Easter in Shanghai

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Saturday

Today was destined to be a busy day. T and E woke me up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 with their customary creep into my room and big jump onto me. I tickled and they giggled. Then T pretended to cut off my legs.

After breakfast, we all got ready for the big Easter Party. First, MT had to make the bunny cake, complete with coconut fur over chocolate frosting. Then the deserts, Peeps and chocolate malted eggs from New York (can’t find Easter candy in China) had to be put into bowls and kept away from tiny grabbing fingers. The pizza had to be ordered, the salad made, the house brought to a shine.

The first guest, a girl from T’s class, arrived a few minutes early. She fell in love with Zoey, our lovely black poodle friend, but who doesn’t? Except for the next guess, a little girl wearing a red cape who didn’t want Zoey anywhere near her!

The kids played inside, the grown-ups chatted. The kids played outside with badmitten and bubbles, the grown-ups chatted. The kids decorated heart shaped Easter baskets, with a little help from the grown-ups as they chatted. The kids gobbled down chocolate, cake, marshmallow Peeps (turning their fingers blue and yellow) and the occasional bite of pizza or vegetables.

The first girl had to leave early and had a major melt-down; I guess it’s the norm for her, with tears and pouts galore. She got her own Easter egg hunt and left, tears still raining down. T and E and their caped friend had their egg hunt later. The score? E found 3 and in the process of trying to steal one from her brother tripped and scraped her knees, poor girl. T found 2 with a little help. The caped friend also found 2. Inside the eggs, each child found a handful of malted eggs and either quickly began eating or trading them for jelly beans.

After the other kids left, T and E dragged their dad, his friend and myself all the way up the stairs to teach me how to play Lego Star Wars on their playstation. They had a blast with their light sabers, guns, and money. I almost fell asleep.

Just before dinner, the Lego Star Wars bunch walked down the street to the nearby Jing’an park, across from the Temple in search of a cave! E was decked out and ready, complete with long pants and shorts on top, a long-sleeved shirt with a t-shirt on top (tie-dyed), a climbing rope, a flashlight (made from a cardboard tube) and her bicycle helmet strapped on. She was a sight! I was a bit skeptical of finding a cave in flat Shanghai, but low and behold, there it was! A man-made, presumably, tunnel made of one large bit of rock or cement. It looked pretty natural. We walked through, passing Chinese men chanting and waving their arms as they walked through. We must have been a sight!

Jing’an park was packed with people. Families with young children running on the soft green grass, foreigners enjoying the spot of green and piece of quiet amid the Shanghai traffic and bustle. It is clearly a popular dating location as well, I saw several couples holding hands or kissing. All in all, Jing’an park is very friendly.

It also has a man-made pond which was in the process of being cleaned. T and E gleefully jumped down into the dry part of the pond and ran around. Overlooking the pond is an Indonesian restaurant that I am going to have to come back and try some night. The view must be lovely from their dining room and J said they have tasty food.

On the way home we passed a donut shop, right in the park. We all picked one out, buy 6 get one free. Mine had pineapple frosting and was definitely one of the most beautiful donuts I have ever seen. They tasted lovely after a dinner of fresh pea soup, leftover pizza and a day full of Easter treats.

Lucky me, I got to put the kids to bed. Surprisingly and completely contrary to my past experience of bedtime on a sugar high, it went smoothly and we were all soon fast asleep.

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