Shopping Always lifts a girls spirits!

Today was our big trip to Ikea. Last night I pushed through the jet lag and stayed up until midnight scouring the website, studying the pictures of the new house, and making a very comprehensive list of what the landlord's money will be buying. With 3 children, a husband, an interpreter, and 2 drivers all waiting on me to pick out the stuff - I knew I had to be organized (Eileen Madden always says I am so organized-my family would totally disagree with this - but this was one time I truly felt organized). I think the interpreter was even impressed. The IKEA here looks just like them all - same system and luckily they had cards in both Chinese and English. So I felt right at home copying down the aisle and section numbers and finding all the goods. 

Can you guess the Snack?

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the local Carrefour (like Super Wal-Mart - groceries, clothes, electronics, etc.) Now this is no Target - many of us in the neighborhood love to go and browse at the Target for hours buying fabulous little items that make life easier for all of us - baskets to organize, new markers, cleaning products, even cute clothes for ourselves and our children(probably all Made in China). This Carrefour is more like a Super Dollar Store! So we decided to just find some snacks to have in the hotel. After scouring the store for anything familiar we finally found something. Not our favorite snack in the US, but familiar. Can you guess what it is?

Home Sweet Home

The jet lag for all of us is terrible! The fireworks that are hitting the window of the hotel is not helping either. So we all headed to bed at 8pm at 10pm the fireworks started at 10:30 we were all up and ready to go. We stayed up until 4am and then back to bed for a few hours. Painful!

The relators picked us up at 9:30 to bring us to our new home. It was a little strange to see grown women in Hello Kitty sweat pants, but I assume this is pretty stylish here.  (Mom- you save everything - any Hello Kitty stuff from childhood you could send? I would fit right in if you could find a purse or something?) 

So we pull up to the guards in front of the gated community and the driver seems to argue with the guards for a while and then in we go. (Mark assures me - it always sounds like they are arguing). Our van parks next to a drive way covered by iron bars - Yikes! All the homes are enclosed by iron bars - should I be nervous? I am nervous. Inside the house - it smells funny - it feels funny- it is not home! We look around and my minds is racing - how can I make this home - do I really want to make this home? Do I have a choice? I must do my best for the children, but I really just want to come home.

Happy Meal Toys?

After about a half hour cab ride we arrived at the hotel in a sea of flashing lights from stores, buildings, displays, etc. Seems like every building is competeing with each other to see who can be the flashyist (I am sure this is not a word, but you get the idea?) Crazy - gives me a headache- gets the boys excited. So we decide to get settled in the hotel and Mark ran out to get McDonald's. He comes back with a spread that pretty much resembles the typical American McDonald's meal - complete with Madagascar 2 Happy Meal toys! Wow - we collected Gloria the Hippo in New York (which drove me crazy - "Alrighty now" repeating over and over) - what could be worse than that? Melman the Giraffe speaking in Chinese!!! We don't even know what he is saying - over and over again! Welcome to China!

We Made It!

We have landed in Shanghai! As we departed the plane a group of about 20 Chinese girls were waiting for us to get off the plane so they could get on to clean. Their reaction to us was either they thought we were movie stars or we were part of a freak show. All talking and pointing at the baby. As we proceeded through a deserted airport(due to the Chinese New Year) it was a very scary feeling. You could definately tell we were not in America any more. We quickly headed over to the foreigners desk to get our passports stamped. As we stood waiting for our stamps (how exciting for Kyle to have is first passport stamp at 3 months?) a crowd of Chinese workers gathered around Kyle. They all wanted to touch him and coo at him - luckily the language barrier does not seem to bother him - he smiled at everyone. Ian was the other one drawing attention - his blonde hair was quite the attraction.

Frank and Coco(our drivers - one van for all of us and one for all our bags) were anxiously awaiting our arrival and when they saw Mark they started jumping up and down with excitment.

Our Long Journey!

Well 14 hours and 30 minutes on an airplane is painful for anyone, but with three children I was very worried someone was going to have a meltdown. Luckily all went very well. Because it was the first day of the Chinese New Year - the flight was empty. We spread out over 4 rows. The children were able to lay all the way down and sleep. Mark and I were not so lucky since the boys all slept at different times, but we did our best to catch a few ZZZs when we could. Thank you to Bob and Cheryl our wonderful flight attendants who treated us like Royalty in coach (I think they felt sorry for us?). Anyway they were great! The first pass by the drink cart I ordered a Diet Coke -"with ice? " Cheryl asked. I replied "Is it safe?" She said "It came from Chicago." Ok so I guess I am a little paranoid already - Mark got a good laugh out of that one.

Thank you to Nintendo for making the DS - thank you to Grandma and Pop for giving us DS -and thank you to Uncle Andrew for providing our all time favorite game Batman Lego! Many levels were achieved on this flight!

The Flight Over the World

The flight from White Plains, NY to Chicago was uneventfully and quick. We arrived in Chicago and ate our last American McDonald's breakfast and I had my last LARGE Dunkin Donuts coffee. I don't know if it was the thought of not having another DD coffee or what, but it was the best one I ever had! Right after eating we boarded the plane to our new world.


I made one last quick call to my Mom which started a waterfall of tears and made me think "Why are we doing this?" And should I just run off the plane now? I considered it and then it was too late there was no looking back - China - here come the Lisis.

To Dig or To Fly that is the Question

Our good friends and neighbors Lisa Z and her son Max stopped by on Sunday to wish us well and give the boys activity books (thanks a ton - color wonder are the best!). So Max says "Are you going to dig your way to China?" We got a real kick out of that. The big "what if " question you ask as children is "If you dig deep enough will you end up in China?" Well I am not sure which method takes the longest flying or digging, but we chose to fly and it took a VERY long time!

So we got to the airport a 5:15am with our (10 checked bags)8 large suitcases, 1 pack n play, and 1 last minute duffle bag because we ran out of room and Mark still had to forfeit a pair of shoes (size 13 pretty much take up the entire bag) and a pair of pants. Along with our 7 carry-on bags we got a lot of looks from people and all I wanted to do is scream "we are moving to China today so give me a break!" As the kids and I were waiting for my in-laws to help us bring in all the bags, Ian says "Ann is coming to China too - we need to wait for her she is coming in a few minutes." It was really heartbreaking to explain to him why is good buddy Ann was not coming in a few minutes. I really feel that there is an unbeliveable bond between Ian and Ann that even Elizabeth (Ann's mom) and I cannot understand - they are like brother and sister and Ian has mentioned at least 4 times that Ann will come for a visit.

Many Thanks to All!

First I want to say thanks to so many of you for all your warm wishes, yummy cookies, activities for the boys, photos from home, (mom all your help to prepare- we would not have been ready without you),etc. Saying goodbye to all of our good friends and family was very difficult. I guess I have known the day was coming, but the reality of the day arriving was very painful. This house is the only place my children have ever called "home". To leave the peace and security we feel for a completely unknown world was very scary. Now I know I always complain about not having enough space and not having central air conditioning, but all that seems so ridiculous now. I miss our little bungalow on Larch Rd. already!

Why do a blog?

Alright my wonderful neighbor Traci has insisted this blog thing is the way to go about keeping in touch and keeping everybody informed about our crazy new life in China. When she first suggested it my thought was -oh no "pressure" to keep up with something, but as we left our house at 5am on Monday, January 26, 2009 I found my head full of thoughts to write down and how great it will be to remember it all. So thanks Traci for giving me a kick start - did I mention she is a fabulous photographer and took our farewell photo on our front door step in Briarcliff Manor, NY.

January 26: Goodbye New York!

At 5 am on Monday, January 26, the Lisi family (Mark, Pam, Nick, Ian and Kyle) packed 10 suitcases (and a 2300 pound container) and left their beloved little green house in Briarcliff Manor, NY and are on their way to China! This post is being posted by their sappy neighbor while they are still flying. Here goes a prayer for protection during their travels and throughout the next two and a half years as they embark on this amazing adventure!  We all look forward to hearing from you on this, your blog! And I miss you a ton already.