Todd is currently working with a project in Shanghai. Actually, he is currently working with MANY projects all over, but the Shanghai one has been getting the majority of his attention as of late.
(Hello from China)
I really HATE when Todd travels (ahem, without me). I won't water it down or sugar coat it. I hate it. I get super depressed when he leaves. I can't sleep. I pout. Hate it. Even when he has been super stressed, grumpy, moody, feisty, and pretty much annoying all the time... I still can't stand him to not be around me... Yes. I think I might have a slight Todd addiction... Ok. enough of that... Keep in mind I am typing this WHILE he is gone (in the above stated state).
When I can (if the kids don't have anything pressing), I go with Todd to Shanghai or wherever else he happens to travel to, which I normally LOVE to do. Seriously, I am tired, I need sleep! I need my Toddy bear. Usually, if I travel with him I can see him at breakfast, most lunch times, and we have dinner and spend the evening together. I catch up on stuff I need to do during the day, check on the kids or go explore a bit. He isn't lonely in the evenings, and I get dinner dates! SWEET!
However, I have learned - Shanghai isn't one of my favorite places to go to, not that it doesn't have it's own special something, but really where he stays is not by anything other than some malls, and it is about 45mins away from where he is working. Which means an extra 1.5 hours a day of not seeing him, and I am not super into mall shopping. English is a rarity there, so it can be challenging to find stuff (China, go figure). The air quality kills me too, much worse than Hong Kong, and it is not as safe as Hong Kong so wandering the streets alone isn't super healthy or smart. In fact, I used my credit card in a big fancy mall twice. My card number was stolen with one of those purchases. Luckily the fraud division of our card caught it and notified us when the thief had only spent 10,000 HKD... ARgh. The card reversed the charges pending investigation... Frustrating... Also, it has been my experience when I am with him, especially in Shanghai, he works extra long hours and will not get back to the hotel until 8 or 830p and then has more work to do...
Duffy doesn't mind the long hours, and is always happy to go.
When I went with him this last time, due to the location and duration of his work schedule, this was me for pretty much the entire week.
We arrived late at night on Monday evening, and Todd thought he booked a hotel near his work. It wasn't and it was under construction and lets just say we opted to change the next day. Since he had meetings first thing in the morning we didn't have time to check into the other hotel first, so I went to work with him. He was in meetings up in the recesses of the building for some 10 hours, while I hung out in the lobby. He did take a lunch break with me, which was nice. The lobby was nice, but the only internet I had was on my phone, and I forgot to bring my book to read...
It was a VERY Long day.
The lounge area I hung out in ... In the morning.
and at night..
Duffy doesn't mind the long hours, and is always happy to go.
When I went with him this last time, due to the location and duration of his work schedule, this was me for pretty much the entire week.
We arrived late at night on Monday evening, and Todd thought he booked a hotel near his work. It wasn't and it was under construction and lets just say we opted to change the next day. Since he had meetings first thing in the morning we didn't have time to check into the other hotel first, so I went to work with him. He was in meetings up in the recesses of the building for some 10 hours, while I hung out in the lobby. He did take a lunch break with me, which was nice. The lobby was nice, but the only internet I had was on my phone, and I forgot to bring my book to read...
It was a VERY Long day.
The lounge area I hung out in ... In the morning.
and at night..
Our new hotel was super nice, and near some malls and stuff,
but still super far away from his work.
I basically had two days to entertain myself from the hotel, without normal internet. Remember China blocks thing, including blogger and no book.
View from hotel.
Very Nice room!
Todd in the evening:
Busy. busy.
View from a taxi.
A lake area near his work.
Did I mention when we landed there were signs warning of Dengue fever issues with mosquitoes?
While I was hanging out during the day the kids messaged me and sent me pics, which I greatly appreciated.
Like this one:
Todd sent me a picture too?
Maybe he was trying to stay awake?
and Kay sent me this!
The girls took the squidlings to disney!
Our hotel at night:
The city looks much more alive at night.
Morning.
I really don't like to stay inside for extended periods or to sit still really, so I decided I would explore the mall that was attached to the hotel. ALL 8 floors. On all 8 floors there was NOT ONE, NOT ONE books store, so I set out on foot...
Crossing the street is interesting.
Out of order another view from our room.
I needed to get hair conditioner, yah... I really need to work on reading Chinese.
This Supermarket was in the mall. It was probably about 73 F outside, so of course they had the heater cranked to like 90F. It was SO HOT in the mall?!
I wanted this, but did NOT want to check my luggage in, so I passed.
Shopping in Shanghai gave me such a greater appreciation for our international (albeit limited) products in Hong Kong, and the English on everything... I love Hong Kong!
Hmn? Which Way should I go?
In the mall.
Going stir crazy again...
It was so strange. You could hear their metro system above us, and American Music. Hardly anyone spoke any English, but EVERYWHERE I went American music was playing.
At the moment I took this picture I had a little extra groove in my step listening to Adele.
I found endless passages filled with little shops.
I don't think they should call it a sidewalk in China.
It is more like a sideride or a side drive or yah.
Anyhow, I needed a new swimsuit. Haven't bought one is forever, so I saw some were onsale. Was this where my card number was stolen? No clue. Without any English the cute, tiny (size of an average 8 year old US girl) older Chinese lady made sure I knew I needed a size XL. Can't try it on. I was like XL, China you are really hard on my feminine ego, thanks!
But, it fit:
The main reason I went with my Todd, other than because of the obvious addiction problem, was that it was Halloween week. We both REALLY LOVE Halloween! I didn't want him to be alone in China on Halloween. I should add that while I spent hours walking around the mall and the city I didn't see ONE person in costume. Costumed people were everywhere before I even left in Hong Kong. Not like in the states, but still. The girls had a party to go to, so they were set, and Krystin had the week off of school too.
For Halloween, we went to this wonderful little restaurant on the Bund.
It is a beautiful there! Very neat. I was able to go with him on a previous trip for a work dinner. We both fell in love with the food.
It was about 9:30pm when got there.
It is a bit dark in there.
We toasted to Halloween with Tamarind Juice sweetened with Palm sugar.
YUMMY.
The food is so amazing. Flavors that are foreign, unique and exciting.
Best yet, they even had some Halloween Cheer.
We headed down to the water after dinner to take fully enjoy the evening...
Oh, I did have the opportunity to learn how to write my FIRST ever Chinese note too:
I know you are greatly impressed.
That is definitely the first thing I wanted to write in Chinese. Ha!
The last day, we had to check out of the hotel, so I was back in the lobby at his work.
At least he wasn't far away, and we had to leave his office by 1:30p to catch our flight!
I couldn't WAIT to get back to HK!
I swear when he goes to Shanghai, when I am not with him, it looks way more exciting.
I totally get pics like this:
Huh? Business meeting in Camouflage?
Apparently, it was a 'fun' team building via paintball sorta day.
This picture literally freaked me out....
He felt bad for scaring me, so sent me this one:
I don't think these kids had seen a white dude before, because they descended upon him when he walked out side and wouldn't stop petting him...
I guess they did have some meetings too.
I think he said the meeting room was musty and smelled of cat pee?
Then they went to some fancy dinner, with food that looked very nicely prepared, but he wasn't sure quite what the food was. LOL!
I think that is a fish. Maybe.
Todd is coming home from Shanghai tonight, again!
I can't wait. I need a NAP!
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