I’m writing this from the gate. Our flight got delayed for 2.5 hours. Our last couple of days were filled with runs, chinese medicine treatment (mostly to take care of my ankle, constantly afraid of injury), mom’s cooking and kabocha and corn (my all time favorite food, I know super boring), meeting with a good friend from Manila, and finally found a cat cafe that was opened (we visited 2 found in internet but closed when we got there).
I asked the girls to list things they like about Shanghai and things they don’t like
Things that we like:
1. Being close to family
2. Convenience. Shanghai is a super convenient city, public transportation, online shopping, abundant choice of everything at finger tip, walkable.
3. Many places to explore. New to the girls.
4. Perfect weather for running 30-40F.
5. Access to my chinese doctor. I’ve been seeing him for over 15 years and he ALWAYS fixes my issues.
Things we don’t like
1. Living condition. We live in separate homes. Daddy with his parents, me and the girls with my mom. Only 30 min away but separated. Not having personal bathroom, have to wait turn to take shower. Not having personal space.
2. Too many people, every where.
3. Too many distractions. I can’t focus, not reading, can’t even listen to podcasts.
Overall, we are surrounded by too many of everything while being bored. Does it make sense? Probably not. nevertheless, we had good time, especially all the running in amazing temperature, spending time with family, and having access to my doctor to deal with the discomfort right away.
Our New Journey 
So glad that you had a good time, despite some cons. I loved Shanghai and spent every day eating street dumplings and never got bored. However, there definitely are a lot of people. I find it interesting that the girls said that though, as I imagine Jakarta to be busy as well. Your Mom’s dinner looks amazing! Is that a normal dinner or did she pull out the stops for you guys? Also why does your husband stay somewhere else? Is that just so he can visit his family or is it a lack of space?
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He wants to spend time with his parents and I don’t want to stay at his place when I can stay at my mom’s, so we ended up staying in separate homes. My mom’s cooking is a pretty typical meal spread for me, a lot of vegetable dishes and one protein for the girls
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That meal your mom made looks amazing! The bored comment makes me think of times when the boys are overstimulated. There is too much to focus on so they can’t focus on anything. I would love to feel bored for a day, though. Ha. I remember complaining about being bored as a child and my mom would say ‘I wish I was bored!’ And now I know what she meant.
Hope your ankle is feeling better each day!
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Your mom is clearly a great cook, I’m glad you were able to visit, and how lovely that your husband got to spend time with his family too! I hope your doctor was able to help you.
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How wonderful to see you visited! A CAT CAFE??? I NEED to go there haha Oh and I love Chinese medicine- we have it in Russia, too, especially in the south and along the border. I feel like Chinese doctors look at overall person versus Western medics looks at the specific condition. I don’t know, just my opinion.
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