Ang and I are officially temporary residents of China. I finally received my Passport back from the government this week with my residency permit enclosed. My permit took at little longer to obtain after realizing that we needed an official translation of our marriage certificate (it is in Spanish). The residency permit application process is interesting. IBM contracts with a firm in Shanghai that takes care of the paperwork and basically escorts you to the various agencies for a health check and interview. The health check includes a series of tests - blood work, chest x-ray, EKG, vision test, and ultrasound are the ones I recall. You then have to go for an interview where they review your forms, take your picture and then process the visa (they call it an interview but I didn't have to answer a single question). I was denied at my first interview because they couldn't read our marriage certificate. I returned a week later with an 'official' translation and there were no problems. I have no idea where this translation came from or what made it 'official' but it worked so I guess that is all that matters. Luckily children are automatically granted a visa based on a birth certificate so there was no need to bring Ang for a health check or interview.
Angela and I have started to get out of the house more and more and have made quite a few friends here in Shanghai. This week we joined Pam and Kyle for a playgroup in the clubhouse at the complex where they live. Most of the kids were older than Ang and were walking / crawling but it was nice to sit and visit with other moms and Ang was very entertained by the other children. She seems to enjoying the stimulation of being around people - I think I have started to bore her, she gets so cranky if we stay home all day. We also went to our first baby music class this week. There were about ten other babies with their moms. The class is about 45 minutes and is a lot of singing, listening to music and a little bit of dancing. She has always loved when we sing to her and I think this class will be really great. Wednesday night was date night for me and Rich - Bonnie stayed a little late to watch Ang (we always wait until Ang is asleep). We went to the Kitchen which is an Italian restaurant not far from where we live. The reviews were very mixed so we weren't sure what to expect. We had a table outside overlooking the Bund which was great. The food was decent but didn't blow me away. I had lobster risotto and Rich enjoyed a sausage and broccoli wood fired pizza. As we were sitting there enjoying our meal we both commented that it didn't really feel like we were in China. At times (most times), you are very aware of being in a foreign country where you don't know the language and need to divide every price by 7 to determine how much something costs. However, there are times when you feel like you could be in any city in America even though you are really hundreds of miles away. It is great to know of a few places to go when we are feeling a little home sick!
Next week we are off on another adventure. Rich has to travel to Malaysia for a few meetings so Ang and I will tag along for the trip. It is a 5 hour flight; same time zone just further south. It will be nice to get away from Shanghai for a few days and I've never been to Malaysia so I'm excited for a new stamp in my passport. Unfortunately we won't have long enough to visit any of the really nice beaches, but we will get a chance to explore the city and meet some of Rich's coworkers.
This is the result of play dates - a very sleepy baby!!
Not so happy about the teeth - if you look very closely you can see the white on the bottom gums.
A little grin...
We had a little taste of oatmeal...it was fun and she seemed to enjoy it!
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