Our Diary
Summer, 2011
Greetings once again dear reader!
At the beginning of July we’d been here in Shanghai for six months. It’s been exciting but it felt like it was time for a summer break and, what with it being school hols and with Shanghai’s ever increasing heat and humidity, we legged it for a month!
We flew into Copenhagen (via Amsterdam) and were collected by Jane & Niels. It was lovely to see them and we were extremely grateful that we could sit in the car and relax after such a long flight. They drove us over the bridge to Sweden and we spent the next week with them in the family summer house (holiday home) at Ekaryd, Hassleholm.
Jens and Camilla were already staying there, and it was great to see them and catch up on all of their news. They also celebrated their wedding anniversary while they were there with us...congrats!
It really is very idyllic there and with the usual good food and fresh forest air we soon recovered from our jetlag. Dan had a great time with Farfar and Farmor. We had an enjoyable afternoon at the Skåne Animal Park. He danced to Farmor’s playing on the guitar, watched her cooking in the kitchen and she was nifty enough to catch him for LOTS of hugs and kisses. Meanwhile she taught Tina how to bake the perfect loaf of bread (no mean feat considering Tina’s cooking skills...) and made some rose jelly .Farfar and Mads made Dan a wooden ferry boat to play with and then repaired the roof on the main house and barn. Meanwhile the Thomsen smoke house was up and running so we had home smoked salmon (yummy). Farfar had a birthday while we were there too. Dan also enjoyed talking to the horses and riding on the tractor. Thanks for a lovely time/ Tak for alt.
Next it was time for us to catch the train back to Denmark and, with a hire car, we headed to good ‘ol Sorø.
It was strange for us to be back in our old home again. We thought it might be a bit difficult for Dan but he was fine and we enjoyed” camping out” there one last time. We were SO pleased to see some of our friends and neighbours again. Thanks/Tusind tak to Claus & Jette, Niels & Torve, Inge, Pat, Lars & Ollie, Mette & Torben & family for your constant friendship, help with the house and garden, help with dear Suki cat, and great hospitality whenever we see you. A great big SORRY to all of our other dear friends whom we simply didn’t have enough time to see, it’ll be your turn next time.
During that week in Sorø we also saw family.
We had a very cosy/hyggelig day with Line, Kim, Emilie & Sofie . Dan loved playing with them all in their sunny garden and laughs when he sees the photo’s....aah. Thanks/Tak.
Next we had more hygge with Mette, Claus, JJ, Hannah, and Elias. Another sunny day but this time we were in the park in Copenhagen, in the garden behind their apartment and then Dan was in the bath with Elias. Yes, well, all that playing makes a lot of mess...hee hee! He had a great time. Thanks/ Tak.
Next stop, England. To the airport again and we flew from Copenhagen to Stansted. We were collected by Barry and soon en route to Norwich.
The next day was Janet’s birthday and Trace, Immie and (the next day) Bill all came over for the weekend as well. We had a lovely day and Janet enjoyed her presents and her cake. It has been a lot of years since we were all together for Janet’s birthday so we all enjoyed it. The following day Flue and Chris came to visit, swiftly followed by Robert. An impromptu lunch and lots of usual Warner chatter! It was LOVELY to see you all, thanks for coming.
Then it was time for Mads to fly back to Shanghai and horrible for all of us to be separated. Mads was extremely unlucky that his flight was delayed by 3 hours due to typhoon “Muifa” hitting the Shanghai coastline that evening...Oh good grief! (It brought VERY strong wind and heavy rain but thankfully “Muifa” wasn’t as bad as feared.)Eventually weary Mads got back.
During the next six days Dan had lots of fun with Nana and Grandad. We went on trips to Blickling Hall, Trowse, walks in forests and by lakes, feeding the animals at Wroxham Barns, playing hide and seek, a visit from Val and Roy (thanks for coming), getting lots of hugs and general cosiness/hygge. Tina thoroughly enjoyed it all and Dan definitely got to know Nana and Grandad a lot better. A lovely week. Thanks/Tak for alt.
Moving on to Tracy, Bill and Immie’s house.
As usual Trace had lots of activities for small people to do. Immie and Dan managed to play and share together very well with minimal” fisty cuffs” and they giggled and hugged as much as they ever have. They have always been rather besotted with each other! Trace and Tina had, as usual, no problem finding things to talk about and they giggled and hugged a lot too!
We went swimming (BRILLIANTLY done in your lesson Immie!), played at Monkey Business, saw amazing dinosaurs at Knebworth House, played in the garden, did some drawing and sticking and on the last day there was a surprise visit from Nana and Grandad along with a bar-b-que. A great week, thanks/tak for alt.
Then off to Heathrow and back to Shanghai for Dan and Tina this time. There were thankfully no typhoons delaying them!
Wow. What a month! We miss you all.
So what’s next?
Watch this space...
Week 10
So it's time for a another update oF our news.In fact it has been far too long since we last wrote anything. A VERY BELATED HAPPY CHINESE/LUNAR NEW YEAR!
WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT.
On the 5th March we’d been here in Shanghai for two months. In many ways it feels like longer, probably because we’ve experienced and absorbed so much in such a short period of time.
Dan’s settled in to his Nursery class at the English school very well. He’s in the Jellyfish Class with Miss Nina as his teacher and just doing half days at the moment. He’s never happy when Tina says goodbye to him in the mornings, but he certainly doesn’t want to come home again when she collects him! He’s doing very well and slowly but surely seems to be accepting all of the changes in his life.
Tina’s main job at the mo is trying to keep Dan calm in all of the changes, trying to keep the dog calm in the flat (she's used to a big garden and a dog flap) and trying to guess how much carbohydrate there is in all of the food. They write all of the info on packets here but it's in Mandarin of course. There are so many Chinese symbols for all of the different kinds of sugar, long acting carbs and all of the fats that she can't always get it right at the mo....Why did she ever think that Danish was hard! Hopefully she'll figure it out.
Anyway, otherwise it's going well.
The locals seem friendly enough and as long as you remember that their shouting means nothing you don't get too freaked out by it! By our standards they are rude to people they don't know (Chinese and foreigners alike) but as soon as they form a relationship with someone they are gentle, polite and never shout at that person again. Apparently it's got to do with respect. Once they know you, they hate to confront or offend you, and they don't want to lose face in front of you. It's all a bit complicated! Our driver is very helpful and we seem to be muddling along pretty well with his help.
Along with him we’ve just got a new Ayi (a kind of cleaner/ aupair). Everybody has one here so we decided to go with the flow and employ one. Our Ayi is called Mei (pronounced “May”) and seems very sweet. She just works with us in the afternoons and loves playing with Dan when he comes home from nursery. Mathilde dog has taken to her very well too and they go for walks together. Tina’s finding it all a bit strange though...she’s always done everything herself. It’s also very alien to have someone else in the house every afternoon. Well, we’ll see how it goes!
We had the Chinese/Lunar New Year last month. It's now the year of the rabbit. Should be good for luck and romance apparently. So there you go! The fireworks are insane. They let off huge rockets in the streets and from apartment balconies...it's like a war zone! It goes on all day and night for a few days and then, when you think they've finished, it starts again on the 5th night. That night's important for fireworks if you want to get rich....it seems like they do! Everybody was happy though and our driver's wife brought us some delicious homemade traditional food that she'd made (had to check the blood sugar for a while after that!).
Mads' work's going ok. He's with Danes and Chinese so they mainly speak English. His project's been a bit delayed though so he's mainly in the office in Shanghai centre at the mo. He has a fabulous Chinese secretary called Anni, she translates everything for us and is wonderful. He finds it all a bit frustrating cos things don't happen as efficiently as they do in Denmark, but he's definitely finding his way.
The cultural differences are challenging but interesting for all of us, pretty much every day. Still, that’s how it is to live in another country and we three have quite a lot of experience between us!
A big THANKS/TAK to all of you who’ve sent us cards etc in the post. We do receive them but it seems to take approx 1-2 months from England or Denmark. If we send things to you they only seem to take approx 2 weeks to Europe from here. Which post office shall we blame?!
We’ve been on several trips so don’t forget to check out the picasa photos to have a look.
Love to you all, and bye/hej-hej for now.
Week 2-3, 2011
It’s been a busy first 12 days.
We hit the ground running after our arrival and, still sleep deprived, groggy and jetlagged, we started to buy some essential items for the apartment. There’s an IKEA here (yippy!) so we raided that and then bought the other things day by day.
Mads interviewed some drivers on the first afternoon and we now have a chauffeur called Mr Jiang. We have a company car (pewter coloured VW Touran) and are trying to get used to being driven around. Mr Jiang is very enthusiastic and takes many alternative routes to show us some of the less commercial, more “real” Shanghai. He doesn’t speak English but with the help of a dictionary, hand gestures, and a little luck we seem to be getting where we want to go most of the time!
Week 1, 2011
On the 3rd January 2011 we said goodbye to Holbækvej 141 and snow decked Sorø, and our dear friend and neighbour Niels drove us to Copenhagen Airport.
We left complete with 5 suitcases, a dog transport case and hand luggage. Dan and Mathilde dog (also known as Tilly to the Brits and Thilde vov-vov to the Danes) were rather unsure of it all...they weren’t the only ones!
With mixed emotions we arrived at Kastrup (Copenhagen Airport) and said our goodbyes to Neils. It was the last of many emotional goodbyes that we’ve had in the last two months.
Next the complicated check in, followed by big hugs for luck to our dear Mathilde.
The first flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam went very well and we were feeling pretty “chipper” with it all. Next came the flight from Amsterdam to Shanghai. Oh dear. Three hours delay due to engine failure (was somebody trying to tell us something...)and finally we were off.
On our arrival at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport we were allowed to see Thilde and heard that we could collect her from quarantine in 7 days. We were met by our Chinese friend and helper Annie and off to our new home at The Racquet Club.
   
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