FIFA Women's World Cup Excitement!

On Friday evening, September 14th, Rich, Lucas, Lance, Stacia and I and two of the kids' friends attended a double header soccer game at the Hong Kou Stadium in Shanghai. We also surprised our Driver Mr. Xu with a ticket since we knew he was a soccer fan. He was shocked that we would include him. He had never done anything like that before. I think he had a very nice time. He bought popcorn for all as a gesture of thanks. We watched Japan vs. Argentina and Germany vs. England. Japan won the first game in extra time, 1-0. The second game was attended by a larger and more rowdy crowd. There were many Germans surrounding us chanting in German LOUDLY! They get into their game! The crowd did the wave several times. I believe there were about 28,000 in attendance. The game was quite exciting but ended a tie, 0-0. The most fun of the night though was when Lance, Lucas and Lance's friend Ryan all got mobbed by many Chinese people wanting to take their picture. The boys all had England soccer jerseys on and their cuteness attracted a lot of attention. You would have thought they had just walked off the set of Middle School Musical! There were Chinese school girls and adults taking pictures with their camera phones. They all wanted to take turns getting into the picture with the boys. Lucas was relishing the attention of the teenage girls who were completely giddy getting into the pictures with him. He enjoyed the attention very much. Lance has been used to this attention before because his blond hair gives him instant notoriety. He has learned to accept the attention like a seasoned star and even has a special smile he uses in their pictures. Rich and I just laughed and took pictures of people taking pictures of them! The boys were even given free pop because of their "popularity". Overall, we had such a great time. Watching soccer live is a lot more fun than on TV. So far as of today, the USA is in the final four. Tonight we will watch them play Brazil live on Chinese TV. We won't be able to understand anything, but it will still be fun to watch.

A Sunday family outing

Sundays are really special for us now. It has become a very enjoyable, relaxing time that includes sleeping in, big breakfasts and family fun such as this outing in Century Park. Century Park is a huge beautiful park in the middle of the Pudong part of Shanghai, very much like Central Park in the middle of NYC. We rented this fun 6 person bike and rode all over the park. We got many stares from the locals (as we always do - big family, tall people, blond hair and a Chinese daughter). We took turns driving but a few at a time had to pedal hard to keep us going! There were some very interesting bush sculptures to gaze upon. Our church service doesn't start until 3pm so we enjoy the earlier part of the day as a family and then head to church at Abundant Grace. It ends around 4:30 so we try to join in with another family or two for dinner afterwards. We have met some wonderful friends and are already feeling connected in at church. Some of the other things we have enjoyed doing on Sundays are going to the fitness center in our complex and playing badminton, squash, swimming or working out in the gym. Shopping at the bargaining mall where you can get a Prada purse for $10 or a game boy game for $3 is always fun. You should see the kids and how their bargaining skills have developed - they drive a hard bargain!

Back to School

It is that time of year again! Here are first day of school pictures of the kids. They started on August 15th. They sure are looking grownup, don't you agree? They attend Concordia International School about 10 minutes from home. A bus comes to our little neighborhood and takes about 25 kids to the school in comfort and style! You have never seen school buses like this before. They ride with a driver and monitor who makes sure they have their seat belts on in their cushy seats with the air conditioner blowing. Stacia is in 9th, Lucas 8th, Lance 5th and Elise 3rd. They all seem to have adjusted quite well to life in China and to their new school. It is a beautiful campus with two new buildings. Elise is in the new elementary building and has to hike up to the 4th floor to her classroom. There are so many opportunities for growth outside the classroom as well. Stacia was the only freshman to make the varsity volleyball team and is busy with that 4-5 days a week. Lucas is trying out touch rugby and loves it. On Thursday he scored 3 out of 7 points for his team in two games. Both Lucas and Lance are running for the middle school cross country team as well. Elise will be taking an arts and crafts class after school and will start up her violin lessons soon. Both Lance and Elise are involved in the community soccer league playing with kids from all over the world. It has been a wonderful learning experience for all.

Thanks to Stacia for setting up the blog and entering the first posts. Sorry it has taken me so long to get this going. I had to find a way to get around the blog block here to view the posts. A new blog savvy friend from Chicago showed me "the way". More to come on life in China...