Forgive me, dear readers, I have been neglecting you. Some matters cropped up back in Britain which required my attention. The place seemed to have gone to pot since we left. I think I’ve managed to sort everything out now, but do let me know if the country stops working again won’t you?
We’ve been in China for nearly six weeks now and in our apartment for nearly four. I think the excitement of the novelty of being here has worn off, although there are still moments when I have to pinch myself that we really are living our lives in Shanghai, thousands of miles from home. The almost seamless nature of global communication via BBC World, e-mail, news websites. and even Facebook really blurs the separation from England, and yet reading about friends who have been drinking in my pubs, ringing my bells, gossiping with my Mums, and walking in my Lake District is a constant reminder that I can’t do those things and have to enjoy them by proxy.
Arthur has started school! Not real school of course, he is still only 3, but he is in a kindergarten class at Matthew’s school from 8:00 till 11:30 each morning. He has settled there very well and incredibly quickly. Having been deprived of playgroup for so many weeks he was certainly more than ready to widen his social circle again. Like Matthew’s, Arthur’s class is very cosmopolitan, and has both a Western and Chinese teacher so it’s a completely bilingual setting. A frustration for me is that I haven’t been able to find a Mandarin Chinese course that I can fit in around the boys’ school and Dorothy’s work. I’m exploring a couple of other options, but my Chinese is still unfortunately 不是很好.
Tomorrow is “Global Child Day” at Yew Chung school. Each nationality represented at the school has a stand with activities, food and dress from their country. Children are issued with passports which they can get stamped for taking part in activities at the various stands. The British Mum who has organised the UK stand has managed to persuade BMW (!) to let us have a Mini for the day as the centrepiece of the stand. I think scones and strawberries will be the beacon of English cuisine.
I went exploring in Lujiazui yesterday morning – the financial district of Shanghai and home to the tallest of the supertall buildings which boast of Shanghai’s prominence to the rest of the world. It was one of the clearest and brightest days we’ve had so far and I found a very pleasant, and immaculately maintained, park amongst the skyscrapers to read a book for a while. My book is set in York in 1541 so it made for quite a contrast with my surroundings.
We’ve just learned that one of the books in our shipment has been confiscated because it contains restricted maps. We’ve no idea which book it is. The only maps I can think of are a book of Lord of the Rings maps. Could there be some confusion between Middle Earth and Middle Kingdom?! So that may have delayed the consignment but hopefully it will arrive sometime next week. We didn’t put all that much stuff in the shipment, but it will be good to have more cooking stuff and Arthur will be particularly pleased to have more books to choose from.
Dorothy is away tonight – visiting the Nielsen office in Guangzhou. It looks no distance on the map but is actually a 2 hour flight away. She should get back late tomorrow night so we’re all looking forward to the weekend. Well, it is the FA Cup Final. Play up Pompey!
Maps – Lake District? Could it be that Wainwright is proscribed as a lackey of the Western imperialist system?
Either that, or they think The Two Towers is a comment on Shanghai’s recent architectural development…