Merry Christmas

It felt more like the Christmas season once my family arrived in Shanghai. Everyone stayed at the Hilton hotel, except for my sister Cassi, who stayed in the dungeon room in my apartment. Unfortunately, Sydney was suffering from a cold, which later turned into bronchitis, so Sydney and I didn't get to join the family for many of their sightseeing trips. Luckily, my siblings are very independent travelers and were able to find their way around without a tour guide. My family was here for 4 days and were able to find things to do everyday. I'm embarrassed to say that they have seen more of Shanghai than I have. I keep thinking that I have plenty of time to see all of the touristy sights and here we are, 7 months into my tour of duty and I haven't seen many of them. I still have 6 more months to see them all, and I plan to.

(Aunt Cassi, Uncle Tony, Aunt Amy, Grandma

and Sydney waiting for Grandpa)

(Christmas shirt - courtesy of Annette;

pig tails - courtesy of Aunt Cassi)

The best part of the visit for me was that Sydney remembered everyone from our visit to Dallas over Thanksgiving and warmed up to everyone quickly. The best part of the visit for Sydney was ripping into all of her presents.

Everyone came to my apartment Christmas morning to watch Sydney open her presents. As she tore off pieces of the wrapping paper, she gave the wrapper to Grandma to throw away before she turned back to the task at hand. She is her mother's daughter. Sydney received many wonderful gifts from her Uncle, Aunts and Grandparents. But the best present of all was their willingness to travel 1/2 way across the world to spend Christmas with her. (I'm not delusional enough to believe that the visit has anything to do with me)

What started out as a lonely holiday season ended up being a wonderful, lovely day.

A Platinum Family

My sweet little traveler has attained Platinum status on American Airlines. Usually you have to travel at least 50,000 miles to become a Platinum member. But I signed Sydney up for the Platinum challenge, which meant that she had to travel 20,000 miles over a 3 month period. Our trips to Australia and Dallas gave her the requisite number of miles. She now joins a club to which her Mom, Aunt Cassi and Uncle Tony are members.

I'm looking forward to all of the wonderful trips we will be taking together in the years to come.

Christmas Break

Sydney started her 2 week Christmas break from school on Thursday. It has been very cold and wet here lately so we've been staying in alot, and have started suffering from cabin fever. Luckily, the weather was very nice on Thursday and I didn't have much going on at the office so I came home and took Sydney out to lunch at Element Fresh. It is one of my favorite restaurants in Shanghai --- good food and fast, friendly service. Sydney had her first taste of hummus, which she liked, and olives, which ended up on the floor. Our good friends Sam and Dom came over for dinner tonight and Sydney received her first Christmas presents of the season. She didn't nap well that afternoon and was exhausted by the time Sam and Dom came over so she wasn't in a friendly mood. However, she wasn't too tired to rip open her presents, which included 2 of her favorite things --- puzzles and balloons. Sam has been my guardian angel here and have taken great care of us. He's been a translator, a tutor in Chinese culture, a sympathetic listener, and the best partner in crime anyone could ask for.

Party Time

Sydney's class had a Christmas party on Wednesday in conjunction with the class next door. The parents were invited to spend 1/2 a day at the school to observe the kids' activities and help with their artwork. It was a really good idea because the parents were able to meet each other and spend 1/2 a day with their kids.

Sydney's entire class and her 2 teachers

(front row: Nichola, Roget, Lorenzo, Ansgar, Anthony, Amy and Ellison;

back row: Madeleine, Ms. Marie, Sydney and Ms. Kang)

Sydney's class with their parents

But between the music and decorations and 20 kids running around with parents trailing after them, it was so overwhelming and overstimulating. About an hour into it, I checked the party schedule in hopes of seeing nap time scheduled as part of the festivities. Alas, it was not. The teachers put forth a valliant effort to maintain some sort of regular schedule for activities but the kids were not having any of it. They had their parents at the school, and very few of them wanted to leave their parents' laps. The only lesson that had participation was music hour. Most of the kids got up and danced along with the teachers. I was enjoying Sydney's twirling and kicking and swaying and clapping so much that I forgot to take pictures.

Sydney showing me the tree that the class decorated

Madeleine, Ansgar, Anthony, Sydney and Ellison lining up to go to the indoor playroom

Sydney, Madeleine, Anthony and Amy lining up to wash their hands before lunch

The school decided to skip the morning snack and have lunch a bit early. However, not early enough for the kids. Tempers were short and tears were quick. All of the parents were asked to bring a dish for the party. Not realizing that the the food would be served as lunch instead of a snack, most of the parents brought cookies and cakes. Picture 20 kids on a sugar rush and 20+ parents coping with it.

Sydney and Madeleine letting their impatience be known

Sydney thought it was worth the wait

The party ended at 11:30 and as I was saying goodbye to a parent, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Sydney was lying on the floor asleep. I have to admit, I felt a bit of envy since I was leaving to go back to work.

Sydney Update

It's been cold and damp here this past week so I haven't been motivated to do much. We spent the weekend hanging out at the apartment, wishing that we had a wood burning fireplace.

Sydney didn't seem to have any problems entertaining herself (and me).

Sydney LOVES all things Elmo. Thanks to her Elmo toothbrush, she brushes her teeth everyday now. Thanks to Elmo stickers, she's able to sit still long enough for me to cut her fingernails. Thanks to Elmo books, all threats of temper tantrums are diffused. She has recently taken to Mickey Mouse and the gang. There are Christmas decals of Mickey and the gang in her room, and she won't take a bath without Mickey and Minnie (who were supposed to be Christmas presents but I couldn't wait that long to give them to her). She also sleeps with them, along with her Frog, Baby Doll, Panda Bear and Koala Bear (those are actually their names --- I know, I'm not very creative).

Sydney is learning new words everyday and it has been a lot of fun hearing her talk. It has also made me very careful of what I say around her because she tends to repeat much of what I say. She has been pointing to her blue piggy bank lately and saying "blue" so I thought that she has learned the color blue. As it turns out, she calls all pigs "blue". So we need to work on this a bit more....

We are looking forward to seeing my family when they arrive in Shanghai next Friday for Christmas. I've been in quite a funk actually because I wish we were able to celebrate Christmas in Dallas in our own house, with a big, festive tree and lights around the house. I'm grateful that we'll be able to be with our family for Christmas. We are all going to Hong Kong to bring in the new year.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Holiday Spirit

For the first time since we've been back to Shanghai after the Thanksgiving visit, Sydney slept 10 hours straight through the night. I'm very grateful because I'm not sure how many 1am play sessions I had left in me. Sydney woke up at 4am this morning and by 9am, she was restless and bored. Luckily, I had bought a small Christmas tree and decorations yesterday so she was able to occupy herself decorating it.

I love the Christmas season --- the lights, Christmas carols, decorating the tree, the stress of buying the right present, the overcrowded malls, watching a Wonderful Life on TV. I love it all. I wish that I had brought my Christmas CDs with me. I haven't been able to find it at the stores here. I hope that Sydney will love it too. This is her 2nd Christmas and I didn't want to ignore it like we did Halloween. She is familiar with Christmas trees and can pick out Santa when she sees him. I can hardly wait until we get to the writing to Santa and making a wish list phase.

I'm told that people in China do not celebrate Christmas, other than young Chinese people who like and want to emulate Western culture. Christmas is frowned upon by the elderly here, as well as the government. As a result, I couldn't find nice Christmas decorations. I received many curious looks from the locals at Carrefour when I was carting my Christmas tree around the store. I couldn't find lights or a star for the tree so it is a bit "understated". But I think Sydney did a pretty good job with it. We keep the tree on the dining table and she frequently asks to sit in her booster chair so that she can look at it.

July 1st

I told my company yesterday that I will be moving back to Dallas on July 1st. I can't believe that I've already been here 6 months. The first 2 months felt like a year but the last four months have flown by fast. I expect the next 6 months to also fly by quickly. Sydney and I have a couple of fun trips planned for the next 6 months, and it will take a couple of months to prepare for the move back to Dallas. I'm looking forward to seeing you all, and to put my laundry nightmare behind me!

Giving Thanks

I have so much to give thanks for this Thanksgiving season. Actually, those reasons have always been there. But living in Shanghai has made me see those reasons more clearly. And it's all the small things --- how clean the air smells in Dallas, the convenience of washing all your dirty laundry in one wash, the ease of driving when everyone is going the same way and abiding by the same rules, getting anything you need 24/7. I've learned to take pleasure in the small things. There are many reasons why I'm glad that I took this assignment in Shanghai, but the best one is that it made me realize how amazingly wonderful my life in the US was and will be.

It was so nice to be back in Dallas with family and friends. I hated that I couldn't see everyone on this trip but I will be back in Dallas the first week in April so I hope to see everyone that I missed this time. It was so fun seeing all of our friends' kids now, being so much older and full of fun and mischief. Sydney will have a great time being friends with them.

I spent my week in Dallas eating all things meat and Tex Mex. And of course, I made it to Chipotle 4 times during my visit. My brother's deep fried turkey and my sister-in-law's oyster stuffing was worth the 16-17 hour travel time to Dallas and back. Needless to say, I hit the gym today. And yes, it was painful. Sydney did great on the flights to and from Shanghai, thanks to a backpack full of new books, snacks and Sesame Street stickers (thanks to Aunt Tyra). For that, I am profoundly grateful. Sydney never ceases to amaze me as to how resilient and flexible she can be.

I was disappointed that Sydney didn't take to our family at first. But she was only 12 months old when we left Dallas for Shanghai so it was understandable that it would take a bit of time to warm up to everyone. If only she knew how much she has been missed and loved by her grandparents, aunts and uncle. I LOVED seeing her with my family, and am so grateful to have siblings and parents who love and cherish her as much as I do.

Sydney suffered jet lag for most of our visit, which meant that I also suffered jet lag. And of course, she fully adjusted to Dallas time 3 days before we left to come back to Shanghai. We are now dealing with jet lag as I'm trying to get her on Shanghai time. I had intended to keep her at home today but she woke up at 4am (and 1am and 3am) and dragged her backpack to the front door, saying "school, school, school." So I let her go to school today and her teachers said that she was tired but was a trooper and participated in all of the lessons, except for recess. She stayed indoors with Miss Marie and laid down for some quiet time.

Being the absentminded parent that I've become, I forgot to bring my camera with me to Dallas. But thanks to my sister-and-law, Amy, and her best friend, Kathy, I have several hundred pictures to remember our Thanksgiving holiday by. Here are just some of the pictures.

Sydney with Grandma

Getting cozy with Uncle Tony

Aunt Amy and Kathy Uncle Tony with one of the yummy deep fried turkeys Sydney and Aunt Cassi Doting Grandparents

Sydney after her haircut

I love her!

Sydney made a new friend, thanks to Aunt Amy

Taking pleasure in the small things

One of the 2 canine friends that Sydney made on our visit