I think we finally have an address: (I hope this works)
ERIC AND MARCY YONKER
ROOM 902, BUILDING #8, YANLORD RIVERSIDE GARDEN
388 FURONGJIANG ROAD, CHANGNING DISTRICT
200000 SHANGHAI
CHINA
Here are some things that you might want to read about before sending a letter that I found:
* If you write the recipient (delivery) address in Western characters, leave extra margin on the envelope, package, or postcard:
o at least 3/4 to 1 inch of blank space under the address
o at least 1 1/2 or 2 inches of blank space to the right of the address.
Chinese postal workers may need this space to write delivery information in Chinese.
* Reading a foreign language (English) is hard, so
o Print very clearly.
o ALL CAPITALS is probably clearest. Certainly capitalize the province name (which can be city name also.)
o English abbreviations are often confusing,
unless the abbreviation is the normal or best-known form of the name or term.
Examples of good abbreviations:
+ "IBM" is probably better known than "International Business Machines".
+ "PO Box" is at least as well known as "Post Office Box".
* Most addresses should include both city/town/village and province. For a few large cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjian, Chongking) the city is also the province.
* When mailing from the United States, you may write the address in Chinese,
except that the city, province, and country name must also be given in English.
Exception: Global Express Guaranteed requires the entire address in English.
* "Important Things First?"
o In China, Korea, and Japan, the family name is normally written before the given name ("Smith John", not "John Smith".)
o Inside China, addresses written in Chinese are commonly written in the opposite order from in the West -- largest entity comes first.
However, when dealing with Western foreigners, most Chinese are flexible about these things.
* Address mail to China in blue or black ink--never in red! Writing a name in red is considered inauspicious.
This may be a little fussy, so try not to worry about it too much! I'll let you know if it works once the first piece of mail arrives!
Hear from you soon!
Eric and Marcy
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Our FIRST real Chinese meal
Well...we took the plunge! We knew we would have to be brave and eat the food sooner or later so we decided to give it a try! Eric ordered many things off of the menu, I guess that is what you do here. One person will order many different things to eat off of the menu, for everyone to share. Then they just keep bringing the food. It isn't the same size portions that you get back in the states, much smaller, which is good. So, we just keep trying each thing they bring. Actually, it was all very good! We tried to order more chicken type things or items that sounded like we would like them, but it was all very good. Reese even liked most of it! We found that she really likes chopsticks and will eat most things if we use the chopsticks! Good for us! Check out the size straws that they gave us to drink our pop! We could barely fit it in the cans! I tried to compare it to the chopsticks which is about the normal size of a straw that we use.
One day this week Reese, Cambry and I decided to go for a walk around the hotel area and do a little shopping! Mostly we were looking for fresh fruits and vegetables that we could use to make up Cambry's food. We see these types of bikes and wagons a lot. This one stopped to show his granddaughter Reese's hair! (Imagine that!) Isn't this little girl cute! This other bike and wagon is loaded down with cardboard and whatnot. I asked Eric's boss one day what they do with all of the cardboard, or plastics, or wood, or iron, or whatever else they seem to find. Every time we drive down the road or go for a walk we see these men taking apart boxes or picking up paper and then once they have a full (very full) load, off they go. He told me that this is how they make their living. They collect these things like cardboard, to recycle them. They get paid for recycling these materials. If you were to look around the streets of Shanghai you would see many people doing this.
This is a picture of their brooms! Reese thought these were neat! We have seen many people sweeping with them and I think they actually work better than ours at home. At least on the outdoor type sweeping they do!
These are just some more shots of the Carrefour (grocery store) that I said that I would get!
We, well for sure Eric, have been just blown away by the types of cars that people drive around here! He is a major car guy and loves to look them up online to see how fast they go, types of engines, and whatever else guys like about cars. These next pictures were literally taken from our taxi in one 20 minute drive. Really these are the types of cars that people drive in Shanghai! They must be making some major coin! Once again we asked Eric's boss if the people driving them could really afford them, because back home it seems like many people take out loans to pay for really expensive cars! He said that all of these people can afford them! He said that there are many, many rich people in Shanghai! So for you people who are not car people and don't know what types of cars these are here is the list of them:
Mercedes (tons of them in all different types of styles) this is a two-door hard top convertible.
BMW's
PORSCHES (two-door and the new four-door) and both time women were driving the four-doors :) I'm sure they were the ones that paid for it ;), Cayenne style too!
Audi's (I think you see at least three Audi's everytime you look out your window. If I'm not mistaken it is their number one selling car here. You see all types, A-4, A-6, A-8, A-8L Q5, Q7 wow, so many more.
Maserati's- two-door and four-door
Lamborghini's
and many more! I wouldn't know some of these from the other but I have learned a lot during the last few weeks as Eric will point them out!
We did manage to make Cambry some baby food from the fruits and veggies they have here. So far we have made green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, regular potatoes, and carrots. We did end up purchasing a food processor and a steamer. Who knew you could make baby food from a hotel room! Very easy! She is a very happy baby!
Wednesday is the big MOVING day! We finally have a moving day and we can't be more excited! Eric said that he felt like he could actually feel the prayers because so many things have been just falling into place lately.The furniture is all being delivered on Tuesday and they gave us the go ahead to move in on Wednesday morning! It might take a few trips but to have a place that we can call "home" will be nice! We ended up with one of the most generous landlords. We were in previous negotiations with landlords and had difficulty getting $15,000rmb furnishing allowances and with this landlord we were originally given $30,000rmb and he ended up spending $50,000rmb without batting an eye. Now mind you, he keeps all of the furniture but he was extremely generous and really wanted us to be happy! He even took us out for a five-star restaurant!! It might have been one of our nicest meals ever, it may have been because it was a steak restaurant to boot! They reserved a private room and all! I must admit, it was a little awkward trying to eat at this fancy restaurant with two small children. I think that after counting, there were seven courses. It took a very long time (almost two hours) to eat. The young lady in the photo is his secretary who speaks good English and she said that she gives us a lot of credit for taking our kids with us shopping for furniture and out to eat! I told her that we really don't have a choice because we do not have family around to watch them! She said that most people do not take their children out and that they stay home! I AGREE it would me MUCH EASIER! But what can you do right! Believe me, they are getting used to being dragged around! Soon enough we can just play, play, play! (Mom, we had some ice cream with our dessert that made me feel just like home, it tasted like our "homemade ice cream"! So good!)
Next week we sign Reese up for Pre-school and she will start on April 11. Her school is located next to a zoo and the school works closely with the zoo so hopefully she will get to see many animals!
Just an FYI for those who wanted to know, Shanghai is located almost directly in the middle of both of the recent earthquakes here in Asia. We need to continue to keep them in our prayers as many are without their loved ones, homes, water, food, and some are even fearing radiation.
Thanks again for all of your prayers, God continues to watch over us and protect us!
Eric, Marcy, Reese, and Cambry
One day this week Reese, Cambry and I decided to go for a walk around the hotel area and do a little shopping! Mostly we were looking for fresh fruits and vegetables that we could use to make up Cambry's food. We see these types of bikes and wagons a lot. This one stopped to show his granddaughter Reese's hair! (Imagine that!) Isn't this little girl cute! This other bike and wagon is loaded down with cardboard and whatnot. I asked Eric's boss one day what they do with all of the cardboard, or plastics, or wood, or iron, or whatever else they seem to find. Every time we drive down the road or go for a walk we see these men taking apart boxes or picking up paper and then once they have a full (very full) load, off they go. He told me that this is how they make their living. They collect these things like cardboard, to recycle them. They get paid for recycling these materials. If you were to look around the streets of Shanghai you would see many people doing this.
This is a picture of their brooms! Reese thought these were neat! We have seen many people sweeping with them and I think they actually work better than ours at home. At least on the outdoor type sweeping they do!
These are just some more shots of the Carrefour (grocery store) that I said that I would get!
We, well for sure Eric, have been just blown away by the types of cars that people drive around here! He is a major car guy and loves to look them up online to see how fast they go, types of engines, and whatever else guys like about cars. These next pictures were literally taken from our taxi in one 20 minute drive. Really these are the types of cars that people drive in Shanghai! They must be making some major coin! Once again we asked Eric's boss if the people driving them could really afford them, because back home it seems like many people take out loans to pay for really expensive cars! He said that all of these people can afford them! He said that there are many, many rich people in Shanghai! So for you people who are not car people and don't know what types of cars these are here is the list of them:
Mercedes (tons of them in all different types of styles) this is a two-door hard top convertible.
BMW's
PORSCHES (two-door and the new four-door) and both time women were driving the four-doors :) I'm sure they were the ones that paid for it ;), Cayenne style too!
Audi's (I think you see at least three Audi's everytime you look out your window. If I'm not mistaken it is their number one selling car here. You see all types, A-4, A-6, A-8, A-8L Q5, Q7 wow, so many more.
Maserati's- two-door and four-door
Lamborghini's
and many more! I wouldn't know some of these from the other but I have learned a lot during the last few weeks as Eric will point them out!
We did manage to make Cambry some baby food from the fruits and veggies they have here. So far we have made green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, regular potatoes, and carrots. We did end up purchasing a food processor and a steamer. Who knew you could make baby food from a hotel room! Very easy! She is a very happy baby!
Wednesday is the big MOVING day! We finally have a moving day and we can't be more excited! Eric said that he felt like he could actually feel the prayers because so many things have been just falling into place lately.The furniture is all being delivered on Tuesday and they gave us the go ahead to move in on Wednesday morning! It might take a few trips but to have a place that we can call "home" will be nice! We ended up with one of the most generous landlords. We were in previous negotiations with landlords and had difficulty getting $15,000rmb furnishing allowances and with this landlord we were originally given $30,000rmb and he ended up spending $50,000rmb without batting an eye. Now mind you, he keeps all of the furniture but he was extremely generous and really wanted us to be happy! He even took us out for a five-star restaurant!! It might have been one of our nicest meals ever, it may have been because it was a steak restaurant to boot! They reserved a private room and all! I must admit, it was a little awkward trying to eat at this fancy restaurant with two small children. I think that after counting, there were seven courses. It took a very long time (almost two hours) to eat. The young lady in the photo is his secretary who speaks good English and she said that she gives us a lot of credit for taking our kids with us shopping for furniture and out to eat! I told her that we really don't have a choice because we do not have family around to watch them! She said that most people do not take their children out and that they stay home! I AGREE it would me MUCH EASIER! But what can you do right! Believe me, they are getting used to being dragged around! Soon enough we can just play, play, play! (Mom, we had some ice cream with our dessert that made me feel just like home, it tasted like our "homemade ice cream"! So good!)
Next week we sign Reese up for Pre-school and she will start on April 11. Her school is located next to a zoo and the school works closely with the zoo so hopefully she will get to see many animals!
Just an FYI for those who wanted to know, Shanghai is located almost directly in the middle of both of the recent earthquakes here in Asia. We need to continue to keep them in our prayers as many are without their loved ones, homes, water, food, and some are even fearing radiation.
Thanks again for all of your prayers, God continues to watch over us and protect us!
Eric, Marcy, Reese, and Cambry
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Some things we see as we travel each day
Just wanted to let you all know that we have signed on an apartment, YEEEAAAAAHHHH! We are more than excited! This one was not furnished so we even get to pick out all of the furniture! How fun! The owner gave us a very generous budget and we can't wait to shop! Hopefully we'll order most of it this weekend and hope that many things are in stock so that we can move in next week! So, we will finally have a place to call "home"! Not sure of the exact address yet because of all of the things that you need to write down in a specific order, but I will let those of you who wanted to know as soon as I find out!
I have been trying to take more pictures of the everyday around here. These are some of the things that we see each day as we ride in the taxi from here and there! I always have my camera ready because there is always so many interesting things going on!
Dad, this one is for you! I know that back when we were little you were always good at packing many, many pumpkins on the blue ford or the pumpkin trailer but...I think this guy might have us beat! UNREAL right? And...he pulls this with his bike! Amazing! Do you think when he takes one strap loose the whole thing comes tumbling down like if you were to open a closet that you packed full of junk? I'm am just amazed each day at what some of these people can pack on their little carts and carry! I will get more pictures of what I'm talking about soon!
These next two are of the Carrefoure that I'm talking about all of the time. It is their grocery store. It is two floors that you have to ride an escalator up on to get to. Yes, their grocery carts magically ride up the escalator too with out sliding or rolling! I'll have to take a pic of that next time we go! These are all sorts of guys waiting to take you for a ride home or wherever when you are done shopping! We will definitely have to try one out sometime. It is a motorized bike that drives it. Too funny!
This is the closest thing that I have ever seen to a "Harley convention" in China! No, just kidding! This is all of the vespas, sprees, elites, scooters, motorcycles, or whatever they are called all parked outside of the Carrefoure! Tons of them!
Yup, believe your eyes! Delivery MCDONALD'S!!!! Can you imagine how fat people in America would be if they couldn't even go and get their own McDonald's?!? Hilarious! Eric and I both bust out laughing when we say the guy ride off on his scooter with his big backpack with someone's order in it! You name it, they deliver it over here! I think that it is quicker than you actually having to get to a subway, ride a subway, then walk to the restaurant, and then return back home. But seriously, McDonald's? Not sure I can do it, notice I didn't say I wouldn't do it, but not sure if I can! By the way, Reese LOVED her nuggets and fries!
AAAAHHHHH, yes boys, Eric said that he is getting his scooter warmed up for all of you when you come to visit us! I'm sure we could fit a few more on, don't you? We have seen up to four on one scooter, a dad, a little kid by his feet, and a mom on the back while feeding her infant! Like I said, these people AMAZE me!
Must say that we had our BEST meal here yet so far, last night! We ate a little known restaurant called PIZZA HUT! Now I know what you are thinking, no it is NOTHING like the ones back home! The atmosphere was quiet and it really looked like fine dining in the restaurant! Not dirty and dingy! The food was DELICIOUS too! First we had soup, two different kinds(potatoe and bacon, and vegetable and boy were they good! (Stay with me, I just said soups, weird I know at Pizza Hut but...) Next we had an appetizer of onion rings! Eric's probably most favorite appetizer besides wings, but they didn't have any wings or breadsticks for that matter which I was hoping for, so we got the onion rings! Again, delicious! Next was pizza, very good, tastes almost as good as the pizza hut at home but their sizes are way smaller here which is ok because we ordered so much food. We finished our meal with two different pieces of ice cream cake. Wow, what a meal! We might have to go back sometime once we are finished working off that meal!
This picture is for all of the retired or close to retired age moms/grandmas. Yes mom(Kathie), Eric said that he could just see you and Bev doing these kind of workouts with these ladies if and when you come. No, just kidding! It is interesting, it seems like many of the older adults get together and workout a lot! This is a picture of a large group of women doing just that! It might be a yoga/meditation type thing! They were chanting and carrying on! At first I said to Reese, "Look, it is a band!" That was because they were banging on their little drums that were next to their hips, but obviously it was that!
The rest of these are just shots of a indoor play place at our complex that we discovered while Eric was negotiating our apartment! Reese couldn't get enough and I'm sure Cambry will love it once she is more mobile. As you can see, we wear poor little Cambry out each day! She even fell asleep in her exersaucer while we were talking to Eric's parents on Skype the other night!
Well...I'll keep taking pictures of the things that we see day to day! Hope you enjoy!
Eric, Marcy, Reese, and Cambry
I have been trying to take more pictures of the everyday around here. These are some of the things that we see each day as we ride in the taxi from here and there! I always have my camera ready because there is always so many interesting things going on!
Dad, this one is for you! I know that back when we were little you were always good at packing many, many pumpkins on the blue ford or the pumpkin trailer but...I think this guy might have us beat! UNREAL right? And...he pulls this with his bike! Amazing! Do you think when he takes one strap loose the whole thing comes tumbling down like if you were to open a closet that you packed full of junk? I'm am just amazed each day at what some of these people can pack on their little carts and carry! I will get more pictures of what I'm talking about soon!
These next two are of the Carrefoure that I'm talking about all of the time. It is their grocery store. It is two floors that you have to ride an escalator up on to get to. Yes, their grocery carts magically ride up the escalator too with out sliding or rolling! I'll have to take a pic of that next time we go! These are all sorts of guys waiting to take you for a ride home or wherever when you are done shopping! We will definitely have to try one out sometime. It is a motorized bike that drives it. Too funny!
This is the closest thing that I have ever seen to a "Harley convention" in China! No, just kidding! This is all of the vespas, sprees, elites, scooters, motorcycles, or whatever they are called all parked outside of the Carrefoure! Tons of them!
Yup, believe your eyes! Delivery MCDONALD'S!!!! Can you imagine how fat people in America would be if they couldn't even go and get their own McDonald's?!? Hilarious! Eric and I both bust out laughing when we say the guy ride off on his scooter with his big backpack with someone's order in it! You name it, they deliver it over here! I think that it is quicker than you actually having to get to a subway, ride a subway, then walk to the restaurant, and then return back home. But seriously, McDonald's? Not sure I can do it, notice I didn't say I wouldn't do it, but not sure if I can! By the way, Reese LOVED her nuggets and fries!
AAAAHHHHH, yes boys, Eric said that he is getting his scooter warmed up for all of you when you come to visit us! I'm sure we could fit a few more on, don't you? We have seen up to four on one scooter, a dad, a little kid by his feet, and a mom on the back while feeding her infant! Like I said, these people AMAZE me!
Must say that we had our BEST meal here yet so far, last night! We ate a little known restaurant called PIZZA HUT! Now I know what you are thinking, no it is NOTHING like the ones back home! The atmosphere was quiet and it really looked like fine dining in the restaurant! Not dirty and dingy! The food was DELICIOUS too! First we had soup, two different kinds(potatoe and bacon, and vegetable and boy were they good! (Stay with me, I just said soups, weird I know at Pizza Hut but...) Next we had an appetizer of onion rings! Eric's probably most favorite appetizer besides wings, but they didn't have any wings or breadsticks for that matter which I was hoping for, so we got the onion rings! Again, delicious! Next was pizza, very good, tastes almost as good as the pizza hut at home but their sizes are way smaller here which is ok because we ordered so much food. We finished our meal with two different pieces of ice cream cake. Wow, what a meal! We might have to go back sometime once we are finished working off that meal!
This picture is for all of the retired or close to retired age moms/grandmas. Yes mom(Kathie), Eric said that he could just see you and Bev doing these kind of workouts with these ladies if and when you come. No, just kidding! It is interesting, it seems like many of the older adults get together and workout a lot! This is a picture of a large group of women doing just that! It might be a yoga/meditation type thing! They were chanting and carrying on! At first I said to Reese, "Look, it is a band!" That was because they were banging on their little drums that were next to their hips, but obviously it was that!
The rest of these are just shots of a indoor play place at our complex that we discovered while Eric was negotiating our apartment! Reese couldn't get enough and I'm sure Cambry will love it once she is more mobile. As you can see, we wear poor little Cambry out each day! She even fell asleep in her exersaucer while we were talking to Eric's parents on Skype the other night!
Well...I'll keep taking pictures of the things that we see day to day! Hope you enjoy!
Eric, Marcy, Reese, and Cambry
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
What a Great Day!!
Today, (Tuesday, March 22) was a FABULOUS day! We got a call from Eric this morning and he told us that our shipment was in and that we could take a taxi to his shop and pick up a few things! Boy was Reese ecstatic! She could not wait! She started immediately making a list of things that she wanted to take back to the hotel with her. I guess you never realize how important some of the things that you have from home, that you are used to having around you are, until you don't have them for awhile. Some of them are just little things like your favorite blanket,stuffed animal(eric's ;0 jk) or a pair of tennis shoes or even a couple of family pictures! Just good things to see again! Cambry was very excited to sit/stand and play in her exersaucer. It seriously was as if it was the first time she saw it EVER! So we took a taxi out to Eric's work. That is a story in itself! I'm amazed at how run-down everything looked. The hotel that we are staying at must be on the very edge of the big city because you only go maybe 2-3 miles west of here and it is flat with fieds. But, you also see so many houses or buildings that are in just shambles. There is also so much trash along the streets. In the city we don't see that at all. So as we are weaving in and out of traffic, need I remind you that the taxi drivers out here are CRAZY drivers, we are trying to take in the scenery. We noticed as we were driving along that they have a lot of waterways which in turn have lots of little bridges that you have to cross. At one point (insert here the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee horn toot) we literally were airborne. Both Reese and I let out huge screams. Not even kidding, we hit the top of our heads on the roof, poor Cambry was tossed in the air (don't worry mom, I always have a death grip on her due to not having any carseats) and as we landed back in our seats all we could do was scream. You know that oh, ohhhhhhhh kind of scream. (Amy, you know what I'm talking about, the kind of noise we always made.) So we kept watching for more bridges to come and at each one we were letting out screams! Totally fun, but it can't be good for the taxis, can it? Oh well, we had our laughs for the day! Oh wait, one more! At one point while weaving in and out and around big trucks, then slamming on the brakes, Reese almost ended up in the front seat! (She wasn't sitting down either like she was supposed to so that may have helped with the cause of propelling her in the air.) So she got the giggles and could not stop laughing! I try to keep one arm securely around Cambry and one hand on Reese! But, I do know that God has his arms around us every time we are in those taxis. There have been MANY times were I have wondered how we just got somewhere safely!
Anyways...we are also making great progress on our apartment! Last Friday was a very discouraging day! It seemed as if EVERYTHING was going wrong and we weren't making any progress on anything (ex. an apartment, church, school, shipment coming in, friends) I was starting to think to myself, what have we gotten ourselves into!!! But I'm so glad that when Saturday came, things started to turn around. We go tomorrow morning(Thursday) to negotiate on the apartment and then could possibly even move in this weekend! Good news right! Yes, but that will also mean that I have to start cooking again! That does sound fun until I remember that I have to use the ingredients here. Well...another challenge that we will have to overcome. Just a side note, if you were a die hard Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops fan, it would cost you $13+ here for a SMALL box! INSANE! So, we'll stick with their brand of rice crispies or frosted flakes or something. Imported food here is CRAZY expensive! Milk is like $5-6 a gallon and it doesn't even taste as good as our 1% at home. CHURCH- I did tons of research online on Saturday and found two possibilities near our apartment that we are going to check out this weekend. Both sound very good and very similar to ours back home. One of the elders is actually from Michigan. I heard about one of the Churches through a website here called "Shanghai Mamas." It is a website that helps you connect with other moms here that live in Shanghai and they give you advice about anything and everything, it is a great place to check if you need to find ANYTHING! FRIENDS-so I met a girl on there that is actually from Newaygo, Michigan and she lives in the same complex that we are going to live in, with her SIX kids! Yes, SIX! Their youngest is Reese's age and the oldest is 12. So, we have already chatted and we are going to set a playdate as soon as we get settled in! SO HAPPY! She actually went to Cornerstone College as well, small world! There were other people I have made contact with as well that were from Michigan or just from the States. So, good news on that front! SCHOOL-we are hoping to get Reese enrolled yet this year hopefully after their spring break which is the second week of April. I know that she will love going and I'm very excited for her to meet new friends! We have found a few that are closer to our apartment and have had a few people recommend them to us, so we are going to check them out next week!
Eric says that things are going well at work, they are still trying to get the press running, they have had the manufacturer in to try to get it running! So hopefully soon so they can keep the customers happy! He has had many meetings with suppliers and customers! Sounds like it is going very well!
Funny story, we were watching a movie called "Ramona and Beezus" the other night and Ramona's dad told them that they had to move. Reese asked us why they had to move. We told her it was because of her dad's job. Then Eric asked her why she thought that we moved to China. Her response was, "because we wanted to see what it was like here in China." Oh Reese! So we told her it was because of her dad's job too! She really does seem to like it here and has adjusted very well so far considering! The girls are doing such a great job with going along to check out all of our many, many, many apartments that we have seen! They been dragged through the subways, on taxis, in the rain, the cold, and even when they were not given naps or have even missed dinner. We are so proud of them and could not have asked for better little girls! Grandma Kathie, she told me this morning at breakfast that the french toast here is good, but not as good as Grandma Kathie's! She's right! It also felt like it was Christmas opening up our shipment! Grandma Yonker, she LOVED her new cozy sweatshirt that you got her! It is funny what you wrote in the card to her! She always runs back to the room to put on her cozies, just like you talked about! She said it was the perfect card and gift! She can't wait to open up her "April" gift! Thanks so much!
So, that is a little of what has been happening around here lately! I'm going to try and start taking more pictures of the city around us and what we see! Many interesting things, so I'll try and blog about that too! Believe me, I have learned so many things already being here that I NEVER knew before! Talk to you all soon, I promise that I will try to blog more and take more pictures and we appreciate you keeping us in your prayers!
the photos are of food that we see in the grocery store, aka "stinky" store, the "squatter" potty, some sites, and some of the girls. Make sure you look closely at the types of Pringles flavors, YUMMY!
Love,
Eric, Marcy, Reese, and Cambry
Anyways...we are also making great progress on our apartment! Last Friday was a very discouraging day! It seemed as if EVERYTHING was going wrong and we weren't making any progress on anything (ex. an apartment, church, school, shipment coming in, friends) I was starting to think to myself, what have we gotten ourselves into!!! But I'm so glad that when Saturday came, things started to turn around. We go tomorrow morning(Thursday) to negotiate on the apartment and then could possibly even move in this weekend! Good news right! Yes, but that will also mean that I have to start cooking again! That does sound fun until I remember that I have to use the ingredients here. Well...another challenge that we will have to overcome. Just a side note, if you were a die hard Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops fan, it would cost you $13+ here for a SMALL box! INSANE! So, we'll stick with their brand of rice crispies or frosted flakes or something. Imported food here is CRAZY expensive! Milk is like $5-6 a gallon and it doesn't even taste as good as our 1% at home. CHURCH- I did tons of research online on Saturday and found two possibilities near our apartment that we are going to check out this weekend. Both sound very good and very similar to ours back home. One of the elders is actually from Michigan. I heard about one of the Churches through a website here called "Shanghai Mamas." It is a website that helps you connect with other moms here that live in Shanghai and they give you advice about anything and everything, it is a great place to check if you need to find ANYTHING! FRIENDS-so I met a girl on there that is actually from Newaygo, Michigan and she lives in the same complex that we are going to live in, with her SIX kids! Yes, SIX! Their youngest is Reese's age and the oldest is 12. So, we have already chatted and we are going to set a playdate as soon as we get settled in! SO HAPPY! She actually went to Cornerstone College as well, small world! There were other people I have made contact with as well that were from Michigan or just from the States. So, good news on that front! SCHOOL-we are hoping to get Reese enrolled yet this year hopefully after their spring break which is the second week of April. I know that she will love going and I'm very excited for her to meet new friends! We have found a few that are closer to our apartment and have had a few people recommend them to us, so we are going to check them out next week!
Eric says that things are going well at work, they are still trying to get the press running, they have had the manufacturer in to try to get it running! So hopefully soon so they can keep the customers happy! He has had many meetings with suppliers and customers! Sounds like it is going very well!
Funny story, we were watching a movie called "Ramona and Beezus" the other night and Ramona's dad told them that they had to move. Reese asked us why they had to move. We told her it was because of her dad's job. Then Eric asked her why she thought that we moved to China. Her response was, "because we wanted to see what it was like here in China." Oh Reese! So we told her it was because of her dad's job too! She really does seem to like it here and has adjusted very well so far considering! The girls are doing such a great job with going along to check out all of our many, many, many apartments that we have seen! They been dragged through the subways, on taxis, in the rain, the cold, and even when they were not given naps or have even missed dinner. We are so proud of them and could not have asked for better little girls! Grandma Kathie, she told me this morning at breakfast that the french toast here is good, but not as good as Grandma Kathie's! She's right! It also felt like it was Christmas opening up our shipment! Grandma Yonker, she LOVED her new cozy sweatshirt that you got her! It is funny what you wrote in the card to her! She always runs back to the room to put on her cozies, just like you talked about! She said it was the perfect card and gift! She can't wait to open up her "April" gift! Thanks so much!
So, that is a little of what has been happening around here lately! I'm going to try and start taking more pictures of the city around us and what we see! Many interesting things, so I'll try and blog about that too! Believe me, I have learned so many things already being here that I NEVER knew before! Talk to you all soon, I promise that I will try to blog more and take more pictures and we appreciate you keeping us in your prayers!
the photos are of food that we see in the grocery store, aka "stinky" store, the "squatter" potty, some sites, and some of the girls. Make sure you look closely at the types of Pringles flavors, YUMMY!
Love,
Eric, Marcy, Reese, and Cambry
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