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06:40 February 18 2025

Is to get Kristian set up with a Chinese bank account. I can not even imagine how frustrating things would be without our dear Tiffany from Joanna Real Estate. She has been our savior. Now that we have the account and cards, we can finally have access to things that require a Chinese payment method. As soon as the first salary is payed out, we are all set for a life in Shanghai!

The card is so pretty!

After going to a number of viewings and not really finding anything better than what we have, we decided to stay. Shanghai Center is now our home for the next year. The kids get picked up by the school bus a few steps from our entrance, there is an activity room they love, a small library with massage chairs, a guest lounge, a karaoke room, a nice gym and a fantastic changing room spa with saunas and a hot tub, indoor pool, outdoor pool, two different outdoor BBQs, and more. So, we are moving one floor up. Leaving our three bedroom unit and moving into a four bedroom unit, almost doubling the size.

This is the day it all begins. Permits and visa procedures have been completed. We’ve put the Chinese New Year celebration and the school vacation behind us. It is Kristian’s first day at work at his new job in the Shanghai office in Pudong.

I got up at 06:30, and got the kids ready. At 07:25 we took the elevator down to send the kids off to school on the school bus. Kristian took off for the metro to Pudong, and I went back in.

How does one start a new life? Find goals and routines that fit into these new circumstances, this new life. Rather than attacking it full force, I’m approaching this from a point of discovery. So, I went back up to the empty apartment. Picked up the book I’m reading, and sat down in bed.

At 09:20 the cleaners came, and I hit the gym. After an hour on the treadmill, I did not have the motivation for weightlifting so I went back to the cleaned apartment.

The afternoon was dedicated to reading, taking a walk, and preparing dinner.

That’s a pretty good start to a new normal.

…since we started our new life in Shanghai. It’s still a strange feeling to be waking up in a mega-city where we have no anchor, yet. When I say we, I should probably say I. I have no anchor, no daily purpose, no setting to fit into. Yet.

Kristian will start his Shanghai job after the Chinese New Year. On February 5th. The girls started school on January 16th and had two days the first week, then a full week, and now they are off for the Chinese New Year.

Since our passports have been handed over to the authorities, we are unable to make any sort of plans, but hopefully, we get them back today and will be able to explore the city while the Chinese are off visiting family and celebrating the start of The Year Of The Snake. Shanghai should be a little less crowded these days.

As Swedes, yes, we did to go to IKEA to pick up a list of household items. We went twice actually. Saturday, we had a long list and went off to the closes IKEA. It was a disaster. A surreal experience of walking around a place that looked like the apocalypse had come and gone. Empty shelves everywhere, showrooms with some random furniture and no decoration. Snack booths closed. No vegetarian option in the restaurant. And. A little boy following us for a really long time. Apparently, his mom has two Lambourghinis.

Yesterday we went back. To a different one, further away in Pudong. And it was almost the same as going to an IKEA at home. We could get almost everything on the list. But, alas, we are in China. Some things are bound to be different. Like measuring cups, and the lack of wooden butter knives, and not selling chopping knives in any of the two stores. Do we need to visit more IKEA locations in Shanghai? I guess we did not come to China for everything to be the same as at home.

Off they go. The school bus picks them up from the entrance to our temporary home at Shanghai Center. In their school uniforms, with their backpacks. Waiving them off as they enter a new chapter of their lives. Expat kids in Shanghai.

And home they came. Happy with their first day. All is good.

The flight from Copenhagen via Munich to Shanghai went surprisingly well. Everything was smooth, except for most of the restaurants just having closed when we got to the layover in Munich, so dinner was minimalistic, but good enough.

Sunday – land early, endless lines at the airport, arrive at Ascott hotel, kill 5 hours in the lounge before gaining access to our room. Sleep. Dinner at Highline restaurant at the hotel. Confusion over what to do with the cups of warm water served at the start of the meal.

Monday – Minhang suburbs. Visit BISS Puxi (British International School Shanghai Puxi). This school has been recommended by quite a few Swedes, and they did not disappoint. But, it’s in the suburbs, over an hour from Kristian’s office. Lunch a Panlong Tiandi. A new water town area, made to look like the ancient, traditional water towns. Afternoon visit to SCIS, closer to the city center. The admissions guy did not make a very good impression. Mostly listing what is included in the tuition or not. The school seems nice and also comes highly recommended, but the outside environment can not compete with BISS.

Tuesday – Britannica School, not too far from SCIS, I believe. Maybe even more centrally located. But being driven around in a car is quite disorienting, so I am having a hard time keeping track. Britannica accepts everyone. The interview went well. No homework obviously impressed the kids. BUT. There was an unexplained empty room labelled as the isolation room. That’s a bit chilling. And the summer holidays according to their schedule are a few weeks shorter. Lunch at a Japanese mall. YCIS, a school from Hong Kong. But the campus for secondary school is a 10-15 min walk away from primary school, and ALL kids have mandatory violin lessons up until year 4. Mandarin class every day. It seems like a great school, but culturally too far away from what we come from.

Wednesday – Pudong. Dulwich and Wellington. Two enormous schools located on the Pudong side of Shanghai. Both impressive with their huge campuses and all the facilities one could ever dream of. Wellington is only a 5 min walk from Kristan’s office. But it is so huge. In each year there are almost as many kids as the entire school the girls come from. That’s a different kind of shock. And since it has gone through massive growth, the stability may be lacking. Kristian has a dinner to go to with colleagues. The girls get our nails done at a salon next to the hotel.

Thursday – a morning to sleep in. Shanghai Natural History Museum in the afternoon. And some general sightseeing.

Friday – Looking at apartment options across town. Nothing in Minhang, since that is too far out to fit in the schedule.

Saturday – back to Sweden we go. Our heads full of questions and not many answers.