Househunting day!

No we won't be living at the Oriental Tower but I thought you all might like to see it.

We finished our first day of househunting and everything went fine. We saw 7 different properties within 2 different complexes. On John's last trip, he narrowed down the choice of complexes to 2 (from about 10) that he thought were best. Houses at both complexes were good but we liked the houses at one complex a little more than the other. We will go back on Friday to look over 2 or 3 of them again (and maybe a couple more if Jane, our great guide, can find more) and then make the decision and begin the negotiation process. Because we are in China...everything is negotiable! :)

It has been 7 years since I last looked for a home but it's funny how it all comes back to you pretty quick. We certainly had the feeling of - "why can't house 1 have house 2's location" or "why can't house 2 have a kitchen like house 3?" It's funny how it doesn't matter where you live in the world, I suppose that one thing is always a constant - no house is ever "perfect", we just have to find the house that is "perfect" for us! :) I was relieved that everything we saw today was VERY nice and would be a great place for us to call home for 3 years! We are praying that God would lead us to the exact place he wants us!

In the middle of our househunting day, we went to a beautiful resteraunt that had delicious Chinese food (of course, here it's just called food). The specialty in Shanghai is Inside Out Fish. It is a Mandarin Fish cooked in some weird way that it turns inside out. Well, those who know me know I really don't like fish...at all! But trying to be the adventurous soul that I'm not, I tried the fish and amazingly, it was really good! "Why Sam, I am, I DO like Green eggs and ham" is how I felt since I just always opt not to even try the fish. I'll attach a picture of it here for your viewing enjoyment but I must say it tastes MUCH better than it looks! I had to tell myself that many times as I tried it!


We finished the day looking at more houses and then John and I went to SuperBrand Mall last night. It's the largest mall in Asia so it was amazing to see! It's 10 stories tall and with tons of stores...even a Crocs store. Today we go on our City Tour with Jane. She asked what kinds of things we want to see so we told her the important stuff...you know, landmarks of Shanghai and the best markets for shopping! :) She happily agreed - because she loves to shop also!