Birthday in China

Well, I celebrated my 46th birthday in Shanghai and must say that it was a great day.  We began with a great breakfast on the 38th floor of our apartment building looking out over crystal blue skies with large white cumulus clouds floating by.  We then travelled to my office to introduce the family to all my co-workers and pick up a box of food that I had carried on one of my previous trips.  From there we took Mason to Fudan University to get a feel for the campus.  It was bustling with students returning to campus and we stopped into the bookstore to look around and buy a few goodies for the day.  We then went to the administration building where we met 3 German girls who had just arrived to participate in a 5 week Chinese language course.  We got some good information from them and then said our goodbyes to Fudan for the day. From Fudan we went to our apartment in JinQiao so the boys could see where we will eventually be living.  After much discussion over the rooms and who got to be in which one we finally arrived at an agreement - I think.  The apartment will be ready on September 1st.  We next took a short trip to the "fake market" where the boys got their first tast of "bargaining" with the local vendors.  Landon and Regan both got wallets and sunglasses. Mason bought a DS game and set of Dr Dre earbuds for his iPod.  Cynthia got an umbrella to shade her from the unbearable sun and heat that is the norm here these days as well as a lightweight blouse. And I got an authentic #4 Brett Favre Vikings jersey - for $14!!  I also bought a couple of watches, 2 DS games for Landon, ear buds for Regan and strap-on roller wheels for both the younger boys.  I guess you can say that we helped the Shanghai economy - even if it was the underground economy.  i had a great time bargaining and the boys were quite impressed at the process.  Finally, we had dinner at a very nice Chinese restaurant with a couple of my co-workers.  They bought me a nice cake and for Cynthia a Tea Set along with a gift box of oolong tea.  We got back home about 9pm and I was asleep by 9:05!  All in all it was a very good day.