Yay...fellow Obama supporter I love following this blog and got super excited when I read this one today. I will always remember watching Barack's acceptance speech in Grant Park. I grew up in Northwestern IL and graduated from NIU.
Chinese Photo Album That is hilarious about wondering where your photos end up. We always ask ourselves the same thing. We think their maybe a website they upload them to...probably not but think it would be funny if there was we named it www.waiguoren.com.cn (foreigner but I am sure this was one of the first words you learned in China) or laowai
Small World I have been enjoying your blog (read your last 5 entries then decided to start from the beginning) and find it to be such a Small World as I have read Joanne and Ian's blog occasionally. I came upon their blog by researching different places to travel, now to know that you guys arrived and met in Shanghai is too funny.
Working weekend.. Hi i finally figured out how to do this..takes me a little longer.
I can't wait until you get to experience the "Race for the Roses" in May. Hats! You and Miss Emily will have the perfect one! In the meantime enjoy your new digs. That treehouse is so kewl!
Hugs,
Geeze
Welcome back! Glad to see some of your family's wonderful adventures through your blog. Funny that I just found it when you far flung endeavors brought you back to Chi town.
Tommys Joynt I've been wanting to eat there for years and just never made it in. Every time I drive by I say, I want to eat there. So, how was it???????
Wished I known you were there, we could have met you.
Welcome home at last. Bout time!
Love,
Fred
you guys were so lucky can't believe this chapter of your china experience has come to a conclusion. though i've been travelling to china since 1986, you guys have seen more of the country.
your children will forever be grateful that mark and you took the chance. welcome home (for the time being).
Will miss your blogs Still can't get used to the idea that the Sooze News from Shanghai is not going to be showing up in my inbox every week. After reading your last blog (that is, the one before this "last blog"), I was thinking of that same most memorable event, your trudging through the flood to get your kids, as the early-on blog that signaled that the writer was no ordinary "tourist" but a true adventurer, willing to take on the un-safe, the un-pleasant, the un-expected, and then laugh about it with her readers...you have not disappointed us on that score, Suzanne. To all the Slavens...Enjoy your homecoming!
Sorry to see you go We also live in Shanghai and I have enjoyed reading your blogs and getting your insight of our lives here in Shanghai. I would love to know the names of your Mexican restaurant and also know the name of the mall where the "Dunkin Dumplings" are located. My grandchildren ages 5,8, and 10 will arrive here this evening, and as we have no children here, I have really appreciated hearing about yours. Have a great trip home, and I wish you many more adventures!
A great adventure I am so proud of you and your family for embarking on and sharing such a wonderful adventure. I am sure that this experience will inspire many other new and exciting future opportunities and I can't wait to hear about those!!
I LOVED all the details you wrote about the Expo! Sounds so fascinating! I really admire that you're sharing these experiences with your kids... I wish my parents did that!
Heather :)
dirty-hippies.blogspot.com
Thanks! Thanks for your wonderful blogging! I first found your blog and contacted you about a year ago when we were first coming to the Shanghai area. My daughter and I have been back and forth every 2 months and returned a few weeks ago. I just thought of checking your blog to see what you had done new - you're a fantastic resource for great things to do with children - and what a surprise to see you are leaving! I guess we will not have a chance to meet in person, but I'm so thankful for the time you've spent writing about Shanghai. I'm sure I will continue working through your blog entries until I've read them all. (I might just have to talk my husband into Phuket!) Have a wonderful trip back home,
Linda Walsh/covemom
Ah, going home... Thanks for sharing these past two years with us, Suzanne!! As always, your current blog captures the energy and pace of the moment. You sound so appropriately rushed...and excited. Enjoy your last "lasts" and have a smooth trip home.
Count down! Well, on the stress o meter, moving is a 10. You are holding up great dearie!! So happy to get your precious pictures..They speak a thousand words as well. Safe travels!
XOXOXOXO
How perfect! I can tell from the pictures that this was a fabulous Slaven holiday. And I'm glad to know, reading your previous comment, Suzanne, that you might continue blogging after you get home. Surely more adventures await you in Evanston...or anywhere. After two years of writing about your experiences, how will you ever be able to do anything funny or harrowing or remarkable and not blog about it?
not quite yet... Not the last blog...just getting ready to finish "this" blog. This blog feels like it needs to end after we are back and settled or at least back...and then who knows. Perhaps another blog about finding adventure back home.
last blog? I felt some of butterflies as I read this final blog. No more blogs? Hrmp!
Have a great family holiday and safe journey back to the states.
xox
Thank you! I am also an expat living in Shanghai and I will be going home the end of July. I have really enjoyed reading your thoughts and insights of living in this beautiful country and the wonders of life in this amazing city! Thank you for sharing and I will miss you!
enjoyed your blog I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your blogs. I really looked forward to every one of them.
I hope you have a good trip home.
Elaine
No S'mores? Now them's fighting words! Just made them today (Memorial Day) and thought of you and the GS troop. .
You are a gifted writer Suzanne. I know someday you will publish. Love you tons! Safe journey home.
xox
Have a safe trip back home! Great pictures you have in this blog of yours!
Well, eventually every adventure has to end.
Thank you for the article and for sharing your experise with the community in Shanghai.
Best wishes,
City Weekend - Your Friendly City Guide
I am an American woman with a husband and 2 kids, about to relocate with my family to Shanghai.
The back story: We are moving because my husband is going to be working in Shanghai.
July 6, 2008: We are a bit less than a month away from the move and current postings chronicle the prep to get there, the logistics to be allowed to go there, and the coordination of all these things we have to do before we can go! Oh, and Mark is in China for about a month (the last month we are in the states and getting ready)...so I'm very busy.
July 28, 2008....2 days til the big move.
August 4, 200... full info
ElyseandPete
Wanderlusting Winter
Men=Purseholders
This cracks me up each and every time I see a man carrying his lady's purse. It happens in Hangzhou a lot also.