Reflections on an Anniversary

Hard to believe that it's been a year since the first time I came to China. Harder still to believe that Vivi, in her 2 years and 5 months has spent more time in Asia than she has in the States. In some ways time has simply flown by (one of the reasons I haven't posted in almost 2 months is that I feel like I can't keep up!) but in so many of the ways mentioned in earlier blogs, it really has been a long year! But it has been a good year in retrospect. (Yesterday Heinz said "You haven't posted a blog in a while; everything must be going too well...") And really it has been going pretty well. We've finally hit a stride. Everyone has found some friends (except poor Barney, but I'm still working on that) and we really love our neighborhood.

Our 4th of July party was a lot of fun. I had to laugh at the irony: all of our American friends had already headed back to the States so it turned out we were the only Americans in attendance and the bulk of the guest list was British! They graciously came anyway. The guest list had a wonderfully international mix along with the Brits: German, French, Ecuadorian, New Zealanders, Fijians, and of course our own Swiss contribution. The ice cream turned out well and dessert was celebrated with one of my favorite gadgets: My Williams Sonoma ice cream sandwich maker.

We all wore our colors, even Barney.

I had bought him this bandana our first summer in Indy, years ago. Along with it came this one, and I thought it was perfect for hanging on the gate to welcome our guests.

On closer inspection I got another big laugh and dose of irony, finding this at the bottom corner:

I have to wonder just how many of my household items I have "brought home" to their place of creation! Have we told you all the story of our dining room chairs? 8 1/2 years ago, when we were moving to Indy, we bought a dining room table, the first piece of furniture purchased together for our new home! Well, at the time there weren't chairs offered with it, and sadly, we still can't really afford the matching chairs...(could only afford the Stickley table because it was a 'scratch and dent'!) Fast forward to the autumn of 2010 and it occurs to us that if we are going to get some chairs, now might be a good time to replace the beat up old ones that have been in my possession for nearly 15 years, the ones the cats scratched and Barney chewed on! So we found some chairs online that we liked and had them shipped to the house. Naturally they arrived unassembled. So now the dilemma...if we leave them in the boxes for the movers to take, will we be charged extra tariffs on arrival in China for importing "new" goods? I'm pretty handy with a wrench so we'll just avoid the issue; I'll put them together before the movers get started. Well, of course we expected they were made in China, but I cracked up when I discovered this on the bottom of the seat:

I have since learned that there is a large furniture production/sales district just down the road from our complex. Wouldn't it be funny if the Brilliant Furniture Co. was just around the corner from us?

So after our 3 weeks in New York last month we are settling back into a routine of sorts back in Shanghai. The kids have started some activities. Conrad is participating in a soccer class and a "multi-sport" class (basically an opportunity to run and jump and throw things while learning to follow directions and be part of a group) and Viv is doing gymnastics. Conrad is also taking part in a pastime that it seems is very common for western kids living in Asia: modelling. He is technically already a professional, having been paid to model clothes for a Japanese children's catalog last spring. That job came through an open casting call made on the ShanghaiMamas website. This next job is, get this, actually an acting job! (Can't say that without a chuckle to myself-it's a television commercial for a bank. Aunt Frannie, he's following in your footsteps!) We got involved with this agency when one of the agents approached us in the shopping center about 2 weeks before we went away for the summer. It's the sort of surreal thing that happens all the time in Asia (you just get so used to everyone wanting to take pictures of your kids) that when it finally happens to you, there's really no surprise. She took pictures of the kids, gave me her card and I thought nothing more about it until she called about 2 weeks ago asking Conrad to come in for an audition. So we did. Why not, right? Turns out he's made the short list but I have to crack up because now it's practically becoming a full time job! He's been called back for a second audition, but also has to go at a different time to be measured for the wardrobe. If he gets it, which they are very careful to say that it is still not a done deal, he will be paid 200RMB an hour, about 30$, maybe half day, maybe whole day. Might as well do it, it's not like we have so many other pressing engagements on our calendar these days! We'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

    

In the meantime, Froggy says:

"enjoy what's left of your summer!"

A year in, we have found our footing here, that's true, but we still miss you all very much. School has started all over the world and for most of our loved ones that means settling into a new routine, some of you even a new country (Love you, Sarah!!). Sending our love and peace to you all as you find your footing~