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.