A rainy day in Shanghai. This was taken on our way to dinner last night. It was pouring. Ridley, who didn't have an umbrella, was absolutely soaked though from his hips down. We went to a cafe called Bliss, and Storey and I had cheeseburgers and fries! Our first. Paige had a fruit salad and Ridley a potato salad. They have the best smoothies here. Mango and very berry, while Paige had a chocolate shake. Yummy.
Earlier we had gone to an international book store to buy a good Chinese/English dictionary - larger than my pocket version - and a textbook for learning English from Chinese. Our neighbors in the first house in the lane, right at the gate, had the gatekeeper grab us one morning. Through much charade and small amounts of Mandarin, and then a man passing by who spoke some English, we figured out that he wanted us to return that evening at 6pm to meet what we thought were his children. We went back, armed with my phone to call my tutor for translation if necessary, and were welcomed into a beautiful, spacious marble tiled floor with overstuffed gold and black furniture. We were greeted with slippers for our feet (shoes must always come off, even in our own home) and tea brought to us immediately. It turns out the gentleman we spoke with is the grandfather of 3 grandchildren. His daughter was also there and they had a gentleman to translate. It turns out his daughter and her 3 children, all of whom live with the grandparents it seems, are American passport holders, but speak no English. They have seen our family and want our girls to help their children learn English. It is really an incredible opportunity. The girls will go once a week to talk to the children, two of whom are 16 and 17 and very sweet, and help them with their English. We bought a workbook to help direct the conversation and learning of words. Just yet another wild, wonderful exciting adventure in Shanghai! All that to get to this next picture. We were coming back from the bookstore and we were in the taxi stopped at a light near People's Square and Tomorrow Park and there were just so many people out and about crossing the street I had to capture it. Of course there were twice this many, but by the time I got my camera out of my purse many had passed.

Storey needed shoes for the wedding we are going to tomorrow, so we found a place on NanJing road on the internet. The girls and I headed over and we found another "market" place that had everything we could want. We found sandals for Storey, purses, cashmere, silk sweaters, Abercrombie shirt for Paige and oh so much more. I found a silk cardigan that still had a tag on it: Gap $165. I got it for 100 RMB - $15.00! I can shop like that! The girls have their own clothing money and allowance, so their bargaining skills continue to astound me. They remain firm and walk away and have the vendors running down the hall after them. They got some great deals.

We headed out to an Indian restaurant for dinner tonight that we thought was just around the block. 15 minutes later we arrived at a place way out west that was an alley full of restaurants. We couldn't find ours, Indian Kitchen, and kept asking. We finally went to the next lane and found it among a Thai restaurant, TexMex restaurant, and Mexican restaurant and saw that it was mostly all expats. Last time for that place! We like our Indian restaurant on Dagu Lu better: closer, not full of expats and better food.

There. You have the nitty gritty! I'll try and get pictures of the wedding tomorrow!
m