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self-portrait
back in Shanghai With much excitement but also worry--we left a not so healthy boy Slaven back at the Grandparents' house in Ohio--we headed to Shanghai for my 7th time (I counted on the plane!).
We flew Akron, OH to Chicago, IL on July 4th, where we connected to our very familiar flight UA835 nonstop to Shanghai. It was beyond odd to be on the flight without kids. The waiting area in Chicago was full of Chinese and Chinese Americans with a handful of less than thrilled looking expat dads heading back to Shanghai while I assume their families remained in the USA. We saw one family of 4 (a set of parents and a set of extremely young kids) boarding the plane--probably moving to China for the first time--they had that look about them. We moved to China around the same time in 2008 and I recall with great clarity that feeling of taking the kids to a foreign land. Emily's video sitting in the same gate area is etched in my brain: Me: "Where are you going?"
Emily, in a droning 6 year old monotone "to China"
Me: "What are you excited about?"
Emily "Seeing the apartment" (same droning monotone).
It's a classic blip from the 2 year adventure that took us all over Asia as a family. Guilt mixed with regret mixed with justification for leaving the kids behind were all there as we flew across the world again without our partners in crime.
We arrived at about 1:45pm on July 5. A whole day later. The pilot said it was 82 degrees and I was excited. Mark didn't have the heart (or maybe he wanted me to remember firsthand) to tell me that 82 in Shanghai is more like 100 when you factor in humidity. The pilot did not give us a "feels like" readout. Perhaps he used to do that but he got booed.
We did the exit from the plane, the familiar walk through the inspection/quarantine machines that seem turned off but you never know what they are scanning you for, and finally arrived at a very empty foreigner line for customs. We moved through the line in record time with the few expat dads and returning business people on our flight. Our bags arrived quickly and we were fortunate to avoid any bag screenings.
Once we entered the side of the airport with all the waiting drivers, we started getting asked if we wanted a taxi or a van. This was new. Before, you walked through and if you had a driver you found him or her but then you went on without incident to the taxi line outside. These people were aggressive and I saw a few foreigners go with them. I assume they were not legitimate taxi drivers, but maybe the rules changed and the airport allows these escorts to work the line for legitimate taxis. We said no a hundred times and moved through the crowd to the elevators.
Mark had our hotel address in his iphone (we turned our iPhones into iTouches for the trip by being set to airplane mode, roaming OFF) and we were confident we could communicate our hotel destination having read Chinese Phrases for Dummies from the Louisville Library for approximately 10 minutes on the flight over.
All was fine--the Chinese came back. We are still at the 2 year old language level but we can get it done.
Shanghai looked very familiar upon arrival. Despite the thick, gray, sunless skies, we were happy to be back. Visiting someplace you've lived is a mixed experience. Especially when the timeframe is only 3 days. We attempted to pack in a lot of experiences into a short window.
I have stories and great pictures but time is short so I will post more soon.
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Julie
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Great update!! Have an awesome time...enjoy every minute!!