What a week...

Well, week 1 in Shanghai is coming to a close and we've had a very fun couple of days. Yesterday (Thursday), the boys were able to work from the apartment, so we had them around for the day, which was fun, even if they were working the whole time. So the boys worked in the "office" (a glassed in room), while us ladies headed out to the spa for a little massage. Fabulous. It's a rough life for us :)

For dinner that night, Matthew and I ventured out on our own to discover the great unknown that is Shanghai. So we ended up at McDonald's. I know what you're thinking - "You're in China...why the heck are you going to McDonalds?" Our answer: "You try eating strange Chinese food day in and day out, knowing you have 3 more weeks of it....God bless America and our fat food!" :) We did have to take a picture while we were there. Which makes us wonder, do Chinese people take pictures of themselves in America outside an Asian Wok restaurant? Hmm....


Tonight (Friday), we had a traditional Chinese meal, dim sum. Dim Sum is essentially a little of this, little of that style of eating. You order a bunch of different things to try each thing. You don't get a lot of one thing, which means we were able to venture out and try some different dumplings, noodles, rice, beef, etc. It was quite tasty, one of our favorite meals thus far. We even ordered some ice cream for desert, which they brought out to us with tiny little spoons....talk about portion control.

Right after dinner, we went to the Shanghai Centre Theater where we watched a spectacular acrobatic show. It was INCREDIBLE! There's really no good way of describing it, other than absolutely amazing. The things that these people perform - balancing acts, juggling, jumping on each other's shoulders, ribbon dancing, etc - all so simply amazing and leave you on the edge of your seats in anticipation and nervousness! The audience just goes "huh!" the whole time! This group is a very talented, strong, and flexible group of people! The ribbon dancing was my favorite of the show. It was so beautiful and graceful, I just about cried. It was just that moving (then again, I cry at everything, but trust me, it was fabulous). Cameras were technically not allowed, but I had the little camera with me. I tried to minimize my use of flash, hence some blurry pictures. If I had my big camera, I probably would have been able to get a little more, but there's no way that even on film you could capture the beauty and grace of these people. It's just something you'd have to see for yourself.

Tomorrow, we are headed on an all day tour of Shanghai with a friend of a friend of the Munozes. We are very excited about what's in store for us! Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pictures with my good camera. Until then, God bless and goodnight!

(Ok, FYI, I have a bunch of pictures to show, but for some reason it's not uploading correctly, so check out Matthew's blog for pics! Sorry!)