 carseats, and a huge stroller between my mom and myself. This is day 2 for us so I don't really have a lot to report yet. The apartment is fine but although it is brand new it was obviously built in a hurry (as most apartments are around here). Some fun things we have dealt with already- the stove is not hooked up, the fuses kept blowing when we would turn on the AC, and the scariest thing- our carbon monoxide detector continues to register between 30 & 70 which is not good. 70 is the mark where the alarm goes off so it is pretty obvious that something isn't hooked up correctly. More to come (if we don't die in the middle of the night of course).

Our neighborhood is pretty nice and we are within walking distance to the Carrefour which is like Walmart. The worst part is that Shanghai is one of the most polluted cities in the world so the walk isn't always pleasant- i.e. dust and debris flying around in the air. And for those of you that I have told about split pants- at Carrefour last night I actually saw a baby sitting in the cart in split pants with no diaper! So basically bare butt on the cart. Gotta love it! But I promise to do an entire post about the split pants in the near future. Enjoy the pics of our apartment.