Saturday stroll

After a yummy lunch out on Saturday we strolled over to Dagu Lu where our favorite DVD shop is. It was going to rain all week end, so we wanted to be prepared for a cozy time at home. On the way we saw this gentleman taking a break from transporting a couch. Sorry not to have a zoom on my camera, but clicking on the photo will give you a better look. It seems easy to take these sights for granted, but I don't want to forget how amazing and industrious these people are.Further along the street a large crowd gathering around 4 men playing cards. I am not sure if a lot of money was involved, but something was keeping everyone glued to the game. Maybe a local play-off.
We had to cross Yan'An Lu to get to Dagu Lu, and this is the overpass and the view of the very mild traffic below. The overpass with the planting is the elevated high way. Saturday is much quieter around town. Friday night is crazy, so maybe everyone is still recovering. In traffic, oftentimes a left hand turn is taken from the right hand lane. It is always hard for me to know where we are going from which lane we are in because the light might be green for going straight, but in the far right hand lane we don't move. The light goes red, and then a green arrow appears and the two right hand lanes turn left. It is really crazy, sometimes, trying to make sense of it all. Crazy in the most wonderful sort of way!
Sunday Ridley and I had our first babysitter and ventured out to - what else - a movie! We saw the new James Bond. Fun to get out and meet Julie and her husband. On the walk to Xintiandi we passed this wonderful old pedicab. It was waiting, poised, next to a bakery emitting mouth watering smells.
After the movie we went to a French restaurant in the area for a lovely quiet meal that involved talking to other people! Ridley was a trooper as he wasn't feeling his best and was still trying to get back to Shanghai time, but it was a treat. The babysitter we found is a sweet Phillipino woman who has a 12 year old daughter and 4 year old son back in the Phillipines. She is here trying to work as jobs are hard to find back home and don't pay much. That says a lot that she comes to China to find work with the millions of people here willing to work, and with the hourly work rate at most about $4. Wow. She was darling, and the teeniest woman any of us have ever seen. Definitely smaller than the Pearson girls. When we were walking into the lane, a Chinese man who lives in the lane passed us and smiled and made a little sound when he saw her and patted her on the head!
The week end is already gone, it is Monday, the girls are doing homework and Storey had swim team today. She seems to be swimming faster every day. They have a meet on Wednesday. Zai Jian.

YuYuan Garden stroll

After the junk market Julie and I went across to the famous dumpling restaurant in YuYuan across from the seven turning bridge to the tea house. Julie knew to order the set menu which included several different dishes of all varieties. Yummy. More than we could eat. I got to take the remainder to go for the girls post school snack. Julie at the restaurant.Free entertainment. It was a live infomercial. No tv cameras, but the gentleman demonstrating a hair gadget was drawing quite the crowd. Easy to please!
Lanterns on a tree giving us all joy.
I am searching for some tea cannisters. Julie and I searched high and low throughout the neighborhood. I found just what I wanted in Yu Yuan, but as it was in the more touristy area, it cost more than I wanted to pay. We left the grounds and went into the surrounding neighborhood where tea shops abound. This is one of many, but none with what I was looking for. Another adventure another day.
Right outside the door of one tea shop was this stinky tofu vendor. I don't know if he attracts customers or deters them from coming near! There was a line to buy his fare, so I think the tea shop owner is happy to have this stinky cart right outside his door!
I had to run off to pick up the girls from school and get back to Ridley who was at this moment arriving from the States. We were happy to have him home!

The junk market

The front of YuYuan Gardens where across the street is a building that defies description when you walk in. I'll just have to barrage you with photos.The outside of the building houses little vendor shops who are already prepared for the western winter holidays. Not what I was expecting to see in China. Too American and commercial for me to see Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving! A little too much like Walmart!

Inside the junk market, or commodities market, is everything your little heart could desire - and more. Julie and I met up with Kathleen and Harriet though we couldn't stick together for very long in the crowds and the tiny aisles. Julie looking cute in the sensory overload aisle! It was jammed with locals, and as I understand, is always this busy. Lots of elbow jabbing and just pure shoving out of the way. I love the lack of personal space here. Nothing quite like it.
Harriet and Kathleen in a notions shop, brimming with . . . .
buttons, buttons, buttons of all colors......
sequins, sequins, sequins, sequins of the rainbow variety.
There were also feathers, pins, string, knots of all colors. Storey is hankering to get here pronto! It is just up her alley of what constitutes heaven on earth!
The mahjongg counter. I bought a mahjongg set, not pictured. It is important to get tiles with roman numerals on them or you would be even more lost while trying to play! I went for the tiles which are not quite so white and a little larger. They are caramel color all the way around. I love mahjongg. We have finished our lessons and are beginning our weekly sessions, which will go on hold soon because of the holidays. Hope I still remember how to play when January rolls around. Chinese mahjongg is different than the American version. Are there any Chinese mahjongg players in America??
The bikes and scooters outside of the junk market. A woman was selling cantelope on a stick and I wanted to take a picture and she wouldn't let me, and just started yelling, "Meiguo, meiguo". American, American. Sounded like she was yelling thief! Maybe I was being a thief, trying to steal her soul away through the camera.
I feel like there are so many adventures to be had, so many places to go and things to see. I am not sure one could ever have enough time to see it all!

Lane renovation update

Boring, boring, boring, I know. I am fascinated with this lane renovation, so I will pull you along with me! Plastic piping and bricks for our lovely trenches.
Here goes some extra piping on a journey through our lane and out on to the street.......

Walking down Changle Lu. See the lovely yellow houses on the right? Part of the paint project! You must know that it is a rare moment when Changle Lu is this free of cars, bikes, motorcycles and people.

French Concession walk

The days have been blue, chilly and gorgeous with the leaves beginning to drop and whisper over the ground as the wind whips down the street. The holiday season is beginning in the expat community here with a host of bazaars around the city where all kinds of vendors show up to sell their goods to the foreigners. I was meeting my friend Kathleen at one in the French Concession and decided to walk. Oh, there is so much to see walking the streets of Shanghai! Down Changle Lu I walked by an alley with a large blue sign offering blue and white crafts. Not quite sure what to expect, I walked down the lane. It ended in a gate and indicated to walk through the gate and go right. At the end of that lane I found this sign. (Click on it to make it larger and perhaps actually read what it says)I continued following the directions down a very narrow lane that ended in a wall, but when I turned left, it opened up into this courtyard where blue and white hand dyed and printed fabric was wafting in the wind. I walked toward the legs I saw under the sheet and said "Ni hao". Right at that moment I saw a door to my left and entered a lovely work shop that had a bit of a museum of batik-like printmaking instruments and different examples of old batik. A little store was attached with all kinds of clothing, purses, coin purses, stuffed animals, table linens, etc. It was a fun find.
As I walked out the shop door to head back on my adventure I was greeted with this stunning sight. Sorry for the bad camera and color, but it was quite a sight.
I walked the streets and found cashmere shops where you could order anything in any color, carpet stores with Tibetan, Chinese and Mongolian carpets, house stores filled with new and old treasures, a hole in the wall store with trinkets of every age, size and kitchyness where two men were smoking and playing cards just waiting for the customers! As I finally made my way to where the bazaar was, I knew I had found it. I saw mini vans lining the street with drivers sleeping in the front seats or standing outside the car getting in their smoke. It was very comical to see so clearly where all the foreigners were! Everyone has drivers that take them all over town, and the drivers just hang and wait for instructions to the next locale. We have been taxi and subway movers, but now that it is getting cold, dark early and wet we have decided to break down and get a car and driver just 3 times a week when the girls stay after school and don't get the bus home. It is not easy to get a taxi in the rain, and on a Friday night it is near impossible. The traffic is horrendous and it can tear away at a happy attitude and an empty end of the day tummy. A couple of weeks ago the girls and I waited for 45 minutes in the rain before we were able to snag a cab. They have become quite the city girls, though, and handled it very well. They were on one side of the street trying to hail a cab while I ran to the other side to get one, not caring at that point which direction it was heading in! It really is a luxury to have someone waiting for you as you come out from collecting the girls at school. Our winter months treat. The rest of the time I am a happy walker and subway taker.

Lane update

Lane update:

I believe this rock and sand is waiting to be delivered to the ever growing trench on the main lane. Our once clean, tidy and perfect lane has been a construction zone for awhile, now. I love seeing how it all comes together, but am looking forward to the grand result.Taken this morning on the way to the City Market (foreign goods grocery) for more milk and butter and frozen fruit. All the good stuff not at the local market. Milk, of course, is at the local market, but I have recently decided to go for the imported brand. Hmmmm. Wonder why?

I was wondering about the bricks. The new pile of goods was brought in over night and I thought they might repave the whole lane with bricks. What a silly idea! As the trench deepens and becomes muckier, I see bricks supporting sewage pipes. Looks like we are updating and rebeautifying the lower layers as well!
Looking down the lane in the trench photo you can see that there is just a small strip on which people can walk - or ride their bike. (A woman on a bike was behind me ringing her bell trying to get me to move for her, only there was no where to go!) It is riddled with holes from the jack hammer machine, so we know it will also eventually come up. Bamboo scaffolding was being dismantled yesterday, and it was piled on this strip of walkway, blocking the way to all coming and going so that we had to step over onto the rock beside the trench. The piled bamboo was also blocking the entrance to our ancillary lane. As I jumped from crushed stone over the bamboo to get home, I almost ran into a woman being pushed in a wheel chair. No exit for her at all. The woman pushing her starting yelling, as the Chinese are want to do, to the workers. I came back 5 minutes later, and the two women were still waiting to exit the lane while the workers were moving the bamboo over about a foot. They stopped their hauling and changed to just moving it, then continued the removal of it once the wheel chair got through. What if they hadn't blocked the lane in the first place?? How much time could have been saved? There are many older people in our lane who are having to be as nimble as the youngest here to get around this booby trap!

Lane renovation update

Storey and I headed out at 7 a.m. this morning to get her to her student council meeting my 7:30. Work was already underway, picking up huge pieces on concrete from yesterdays destruction, and hauling them out to the street for removal. There was another wheel barrow waiting on the side for his turn to heave the heavy load.One small walking portion remains. I saw walking liberally as bike and motorcylcles also use this little strip to get down the lane. The red and yellow banner on the left is celebrating the government and their good care of the people.
The sidewalk in front of the lane where he is heading to an already oversized pile of concrete. Again, there is a banner over our lane proclaiming the support of the government. The turquoise awning over the gate door (used from 10 - 6:30 when the gates are closed) is new, and similar awnings have been placed over windows through out the lane. Bamboo mats are leaning against the wall. These are placed on the bamboo scaffolding where the workers stand. It goes up and comes down quickly, all these mobile parts. Wire is used to attach the bamboo pieces. That's it. Simple.

Nancy's photos

Nancy, Ridley's assistant, just sent me some photos she had taken while here. They are so good, I had to post them. This is Paige standing on the patio of M on the Bund, a restaurant we went to on the Huang Pu (river) looking across to Pudong where many of the new buildings are. The Pearl TV tower is right behind her head.This is in the Forbidden City, the marriage tree that the Emperors and Empresses would go to. The trees have been intertwined together over time. These trees are well over 500 years old.
Sweet Grammy Lu and Storey in the Forbidden City. Best pals.

The rebeautification continues

Well, now that the buildings are newly painted and sparkling with new lights and turquoise awnings, it appears the actual lane is now going to be replaced. It was looking normal this morning as I took the girls to the bus. A couple of hours later, on my way to meet Julie for lunch and a little market browsing, I came out and found the lane completely torn up with the large jack hammer machine - not a hand held one but a large tractor-ish thing - working away, not caring if I needed to pass. Every man for himself remains the motto. We'll see how long this operation takes.Julie and I met on HuaiHai Road and went to a great little eatery called Wagas. Pumpkin soup was just right for this gorgeous fall day. We hopped on the subway and were very quickly on the other side of the Huang Pu (the river) and landing at the Science and Technology Museum. The subways are so clean, easy and fast. The subway exit at the S & T is in the middle of the biggest market place I have seen yet. It is on both sides of the subway exit, going seeming miles in all directions. Vendor upon vendor of bags, shoes, wallets, shirts, coats, tea shops, Chinese clothing, knick knacks, belts, - "watches, lady. good friend price, come lookee lookee my shop". This place is particularly aggressive, and higher prices from the start. A lot of patience and good humor is required here, and the ability to walk away. It is so important to have a sense of how much something is because they can really be exorbident in their opening bid. At this particular market, I didn't find many vendors willing to come to a place where I was willing to hand over the cash.
Julie in one of the many bags shops. This particular one had been recommended to us. We looked through the first room, went to the back room, and finally the vendor asked if we wanted to see the "really good stuff". Of course we did, so we literally went through one of these walls that you see that opened up to a VERY small back room. We had to duck under a shelf, walk around stairs, the ones you see below, and climb up these very steep, uneven and narrow stairs to an attic that had bags upon bags piled on top of each other.
Julie peeking through the narrow stairs we clamored up to see the goods in the attic. Well, "the good stuff" wasn't in the attic, either. They must have thought we were really rich "tai tai's" (the name for a wife who doesn't work) because they were asking about 4 times the price another vendor would even begin with before the bargaining began! We are really good about smiling, saying "Xie xie" (thank you) and walking out. No purchases today, but a lot of fun walking around and being amazed at the amount of goods being sold. Maybe this global economic meltdown hasn't hit these vendors yet! I'll wait another week or two!

same shots, daytime

It is such a perfect, gorgeous day here, I had to go to the roof top to record the blue skies and same shots from last night. This is looking east toward the Bund. Through the bamboo scaffolding is our landmark Pearl TV tower, although it is so unfair of me to keep mentioning it because I don't think it actually shows up in the photos. Sorry.
The view to the north, same as last night. I sat up on the deck taking in the warm sun and watching Shanghai get started on its day (although in actuality, Shanghai getting started begins at about 6 a.m. This was at the late hour of 7:30 after the girls had boarded their bus.). I sat and watched the workers scrambling around on the bamboo scaffolding, painting, replacing roof tiles, a woman coming out to her window to apply make-up, a man hanging his 3 white shirts out his window, another woman putting out her wash, a woman in her outside kitchen sink working away, kittens running from one garden to another through holes in the gates (wild kittens not to be fooled with), workers mixing concrete on the lane outside our door with a shovel, people off to work on bike or walking, others returning from their morning market shop, the roar of far away traffic, flocks of white birds flying overhead, birds singing in the garden below. Glorious.

Maybe it's too difficult to see, but this bamboo scaffolding is able to bend and reach out toward the opposing building to create a platform that the workers use to pulley up their cans of paint and other essential items.

My Chinese tutor is due over soon, and I think today's lesson will be on the rooftop! Yahoo!

Full Moon #2

The view from our rooftop. The sun is setting, or has just set, and this is looking north toward Nan Jing Lu, the major shopping street. The Ritz Portman is beyond our lane rooftops. The sky is blue and clear, and in the east. . . .the full moon has been rising. Of course once again, this does not anywhere near capture the beauty and elegance of this site. To the left of the large rectangular building is the Pearl TV Tower. It is much clearer in the morning with the sun on it. It is on the river across from the Bund and sometimes feels like it is just a block away. More rebeautification bamboo scaffolding on the lane below. They have installed a security camera at our front gate, more lights in the lane, (it has heretofore been a very dimly lit, if lit at all, lane), paint on walls, steel doors scraped down and repainted, we are looking good!
Ridley left this afternoon for Miami, I had a teacher conference with Storey's teacher - tomorrow Paige. All good stuff. We dined out at Whisk with my friend Betsy and her daughter Lucy who is a friend of Storey's. Whisk is the ultimate chocolate adventure in town. Before indulging, they also provide pretty good pizzas, salads, gnocchi and risotto, all of which we tried. Another half day of school tomorrow, another conference, another day in Shanghai.

Violin/David

Storey loves learning the violin and has some really beautiful notes emanating from her efforts.
David has long since gone back to the States, but we were lucky enough to get him over for a couple of Mei's feasts. Having him here made us even more anxious to get him back with his whole family in December. We have just been finalizing the arrangements and it sounds like we will have some interesting places to see. For those of you who want to pull out your atlas, we will be heading to Chengdu and Yangshuo (on the Li River) together, then back to Shanghai before they have to go home and we go on to Harbin, the ice palace capitol. Marianne and Luci will have already been with us in Shanghai and will join us for Chengdu as well. Our Christmas will be filled with friends. Yeah!

Election party

There was an election party hosted by the American Consulate, American Chamber of Commerce and American Women's Club of Shanghai at the Hilton. I was amazed when I arrived to see all the others who came to witness the democratic process at work. There were many Chinese, French, New Zealand, Dutch, Scandanavian, Hong Kong, of the ones I could decipher. Everyone was very interested in what would happen. The event began at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning as the Tuesday night election results were just starting to come in. I didn't arrive until about 10:30 but heard people were waiting at the door to enter. There were big screen tv's everywhere, food, hats, flags, balloons and lots of chatting.
This is when the announcement was first made (I love the Chinese flag hanging with the other American goo gaw!) and then. . .
there was a standing O for O. Lots of cheering and tears. It was quite moving.
Revelers Marcelle & Julie with the party hats on!
Obama. I am sure you have all seen these shots, and in a much clearer fashion, but I am recording it here! Below, post election lunch at the French Bistro La Saleya across the street from our lane where Julie and I met up with Ridley just returning from teaching at Fudan. He had been keeping up on the action via Blackberry during class! During our celebration lunch, we got a call from school. Paige had fractured her arm! She is great and we had a wonderful experience at our local hospital down the street that has a floor just for expats. She needed nothing more than x-rays and a cast. We were sheparded everywhere and were out of there in an hour and a half. No fuss no muss. She is already ready to be gone with it! After all, there is a holiday dance coming up December 5th!