Happy Easter from Shanghai!

So I have finally realized the benefits of a BLOG and will start sending updates of our life here in Shanghai via this blog site - http://tedestedt.blogspot.com/

So much has happened in the last few months since my first email update, I decided it wouldn't be fair to keep you all in the dark from the fun and crazy life we're now living over here!

We made it through the first month, the infamous adjustment time filled with sickness, house problems, restlessness, impatience, culture chock and major insomnia - pretty much what most people moving here experience at first...Yep, I really questioned our choice moving to this foreign and vastly different country. But things did get better and the discouragement and irritability of poor Chinese quality improved (or I just got used to it...) and daily life with normal routines eventually took over. It was a much welcomed relief and I am now very happy to say that we live a very exciting, happy, different and easy life in our new home country!

The kids are both doing great and Max thrives in his new school (we changed from the British Int'l School to a more informal beautiful pre-school much like what Max was used to back in the States called The Child Academy) and he has made many new friends there. He also hangs out with his many friends here at the compound and he has started to like China more and more but still misses his friends and especially best friend Mitchell from back in Chicago. It was hard to hear him ask for only one Christmas present last year - to see his friend Mitchell...We talk about them a lot and look at pictures to keep the memories alive! Otherwise, he acts like any other 3 year old, pretty much a terror on many levels, and if anyone knows a good book how to master a 3-year old's excellent negotiations skills, let me know!

and Emmy, our little sunshine girl, has grown so much in the last few months! She's almost walking at 10 months and has 7 BIG teeth and is babbling on from early morning to bed time (she's clearly taking after her mom both from a talking and teeth standpoint...) and likes to clap her hands and wave good bye. She has said her first word and I don't know if I should laugh or cry but it was "Zaijian" in Chinese - simply the word "Good-Bye"....! This of course doesn't mean I leave my precious little baby all day long for the babysitter to care for but I guess I have been on the go quite a bit lately.... She's our little princess and so happy every day, I don't think I've ever seen a baby so happy most of the time but who can also voice the loudest concern when she's not....! She loves her brother and he loves her, it's a pure siblings love which is lovely to watch. They are very sweet together!

Magnus is doing great at work, in fact, he got promoted recently and took on the role as Director of Sales Global Accounts to help grow a troubled Asian market and boost sales, primarily in China. He's busier than ever in his new role but likes the challenge and is looking forward to successfully turn a few troubled areas around. He's no doubt working hard but knew the expectations of this type of job when signing on to it. I try to support him as much as possible and take on the rest of the responsibilities here at home.

I'm also doing great! I was the first person to question whether I would be happy being a housewife and not go to work every day which I've done as long as I can remember... It takes time to adjust but I can honestly say that this life goes to the top of my greatest moments in my life. I love not feeling the stress of a quota, I love having all this time with the kids, I love that I can cook a great meal for my family every day and enjoy it (and not having to do the dishes!), I love having time for myself and being able to work out, poke around in the garden, write, check out Shanghai or just do nothing! I think that's an art in itself. I get to read books I never thought I would plow through and I get a chance to reflect on the little things in life which before took too much time and which I had none of.... I simply love this life, for now. I am working on a few plans to possibly start my own business and more about this in another blog!

A also want to also mention two amazing women who have crossed our path here in China. Our wonderful Ayis, or maids, are helping me here at home with everything from cleaning, cooking, laundry, food shopping, baby sitting and Chinese translations among many many things! I have been so impressed with these lovely ladies I have written a story just about them which you'll be able to read soon. A few recent incidents made me want to document their loving care for our family and not forget how fortunate we are to have them in our lives!

We recently had the whole Nordstrom family over here visiting us in Shanghai for a few wonderful weeks. I had been so busy for months leading up their visit getting the house ready to sleep 11 people, that I was almost exhausted before they got here, but we had the time of our lives! We celebrated my mom's 60th birthday, celebrated Alicia's 4th birthday, celebrated my dad's 63rd birthday and just explored Shanghai together! We visited the infamous copy markets a few times and it still stuns me how crazy cheap so many things are here that you pay 1000s more for in the States or back in Sweden! To give you an example, my mom brought her Swedish prescription for new glasses with her and after visiting the Eye Glass market (yes, there's a market for everything!) she had ordered 3 great new pair of progressive glasses which she would be paying roughly $1100 each for in Sweden. She paid $150 for all 3 here and the quality is the exact same, possibly better!

We also visited Tongli, one of the water cities approx. 2 hours west of Shanghai and enjoyed a more cultural view of old China. We walked along the canals and peeked at the local souvenirs one could buy along the streets. It was a refreshing view of China which I had not seen before since we arrived here and I'm sure we will go back for some calmer more country side relaxation.

Having my family here created memories for life and I'm so thankful everyone came to visit us! I think we will always look back at the pictures from the trip with a big smile and remember how important family really is!

Today is Easter Sunday and we're celebrating at home taking it easy after a hectic weekend. We had a small Easter dinner with our great Swedish friends and neighbors at our house this past Friday and I think the red wine hang over just cleared... Yesterday, we went to a fabulous brunch where Max and 50 other kids roamed around hunting for Easter eggs and jumping in the bouncy castle (thank god for these restaurants who actually come up with creative ideas for kids to spend their time while the parents try to wolf down their lunch...!) and afterwards we were invited to Max friend's birthday party with another jumping castle episode, now placed in their living room (I told the mother she was a very very brave woman!) and then fireworks to finish up the grand celebrations!

I have posted a few pictures from a few of these above mentioned events so feel free to take a peek:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tedestedt/ShanghaiMarch2008EasterEtc/photo#5180549990270928642

I will work on updating our picture gallery in the next few weeks so many more pictures to be posted soon!

Another small household item, please feel free to add SKYPE on your computer if you want to keep in touch with us over the phone/computer. We have a local Chicago telephone number too so you can actually pay local rates within the US and it will call us here in China - gotta love the technology!

Long first blog but more updates soon...

Happy Easter and Glad Pask to all of you!

Big hugs/Lovisa

Hello from Shanghai!

So how can I best summarize our first 2 weeks in China…well, a happy roller coaster would be a good start I guess!  After arriving toShanghai via Beijing, 6 hours delayed due to snowy wheater in Beijing, with one kid sick and with more carry-on luggage than checked luggage, we finally opened the door to our new home, exhausted but thrilled to finally be here!  The first week was up side down 24 hours a day.  It seemed like everything in our nice house would break by just looking at it, whether it was the washing machine, the dryer, the floor heating system, the toilets, the faucets, you name it!  All I could do all day long was swear about the poor Chinese quality, but luckily someone would always be here promptly in 15 minutes to fix, fix, fix!  After 4 days here and 4 long sleepless nights as the kids (nor we) could handle the intense jetlag, I got a severe case of laryngitis and had to rush to the doctor who ordered me to stay in their clinic and be hooked up to IV immediately to get better…  I nodded politely and prayed a small prayer that they weren’t going to pump me full of some dangerous Chinese herbal medicine, but they assured me it was all safe and good for me.  And whatever they gave me made me feel like a human again within an hour.  I can probably say that this first visit to the doctor here in China counts as one of the best experiences I’ve had in the medical field ever; no waiting, speedy service, polite and efficient staff and I got better right away!  They stocked me up with more medicine to take for the next week and sent me home with a dose for Magnus too just in case he was about to get what I had…no examination, no questions, Welcome to China!

After about 10 days of getting our bearings around things, I started feeling a little more positive about our new adventure.  Luckily there’s pretty much a Starbucks in every corner and many of the same fast food restaurants around here when all else fails… but food shopping has proven to be quite challenging as nothing looks anything like back home – I wasn’t sure if I was buying milk or yogurt at first but had to guess based on how the package felt when shaking it!  Fruits and veggies were luckily easy to find and plentiful of in the store but I was scared things would give us salmonella if we ate it, so the first few weeks have been a true trial and error period with pretty much everything we ate! Finally we were told to go to the Market for expats and there we would find lots of products we’d find in the US…yeah, for about 3 times as much but what the heck, I was just happy to see something I recognized! 

The kids have started to adjust to their new life here, but Max has had it tough.  He’s been letting us know how unhappy he’s been with the separation from his best friends and stable life back in Chicago… We’ve been helping him as much as possible through this but he’s acting out and can get very angry at times which results in many difficult and challenging days for all of us, but mostly him.  Luckily we have a Swedish neighbor with 2 kids and Max plays great with their oldest son Isaak who’s 5.  We’re trying to organize a few playdates with other Swedish families and Expats but haven’t been able to organize much during the Holidays yet.  School starts in early January and I have a feeling once Max starts meeting lots of new friends and get the routines of school, things will get better.

We decided to spend our first Christmas in China at a wonderful hotel; Le Royal Meridian in downtown Shanghai.  We checked in early afternoon and strolled around in the People’s Park during the afternoon where Max got to ride the carousel and the Airplanes and play in the huge kids playground which was wonderful. His eyes lit up and he had a big smile on his face and it warmed our hearts more than anything to see our little boy so excited and happy!   We ate an enormous Christmas dinner (I think I had 7 plates total, no joke!) at the hotel and the Max ran around and played at the Kids Corner which they had organized for the night.   Although we missed the typical Swedish Christmas dinner, this was a wonderful feast and we had a perfect first Xmas in Shanghai! 

The next morning we took it easy and did a little toy shopping for the kids and headed back to our house in the afternoon where we rounded off the Xmas celebrations with real Swedish Tomtegrot, Glogg and Alladins chocolates for dessert, simply perfect!

So far we’ve recognized that this is a great country to live in, it’s super clean and people are so friendly and helpful and they truly love children – Max & Emmy are rock stars wherever we go!  We can’t wait to get a little more adjusted into the daily life and routines and how to find things around this enormous and truly exciting city, but I’m sure we will soon enough.   Right now, we’re focusing on making sure the kids feel at home and the rest will fall into place!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a all a Happy New Year 2008!

Warmest hugs from all of us,

Lovisa