We've decided to make each Saturday an 'adventure day' since our time here in Shanghai is limited. For starters this past weekend, Andy & Kelly boarded the metro to a random stop on the Puxi side of Shanghai (the older side of the city), got off and walked around - people watching, finding fabulous local food in small street side 'restaurants' and immersing themselves in the 'real' China (not just expat China where we live) - they had a blast! In the afternoon, we all went to Century Park - a very large 'green space' just a mile from our townhouse. We rented bikes (one seated three, the other could seat up to six) and rode around the whole park - which included many fountains, lots of flowers, huge fields with lots of people/kids playing, lots of small lakes, a bonsai garden and a small amusement park. It was fun...although the sweltering heat resulted in a lot of sweaty people!
Sunday's are consumed mostly with youth groups & church. Kelly & Megan start at 11:30, Lindsey at 2:45, Sue/Andy/Zoe/Abigail at 3. Everyone is wrapped up around 5pm. We gave Driver Xu the day off so we were 'cabbing' it back and forth across PuDong all day! Thankfully as we were getting ready for a ~30 min walk home from church (because there were no cabs around), a family we had just met offered us a ride - thank you Jes$s!!! Church is amazing - more than just the worship or the teaching, but just to be in this foreign country, with people from around the globe and worshipping our one G@d!!! The girls are all meeting kids their ages who go to the church and several who live in our same complex as well (another answer to pr@yer!).
Monday was back to school and the start of work. How to sum up work so far...I am the only native English speaking person there, it took me a while to figure out how to get my computer to stop typing things in Chinese, when I show up at 8:30 I am the 3rd or 4th person there and I wait in line in the morning for the elevator to the 31st floor! Certainly is going to be different...not bad, just different (good think I really like change, in everything...ha ha!).
Today is Lindsey's 13th birthday! She has had a great day...some girls from her class decorated the outside of her locker so everyone (even juniors as she says!) was saying happy birthday to her. Then she got to wear the birthday crown all day (that would be a construction paper hat) and the whole 8th grade class sang happy birthday to her! At home we had some gifts (without wrapping paper - apparently something that is hard to find here!) and a cake without flames on the candles - but it was special and will certainly be remembered as the first of several people's birthdays we celebrate here!
As we wrap up our second week, we are starting to get into more of a routine (which is critical with 7 people, working and school!), meet more people and feel a little more comfortable (like we can actually do this after all!). Thanks for all of the pr@yers! We love you all and still miss HOME like crazy!
PS - Everyone loves to get emails from friends/families back home - it is a great way to start a day before heading out in to a world of new things!
Love to all!
The Thielman Shanghai Seven
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