Rogier and Mark Visit Shanghai

Rene and I were thrilled when we found out that Rogier, Rene's brother, and his business partner, Mark, we going to make a stop by Shanghai on their way home from a business trip to Hong Kong. It was a quick visit, not nearly long enough, but we were able to give them a snapshop of our Shanghai. They arrived on a beautiful, sunny, Saturday afternoon and we decided to show them the non-touristy, real Chinese part of Shanghai.

This picture is of a street vendor selling freshly steamed buns and dumplings. These little shops are found on every corner and are very popular amongst the locals for lunch or an afternoon snack.



We had to stop by one of the DVD shops so that Mark and Rogier could stock up. At this shop, DVD's are about 50 Euro cents each.


Compared to some of the loads of trash you see people transporting by bike, this one is quite small.













Peking Duck anyone?













Or how about some bull frog for dinner?



























This picture was taken right after I saw a huge ash from this guys cigarette land on one of the slabs of meat. After watching this happen, the butcher simply swatted his hand over the meat to knock off the ash. As I watched him do this, I realized that he had two objectives; first, to clear the ash and then second, to rid two flies that had also landed on the exposed, unrefridgerated animal viscera.

As I was about to take a picture of the owner of shown hand's turtles, he thought it would be funny to pick one up and stick it in my face. It scared the bejesus out of me, but at least I got the shot.

Please note the beautifully peeled, tar colored egg towards the bottom, center of the photograph. Because this seems to be a marketing tactic, I can only assume that these eggs are supposed to be an inky black color and smell slightly of rot.

The tea shops here are truly fabulous and extremely affordable. Its so nice to go in and smell and or taste the different teas. I am still amazed by the variety of colors, flavors, and smells that are available on every street.

They do cookies here too! Actually, the bakeries are surprisingly good. They make incredible pastries and breads even at these street markets.

Unidentifiable beans and roots.

Even though Shanghai is a very metropolitan city, you still see some things that are truly shocking. All the children wear pants with a split down the crotch. Their parents just hold the child up off the ground and the split in their pants open whenever and wherever the children need to go to the bathroom.

This is the face of a pig. I still get a little bit of a gag reflex just looking at the picture.

We also took Mark and Rogier to see Formula One the following day. Shanghai has a pretty amazing track that was built 5 years ago. All of those pictures are on Rene's camera, so I will try to get those uploaded and posted this afternoon or tomorrow.

A Glimpse into China's Night Life

Dear Friends, just wanted to share another aspect of China living with you... the Night Life. After existing here for several months, I feel I have been out on the town and seen enough to fairly comment on the bar scene. All in all I have to say it is pretty sweet; there is seriously something for everyone. Regardless of whether you are in the mood for some mixed tunes at a classy western venue, craving the new Flo Rida song at a hip hop club (sometimes a girl from the Atl gotta break it down), have a taste for jazz or house music, or maybe you just hanker for a good ol skeezy Chinese bar, Shanghai offers numerous venues to accommodate all cravings after dark.

Below are some pictures from a Bejing club called the Coco Bananna that Rene and I stumbled into on the night of my birthday. Though we were the only non Chinese in the entire establishment, I think we blended in quite well... (I am slightly worried that all of the steamed buns might be making me more Chinese; I am totally addicted to the Lotus paste stuffed ones... mmmm!)

It was a pretty fabulous evening; so fabulous actually, that I was inclined to forgive the incredibly cheesy interior decor and sub par entertainment on stage. The first talent was an actual real life, black rapper. You must understand that they are very rare in China. I have actually only met two black people since arriving here, and both complain that they don't have any black friends. It is very bizarre. So you can imagine the MTV crazed excitment that filled the club when an actual rap artist and his fly girl jumped on stage. The Chinese went absolutely nuts!

The two performers turned out to be decent, though the whole thing was a bit strange. I am still trying to figure out why the girl was dressed like a cheap Vegas bride. She on stage dancing provacatively to a song with content strictly pertaining to "getting it on" while wearing a wedding dress and flowing white veil. Maybe I missed a metaphor in the lyrics... Or maybe there is some Chinese fetish that I am unaware of... I would have taken a picture, but Rene and I had to go into stealth mode after one of the bouncers busted Rene for sneaking photos for the second time and threatened to throw us out.

The second act was a little less original, but also a very popular choice. For the second act, we were upgraded to a Chinese stripper. That act however was cut short when a drunk guy in the crowd grabbed some of her discarded undergarments and then her hat. It was actually the hat that was the final straw. I think she had to use all of her inner strength to restrain from diving off the stage head first, and tackling the poor bastard. In a fit of anger, she hopped off the stage, yelling at the theif and also at the bouncers for not doing their jobs, then disappeared for the rest of the evening. She must have really liked that hat.

That was the last act that we were priviledged enough to witness. After hiking the great wall that afternoon and having like 10 cranberry vodkas at the coco bananna bar, it was time to go home and sleep. It was a good birthday.

This picture is from the Green Tea House. The end of a beautiful birthday dinner.





These are some pictures from wine tasting Rene and I went to a few weeks back. It was hosted in an art gallery.

Rene and I find most of the expat party information on a website called SmartShanghai. It's a very useful site with restaurant reviews, city happenings, and general expat advice. Every Friday, this guy that writes for SS, "Da Admiral" (self dubbed), sends out an email detailing the party scene that weekend. This guys is freaking hilarious and I thought I would share this past weekends advice...

_____________________________________________

Hey Shanghai,

So this week I'm putting myself out there. Are there any Russians that want to go clubbing with me?

I've been hearing a lot of stories lately about Russians clubbing in Shanghai and it sounds totally fantastic. Basically what happens is a group of Russians hire out some Chinese club called like "Sweety Love" or something, and they throw these massive crazy Russian parties with lucky draws for Range Rovers and bags of diamonds and shit like that. Not content with the house DJ, Russians bring over some dude from Odessa with a crew cut and Brett "The Hitman" Heart sunglasses to play Russian music: Eminem, U2, Paul Van Dyk, Brittany Spears, and disco polka.
It's just the right mix of crazy party time with the hint of life-threatening danger -- refuse a shot of vodka from some dude and you might find yourself in some shadowy backroom of the club with your head in a vice. It's a huge faux pas to set your G &T down on someone's AK-47, but if you make a new friend, he'll point you to a rack of fur coats off to the side of the club and you can just take your pick.

High quality mink coats. Fresh from the Ukraine. Like new.

Where are you Russians? I want to have good time in the club with you. Let me go to your disco genocide party. This Saturday I want to find myself at the exact intersection of the Thunderdome from Mad Max and Studio 54 with my new Russian friends. Let's do this thing!
Give me a dingle.

Bah. I'll probably just end up doing the same old thing. Going to Bonbon. Oh wait! Bonbon is closed!

And no one is more bummed out about it than the "Absolutey Vodka" rep from rural Urumuqi (surnamed Wang). He's got like 50 crates of "Absolutey Vodka" out back in his sorghum field just waiting to go. He's on the phone with the "Johnny Walder" rep from up the road, and they're trying to figure out how to sort this shit out. What a mess!

What other parties are going on this weekend. Besides the crazy Russian ones. Actually, I don't know if those really go on. It could be that I'm just remembering a bunch of movies I've seen, adding in my own fantasies and deep-seated stereotypes about Russians, and then just running with it. Good times.

Friday: B6 and Trix are at Volar, Dexter is at The Shelter, Longitude gets Electro-fied, live music at LOgO, redonkulous go go dancers at Muse. Scroll down to feel the vibrations. Feel it. Feel it. C' mon.
Saturday: Oh man, more parties. Dirty chicks at Sin get hosed down, a Japanese hip hop MC at The Shelter, a flutist at Lounge18 (sheeeyeah), Hedgehog is at Yuyintang, and some other shite as well...
Lastly, a little rumour action: we hear a member of the WU -- and an A-list member too -- will be coming to town to do a show.

Aiyyo spiced out Calvin Coolidge, loungin' with 7 duelers,

Da Admiral

______________________________________________________

Side note.. me and some friends at Heather's birthday party this past Friday. Made it onto City Weekend! :)

http://www.citymoments.cn/en/pictures/picture.cfm?picture=22314

Beijing Birthday Pics

After spending 50 minutes downloading the below pictures onto this loathsome blogsite, I realized that the pictures all generated in the wrong order. So, instead of spending another 50 minutes rearranging the pictures, we are going to do something a bit more creative. The below is our trip to Beijing and we will begin at the end, with Rene's sad picture one hour before leaving Beijing. If you do not like to view a vacation from the last day proceeding to the first day, I suggest you start at the bottom of this post.
Rene and I enjoying our last cold beverage on a rooftop patio overlooking the Ho Hai Lake. We had incredible luck with the weather and enjoyed three fabulously sunny days.

Ho Hai Lake, which you see above is this fabulous old town area in Beijing. The entire lake is surrounded by bars set in these quaint, traditional Chinese buildings that were once part of the neighborhoods, "hutongs," that surround them. The bars are all themed and have incredible patios lining the side walks with sofas and lounge chairs.

Rene and I took a hutong tour around the area surrounding Ho Hai.

Thought I had adjusted the above, appently not... You will just have to strain your neck to see it properly. When walking going through the hutongs, there are all of these open doorways that lead into courtyards. Though they are all tiny, several families share these close quarters. While it is impossible to imagine living this way, these homes are highly coveted amongst the Beijing elite due to their location and historical significance.

Our rickshaw driver pulling us through the crowds.

Below are pictures from the Olympic Village.

The Bird's Nest is above. This is Beijing's national stadium.

Below you will see Rene drinking the #1 worst Margerita I have ever tasted in my life.

Why would we take a picture of this stange Chinese man? That is a good question. I actually am not sure why, but he was standing amongst all of these bushes hiding under this tree on a very busy street and we thought it was so odd. Do you think he might have had a bad back itch? I saw on National Geographic last week that this is what bears do in the wilderness...

Beware the meat sold by sketchy Chinese street vendors... It was about 80 degrees F outside... On the other hand, they have to market their product; does that not just look mouth watering?

Day 2..

Below is a mountain top view looking down over the Forbidden City.

This rather ugly looking pile of rocks with a Chinese hut on top was located inside the Forbidden City. The Chinese call it the "Mound of Accumulated Elegance." You have to love that name. I talked about it for like an hour, and Rene did a really good job of feigning interest in my conjectures of why they would call it that and how funny the translation was... Whatever, in the end, "Ones mans rubbish is another mans gold"... at least that is what they say. The emperor would climb up this thing once a year with his wife and concubines for some Lunar celebration. When we heard this explanation on our portible, audio devices, I looked at Rene with an expression of "oh yes, that makes sense" and his only comment was "well those emperors had to come up with some kind of bullshit..." He had a pretty good point.

Cauldrons like the one below were scattered all throughout the Forbidden City. This was their method of putting out fires.

Below is the Hall of Medium Harmony, not to be confused with the Hall of Superior Harmony or the Hall of Preserving Harmony which sit on either side of it.

The below is considered the height of fashion amonst young girls in China. Please note the small stuffed animal bunny rabbits that are connected to the back of her socks. Very cool... as cool as it gets here in women's fashion.The Entrance to the Forbidden City.

Myself standing in front of the Forbidden City on Tienemen Square.

They still love them some Chairman Mao.

Day One..

Rene taking a picture of my sunburned and very nervous face and as we sat in the club lounge at Intercontinental hoping we could down at least one glass of wine before they realized we were not paying for club lounge access. Somehow we had breakfast there every morning and cocktails and snacks every evening and no one ever caught onto our little scheme. Either we are incredibly stealthy or they were incredibly lazy and just never checked our room number. My guess is that the truth is probably the latter of the two scenarios.

The highlight of the trip: The Great Wall of China

The above was not happy when we did not pay him for taking a picture of his get up. Is nothing for free these days?

Below is a picture of us posing amongst the Ming Tombs. Lining this walkway, running between the tombs, are many different animal carvings that were meant to symbolize how large and powerful a country China was.

Before visiting the Ming Tombs, we stopped by a Jade Factory. Jade is the most precious stone in China and is very expensive. Below is an artist carving a block of jade.

Jade exists in 5 different colors. The below sculpture has used Jade in all of its natural forms. Green is the most procious of all the colors.

Okay, that is all.. This concludes your Chinese history lesson for the day. Hope you enjoyed!

Tuesday

6:30am: Awake from a deep slumber to the banging of metal objects and the buzzing of saws. I make a note to self that the construction has now expanded from simply outside of my window to directly overhead through the ceiling as well. A positive to this situation is that there is no need for an alarm clock. Who wants to awake to Cingular’s tired ring tones when you have the melodious tunes that are ever present on a well oiled construction site. Clang, clang, hammer, hammer, blood curdling scream. The screaming part is a little something special we ge here in China. The workers don't wear harnesses or pretty much any protection for that matter, so things happen. I mean they still work on bamboo scaffolding for crying out loud!

6:31am: Reflect for 60 seconds. Then, smash a feather pillow over my head and hope that slumber can resume without suffocation occurring.

9:30am: Awake for the second time and realize happily that I was able to get in another 3 hours of sleep. Stretch, stand, experience some dizziness, sit back down, stand again, and shuffle to the desk chair where my fluffy Intercontinental terry cloth bath robe and matching slipper set wait for me.

9:35am: Wash my face and blow my nose. Great, my snot is brown. I was warned this would happen due to the fantastic Shanghai air quality; I had hoped that was an exaggeration. Guess not. Will have to rethink the strange surgical mask apparatus that I see people wearing around the city all the time. Damn, it just looks so freaky.

9:40am: Make coffee, one of two things I can make in my kitchenless room.

9:45am: Attack a banana and overly ripe kiwi fruit with an extremely dull butter knife swearing to myself I will not make a disastrous mess this time. This is the second of the two things I can make in my room, poorly sliced fruit. Mission went unaccomplished; there are kiwi guts all over the place. At least the skin from the fruit ended up in the trash can and the majority of edible mush made it into my bowl. The housekeepers surely hate me.

9:50am: Breakfast on the couch in my living room (aka the room without a bed in it) and feel the usual emotions of despair that result from watching CNN. It’s either that, some cheesy 80’s movies that’s playing on Starz, or the crazy Chinese news channel that I don’t understand a word of. CNN it is…

10am: Receive telephone call from Dad and spend the next 30 minutes trying to convince him that despite my current jobless state, that he did not waste $200K++ on my education and that I really am doing meaningful things with my time here in Shanghai (please tune in for my next blog titled Happy Hours and Happy Endings for more information on this topic…)

10:45am: Decide to check out Bronze Goddesses Tanning Salon. I have a one free trial coupon.

11:00am: Leave the hotel to tackle the city streets while honing two very important Shanghai living skills. 1.) Motor Bike Dodging. It takes much practice and inherent talent to learn to anticipate from which side the bikes will try to pass you. They all have little bells (like what you had on your bike at age five) that they so graciously clang to warn of their speedy approach. Unfortunately, by the time you hear the bell, you do not have time to turn and assess the situation. You simply must trust your instincts and dive either left or right. I don’t mean to brag, but this has come to me quite naturally; I am somewhat of a motor bike dodging prodigy. I have only been smacked from behind once and it left no real damage. It's too bad this is not an Olympic sport... 2.) Make glaring faces that so are so very unfriendly that the hundreds of girls handing out flyers, the dudes hocking fakes, and the beggars do not dare to approach you. This is a little more difficult as some do not shy from any level of intimidation; you WILL take their flyer that is written completely in Chinese characters whether you like it or not. Hello, did you notice the blond hair and inability to address you in your native tongue? I cannot read Chinese, obviously! The worst are the guys that will start crying, literally throwing a temper tantrum on the street if you will not look at their goods. When I come across those, I just run.

11:30am-11:50am: Hold my breath for the length of the subway ride to Puxi Times Square because the old women standing to my left has very surely soiled herself, and recently...

12:00pm: Enter Bronzed Goddesses Tanning Salon and low and behold, I run into my Tai Tai friend Heather. Chinese think tanned skin is ugly so I am not surprised to find that everyone in the waiting room is an over baked Tai Tai. I reassure myself that the only reason I am here is because I have the free trial coupon.

12:30pm: Embark on a new adventure to find Eddy Tam’s framing shop. I bought some very cool Chinese artwork from a student at the Beijing Art Academy and need to get it framed. They charge me $30 to double mat and frame all four paintings and also agree to deliver it to the hotel free of charge. Gotta love that.

12:45-1:30pm: Wander aimlessly around HuaiHai Lu (shopping street)

2:15pm: Make it home just in time to grab something from the hotel lunch buffet before they close shop. Enjoy a salad and scoop of mango sorbet while reading the USA International Edition (which is crap).

3:00pm: Hail a cab and am off again. There is a import bookstore I have been wanting to check out as I need some new reading material. Cab driver takes me for a 45 minute ride on a completely nonsensical route, through crazy back streets and over unnecessary highways, to get to the friggin store. When I begin yelling at the driver in English he goes nuts and starts yelping his farmer style Mandarin back at me. This is not a first; I think a lot of the cab drivers here have serious anger management problems, not sure what that’s all about. After 10 minutes of snarling at one another, I give in and sucker up the $8 cab fare. I know I know, but t’s about principle!

4:00pm: Head home via the subway with four new books in hand. The trip only take 15 minutes this time. Damn that taxi shmuck to hell! Wasting my obviously precious time..

5:00pm: Begin working on this blog entry.

6:00pm: Get a call back for a modeling job. Feel like a loser for even going on the initial interview. It's to pose in a sports clothing catalogue; I will for sure be stuck in some hideous Chinese ensemble. Now I am reevaluating whether I should share this tidbit or not. What the hell? It's no less rediculous than the rest of this blog entry.

6:00pm: Going to hit some balls at the driving range with Rene.

Whatever comes next will come next; if I were to guess it will most likely include food in the hotel restaurant and drinks in the hotel bar while listening to the mediocre Philipino band that plays every night. Its usually fine until the Chinese guitar player starts trying to sing Journey songs. Anyways, I know I have been majorly slacking on my entries, and will try to do another this week. See y'all later!

Happy Hours and Happy Endings

I have now been in China for a time period of just over two months. In the vast scheme of things, two months time is hugely insignificant; however, in my little world, two months masquerades itself as an accomplishment, or maybe it is just that. Perhaps I have reached a milestone in the China experience, not the finish line, but maybe the first lap around the track.

The first month felt purely like vacation. The weeklong ski trip to Austria probably did not help to reinforce the reality of my move to Shanghai. However, this past month has been sort of a wake up call, as I have found myself growing slowly accustomed to Chinese culture and my new lifestyle. In all truth, time has been flying by with all the important activities that now fill my days. The foot & oil massages, mani/pedi appointments, mahjong dates, and the endless happy hours.

There is actually a very interesting culture surrounding happy hours in this city. You can find happy hours taking place at any point in the day. No 4pm-6pm standard in this lush filled city. One of my favorite Mexican joints here actually has its HH (tai tai speak for happy hour if you had not yet caught on…) from 10pm-12am. You have to admit, that is a creative take on the tradition happy hour. So naturally, it would be a crime not to take advantage of this phenomenon. Valiantly, my tai tai friends have taken in upon themselves to ensure this practice subsists. I can assure you that all the good bars in town are well patroned during their respective HH's. Not a day goes by that text messages are not being shot out across the city to hundreds of western women announcing when and where the daily happy hour spot (or spots) will be.

In addition to happy hours, a lot of time is spent in massage parlors by both expats and the Chinese. Massages here really are incredible and inexpensive. Next door to my hotel, I have a go to spot that offers a 90-minute oil massage for the equivalent of $30. The first time I went, I had terribly stiff muscles from ski vacation, and was in need of a vigorous, deep tissue massage; no wimpy Swedish nonsense for this girl. I was totally disappointed when this 5 ft nothing, 95 pound, elfin Chinese girl walked into the room. I almost got up and left, but decided to give her a shot. To my utter astonishment, that tiny thing worked every single kink out of my entire body and was one of the best massages of my life. While this place that I go to is really nice, clean, and without happy endings, most massage parlors have slightly different business models.

Regarding any unsavory rumors you may have heard about Chinese massage parlors… well, I have to tell you, they are probably all true. Actually, my guess would be that you have not heard the worst of it. While not all massage parlors are whorehouses, most would assuredly be placed within that category. The government turns a blind eye and taxes the parlors as legitimate businesses while providing jobs for tens of thousands of young Chinese girls. (I am withholding personal commentary on this practice so as not to offend.) Just to emphasize the magnitude of this industry, within a five-block radius of the hotel, I have personally counted over 40 different massage parlors.

There is one block that has about 20 parlors in a row, which are lined up on either side street. When Rene and I walk down that street after dark, it is impossible to ignore the “massage therapists” who sit in front of the shops wearing black mini dresses, high heels, and cheap make up. They all make a show of gesturing at Rene while batting their falsey glue on eyelashes. These lovely women either ignore me, or worse yet, point at me and make shooing gestures while screeching unintelligibly in Chinese. While I still struggle to understand any Chinese, I am pretty sure they are communicating something along the lines of, “dump the prude western chick and experience the four hand magical dragon massage with multiple (skanky) Chinese sex goddesses (diseased sex goddesses… but whatever).” That seriously is the name of one of the massages on an English list I acquired: Four Hand Magical Dragon Massage. (By the way, Ryan, my beloved brother, I changed my mind and you cannot come and visit me.)

I will admit though this it is not just men that get the “special treatment.” Some women enjoy a little extra rubbing as well, and as a result there exist different expectations as to what is appropriate in a massage therapy session. I really do not want to go into my personal experience here, and realize that we all have different comfort levels with our bodies, but would suggest to any women getting a massage in China, make sure boundaries (if you have them) are set before sprawling out half naked on a massage table.

It is certainly a different world here, and though I am having a lot of great experiences, sometimes it’s too much. I would be lying if said I didn’t every now and then think, “Wow, I really hate China”. There are other days when I truly love the country and fully appreciate it in all its weirdness. Those are days when I cannot wait for whatever is going to happen next.
This Friday is my birthday. Rene and I have plane tickets booked to spend the weekend in Beijing. We leave tomorrow. When I turn a quarter century old I will be standing on a wall that was born about 5th Century BC which is pretty incredible. We are going to not only see The Great Wall of China, but also Tiananmen Square, the Birds Nest, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and many other very famous sites. I promise to take many pictures and post them shortly upon our return. Have a great weekend!

Risk of Becoming a Tai Tai!

Dear Friends,

I had a very interesting week. Well every week here is interesting, but I made two great discoveries that have vastly improved my well being and life in general here in China. So maybe the better word would be profound. I had a very profound week here in Shanghai.

Discovery One:

Shopping really doesn't suck here.

Seriously, week after week of poor shopping excursions, I have been gradually falling into a disgrunted clothing lovers' depression. There are a couple of "great shopping streets" that everyone here tells you to go to such as Nanjing Lu and Huaihai Lu. Those are the two big ones and I thought I would share even though they mean absolutely nothing to you. Forewarning, before you come and visit me. Well, I have been to both and scouraged them for the great shopping I was told to expect in China and have been extremely disappointed to find that everything is either extremely overpriced or just plain crap quality. Never have I been so home sick; where is TJ Max, where is Filenes Basement. Are you f*kg kidding me, $350 USD for a pair of 7 jeans?!?! In my despair, I reached out to my good friend Leslie, who is by hobby a professional shopper. If things had continued as they were, she was going to have to ship new clothes to me from home.

Alas, this past Saturday, the heavens opened and my hesitant boyfriend decided it was time to introduce me to the fabric market! There is no way I can explain what this place is like and do it justice. Probably, all male readers should just skip down past this paragraph because you so are not going to get my excitement. But ladies, there are 1,000's of tiny shops and all they do is custom make clothing for you. So imagine you are flipping through Vogue and see an amazing Chanel jacket that you just have to have. Then there is the inevitable disappointment that ensues as you realize you could never justify spending $2,500 on a piece of clothing. Now imagine yourself ripping that page out of your magazine, taking it to the fabrik market and giving it to one of the tailors. They proceed to measure you and negiotiate prices for them to creat your beautiful new Chanel jacket and custom make it to fit your body. Unbelievable! That coat will end up costing you about $30-$45.

So I went out yesterday and found this crazy Chinese art store. I purchased a sketchpad and colored pencils and am going to design some of my own things to take to the tailors. How great it that!? I have been glowing ever since this discovery.

Discovery Two:

The American Women's Club of Shanghai, more commonly known as AWCS. After the first happy hour, I immediately became a member.

Okay, so most of you know, there have been some hold ups with my job and the ever moving start date. For those of you that don't know, there have been some complications. I was supposed to start mid February and we are now getting very close to mid March. The hotel I am contracted with IHG to work for is owned by the government as it is part of their huge 2010 World Expo project. The opening date was initiallly scheduled for October, and as openings go, it looks like it might now be delayed until March 2010. Due to this possible delay, the government is holding off on signing anyone's contracts except for those on the executive committee.

There's a lot more to this story, but I am not going to bore you with it. I am waiting on some good news, so I will give the update when I get it. Anyways, the point is, it has been very difficult to meet people and make friends without a job. Searching the internet this week, I came across the AWCS and after going through the website thought it looked very promising. After browsing the calender I decided to check it out and attend the Pudong ladies night which was this past Tuesday. According to AWCS protocol, you are supposed to go to the monthly meet and greet and become a member before going to the events, but I was too excited and showed up at the happy hour unannounced.

Not sure if they were going to kick me out or offer me a glass of wine, I tentatively walked into Las Tapas. Let me just say it did not take long to spot the large table of blatantly American women boisterously telling stories and drinking copious amounts of wine. As I approached they all looked at my quite curiously. Feeling slightly foolish, I asked, "umm, if this the American Women's Club?" Yes, stupid question I know, but I couldn't find a good joke to pull out or anything clever to say, but thank God they all just smiled and asked if I was new. They could have cared less if I was an official member yet and immediately wanted to know where in the states I was from, where I was living in Pudong, how I ended up in Shanghai.. my whole life story pretty much. It was so nice to have a conversation with other American women! You don't realize how important culture is until you are starved from your own for a period of time.

So the next day I went to the meet and greet and met a ton more amazingly friendly women. I also met some girls that were closer to my age, in their 20s and 30s. From them I learned that I needed to attend the Puxi ladies night since it is only older familes that live in Pudong. Apparently, there are only two reasons to live in Pudong. 1.) You have children and they attend the International Schools located there 2.) Your boyfriend works for the Intercon Pudong and you are offered free housing there. Apparently Rene and I are stuck in what they call here "PuJersey".

So that night I attended my second happy hour of the week, but this time went to the one in Puxi (the "Manhattan" of Shanghai if you have not already caught on). Let me just say this, 30 American women, and free Margeritas on Ladies Night, are a very dangerous combination. I am glad no pictures were taken, and I am even more glad that I did not fall to the same fate as the last new girl. She ended up letting hookers put make up on her in the alleyway next to las Zapatas when she left Ladies night at 3am. I will admit though, that I was sick the entire next day from the huge amount of cheap tequila that was imbibed and watched almost the entire first season of Lipstick Jungle.

Today, I spent the whole day shopping and lunching with my new friends and tonight we have a wine and dinner party. They all call themselves TaiTai's as an inside joke. This is Chinese for spoiled wife. This is why I really need to start working and soon!

One Last Thing:

Okay so I have done one job, which I wasn't actually paid for, so maybe I cannot call it a job. More like charity work... or you might just call me a serious sucker.. IHG had paid models come for this photo shoot last week, and they weren't very good, so they had Rene and I stand in... Ugh.. you might see us on the website!
http://www.number6factory.com/ihg/F&B/

Okay, I have to run to my AWCS wine dinner now!

Miss You Guys!

Hangzhou

Hello All! So the trip to Hangzhou last week was really fantastic. A I mentioned in my last entry, I was invited by Rene's Uncle Paul to join him on this trip. Uncle Paul is an entreprenuer in the water treatment business and has a very successful product that is sold globally. He recently expanded his sales in China by partnering with a company based here in Shanghai. The owner of the partner company in China is a women, Mrs. Lynn, who owns one of the largest jewelry chains here in the country. She is super successful, and probably one of the happiest, kindest women I have ever met.

Mrs. Lynn drove us out to Hangzhou in one of the nicest Mercedes I have ever seen; actually, her driver drove us and she rode passenger. The purpose of the trip was to show Uncle Paul her shops located there and also to share with us why she thinks Hangzhou is the most beautiful city in China. It was about a 2 hour drive and we got there after dark on Thursday and went to first see her stores. Mrs. Lynn practically owns an entire block in the center of the city and five ginormous jewelry shops. We went though each and gawked at the beautiful diamand and jade creations. The jade is really incredible here, but very expensive.

The last shop we went in was connected to a hotel and the hotel restaurant is where we had dinner that night. The hotel restaurants in China are really wild. Well not all, but the ones that are in very traditional Chinese hotels are certainly a little different from what we are use to in the states.

When we first walked into the restaurant, the first impression was that it was just very Chinese which was to be expected: bright lights, round tables covered in white linen, and red and gold decorations everywhere. Directly to the left of the entrance was an entire room filled with fish tanks... aka dinner. As I caught that out of the corner of my eye, I silently praysed that we would not be toured through that room. I was sure if that was the case, I would only be able to stomach tofu for dinner.

Fortunately, we took a right and walked though the main dining area and took another right and found another dining area with sofas and lounge chairs. We continued deeper in the belly of this gigantic restaurant and wrapped around yet another corner and found a long corrider of what appeared to be hotel guest rooms. As we proceeded down the corrider the chink of glasses and cries of "kampei!" brought to my attention that people were not sleeping in the guest rooms, but using them as private dining rooms. We passed about 40 rooms that were occupied of groups to 8 or 10 people before reaching one of the last empty rooms. I told Rene this story in amazement when I returned to Shanghai and he gave me this bored look and was like, oh you hadn't seen that yet? Apprently, that is very common here.

We did end up having a very lovely dinner in one of the bizarre guest/private dining rooms. The food was delicious and I was extremely happy because almost all of the dishes were comprised of vegetables or tofu. There was one dish that I enjoyed, but I could quite place it as it tasted like nothing I have ever eaten before. After eating the entire bowl, my host smiled broadly and said, "You like fish lips!" Agghhhh! Sick! I mean, I couldn't say that but thank God I had control of my gag reflex becuase I thought my stomach was going to jump up my thoat and out of my mouth! That would have been terrible and so incredibly rude. The worst part was that I had liked it... ugh... When Mrs. Lynn asked if I would like more, somehow I politely shook my head, and politely said no thank you without losing everything on my plate.

The next day we did get out to sight see in Hangzhou and the city really is beautiful. The city is very clean with a mixture of traditional and modern architexture. There are 6 million inhabitants, so it is considered a small city based on Chinese standards. What makes Hangzhou so beautfiul is the fact it is surrounded by mountains and also wraps around a very picturesque lake. All around the lake you see the relexion of the mountains and the hanging boughs of weeping willows that flourish by the water. So you can actually get a visual, below are some pictures that I took.

Uncle Paul and I are waiting to baord one of the rickety little boats you see behind us while our Chinese/Dutch friend Anron negotiates prices.

Uncle Paul and me aboard the rickety boat...

We had lunch on Friday at the most amazing Chinese restaurant. The restaurant consists of about four little houses all with a combination of open dining space as well as pivate dining rooms; the private rooms all have these huge floor to cieling windows which allow diners to look out over the lake and surrounding gardens. This was actually Chairman Mao's restaurant of choice when he would stay in Hangzhou.

The spread... well some of it. They order so much food here!

The view from the window of our dining room.

Pictures of the park surrounding the restaurant. We took a little stroll after our two hour lunch.From left to right: Dandan, take one guess, Uncle Paul, Mrs. Lynn, and Anron