My friend Emily invited John and me to her friend Rebecca’s house for dinner Friday night. Apparently, Rebecca has a really kick-ass ayi (cook/maid) who makes outrageously delicious meals. I had to see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately, John baled out last minute to work. Boy did he miss a meal to remember! Mashed potatoes (clearly not a Chinese dish), lo mein, lotus patties, white bean soup, green veggies (some kind of sprout), tofu with tomatoes… every dish phenomenal. And the rate for such a luxury? 10 yuan per hour. That’s about $1.20 USD per HOUR. My friends here say there’s no reason to ever do housework again. As tempting as that sounds, I’m still a little reluctant to give in. Not sure what my hangup is… I guess I just feel like you should clean up your own mess. Plus, I kind of have this obsession with vacuuming. There’s just something very fulfilling about hearing the dirt rattle through the vacuum hose and seeing the before and after. Yes, I’m a little crazy. I’m sure all of you heard the story (from John) about how I opted for a new vacuum instead of a new tv when I moved to Florida for grad school.

I saw an ad the other day for an ayi cooking class. I suggested that John go and check it out. 🙂 Obviously, I don’t consider him my ayi. It’s just that he said he wanted to learn Chinese cooking so this seemed like a new opportunity. They said the class was taught in both Chinese and English. I think instead, John and I will consider finding an ayi to show us how to cook Chinese food. There are plenty of lessons to learn with picking out fresh ingredients and throwing them together to make something wonderful. We’ll see. My friends say good ayis are tough to come by.

John turned the big 2-8 today. An old man, though I must admit, we became an old married couple years before he became an old man. 🙂

We had a busy day. With the recent purchase of a new blender/juicer, John was on a mission to purchase fruits/veggies “from their source.” It wasn’t enough that we lived right down the street from an open-air produce market. He claimed those vendors were middle-people, who unnecessarily came between him and his produce. So what, he wanted to buy direct from the farmers, some of whom lived in the Phillipines or the US or whereever the goods were grown? I dunno–it was all rather unclear. He just knew he wanted to slice through the layers, so fine. We walked about 20 minutes south to a big warehouse, filled with vendors and their endless cases of fruit: oranges, apples, mangoes, pears, pummelos, strawberries, dates, tangerines, cherry tomatoes… It was weird. I felt like we should have been entrepreneurs running a restaurant or juice joint. Many of the vendors said the goods sold only by the case. Of course when it came down to the sale, they were more than willing to calculate by weight. We went home with a case of Sunkist navel oranges, mangoes, and Phillipino pears. Cheaper than the open market and so sweet and delicious! John and I are psyched about this latest find–the fruit and veggies are comparable to even those of California! Come visit and we’ll take you on the fruit safari.

For his birthday, John got to satisfy his hamburger craving– twice. Once at brunch and then again at dinner, where we shamefully went to TGI Friday’s. I know, we hated that place in the US, but someone (she’ll remain nameless) told us they had the best burgers. Well, big disappointment. The entire meal was expensive and just disgusting. I don’t know what we were thinking. Afterwards, we walked to the ritzy Xintiandi where this band called Crystal Butterfly was going to play covers of U2, the Cure, and Radiohead at the ARK (one of the restaurants). One horrendous Bloody Mary (I never learn) and Long Island Iced Tea later, the band got started… with some boy-band tune. Ok, so an odd beginning for an alternative rock band, but surely the good stuff would come later. Wrong. Next, we were subjected to a Japanese boyband song and then “Celebration.” Clearly, this was NOT Crystal Butterfly. According to my waiter, this band was Fax. My sources were all wrong. Crystal Butterfly hasn’t played there every Tuesday night (as my mag suggested) for a long time. ARGH!! We left. Hoping to find consolation in ice cream, we dropped in a sweets shop. Bombed again. Mediocre ice cream and a flavorless, gross ice cream/coffee drink. We decided to plug the money pit immediately. Caught a cab and headed home. Next time, I’ll call to confirm that Crystal Butterfly is playing. Of course, I’ll drop the expectations. After all, what kind of band would be dumb enough to perform covers of songs from such greats as U2 and the Cure?

John turned the big 2-8 today. An old man, though I must admit, we became an old married couple years before he became an old man. 🙂

We had a busy day. With the recent purchase of a new blender/juicer, John was on a mission to purchase fruits/veggies “from their source.” It wasn’t enough that we lived right down the street from an open-air produce market. He claimed those vendors were middle-people, who unnecessarily came between him and his produce. So what, he wanted to buy direct from the farmers, some of whom lived in the Phillipines or the US or whereever the goods were grown? I dunno–it was all rather unclear. He just knew he wanted to slice through the layers, so fine. We walked about 20 minutes south to a big warehouse, filled with vendors and their endless cases of fruit: oranges, apples, mangoes, pears, pummelos, strawberries, dates, tangerines, cherry tomatoes… It was weird. I felt like we should have been entrepreneurs running a restaurant or juice joint. Many of the vendors said the goods sold only by the case. Of course when it came down to the sale, they were more than willing to calculate by weight. We went home with a case of Sunkist navel oranges, mangoes, and Phillipino pears. Cheaper than the open market and so sweet and delicious! John and I are psyched about this latest find–the fruit and veggies are comparable to even those of California! Come visit and we’ll take you on the fruit safari.

For his birthday, John got to satisfy his hamburger craving– twice. Once at brunch and then again at dinner, where we shamefully went to TGI Friday’s. I know, we hated that place in the US, but someone (she’ll remain nameless) told us they had the best burgers. Well, big disappointment. The entire meal was expensive and just disgusting. I don’t know what we were thinking. Afterwards, we walked to the ritzy Xintiandi where this band called Crystal Butterfly was going to play covers of U2, the Cure, and Radiohead at the ARK (one of the restaurants). One horrendous Bloody Mary (I never learn) and Long Island Iced Tea later, the band got started… with some boy-band tune. Ok, so an odd beginning for an alternative rock band, but surely the good stuff would come later. Wrong. Next, we were subjected to a Japanese boyband song and then “Celebration.” Clearly, this was NOT Crystal Butterfly. According to my waiter, this band was Fax. My sources were all wrong. Crystal Butterfly hasn’t played there every Tuesday night (as my mag suggested) for a long time. ARGH!! We left. Hoping to find consolation in ice cream, we dropped in a sweets shop. Bombed again. Mediocre ice cream and a flavorless, gross ice cream/coffee drink. We decided to plug the money pit immediately. Caught a cab and headed home. Next time, I’ll call to confirm that Crystal Butterfly is playing. Of course, I’ll drop the expectations. After all, what kind of band would be dumb enough to perform covers of songs from such greats as U2 and the Cure?

We thought we were outta the woods. We thought wrong. Big time. These last several days, we’ve seen nothing but wind, rain, and cold. So even though the dogs want to stay outside forever in their new playground, John and I cut their freedom short. It’s that damn cold. And I lost my hat again. The second one I’ve lost. I think I need one with strings to tie to my body. Otherwise, they just disappear. The last thing I remember is taking it off and holding it in my hand. I tried to search for another at the store, but they’ve already shifted their merchandise to spring stuff (baseball caps and such).

My uncle took us out to lunch yesterday at the swanky Dynasty restaurant. Of course anytime we eat out Chinese with people who know what to order, the meal turns out to be a real winner. We had several hot veggie appetizers followed by fish, shrimp, crab, noodles and a buffet of fresh fruit and coffee (but you had to elbow your way to the table). Excellent meal. I kept the receipt itemizing each dish for future visits. We’re in on the secret now…

In the evening, John and I went to Carrefour to buy the place out–again. This new apartment didn’t offer the luxury of an equipped kitchen (as the previous apartment did), so we were forced to purchase a rice cooker, pots/pans, bowls, etc. But no worries. No elaborate sets (like we had in the US). Just exactly two bowls, two plates… you get the picture. Well okay, we did get that blender/juicer combo (for only $30 USD)… we just couldn’t pass up on the idea of drinking fruit smoothies every day, especially with the fruit/veggie open-air market down the street. It’s John’s birthday tomorrow… just give in, ok?

We went out bowling tonight with my friends Anqian, Emily, and Zack. We went to a locals’ joint called Sakura. John and I went bowling several weeks ago with Wang Jian and Ya-Ya near their home in Hankou district. I really suck at this sport, but it’s so much fun. We showed pretty good improvement last night compared to before. But John and I are going to start bowling on our own so we can practice our game!

The cool thing about places in Shanghai… there’s no open container laws. Not that such regs apply to nondrinkers like me, but it’s good news for John and others. After bowling, we headed to a 24-hour place called Bi Feng Tang. John felt a new kind of liberation, chugging his beer in public. BFT was cool… we sat in these makeshift outdoor rooms, covered from the rain by a patio umbrella and sheltered from the wind with shower curtains. Sounds dingier than they looked actually. Plus there was a little fan heater by the table… it was so nice and toasty. I’ts been awhile since John and I have hung out late with other people. It was a good time. We hope to throw a party at our new place in a few weeks. Maybe even break out the boardgames (yes, I brought Taboo and Cranium to China)!

Less than a week ago, John and I started looking at apartments again. You see, our lease requires three months’ notice. So, since the lease ends in June, we’re supposed to give notice in March on whether we’ll want to renew or leave in June. Well after seeing a bunch of places nearby, we came across THE place. A new community with serious grassy area, a huge patio, cathedral ceilings, an awesome floorplan, a water heater for the bathroom (scalding hot showers!!), and UNFILTERED internet (I can access Washpost and NY Times!). At first we were really bummed because the place was available immediately, but we couldn’t move in until June… But in China, anything can happen. Our realtor, seeing how much we loved the place, started putting the wheels in motion. Three days later, they said they could get us out of our current lease for a nominal penalty, they got the new place to come down in rent by almost 10 percent, AND they would halve their commission. So needless to say, we bit on the offer. By week’s end, we had packed up all our stuff, ended the old lease, signed a new lease, processed our address change, and moved in.

And there are no regrets. Our new place rocks!! And it’s even a little cheaper than the other. The dogs are already reversing their slow path towards retardation… it’s wonderful here. Someone please come visit just so we can have witnesses! 🙂 And down the street, we discovered an open-air produce market. So fresh and cheap. Now we just need to work on learning to cook Chinese food!

In other news, I did a week of teaching earlier this month. Was fun to get back into things… but the experience made me decide to start my own tutoring/freelance writing business. I got a bite last week… a petrochemical company called and asked me to do corporate business English training. So now I’m doing research to put together a course outline and proposal. It’s so much work– I’ve already spent like 5 hours in the bookstore looking for a coursebook, but I’m very excited. I like the sound of working for myself. 🙂 John’s been helping me design my business cards and brochures. Wish me luck!

John and I just celebrated our 8th Valentines Day! I must admit, after so many years together, birthdays and holidays just don’t offer the same level of excitement. I think we’re just getting old! 🙂 But we still had a great day. The weather was beautiful, so we took our new bikes out for a spin. The way we rode those things… you’d think we’d never been on a bike before! Of course we had Giant and Trek bikes in the States– rode them all about 4 times. Blame it on the hills of Virginia, okay? In Shanghai, it’s a whole new sport. The land here is so flat, riding bikes is almost as easy as breathing! Okay, not really that easy but still, not strenuous in the least and that is key for non-athletes such as ourselves.

We also get a big thrill from the dangers of biking. Here you have to basically fend for your life– against taxis, psycho drivers, not to mention oblivious pedestrians, obnoxious scooterists and other cyclists. John and I are all about riding fast. We book it full speed ahead (as fast as our single-speeds can carry us), weaving in and out, ringing our little thumb bells nonstop. Outta our way, we’re coming through! Being maniacal bikers is a total blast!

After an afternoon of tearing through town, we stopped at Simply Thai for dinner. After a series of disappointing misses at the local restaurants, we were pleasantly surprised. Despite having his mouth on fire, John was very pleased with his Thai spicy beef salad and coconut curried duck. Thank goodness– one less McD’s dinner. 🙂

My grandmother in Taiwan passed away today. Earlier in the week, my family had moved her out of the hospital into a Buddist temple to live out her final days. I’m not familiar with the traditions in Taiwan, but according to my brother, family members went to the temple daily to pray. They say she passed away looking content and at peace.
Death, no matter how expected, remains a difficult event. But what I learned from this final visit is that love truly grows around good people. You show compassion and humanity towards others and more often than not, you receive a lifetime of love, friendship, and respect. So many people came out of the woodwork to see my grandmother when she fell ill. Even though she wasn’t some VIP or famous individual, my grandmother had clearly touched the lives of so many. And kudos to my grandfather… for over a year, he was her caretaker–giving her baths, cooking her meals, feeding her, dressing her. When she was hospitalized, he endured a 90-minute each-way commute, complete with two bus transfers, to see her every day. Most of the time, she was unconscious, but it didn’t matter. Nothing could stop him from loving her. Not lack of personal transportation, poor eyesight, fragile bones, a chronic cold, or his own old age (85 years).

Sorry for the long absence. My paternal grandmother who has been battling terminal liver cancer went into critical condition after the Chinese New Year, so John and I made an emergency trip. Because our visas were only single entry, leaving the China meant making a pit stop in Hong Kong to get visas allowing us back in. Fortunately, we obtained one-year multi-entry business visas and are now set for awhile.

Our two days in Hong Kong were quite good. Never been to the “most popular destination in Asia” before. After reading all this propaganda on Shanghai proclaiming itself as the next Hong Kong, we were surprised by just how much farther SH needs to go. Hong Kong has all the ritz and glam of a big city. It’s hard to describe, but the feel is just so much more affluent and polished and cosmopolitan. And everything is so clean and efficient. Going in and out of the airport takes like 10 minutes. You catch a train to the Central peninsula and inside there’s an electronic map showing you exactly where the train is. Certainly, HK benefits from its small size, but still the initial impression is mindboggling. Things are just done right. No BS.

The official languages in HK are Cantonese and English. I think John felt a little weird being able to speak English at full-speed. We took full advantage of HK’s international status by stuffing our faces with the foods that we miss so sorely in SH. Indian, Mediterranean, Italian, Cantonese… all meals were excellent. And our hotel… I swear I need to get into the travel business. I found us an awesome place at a great price. Our room had this supped up telecommunications control center, with full panel instrumentation/controls on each bedside and at the desk, where a computer served as a PC and a TV. All our messages printed out on our in-room fax/printer. We were in heaven… well at least until the morning of checkout when our toilet wouldn’t flush. I called downstairs and apparently construction workers had busted some water pipes… so the entire hotel’s toilets couldn’t flush. Fortunately, the water still ran from the faucets so housekeeping arrived at our door with a bucket to manually fill the water tank and give us a flush or two!

We did the usual tourist activities—took the ferry over to Central and then rode the tram (cable car) up a 30 degree incline to Victoria’s Peak. It was a hazy, but beautiful nonetheless up on the mountains. A group of school girls were conducting some survey on foreigners… so they trapped John and bombarded him with questions about his thoughts on HK. Of course, no one was interested in this foreigner’s take. Then John granted them a celebrity photo. He eats that stuff up.

Unlike SH, HK is very hilly. We got a really good workout, especially after getting lost many times (the signs for some reason are not as clear as in SH). We went to one of the main city parks. It was of course all artificial and manicured but still, I thought it was beautiful and a nice escape from the city’s hustle and bustle. HK is much more densely populated than SH. I dunno where the government gets its numbers, but it’s hard for us to believe SH has a population of 15 million. We don’t see THAT many people on the streets.

After two fun days in HK (we even saw LOTR), we headed off to Taiwan, for a totally different experience. Dirty and dingy, Taiwan (at least southern Taiwan) is an environmentalist’s nightmare. At least in SH, the government makes a big effort to conceal the grime. In Taiwan, public space is everyone’s garbage can.

The main point of our trip was to see my grandmother. She recognized me the first day and in typical fashion, kept asking where we were staying and if we had eaten and if her house was clean and welcoming. My grandmother has terminal liver cancer and during my visit, her condition worsened. The day I left, my grandfather and aunts signed hospital papers declining automated life support and surgery. After I left, she was moved to the Buddhist temple for her final days. My parents made an emergency trip to see her one final time and fortunately, they made it in time. My grandmother who had been unconscious, opened her eyes and seemed aware of their return. She could not speak, but she knew they had come to see her.

Today John and I went to the Shanghai Museum, located in People’s Square. A nice four-storied building with beautiful art galleries displaying calligraphy, ceramics, bronze figures, scultures, etc. But John and I tire easily at museums, so we were in and out in 90 minutes.

Well the pyros are at it again and Remy and Martin are back on high alert here in the war zone. Yesterday marked the fifth day of the new year… celebrated with another night of explosions. Of course safety takes a back seat on ocassions such as this: our neighbor set off a bunch of firecrackers and our kitchen window was showered with fiery debris. In the parking lot below, people lit off strings and strings of crackers, causing all the car alarms to go off. It was crazy. We went out onto our 14th floor walkway and you could smell the gunsmoke and see the dirt clouds rising. The pictures don’t really do justice to the event, but we weren’t about to take our laptop outside to collect sound recordings either.