What a difference eight hours makes.

We are now in Finland, an eight hour flight from Shanghai and it feels like we are on a different planet. The hustle and bustle of a megapolis is gone. The lack of people is puzzling. The sky is bright and seagulls are reminding us that the ocean is just minutes away. Everything is just so different.

The kids have not missed a beat. They landed as if they never left, immersing themselves to all things Finnish. Raili has been playing outside on the yard with neighbor kids. She is so proud of her independence; the ability to just spend hours and hours outside with friends without an adult hovering over. Kai has renewed his love for bike riding and splashing in the cold swimming pool at the park. Even the change in food seems to be fine. Well, the only thing they both still detest; mashed potatoes. The texture, the taste....they can't down it even if douced in butter. Ah, so they too have limits.   

I must be going through some sort of a culture shock, a good one I think though. I can't believe we can actually drink from the tap. And use it for washing veggies; clean water just flows out of a tap! The selection at the grocery store is mind baffling. I have fresh fruits and vegetables. Even avocados that don't cost seven bucks each. Two avocados: Euro fifty. I almost cried. Cheeses, meats, chocolate. I suspect I might need to buy a new wardrobe by the time we fly out to Minnesota.

I can access all websites, even facebook and youtube. Have you seen it? :) Videos galore. AND you can view them without a VPN streaming it in one second segments over the entire evening. Brilliant. The internet access that my parents have is five times faster than the one in our office in Shanghai. And about bezillion times faster than in our apartment. I have heard of people watching TV series on their computers...haven't tried it yet. Seems so, "out there".

My mind is still quite a mess. I am yet to internalize we are not going back, that I don't have to hoard stuff at the stores for all things missing in China. I will write about our departure, all the last minute chaos, crying, packing, saying goodbyes to friends, colleagues and our ayi. 

But that will be later.

...typing this while the rain outside is running down the window. I'm trying to make my way to the kids school for their very last day.

Our three year assignment is coming to an end and people keep asking how i feel. Honestly? I don't really feel anything. Ok, fine. I do. Rushed. I feel like we have been going at full speed from day one. And that's how I think its going to be until we leave. Running errands to the very last minute.

But as I sit here in this bus, rumbling away in traffic, I do realize it has been an amazing experience. We have come a long way from the clueless lao wai that arrived in June 2007. We are still foreigners but have come to learn why people walk backwards in parks, say Yes when they don't know, charge us ten times for (fill in the blank) over locals, pick up our kids on the street or insist on drinking hot milk over cold. Its still impossible to cross the street without fearing for your life, get a seat in the subway, eat drunken shrimp without your stomach complaining or have access to any website you want.

But we have also experienced the warmth and kindness of total strangers. Always ready to engage in a conversation even if it is simply where we come from. Kids have been welcomed in every restaurant or private event with open arms and never been seen as a bother even when at their loudest and worst behavior...I'm sure we will miss that.

So. We have less than a week to go. Between now and when the plane takes off, Raili and Kai will have to say bye to friends and teachers in school, I will need to pack my desk at work, we host visitors from France, say farewells to all friends and neigbors and fill up our suitcases.

Rushed. How to savor the moment before it's gone?

It was the most incredible weather weekend. Ever. The rain that has been bothering us for weeks if not months stopped, nasty clouds of smog disappeared, the sun came out, temperatures rose and gorgeous, gorgeous blue skies emerged.

There is no way I can do justice on this blog to the weather we had this weekend. We've never seen it like that during the last three years. It was fantastic and it lasted, well, for four glorious days. The same exact days that the Expo was broadcasting the opening of ceremonies live to the World outside.

As we were sitting outside, having a picnic with a bunch of other foreigners, the same topic of conversation rotated from table to table: This is unbelievable! Blue Skies. Unseen of. We LOVE the opening of the Expo.

Today, the broadcasting vans have left the city and many of the foreign reporters have gone home. And the weather?

It's raining again.  

...that I told you. It's about her computer user name and password.

You see, some of the homework that is assigned to the six year olds is computer based. They have to go to a certain website, log in and complete pre-assigned tasks. It's pretty convenient as the teacher doesn't have to comb through wads of paper and she can easily follow the kids progress from week to week.

So when they were told to log onto a new website and create their own user name and password, Raili was ecstatic.

"I get to choose my own secret name?"

"Yes"

"Yay! Then Kai can't log in as me as ruin my scores..."

(Actually a good precaution...Kai is the IT expert in our family....)

So last night she was completing the homework again on this new website, which she has been using for a couple of weeks now. I asked her if she was able to log in ok.

"Yes, with my secret name and password"

"Can you tell me what they are?"

"You won't tell Kai, ok?"

"Ok"

"Ok, but don't tell Kai. My user name is petersonj098 and my password is pop0879kl"

"And you have been using those for a couple of weeks now?"

"Yeah"

stunned silence

I could go on explaining why she selected petersonj instead of petersonr ("I'm peterson, not peterson j, j098 is just my secret user name") and what her logic was in selecting her password except that she lost me somewhere on alpha-numeric combinations and key strokes order.

I can only conclude that there might be another Mensa member in our household. Kai and I'd better huddle together even tighter as I think we might be up for a ride. And no, I won't tell him Raili's user ID and password. I can't recall them anymore anyway.

Expo, Expo, Expo. I don't know about you but all we have been hearing for the past, um, three years is how great everything will be when the Shanghai Expo comes. Neighborhoods have been cleaned up, all stores have new signs, people have been told to dry their clothing inside their apartment (no unsightly laundry hanging from the windows) and most importantly, neighborhood watchdogs are keeping a close eye on the worst offenders; people walking on the streets with nothing more than their PJs on. No more, the Expo is here.

The Expo of course is the biggest thing since the Beijing Olympics but instead of two weeks of inconvenient traffic patters (remember how cars with even and odd numbered register plates took turns driving into the city on certain days of the week), the Shanghai Expo lasts for six months. Roads have been built, tunnels have been dug and airports have been expanded to enable 70 million people to visit. One hundred and eighty days divided by 70 million is about 2.6 million extra people per day in the city. Or more accurately, trying to get in and out of the Expo site which straddles both sides of the Pu river just south of downtown.  Oh, I can't wait.

Which is why I volunteered to go visit the Expo site yesterday during the first "soft opening" day - The official opening day is May 1st. I figured I'd still see some of the buildings and exhibits sans the hoads of people. The catch? You had to go with a busload of 4 year olds. Oh, what the heck.

Kai's classmate's mother works for the U.K. Pavillion so she had managed to get tickets for the K4A class and their parents. It seemed like the entire school was jealously watching us board the bus and head out to be some of the very first to officially enter the Expo site. I use the word "some" loosely here because after the first 200,000 people, the Expo officials actually stopped allowing other ticket holders enter the grounds. 

Security was tight. Everyone had to go through metal detectors, have bags scanned, be wanded down, turn on all electronics (cell phones, mp3 players, cameras) and take a sip from open water bottles. We got wisked through a group gate but it looked like the regular gates were moving very, very slowly.

Once we were inside the grounds, we took a bit of a snack break before heading out to the U.K. Pavillion. The smell of glue was pretty strong as many of the buildings were still being worked on but there were also lots of ready exhibits and tons of toilets. Each toilet stall had a light installed above it - red for occupied and no light for available. Pretty cool. Everything was clean and new; toilets even had paper!

After the snack and potty break, we started walking towards the U.K. Pavillion. We passed a few others, Luxemburg, Russia and The EU building. At 10am, there were already long lines in front of all the buildings that were open. We were told that for the most popular ones (like the China Pavillion), one will need to order a separate entry ticket from a ticket machine outside the building which will give an entry time into the Pavillion. By 11am, all tickets to the China Pavillion (until 10pm when the gates close) had been taken. 

Russian Pavillion

We were taken inside through a VIP entrance as it was becoming more and more apparent that our group of 4 year olds was pretty tough to keep together and moving through the Expo crowds, including the main entrance. We were then taken into the inner sanctum of the UK building that looks like a space ship with spickey rods that have various types of seeds and leaves inside. It was really cool; the kids thought they were in a science fiction movie. 

Outside the UK Pavillion "Spikes".

"Space ship" with rods.

A close-up of a rod with seeds inside.

After our tour, it was time to head back to the bus. It started raining and unfortunately by the time the bus made it back to the pick up point, the whole gang was soaked. Good thing the kids didn't seem to mind it too much. An hour and a half ride back to school and the adventure was completed.

Even the man whole covers at the Expo are stamped with "Expo".

Overall, I was quite impressed with the buildings. They are so much better than the pictures we have been seeing. I am now seriously considering going back with David...I know, I know. We only had 200,000 people out there yesterday whereas on a "real" day you could have over a million. Still, the site is huge and if you stay outside and don't try to queue inside a pavillion, you might be ok. 

Am I saying large crowds are starting to grow on me???????