more pictures...

us after the walk...



Indi playing with my scarf.. ;-) he loves his new 'winter' outfit...

December is Here...

Weather is getting colder here in Shanghai - today it's 4 degrees Celcius! and wind is blowing pretty strong out there, which makes it worse.

Last Sunday Robert had to join in the Shanghai Marathon Health Run - it's a 4.5km walk/run. The company where he works participate in the run (as many other company I noticed). At first it will only be Robert pushing Indi in the stroller, and I'll tag along and take pictures and maybe wait for them somewhere. In the end, I joined the walk as it wasn't that long and it was quite fun...

here's some pictures from the marathon...


Indi enjoying the stroller...


Luckily the sky was blue... so it's nice to walk/ stroll/ run...


There was quite a few group of older ladies who'd cheer the runners... they're all wearing bright colour uniforms... it's nice to see them cheer...

Around Shanghai...

There's a few bronze statues like this around town... and here's a photo of Robert and Indi in a temple...

Bali Massage

While we were in Bali an old lady gave Indi a 3 minute massage.... he dare not move, or say anything during that time... too scared!

Around the town before Halloween...

We went to a place called Xintiandi (basically lots of cafes/ restaurants and shopping place for local and tourists)... before the halloween... and Indi loves to look at their decoration...

Halloween '08

Halloween seems to be big here in Shanghai, at the tourists and expats hang out places they kinda make an effort to decorate and have events for it... Supermarkets like Carrefour has a big section for the Halloween stuff - decoration and costumes (and it's pretty cheap!!!). Even the local wholesale market has a few stores selling all the Halloween stuff.

Indi's school had a Halloween party on the 24th, but we didn't go as Robert's out of town, and from what I've heard it's nothing to miss. So I'm glad I didn't drag Indi to see those ghosts and ghouls and had nightmares.

On the Halloween day itself the Reception class and Year 1 were asked to dress up in a 'costume', and at the end of the school day they did a little parade. Indi wears a 'KungFu Master' costume - he likes KungFu Panda! So he's a KungFu master... and he loves to wear it.



This is Indi with 2 of his friends at school... Crystal & Isabelle ...


This is Indi with our driver (mister Zhu - read: Choo), car, house, and there's the Ayi's motored bicycle (Ayi is maid - her name is Mei - will post her photo next time).

In the evening the compound where we live have their own 'trick or treating'. This is the first time Indi's excited about it, maybe he remembers all the candies and chocolates he got from last years trick or treating. We had a few friends from Indi's school over at our house, they want to do the trick or treating with us. One of them has an older kid, and she helped to draw on Indi's face. Indi couldn't make up his mind what he wants to wear, first a Batman costume... than he changed to a long sleeve T-Shirt... and becomes a rapper/ pirate... he was soooo excited with the trick or treating and the candies his getting.






Dinner after the walk... :-)


The boy on the front looks like Indi, doesn't he? Lots of people at school, even teachers, sometimes can't tell who is who...

From Indi's 4th Birthday

We celebrate Indi's birthday just the 3 of us. It was his second day of school and we haven't really finished packing and do not know that many people yet.

That day he went to school and told his teacher that it was his birthday - and as I didn't bring any cake to school, the teacher organize with people from the school cafetaria for a cake. They all sing Happy Birthday and help make Indi celebrate at school, the teacher gave Indi 4 stickers and was being extra nice to him. He can't stop telling me about the cake and the singing when I picked him up from school.

Robert came home pretty early to make sure he can spend some time with Indi. We had dinner and the brownies that I baked (Indi loves brownies - or anything that's chocolate for that matter!). He loves it blowing the candle that he insisted to blow two times... after that we opened some presents.. These presents are from his party in Singapore...

Winter is a week away...

Temperature is getting lower, slowly but surely, and December 7th will be the official date for the start of winter. We went to buy a few long sleeves t-shirts and jerseys - for things just to wear around the house. Coming from the tropics where it's warm and sunny - we have to adjust quickly to this cold and they say wet winter. Hopefully the adjustment will be smooth. We have yet to get our flu shots, couldn't do it last week as we have a bit of a cold (again because of the weather change after the 2weeks holiday in Bali).

Indi seems to learn a lot at school. He's now able to write his name, just his name - not the family name or anything,... we're so happy that he's taking little steps toward reading and writing. From what the teacher told me, he loves it when he's the teacher's helper - so he tries to sit nicely, quietly and do what he's got to do so he will be appointed as the teacher's helper... I wish he's like that at home... :-)

Now that it's getting colder we could't spent to much time outside, instead we do more 'Play-Doh's and just playing inside the house, and yes television or DVDs.

I imagine things are getting better now, as we're almost finished with the house - only a few more pictures to hang, but it's okay.. we'll take our time. My first level of Mandarin lessons are coming to an end this week, and I will not be doing a 3 times a week lessons for the next level, just 2 times. So I can have more times to do other stuff... and more time to sent e-mails and write the blog... :-)

Indi goes to Soccer/ Football practice every Friday, he loves to kick the ball and run around... but don't ask him to roll on the grass or touch the grass.. :-) he said it's full of worms... Will take the camera next time he's in the field, so you can see how 'happy and excited' he is with the game...

I'll post some pictures now, as I know that's what you want to see... :-) Hoping you're all well...

So Here We Are...

A new life, a new beginning, a new chapter... call it what you want... but for sure it's new.

This is a very big city, and I do mean BIG... well, this is a country with 1.3 billion people in it! We moved here early August, and have to live in a service apartment before we can moved into our house. Everything seems to happen so fast and there's almost no time to breathe... no time to relax. From the time we packed the house in Singapore, moved here, moved to the house, unpacked... and settled into routines... it all happened so fast!

Now we're kinda settling into routines... Robert with his work (and travel plans), Indi with his school - it's a full day school... from 8.30 to 15.15... almost 7 hours of schooling and no nap at school... and my routines are 3 times a week of 2.5hours Mandarin Language Class, and the rest will be trying to socialize - take some tours conducted by the community center, try to meet up with other moms... anything to meet new friends. One thing I learn is you have to be active to find friends... they will not come if you just stay at home, or not say anything to people you meet... :-)

Will try to post more pictures over the next few days... So sorry about the delay, but it's been very tiring, stressful and daunting. I'll write more about the stress later... :-) now looking back at it... I can smile, but not 6 weeks ago!

My first photos here was Indi in his new school, because I know that's what everybody wants to see... :-)

Have a good week-end everybody... We miss you!

(I wrote this on a Sat'd night while Indi and I stayed at home, and Rob's out on a Cricket Charity Dinner.. )

First day of school - new school... new city... new country...

isn't he the smallest... :-) but he's got so much energy... never tired after school... still looking forward to his bike riding time..

Ice Skating

Time flies..... I haven't post any news, photos - updates for a few months now... but today we went ice skating and took some pictures... as we've never done this before, I thought it's about time to post the pictures in the blog....

At first Indi wasn't happy ice skating... it was difficult for him to skate, even with the bar provided for kids under 12years old... he keeps falling, struggling... he gave up and decided to sit down and have some snacks... and yes, it was lots of snack... pop corn (Kelly's pop corn!!!) and the caramel biscuits...



Somehow after eating his snacks, he went back skating... and this time... he was doing pretty good... he holds on to the bar and was stepping... all he wants to do is run fast... :-)

Sentosa - the unplanned outing...

Last Sunday we went out to Sentosa - it wasn't a planned trip, we were at Vivo City to get me a new phone (my old one was stolen... i'll write about it later)... and because the night before we went to bed early, we thought that we need to stay awake until at least 7pm and go straight to bed. If we're at home we know we'l be having a loooong nap. So spending the day at Sentosa wasn't a bad idea.

Took the train (which Indi loves so much)... and we stopped at the Imbiah Station and just look around the plaza... there was live music and not that many people.. from this place you can take picture of the Merlion...



From the plaza we walked up and found an old truck in front of the museum, and yes... Indi wouldn't move until he went up and play with the truck..



From there we walked again and saw the Carlsberg Skytower... so we went up on it... it's a revolving tower that takes you up (was it 30m or 50m high? - i have to check) and it spins slowly so you can see the area.. it's nice to be up there...




Next to the Skytower was the Luge & Skyride... first I have my doubt in going on the luge... and wanted to take two trips of the Skyride (down and up) instead... but the cashier convince me that it's fun... so I joined Robert and Indi for the luge... and oh my!!!! it was fun!!! FUN FUN FUN... indi loves it... he also wants to do it again...
and guess what? the Skyride is a bit scary! I'm glad I listened to the cashier and did the luge...











From there we went on the cable car ride... took the whole trip cause the difference of taking one stop and round trip was only S$1,- ... might as well...



On our way back we passed the old truck again... and of course Indi wants to have another go...


We were all tired after the whole unplanned day... but it was a very nice day!!!