Finally! The big day arrived here in China. Our day was pretty standard, we went to the park and explored some paths. Nathan found and picked up a kitten (I screamed, NO! and poured sanitizer all over him)...makes me sound like a freak, but makes for a good story so I'll share anyway. He then found a frog, which he didn't grab and we all stared at it for a while. We went on a couple rides and I bought tickets with my patent-pending charade-like communication skills. We were the only ones on the roller coaster (which goes around the track an exhilarating 1 time). I realized after we got off the ride and started walking away that I lost my umbrella on that ride. We went back and sure enough it was below the tracks. ... read more

Wednesday, 8/6/08 Today, I took the kids on the Metro to meet Mark. We made a wrong turn somehow when we went in the underground walkway to get to the station, but we retraced our steps and were able to find it. This underground area is pretty cool. There are lots of shops and restaurants and it's way cooler (meaning less hot) than walking to the train outside. We have no end to the shopping and restaurant options. Seriously, it is a little over the top! I got Nathan's ticket (that elusive transit card stand was closed when we got there) and Emily did her limbo under the turnstile. We got on the right train the first time and met Mark and Jiyi, who works with Mark, for lunch. We went to a great food court ... read more

Mark has previously shared his health exam experience (see Mark's first post from Shanghai entry) so I won't describe the experience in detail. His account was accurate and my experience was similar in terms of the steps and the process. I will share the few differences I experienced. I was expecting it would be somewhat different as a woman--just thinking about the process Mark described. Sure enough, it was. For example, I had to undress from the waste up (including bra) and wear a robe. I was not too happy to hear I had to take off the bra, but figured it might just be due to the chest x-ray I knew I had to have. Turns out, I had to open the old robe a couple times to random Chinese medical professionals who listened to ... read more

Nathan and I are reporting on yesterday's events together. It's 4am and Nathan has been up almost the entire night. He had a solid (too-long) nap yesterday afternoon....and we had a tough time getting him to stay awake through dinner. In order to solve this problem, we plan to order a mocha at breakfast and perhaps a cappuccino at lunch. Desperate times call for desperate measures! This boy has to stay up an entire day somehow or we'll be night dwellers for 2 years. Emily, Mark, and I (until today when I got up at 4 with Nathan) are adjusting quite well to the time change. I guess we all have our own time line for the clock adjustment. We'll get there. Yesterday was another very busy day. We spent much of it at the apartment ... read more

It's 4am here, and as usual I am up and unable to sleep--was my habit last trip to China. This time, however, I have a companion awake with me. Nathan agreed to share some of his first thoughts with everyone. I'm taking transcription, but these are his words. Hi. When we were walking around last night, I saw everything you could see in America. I saw a man with a very small cage for a very big dog at the airport. I saw a lot of police officers at the airport. Surprisingly, when we walked outside at the airport, I saw very few cars but many taxis and buses. On our way to the hotel from the airport I saw lots of bicycles and pedestrians. It seemed like everyone was avoiding driving cars. I noticed there ... read more