Tim arrived safely in TX tonight. We are sharing the same weather.....both places are hot and muggy.
Abi has had a full day....she went to an audition for a Jackie Chan movie this afternoon with two other friends, then they took a taxi to the subway station, rode the subway to the stop closest to our house and Mr. Zhang picked her up and brought her home. She is getting to be a real pro with the mass transit systems. I continue to be a nervous mother!!! Abi was home long enough to eat dinner, take a shower and then was out the door to a Cosmic bowling event sponsored by the Community Center. The center has a new youth program that includes all the international schools in Shanghai. I think it is a really positive thing because it gives the teens an alchohol/smoke free activity. There are no drinking age laws in China so it is legal for teens and younger kids to go to the clubs/bars. YIKES!!!!

I am sad to say that we had to let Delia go yesterday. I hated yesterday. She was a wonderful worker but a few weeks ago we were surprised to find out that she did not have all the necessary legal work permits required for China and this was becoming a bigger and more complicated issue then we were willing to tackle. So...we are looking for a new Ayi.

Today I had another "only in Shanghai" day. I wanted to buy a large canvas board to cover with cotton batting to use as a design board for quilting. After exhausting many possibles with Janes help I resigned myself to the idea that we would have to have the frame built. Mr. Zhang said he could do this for me. So.....today we went to B&Q (the local Home Improvement store) to purchase lumber. We agreed upon the type of lumber I needed and measured with my "inch" tape measure and then converted these numbers to meters. We could cut all the pieces we needed out of three long boards. Side Note: Remember....I am trying hard to learn how to speak Chinese but I am no where close to being able to explain "how to build something out of wood" in Chinese. This is the same situation in reverse for Mr. Zhang. So.....Pictionary and Charades are our main form of communication in this situation. Anyway....we got the boards and Mr. Zhang asked the sales person if they could cut the boards to the length we wanted. Sure....no problem....he left for a minute and came back with a small hand saw. NO KIDDING!!! By this time we have attracted a lot of attention. I am not sure they see women foreigners and their drivers in the lumber section of their store very often. Anyway....the cutting commences in the middle of the floor. Let me tell you that hand sawing is not an expedient process. We finally get the four outside pieces of the frame cut. Of course I did not want a small frame.....it had to be a very large frame so it could hold many many many quilt squares. So....The frame is 2.75 meters x 1.5 meters (BTW...one meter is about 39 inches in case you ever need to know) and is now layed out on the floor. Seeing it for the first time in it's full glory I suddenly realize that it is going to be too tall for our apartment ceiling. Oops!!! Sorry guys.....would you mind cutting (with a hand saw) those two boards a little shorter? I am not sure they really understood why I needed them shorter but they cut them again. Okay...good....the frame is just the right size...now we need four pieces cut with 45 degree angles on both ends so we can use them as corner braces. Now the sales person decides that they can use the power saw....but....sorry.....the only person that knows how to run the saw is "somewhere" and we can wait for him to return. We wait.....Mr. Zhang has a discussion with two other sales people.....we wait.....the discussion gets a little louder....great....just what we need...more attention....Side Note: loud discussions are not really uncommon in China...remember those tones that I talked about in the Chinese language...well....it often sounds like people are really getting heated up during a conversation when in fact they are just making those tones more "expressive". Anyway....while Mr. Zhang is expressing his tones....I go to the tool section and find a miter box that includes a little saw. I convince Mr. Zhang that we can do this ourselves....he finally agrees...and we leave the store with our boards and miter box. This whole process has taken almost two hours. Nothing happens quickly in Shanghai. We return to our apartment building, get the boards out of the car, draw another crowd of door openers, taxi callers, and security guards, (nothing is private in China) put the boards in the elevator and finally into our apartment. Our work space is the marble floor in the entry way of our apartment. We spend about another hour and a half cutting (with a hand saw) the 45 degree angles. Actually Mr. Zhang did all the cutting....I gave really good directions and offered ice water. I think he was happy to be doing something instead of waiting in the car for the next "outing". This could only happen in Shanghai!!!!!!!!!!!! I used the POWER drill to put the frame together and it is now leaning against the wall waiting to be hung. Small project....Big Adventure!