A Special Day

No doubt this is going to be one of those special days.  It will be a day when most people will remember where they were when they watched Prince William get married to Kate Middleton.  I know I will.  I was no where near a television or computer screen and wasn't giving a second thought to the wedding until I saw highlights of the event a few hours later.  That's because I was having my own special day.  Considering I didn't even get out of my pajamas until about 2:30 in the afternoon, it wouldn't seem like much of a day but it was one that made both Tim and I realize one of the great benefits of being expatriates.

Back when we first arrived in Shenyang I received an email from a woman who works for Michelin and contributes to their quarterly expat newsletter.  She asked if she could feature an excerpt from my blog in their next edition and I said yes, of course, and was very flattered.  Yesterday that newsletter was sent out to all the Michelin expats and late last night I received a comment on my blog from a woman named Radia who just recently moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Her husband also works for Michelin and she suggested that there should be a Facebook group for the wives of Michelin expats.  Well, this morning I had another message saying that she had created the group, called Bib Wives, and invited me to join.  I did and we started chatting and it was really fun.  I invited Anna and Sheila to join and in turn they invited more expat wives that they know.  (I realize that obviously there are some spouses of Michelin expats who are husbands, and they certainly wouldn't be excluded, but the vast majority are definitely women).  In less than twenty-four hours there are now almost fifty members in the group and it's a great way to get to know more people having a similar experience to us, even if we can't meet them in person.

In the meantime we were invited out to dinner with Anna and David this evening.  Originally it was going to be the six of us but by the end of the networking there were another two couples, Christina and Daniel from Mexico, and Tricia and Alan from Bridgeater, that joined us.  We went to a restaurant near the Michelin plant and had a wonderful meal and got to meet more great expats.  Anna and Christina drove with us to the restaurant and got to experience Mr You, who it appears is somewhat more aggressive with his driving than their chauffeurs.  He was trying to hurry as we were late for dinner and was only slightly crazier than usual but it was quite a ride! 

After leaving all of our family back in Canada it is really nice to be able to share our time here with new friends.  It is part of what makes this such a great experience.  So, while the royal festivities were taking place we were sitting in an authetic, albeit smoky, Chinese restaurant watching the kids try to pick up the local cuisine with their chopsticks.  Unfortunately I left my camera in the van so until I can "borrow" some pictures from Anna, Christina or Tricia, you will have to use your imagination.   All I have are a few pictures from when we left the apartment in the rain.

Aside from all that excitement we had a few other bits of goodness today.  Nicholas has decided he likes doing laundry and took over the duties today.  He knows what buttons to press to get the washer going, he pours in the soap and loads the clothes, and he can't wait for the machine to be done so he can unload everything into the baskets and hang it up.  I was socializing on the internet today and looked up to see him coming out of the laundry/bathroom pushing two baskets filled with wet clothes.  Between this and the vacuuming I am thinking that there won't be any need to hire a housekeeper here.

Tomorrow we are all heading out first thing in the morning, about 10am, to go and find a bicycle for Nicholas, maybe a tricycle for Ryan, and, finally, a dryer for me!  We are going to a different store and talking to a man who helped out fellow expats Sheila and Andy with their dryer purchase last year.  I spoke to him on the phone this morning and am hoping he will have something for us - espeically with Nick and his new love of laundry taking shape.

Lastly tonight, we are making even more progress with our driver.  On the way home from the restaurant we stopped at the Carrefour to get ice cream for the kids and while Tim ran in to pick it up the kids and I stayed in the van with Mr You.  They were pretty wound up and ended up sitting in the front seat beside him chatting and teaching him English - the word "tattoo".  He gave them some gum and even wiped Nick's bloody nose so I think they are bonding somewhat.  It will make dragging them off to shopping trips a little easier I think.

Have a royal day everyone!