So for those of you that aren’t aware we are now living in in Shanghai!!! Say what?!? Yes that’s right Shanghai.

So how did that happen? Well that’s a story for another day. A story of hard choices, leaving friends, mourning a life, temporary repatriation, family time, weddings, visas and a whole lot more. A story a bit to raw to put to paper right now, especially the moving away from my expat family part.  I will tell that story but for now let’s focus on the now!

We boarded the plane to our new life here in Shanghai 3 weeks ago! Full of nerves, excitement and anticipation. From the decision to come, to us actually arriving was a matter of weeks. Very little time to organise the vitals such as medicals, visas, school places, packing, flights, etc. Never mind researching the area we were moving to or learning any Chinese. But off we went anyway.

17 hours, very little sleep, a grueling walk carrying Baby Blue (through Moscow airport), a nap on the hard airport floor, we finally arrived at Shanghai airport. Local time it was one in the morning but due to jet lag it was early evening in our heads.

Imagration and baggage claim went very smoothly and we soon were pushing two trolleys piled high with 15 items of luggage and 3 children out into the arrivals lounge. A smiley guy from husband new job waved at us, his card clearly showing our names indicated he was indeed our driver. He greeted us “Nǐ hǎo”.

Our lack of Chinese became immediately obvious, but via the use of hand gestures we and all the luggage made it on to the school bus. We must have been waiting outside for the bus less than 5 minutes but the relief to get back into ac highlighted how hot it was. Even at just gone 1 in the morning!

We spent the next hour driving through an urban landscape we would never have seen in Zambia! Lit up sky scrapers towing above a jungle of flyovers and roads. Cars, scooters and people everywhere. I found the Chinese signs fascinating but completely unreadable. We had no idea where we were, what direction we we going in, or where we had come from.

Luckily the driver had handed out water and some baked goods as the boys were convinced it was supper time. Not far into the journey the big two were fast asleep but baby blue was hyper and needing a lot of entertainment. After the journey both mine and husband mental ability to entertain a toddler was some what limited but we made it.

Our excitement grew as we turned into what would be our apartment for the next couple of years. What floor would it be on? How big will it be? What furniture will it have? How scared would I be on the balcony? Would there be a lift? How many beds would there be? I was well and truly ready for mine.