More than 2 weeks on vacation, and I haven’t written a thing! I feel like we’ve been sick forever, and we seem to have spent a lot of time in bed. There have been a few good health days, but mostly, it’s just been this cold/flu thing that we can’t seem to shake. February came and everything seemed better for all of us. Then, Rumi’s birthday…I got horrible food poisoning! 2019 has really sucked so far on the health front.
What happened was, we decided to go to our favorite mall for Rumi’s birthday. We had several ideas of what we wanted to do. Rumi wanted to invite one of her friends, and we were going to see one of those 5D movies, and buy some simple make-up, our favorite restaurant followed by coffee and donuts just before we l left. We had a plan.
When we got there, the 5D movie was closed, as was our favorite restaurant. We decided to go to Carl’s Jr. instead. Definitely second best for a birthday. We were eating, talking girl talk, having a good time, and we were told they were out of fries and onion rings. Ok, strange. Then we were told, they are closing right now. WTH?! So we notice lots of people heading to the doors. We try to go to the make-up store, it’s closed. We went up for donuts to take home, they had a few left as they were just about to close their doors.
Turns out that it was Chinese New Years Eve, so everything closed at 6. I felt bad for Rumi. It was kind of a sad birthday. A week before, when I had to renew my passport, we went to a different mall to get my passport photo. All Rumi has wanted for Christmas and her birthday was a pair of Converse. As we were wondering around, there was an actual Converse store, and I got her a pair. That was her birthday present and she was very happy, but still.
So far, the rest hasn’t been much better. There’s been some confusion. We were told we’d be paid before vacation, then at the end of the month, then before that. We were told to go back to work on the 20th and the students would be back on the 25th, then it was the 18th, and the students will be there on the 20th. This is NOT a way to run a school. There should be a calendar set at the beginning of the year, and that should be set in stone.
Renewing my passport went very well though. I showed up early for my appointment, and got out in less than 20 minutes. Then I had lunch with Sugar’s adoption agent because he works in the same building. Then, I found a Canadian restaurant and brought dinner home for the girls, so things started getting better.
Yesterday, we went to a cool place called Jump 360 with the Clarks. Now that was great. All the kids got to play for three hours at a hugely discounted rate. Rumi said she saw more foreign kids than she’s ever seen in one place. Jodie and I sat drinking tea and just having a lovely time. Then, after we left, we went back to that mall and tried a birthday redux, which worked except they were pretty exhausted.
We came home to a bit of a shock. Our front door was wide open. We didn’t and still don’t know why. Rumi thinks her cat may have jumped on the handle and opened it. She’s done it with her bathroom door before. Whatever the cause, I was worried. First, were we robbed? Second, were all 5 pets still in the house? I walked throughout the house before the girls came in, and nothing had been stolen, and no one was there. Sugar didn’t come right down to the door, and she didn’t come until she was called several times, but she finally came, as did each of the four cats. This is another testament to the unbelievable safety of China.
Now, we are in the middle of our vacation. I hope things get warmer if nothing else. It’s so cold on the first floor it’s hard to spend any time in the kitchen washing dishes or cooking or anything. It makes me cold to my bones. You would think the hot water or the stove on would help, but it doesn’t.
Smiling in Shanghai 