Big Daddy Date to The Aquarium and The Bund

One family tradition we have recently enjoyed starting is having "Daddy Dates" with the girls and "Guy Time" with the boys.  The big idea is to spend dedicated time with the kids.  Typically this is dedicated 1:1 time, but this past weekend we had the chance to have a very special "Daddy Date" at two of my favorite spots in Shanghai - The Shanghai Aquarium and the Bund.

At the aquarium the kids not only enjoyed creating fish themed crafts, but also interacting with the many types of fish on display

Asa, Miriam and Crystal (a good friend's daughter) stand in front of the Shark Mouth on their way into view Sharks and Sea Turtles.  As you can see from Crystal's paper they were also on a scavenger
hunt looking for facts about the sea animals.

Asa enjoyed posing with various animal figures found throughout the aquarium and the Emperor Penguin was his favorite.

At the end of the tour / scavenger hunt the kids had a chance to touch small sharks!  It was interesting to see how timid Miriam and I (Joab) were to touch them while Asa spent over a half an hour petty them like there were puppies!

 

 

At night we slept right next to the fish inside the aquarium!  In fact, the kids and I were right between two walls of Moon Jelly Fish that had neon lights shining on them.  Fortunately, the neon lights went off around mid-night and didn't come back on until about 6 am!

The time at the aquarium ended with breakfast where I found the kids had created their own jelly fish with a small coin purse and mini-flashlights!

What a special time at the aquarium with Miriam and Asa!

Since we were already in the Financial District (called Lu Jia Zui), I thought we would wander down to the Huang Pu River as it has a great view of The Bund on the west side. 

While enjoying a special treat at Starbucks on the river, Asa decided to use the muffin wrapper to create a "Muffin Man" out of his chocolate muffin.  I love this guy's creativity!

Two of my favorite buildings on The Bund are the old HSBC Bank Building (on the left) and the Customs House (on the right).  Asa joked that we were "going to London" when we cross the river to see these old buildings, which isn't too far from the truth as these are some of the most famous buildings that represent the old British Concession.

In front of the HSBC Bank Building are two iconic bank lions - one with his mouth shut and the other with his mouth wide open.  The HSBC legend is that these two lions represent two of the original bank chairmans - one that was very talkative and the other very tight lipped.  The kids and I enjoyed having fun with them - not Miriam trying to pull Asa's head out of the lion's mouth!

 

 

The search for street food

Miriam has a love...and it is for candied crab apples. We have literally spent two months hunting down sellers on the street for this common northern (Beijing) street food, but not so common here in Shanghai. The sellers have to dodge the "street cops" that like to capture these small stands (that are illegal) and also it is Chinese New Year holidays, so most sellers have returned to their home town for a month or so.

I would take Miriam on the back of the electric bike over the Chinese New
Year holiday to scout out possible areas that these sellers might be...but always came up empty handed. These candied crab apples only cost about 50 cents per stick, so so cheap and Miriam wanted one soooo badly- that I (Emily) was determined to make it happened!

Sunday night we went to our local mall to celebrate the end of the holiday (and to eat northern Chinese food- our favorite). And there at the mall!!! We found them! Miriam was - THRILLED!

From the above pictures, you can see Asa is not a big fan!!

Chinese New Year Break: Part 2 - Friends and Home

One of the other great gifts of the Chinese New Year break was visiting friends and spending time at home.

The Home Front

Before the official start of the holiday Emily did an amazing job of entertaining the kids at home.  She also had to prep extra food for the old two kids as they were off school and prepared special food for our visits to friends homes.

Here are the kids in the "tent" that Emily created in their bedroom

Emily got a new wok over the holiday; she had used her old one for over five years

New Year's with Our Chinese Friends

After living in Shanghai for over five years we were delighted when our Chinese friends, who we first met over four years ago at East China Normal University preschool, invited us into their home for traditional Chinese New Year food.  Like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the U.S. this holiday is a time for family gatherings and special foods; however, it  is our experience that Chinese people will take longer before they invite you into their home to share a special holiday meal.  What a gift to spend time with these dear friends and gain a deeper understanding of how they celebrate this holiday!

The "spread" of special dishes filled the entire dining room table. 

Some of our favorites included homemade sausage, braised pork (Hong Shao Rou)

and French Champagne (that our friend had hand carried back from France!

Our friends also spent the entire afternoon making

homemade  dumplings that filled nearly the whole desk!

Before dinner we enjoyed the tradition of lighting off fireworks - Here is Asa with a sparkler

Our friend lit a fountain firework that lit up the freshly fallen snow - a rare appearance in Shanghai.

New Year's Eve in Our Neighborhood

Walking around our neighborhood it was amazing to see all of the decorations and "signs of the season".

The kids stand in front of the mysterious children statues that seem to be everywhere. 

The fruit stand across the street was stocked full of fruit basics that nearly filled the street!

We are so thankful for several foreign families in our neighborhood who were also stayed in town for the holiday.  We spent the evening eating more food and setting off fireworks.

The "peanut gallery" of children stand watching the fireworks.

The highlight from our small fireworks display was a "Peacock Fountain"

Chinese New Year Break 2013: Part 1 - Shanghai Sites

Chinese New Year means that our two school aged kids are out of school for nearly a month.  We have been so blessed for this time to be filled with visits to local sites and time with friends.  The pictures below capture some of the sites our family saw in Shanghai during this year's holiday.

Stop #1: The Xu Jia Hui District: Shanghai's Early History

The Xu Jia Hui district is in the south west corner of Shanghai's colonial city center and literally means the "Xu family gathering place".  This district traces its history back to Mr. Xu Guang Qi who was came to faith through his work with Matteo Ricci and established the first Catholic community in the 1600's.

The kids stand in front of statue of Xu Guang Qi in a museum commemorating his life. 

Note Asa is helping us pronounce "Xu" which sounds a lot like "shoe" in English.

As a result of Xu Guang Qi's influence a significant Catholic community that  is preserved at the Tu Shan Wan Museum which commemorates an orphanage that was started in the 1800's by Jesuit Catholics.  These Catholics taught local children handicraft skills and one of their most famous carvings is a Chinese Memorial Gate (a replicate of which is behind the boys) that was featured at several World's Fairs.  Here is a great blog post that provides more pictures and a detailed history.

Asa and Elijah stand in front of a copy of the Chinese Memorial Gate

Stop #2 The Local Chinese Folk Center

Miriam's school gave us a list local museums, including the Chang Ning District Chinese Folk Center, which features a traditional neighborhood as it appeared in the 1940's.  In addition we were delighted to discover that the center featured a New Year's carnival.

Asa and Miriam stage on a small the bridge on the 1940's street. 

Miriam watches the New Year's "Wheel of Fortune" to see what prize she will win. 

She won a bar of soap:)! 

Stop #3 Holiday Displays

This year we welcome the year of the snake and it was very interesting to see all of the Chinese New Year displays across town.

 

Asa and Miriam with a Sombrero Wearing Snake

One of the most minimalist and creative snake displays was done by Calvin Klein at our mall

 

At the same mall Coke's "Santa's Workshop" was magically turned into a "Chinese New Year House"

 

 

McDonalds even got into the New Year's action by featuring a horn of the mythical "Nian" (a monster whose name sounds the same as year) poking out of the place mat.  Here is a great summary video of the Nian Story.

 



On the fifth day of the new year Shanghai welcomes the god of wealth through lighting a ridiculous amount of fireworks.  We were amused to find these god of wealth blow up dolls at a restaurant in our mall.

 

Christmas in January

We were glad to host 12 of Miriam's classmates and a neighbor girl in our home for a belated Christmas party on Sunday (January 20, 2013).  We had to re-schedule our original party as illness struck the Meyer household for three weeks following Christmas.  

Kids Hard at Work Putting Their Christmas Stars Together

The Group Displays Their Final Products

Sleeping Silas: We tried to get Silas to nap in the other room, but he wouldn't sleep

until we put his chair in the middle of the party room!

Christmas Cookies: It was interesting to see how the local kids "docorated" their cookies

- heavy on raisins and nuts, but no frosting. 

Gifts: One of the best parts about throwing a party in China is seeing all of the different gifts that your guests bring.  Here are the kids with the table full of toys and snacks that were given.

Highlights from Pa Pa and Nei Nei's Visit

What a gift it was to host Emily's parents (Pa Pa and Nei Nei to our kids) for two weeks at the end of December!  Below are a few of the highlights from their fun filled visit.

After a brief weekend in Shanghai, Emily took her parents to Beijing.

One of the highlights was a trip to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. 

Back in Shanghai, Nei Nei helped celebrate Salome's 3rd birthday

by making tutus for all of Salome's friends who came.

Salome's Birthday Cake and Tea

It was so special to spend Christmas Day with family - especially when Pa Pa Santa visited!

Miriam was delighted to have her Samantha doll

Asa was ecstatic to get a Star Wars book - one of several Star Wars themed toys

Salome enjoyed her Merida dress (from the movie Brave)

Silas is the best Christmas present Em and Joab received this year!

After Christmas we were able to take Emily's parents to sites around Shanghai,

including an afternoon at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.

Asa Becomes a "Little Sprout"

For Emily and I, part of making our home outside our home country is learning to let go of the expectation that your children will share the same childhood experiences you went through.  Case in point - Elementary School Pageants.  In central Nebraska (where I grew up) we had seasonal music pageants that included traditional Christmas songs and Disney theme songs. 

For Miriam and Asa, the big first grade event is the "Little Sprout" induction ceremony.  "Little Sprouts" are the first in a line of government sponsored student organizations that Chinese students join throughout their educational experience.  While we don't support some "Little Sprout" ideals (IE: The Party is the Sun and the "Little Sprouts" are flowers), there are many common values around learning and family that we whole-heartily support.

To the kids, it is largely just part of their life in this adopted second home where your elementary school years include group song and dance instead of choir concerts with Disney themes.  Below are some pictures to capture the experience.   

Asa stands ready for his performance to begin

Asa and his classmates pretend to study as part of their performance

Asa and Miriam show off their "Christmas Themed" Scarfs:

Asa's Green "Little Sprout" and Miriam's Red "Young Pioneers