Back to China

Chris and I returned from the U.S. in the middle of December and, fortunately, didn't have long to wait before the girls started arriving.  We had less than a week to get over our jet lag, for Chris to get some work done before his vacation, and for me to catch up with my Tai-Tai friends in Shanghai.

I've been very lucky here in Shanghai to meet some wonderful women and have made some great friends.  We've met some great couples as well, mostly through Chris's work or Peter's friends, but it's the women friends I've met here that have made living in Shanghai a wonderful experience.  Chris doesn't have an office in Shanghai and covers the entire Southeast Asia region, so he travels extensively.  I've loved traveling with him at times, especially our trip to Australia, and the travel we've been able to do in Asia together and with our family, but day-to-day life here would be much harder and lonelier without my friends.

Because of school and work travels, the girls arrived here in Shanghai one a day for 3 days in a row, starting on Friday, December 19.  They each traveled to Elmhurst before flying to Shanghai both because the flight is shorter and direct if you start at O'Hare, but also because they each wanted to spend some time in Elmhurst before and/or after leaving Shanghai before returning to NYC, Ithaca, and Atlanta.  So, we started picking girls up at the airport on that Friday afternoon, when Samantha arrived, even before Chris returned from Ningbo.

On Saturday, before going to the airport to pick up Miranda, Chris, Samantha and I went to a Christmas market at the Kerry Parkside.  We sort of stumbled on it when we decided to go to Johnny Moo's for lunch.  Johnny Moo's is sort of a Johnny Rockets kind of place, with burgers, hot dogs, milkshakes and truly western food, which was a good choice the day after arriving. We also took a trip to the eyeglass market with Samantha, who was more excited about getting extra pairs of glasses and prescription sunglasses than you would believe.  The market is three floors and hundreds of stalls full of glasses and sunglasses, made to order. You can bring in your prescription from home or they'll do an eye exam on the spot.  The good news is, we could order two pairs of prescription sunglasses, a new pair of my regular progressive glasses, and a custom (extra-wide) pair of reading glasses for Chris, all for under $100 US. Samantha was like a kid in a candy store and can hardly wait to go pick up our order this week.

Miranda arrived on Saturday afternoon, so Sunday morning we headed to the Science and Technology Museum, not for the museum, which we've been to before, but for the knock-off markets beneath it.  Miranda and Samantha each had a list of gift items they wanted to buy for friends and, well, so did I, so we went to do some serious haggling.  We were there for two hours, but made a lot of great buys.

Elizabeth arrived on Sunday afternoon.  When we got home, everyone was busying wrapping Christmas gifts, as we had a little Shanghai family Christmas on Sunday evening.  Chris was surprised and excited to get a salt block and a salt block cookbook.  The block of salt can be used to serve cold foods or heated to cook hot foods.  He decided to try it out on Monday morning and made eggs.  While the eggs had a faint salty taste, the block didn't seem to impart too much salt in the cooking process.

Monday morning, we headed to the fabric market so the girls could order some tailor-made clothes.  Again, the market is three floors of hundreds of stalls of fabric and styles of clothing, so we wandered the market looking for things that appealed.  Samantha ordered a new trench coat for her professional, after-college life, as well as a dress and a blazer.  Elizabeth ordered three dresses and some slacks and Miranda ordered two blazers and a dress.  I even ordered a new silk blouse from the same stall I bought one from in March.  We went quickly on Monday morning, knowing that it would take a week for the clothes to be ready so we could pick them up after we got back from Cambodia before Elizabeth had to fly back to the U.S.

By Monday afternoon, the driver took us to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia and 5 days of tropical Christmas celebration, relaxing by the pool, massages, and exploration. 

Thanksgiving in the U.S.

In the middle of November, I flew back to Elmhurst, IL for a short visit to the U.S. to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family.  I was so happy to see my good friend Jane waiting for me when I got off the plane and had a wonderful visiting with her during my 3 weeks in town. I was able to tell Jane, and our friends, family and neighbors, that we are probably moving back to Elmhurst this summer, as Chris has been told he will be  moving to a new position located back in the U.S.  Jane was so happy she cried - which made me happy too! It was great to be able to take our house off the market - now we know why it didn't sell - and start moving furniture around and making a plan for moving back into our own house.

Chris arrived a few days after I did and then we drove to Watkins Glen, NY to meet up with our girls and spend Thanksgiving with my family.  We were both still a little jet-lagged, so we were able to start our 11-hour drive at 3 a.m.  We were lucky that the weather was pretty dry and above freezing on our drive - it makes it so much easier when we don't have to deal with snow and ice.

My sister Patty graciously put all 5 of us up for the week.  Chris and I arrived on Monday, Samantha arrived on Tuesday night, and then we picked up Elizabeth and Miranda on Wednesday.  Patty's daughter Lauren arrived on Wednesday as well, so we had a very full house.  We had some fun dinners out, saw the new Hunger Games movie, and played a lot of cards and games, as always.

Because we were planning to fly to Cambodia for Christmas week, we had our family Christmas gift exchange at Patty's house the night before Thanksgiving.  Good thing, because Samantha got a chance to use her new Kitchenaid stand mixer to make mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thursday's Thanksgiving Dinner was courtesy of my sister Cim and her husband, as they host for all of his family as well.  That made about 40 people for dinner in the church hall.  It was so nice to see (almost) all of my nephews, their spouses and kids, my niece, all 3 of my sisters and 2 brothers-in-law.  After dinner was over, everyone retired to Patty's house for football viewing, wine and games.

Again, because we wouldn't be in Watkins Glen (or even the U.S.) for Christmas, we brought all of our Christmas gifts for the family with us and had a mini-Christmas celebration at my sister Kate's house on Friday night, gifts and all.  Although it was hard to bid good-bye to everyone before we drove back to Elmhurst on Sunday, we knew we'd be seeing the girls again soon, wen they arrived in Shanghai.  All-in-all, this was a great holiday trip.




We had another two weeks in Elmhurst after Thanksgiving, which was a great chance to catch up with many friends.  I'm so lucky to be able to spend time with different groups of friends while I'm in town and am looking forward to living there full-time again to be able to do so more often.  Again, it was hard to leave when it came time to fly back to Shanghai, but we were both excited for the girls to arrive and start of family Christmas celebration in Shanghai and Cambodia.