OCTOBER 31, 2007

I thought it might interest my readers to know how Halloween is celebrated in Shanghai. Halloween is something recently brought to the Orient via American expats, but being that the Shanghaiese would be loathe to relax their grip on their mercenary ways, Shanghai has found numerous ways to exploit the wish of most expats to provide the Halloween experience to their offspring.

In a number of ways, Halloween merchandising is similar to that back home in the states. The department stores are full of ready made costumes, with an abundance of Disney character "princess" type dresses filling their racks. What I didn't find quite so much were the cardboard displays of large bags of candy which back home seem to come out around mid-September tempting us sugar addicts to buy early and often. This could be due to the fact that sugar (and therefore, candy) is still a more recent taste developed by the Chinese .... but they are catching up very quickly!! The Chinese have not perfected the art of chocolate making, and for the most part, the only chocolate worth purchasing here is exported and expensive.

At the inquiry of some of my expat lady friends who have kids, the management here at Yanlord put their collective brains together to make a Halloween celebration for the children of the compound. Postings announced that there would be a puppet and marionette show at 7:00 on October 30 (OK, they were a day off, but close enough), and anyone wishing to participate in the trick or treat portion of the evening could collect a blue sticker to place on your mailbox (located in the lobby of each building) to indicate that you'd be happy to have hungry goblins visit your apartment to collect a treat. Seemed like a pretty good plan.

With Randy still working in Brazil, I pondered the idea of passing out Halloween treats by myself here from the apartment. I hadn't a clue as to how many goblins (or is it gobblers?) to expect, and the price of candy is still somewhat cost prohibitive here. I was sort of leaning against the entire idea, when Suely, my daily walking partner, invited me to her apartment for a pizza party prior to the show. The plan was for 4 other moms to bring their costumed kids over for dinner, and take advantage of the Melrose Pizza 2 for 1 on Tuesdays deal. This seemed a pretty good alternative for me. I walked to a local market and picked up one small box of chocolate cookies for each child and a bottle of red for the moms, happy about the fact that I wouldn't have to miss all the festivities.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite seasonal activities. I have many fond memories of trick or treating with my brother and cousins in the small village where my grandparents resided when I was young, and it made me homesick to think about all the fun I would be missing back home. Back in the states, I LOVE lighting jack-o-lanterns, passing out the treats myself, and seeing all the kids in their costumes, and I lamented that I'd be missing all of that this year. The pizza party invitation was a fair compromise, and I was looking forward to providing the treats that I'd purchased.

Pizza was a nice treat, although I have to say that we have still not found a particularly satisfying pizza here in Shanghai. Pizza here normally has very little sauce, and what little there is normally comes closer to tomato soup. But one learns to make do here (as previous posts have reported, we're hardly starving), and kids are not terribly difficult to please when it comes to pizza. All the children were loud and excited about the evening, and we had no less than three princesses on hand bedecked in long pink dresses and twinkling tiaras, as well as a Darth Vadar and a Spiderman. My friend Toni managed to come up with a grass skirt and flower leis to don over her jeans and was appropriately festive in her get-up.

I have to say that I was amazed at the number of people gathered for the show on the steps of the plaza in front of the management building. A dark green velvet curtain about 4 feet high had been erected across the top step and provided a screen for the puppeteers, and large spotlights lit the "stage" area as well as a small table selling beverages. As you might expect, the children were loud and riotous with excitement, and parents and ayis were having a difficult time keeping a handle on their children who seemed to be already experiencing sugar buzz even prior to the trick or treating.

I had to laugh about some of the costumes. There were the traditional pirates, superheroes, fairies and princesses, as well as wizards, witches, and a devil or two. But the Asians are somewhat new to the Halloween game and some didn't quite have the gist of the costume idea. I saw one little girl wearing a red dress, a pink cape under white fairy wings with black boots, red flashing devil horns, and whiskers drawn on her face. I couldn't have guessed what she was meant to be, but I have to give kudos to the parents .... they pulled out all the stops for their little cherub!! There was a clever costume of a child with his or her father's overcoat worn over some sort of frame giving the appearance of a headless man walking about (somewhat reminiscent of the character from the performance of Cirque du Soleil we'd seen this summer ... maybe that's where they got the idea).

The show was cute, but in Mandarin, and the performers struggled to hold the attention of the children, most of whom were simply itching to get on with the trick or treating portion of the evening. I ran into Erica, an American friend who was looking for her son, Grant. She was clearly at the end of her rope already, and was ready to bag the whole evening. Luckily, "Batman" was located and collared fairly quickly.

After nearly an hour of the show, I was getting chilled and felt that the remainder of the evening could probably proceed without my supervision, so I headed home. I could very clearly hear the shouts and squeals of the children as they began their travels from one building to the next filling their plastic pumpkins and baskets.

During our walk this morning, Suely reported on the trick or treat portion of the evening. Apparently, it was decided that the entire group of children and parents should travel en masse from one building to the next. This group totaled several hundred individuals! Each building has two elevators which can hold up to approximately 10 people, so as you can imagine, this was something of a nightmare trying get all the children up and down to the indicated apartments and back into the lobby to wait for their comrades before heading to the next building (of which we have 30).

Apparently, the Asians don't have a clue as to the treating activity either. Suely said that the kids as well as the parents would reach into the bowls of candy to grab as much candy as they could possibly hold .... it was something of a free for all. Of course, the candy of any given apartment would run out fairly quickly before the remainder of the group could present themselves which made for more than a little chaos. Suely had instructed her ayi to only give one piece of candy per child but the children's cries for more than one had the desired result, and Suely's candy ran out very quickly too. She resorted to passing out some of Laura's candy (her 2 year old daughter) to help fill in the gap as she really didn't want Laura to consume that much candy anyway. But the management's plan for the trick or treating sounded rather preposterous to me, and quite frankly, I was very relieved to have not participated in that portion of the festivities. I suppose one must give them props for the attempt, and hopefully they'll take away lessons learned from the experience.

OCTOBER 29, 2007

I will continue with the saga of Randy's efforts to obtain a proper visa for his trip to Brazil. Once he obtained the new visa pages for his passport, he was back to dealing with the Brazilians to obtain the proper visa. Apparently, he was OK without the immunizations (HUGE relief for him) as the immunizations are only necessary when traveling to Brazil from certain areas of the planet (apparently we're healthy enough here for Brazil). The next step in the process was the procurement of a letter of invitation from Visteon, the client Randy was slated to visit in Sao Paulo. By this time, it's Friday, and Randy was ticketed to travel on Wednesday .... coming down to the wire.

Randy did receive the invitation letter on Saturday which he faxed and emailed to the consulate general at the Brazilian embassy here in Shanghai immediately. OK, step in the right direction. Randy was needed at work on Monday, so Tuesday was the day planned for getting his visa and paperwork in order for his travel on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Randy asked me if I'd like to keep him company while he went into the French Concession where the Brazilian consulate was located. I quickly agreed as I figured if I played my cards right, I'd get a nice lunch as part of the deal. The consulate opens at 9:30, so we planned to be there at opening keeping our fingers crossed that we could get this accomplished yet that day. We took the subway to the station nearest the consulate, and walked the remainder of the way, arriving at about 9:45. When we arrived, we were told that they had not received the letter of invitation. Randy explained that it had indeed been sent both via fax and email, but it was necessary to wait for the consulate general to arrive which would be approximately 10:00. OK, we sat down to wait.

The Brazilian consulate is on the 10th floor of a building overlooking a very busy intersection, and we amused ourselves by watching the activity of this intersection. Many busy intersections in Shanghai are manned by traffic guards whose job it is to keep traffic and pedestrians behaving in an orderly fashion (an extremely formidable job in this city!!!). This particular guard at this particular intersection took his job VERY seriously!! He tried desperately (and often in vain) to keep the bike and scooter traffic to the right of the street in order to make room for the vehicular traffic. As this was being attempted, he would also make grand gestures in an attempt to keep ALL traffic behind the line in order to prevent traffic from being too far into the intersection (which is the usual way for Chinese to drive .... if you happen to drift too far out into the intersection, you simply have to go through the intersection even after the light turns red in order not to obstruct traffic). We stifled giggles watching this guard drive himself crazy in a futile attempt to create some kind of order out of the chaos which is Shanghai traffic.

He would fling his arms wide and drive back the bikes and scooters until the light turned green at which point he would almost get run over by the traffic trying to get a jump on everyone else (and in the course of one red light, the number of bikes and scooters accumulated might number 25 or 30). Add to this mixture, the pedestrians who indeed make jaywalking a CAREER in this city, and this guy had to be living on Advil for tension headaches. Every red light included constant, frantic waving and gesturing, then a furious scurry back to the sidewalk to avoid being run over when the light turned green, at which point his attention turned to the pedestrians who might attempt to walk cattywampus through the intersection (over HIS DEAD BODY!!). It truly was an amusing display!!

Luckily, we had this entertainment until the consulate general arrived for his day's work at 10:30. My Brazilian friend, Suely, tells me this is a way of life for most Brazilians .... arrival time is normally an hour past the appointed time. While we were waiting (and watching "traffic guard extraordinaire"), Randy remembered that he had a copy of the letter of invitation on his laptop, so we indeed were in possession of the required document.

After reviewing the document, and claiming it adequate, we were instructed to go to the bank down the street to pay the visa bill (Randy had had the forethought to stop at an ATM and pick up more cash just in case). OK, down the elevator, a short walk down the street to the bank, and incredibly, no one was in line at the bank. Randy was able to step right up and make the transaction. Receipt in hand, we headed back to the consulate, overconfident in our status to actually achieve the receipt of the visa at this point.

Randy said to me on the way back to the consulate, "What do you bet that we cannot get the visa today?" I was much more optimistic. "They said they only needed the letter. You have provided the letter, and made payment. We should be all set!!" We presented the receipt for payment at the consulate when we arrived. The clerk said to Randy, "When do you fly to Brazil?" My heart started to sink. "Tomorrow," Randy replied. "OK," she said, "It will be ready tomorrow!" Randy's smug glance at me was the appropriate, "I told you so!!" Yep, this is China!! By the way, the good news is that this all took long enough that I did indeed get a nice lunch in a lovely cafe with my husband before shipping him off to work for the remainder of the day.

All of this was simply the prelude to the fiasco which was Randy's trip to Brazil. He managed to take off timely on Wednesday evening (after a successful retrieval of the visa at the Brazilian consulate) on a flight to Paris where he was ticketed to continue to Sao Paulo after a four hour layover. He called me from Paris to say he'd made it there OK on Thursday morning. During choir practice that evening, I heard my cell phone beeping to alert me of a missed call. I checked it ... Randy! I said to my friend, Toni, "I have missed a call from Randy! How can that be? He should be somewhere over the Atlantic at this point." She replied that they may have needed to make an unexpected stop. I replied that he'd be swimming if they did. I don't believe there is anywhere to land a 747 between Paris and Sao Paulo except the deep blue sea. I decided to step out and try a return call to him. Yep, he was there .... still in Paris. Seems after the aforementioned 4 hour layover, they were told that due to a strike of Air France personnel, the flight to Sao Paulo was delayed indefinitely. And they weren't just awhistling Dixie .... it took over 12 hours to finally get into the air again.

Originally, Randy was to arrive in Sao Paulo Thursday in time for a leisurely dinner, a good night's sleep, and depart for work on Friday morning. In actuality, he had time to throw his luggage in the room, grab a quick shower, and his driver awaited to transport him to the plant. His arrival at the plant was only another in this series of unfortunate events related to this trip (with apologies for plagiarism to Lemony Snicket). The parts which were to have already arrived at the Visteon plant in Sao Paulo were found to be delayed until next Tuesday. I'm sure Randy wondered if he were still in China at that point!!!

Back in Shanghai, I found many things to keep me busy in Randy's absence. My friend, Ali, and I spent a day shopping, lunching, and general yakking it up on Friday. I am in LOVE with the fabric market, and continue to find more and more reasons to go there and have things made rather than buy the ready made items at the stores. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a Japanese restaurant, and later, her husband, Mike, escorted us to a lovely Shanghai-style house that had been converted to a restaurant serving food in the style of Yunnan province ... a mountainous region specializing in folk-style food. This restaurant is called "Lost Heaven" and I believe it's aptly named. It is a three story house with beautiful dark hardwood floors and trims over pale plaster walls decorated with flowers and softly glowing lit candles and red Chinese lanterns. The friendly staff wore lovely, flowing black silk pajama style outfits with knee lengths tops. Most of the tables are situated adjacent to large windows overlooking gorgeous Chinese gardens which are also beautifully lit. The food was excellent and abundant, the service was outstanding, and the ambiance was mysterious and romantic. The only thing missing was my husband!!

I have previously mentioned the choir and our meetings for rehearsals. The big performance was looming on Sunday, and the activities in preparation for this performance were building to a crescendo in more ways than just musically. We were given instructions about standing perfectly still, about not fussing, fidgeting, or playing with our hair during the performance, smiling was very important, and nothing short of pouring our whole heart into this performance would be acceptable. I was beginning to wonder what I'd gotten myself into. In their attempt to show off the "laowei," Suely and I were both recruited to stand in the front row, and both of us staunchly refused. It does become irksome and tedious to be the "caged animal in the zoo" for everyone's amusement. We felt that it was enough that we were there and participating, so, much to the chagrin of the Chinese "Beverly Sills" who was running the show, we firmly rejected her attempts to put us on display. And as Toni was basically miming her performance (I think I've mentioned her affliction of tone deafness), there was no attempt made to change her location from the near the back of the group until they decided to group us by height. At that point, she and I ended up side by side.

I don't know. Maybe I was cranky, maybe I had just had enough of Chinese drama, or maybe it was full moon. When I picked up my dress on Friday afternoon, I was about ready to quit the whole thing. The dress selected was an off-the-shoulder, two-toned purple silk creation. Rhinestones and fake roses adorned a sweeping train below a fitted waist. Definitely something from an impressive 80's wedding party and much more suited to a twenty something than a nearly fifty something. I have YEARS AGO matured beyond the "off the shoulder" type body (I'm more of a "mother of the groom" type body now), and was not in the least thrilled about this turn of events. Oh, yes, I was told "How beautifuh you rook!!!" But I felt more like a fullback in drag preparing for a transvestite wedding!!! I was further instructed to be at the rehearsal area at 9:00 Sunday morning wearing black shoes, and prepared to have our make-up done as we all needed to look alike (and I thought they liked the fact that I looked different!!).

Rehearsal Sunday morning was quite the chaotic event. Women fussing with skirts, shoes, hair, and make up. Men fussing with polishing shoes and adjusting black bow ties. We were further instructed about standing up straight, smiling, etc. Suely had been talked into making the introduction of "My Motherland" (in Mandarin) and was busy practicing her little speech with the help of Phil. Some of the ladies brought along their Ayis and ironing boards to iron the wrinkles out of our trains, and anyone who was unfortunate enough to have presented herself sans pearl necklace was given one for the day. I couldn't help but get swept up in the whirlwind of activity.

We boarded a bus for a movie theater a few blocks from the complex on Tianshan Lu. Toni, Suely, and I had to laugh about the handful of women who chose to ride their bikes. There they were with their sweeping purple confections flowing behind in the breeze like the wicked witches of the east!! We wished we'd had a camera available.

Upon arrival at the theater, we realized that this was actually a choral competition (you know, I'm really at a disadvantage when it comes to communication here due to the language barrier, but sometimes I think it just might be a good thing NOT to know what is going on ... or what they are saying about me!)!! There were dozens of groups assembled warming up, adjusting costumes, and generally becoming quite giddy about the upcoming event. Each group had an opportunity to get onstage prior to the commencement of the competition so that we understood our positions and were able to sing a few bars to acclimate ourselves acoustically. The director of the event was surprised and impressed that our group included a handful of "laowei" (four to be exact, one each American, Aussie, Brazilian, and French), and suggested that we all be put in the front for display (sigh!!!). Luckily, it was explained that we "laowei" are a stubborn bunch and would be left in our current spots (thank you).

We were fifth on the program, and I have to admit, I was SO proud of Suely!! She did a great job with her introduction (several years of Mandarin language classes at university have not gone to waste on her). And our performance was quite excellent. I even had to admit that once we were properly dressed and preened, we looked quite lovely ... much better than most of the other groups. Most of them had silk or velvet sheaths made that were simply worn over their street clothes which looked OK, but a little shabby compared to us. We sang our hearts out, smiled, stood straight (and I never touched my hair or fidgeted), and kept our eyes on the director. OK, I might be crowing a bit now, but we had the audience eating out of our hands!! They were awestruck by the fact that we had "laowei" in the group and watched us with jaws agape. Flashbulbs went off like fireworks! Took my breath away! I couldn't help but smile.

There were so many groups in this event that many of our group opted to leave before the competition was finished. Toni, Suely, and I sat through many performances just out of curiosity. One group sang a truly moving version of Swanee River in Mandarin which actually brought a tear to my eye (yes, I'm honestly a sentimental sap at heart). Finally, after about an hour and a half, and the realization that there was no end in sight, we decided to head home on foot and not wait for the bus. We changed into our street clothes so we could turn in the dresses immediately as they were rented only for the day, and departed having not seen many groups yet to perform or heard the result of the competition.

I received an email from Phil this morning which included photos and congratulations for winning the competition!! I couldn't believe it .... we actually WON!!! OK, maybe it was worth it after all. Phil seems to think that the fact that we managed to actually "train those monkeys" made all the difference. So now I guess I have a Chinese feather to add to my cap! Yes, after all that belly aching about the dress, not knowing the language (yes, I did really memorize it), and all, I guess it was worth it! And those of us without pearl necklaces were told we could have them as a keepsake.

Happy Anniversary to us!! Eight years and going strong .... OK, maybe just still going (and usually just to the bathroom at night!!!). No, seriously, eight years ago today, Randall and I took our vows beneath a brilliant yellow-leafed maple tree in Toledo, Ohio with our youngest kids, Kelli and Jake, as our witnesses. It was sunny and 80 degrees that day, and we hit the McD's for burgers on the way home ... our kind of wedding reception!! Who'd have thought this is where we'd be today .... me in Shanghai, Randy in Brazil. Very romantic!! I'll light a candle tonight and have a glass of red with my leftover pasta for dinner.

OCTOBER 18, 2007

I noticed as I took my walk yesterday morning that, without really realizing it, I have become part of a community here. My habit lately has been to go out the door with Randy in the morning, give him a kiss good-bye in the driveway where he meets our driver, and head out for my 40 minute power walk prior to Tai Chi every weekday morning. Normally, I walk around the outside of the complex to the front gate and collect my Brazilian friend, Suely, where one of the numerous school buses has picked up her eldest child, Daniel, for his ride to school. I know this seems unlikely but she talks even more than me (yes, I can hear the collective gasps), so I probably do not pay attention as often to my surroundings as much as to her stories of her family and ayis (she has TWO), and where they have lived and worked during Marcio's employment with Alcoa. We enjoy each other's company a great deal, and this relationship offers the added bonus of the incentive necessary to get us each out the door for much needed exercise.

Suely and Marcio have traveled to Australia this week to check out a possible career move for Marcio, leaving me to walk solo for a few days. As I headed out Tuesday morning, I greeted my Australian friend, Toni, who was putting two of her three kids on a school bus. She extended an offer to keep me company on my walk later this week before heading out for her usual jog (something I would NEVER attempt with my "old lady" knees). Shortly after that, I saw the owner of Bubba's Texas Roadhouse getting into his driver's van, and he waved at me. Our downstairs neighbor, Mike (Pittsburgh), strolled past me on his way out for his daily walk to his office which is very near here, and he smiled, "Good morning!" to me. The Finnish contingent was out herding a group of tow headed cherubs onto buses, and all greeted me with smiling faces. Phil Hu (my Mandarin instructor and Tai Chi colleague) and his wife, Tan, were just heading out for a game of tennis waving warmly at me. Rounding the corner for the backstretch, I happened upon Brian, a newly arrived American who is here along with his wife, Erica, and their two kids, yakking on his mobile waiting for his driver. I smiled and waved, and he paused his conversation long enough to yell, "Good morning, Roxanne!" I particularly enjoyed this exchange as Brian looks like a cross between Brad Pitt and Matt Damon (well, to be honest, Erica could be a model as well). As I made my turn into the driveway of our building, our neighbor directly above us in our apartment building was out with his beautiful dog. These neighbors are Chinese, and do not seem to speak any English. The dog is pure white, and I don't know his name or breed. Probably a Husky or Samoyed or something like that. Anyway, I greet my canine neighbors whenever possible and "Whitey" is particularly friendly ... seems to remember me and enjoys a back and ear scratch when it's offered.

I went back into my building to get my Tai Chi sword and prepare for class. At that moment, I remembered how I felt when we'd first arrived in Shanghai. I was scared to death to go outside the apartment, and I remember Randy encouraging me daily to go outside for a while. It almost felt like a dreaded chore to force myself to leave the apartment. Nothing was familiar, the entire atmosphere of strangeness was profound to the point of surrealism punctuated by the constant thought, "I can't believe I'm in CHINA!!" Sometime between then and now, I'd started yakking with girlfriends, waving at acquaintances, petting the neighborhood animals during my morning walk. It doesn't feel strange at all anymore .... not like "home" exactly, but definitely the essence of belonging has settled into my bones. I am now part of a community. It's a good feeling. I feel incredibly lucky to be having this experience.

Last week after Tai Chi, one of the Chinese ladies approached Toni and me. Phil translated for us, and we were told that they'd really like us to join the choir that they had recently organized in our complex. Well, I'd heard about the choir, and being a musician and somewhat accomplished singer, I'd considered it. But two things remained obstacles for me: they were singing completely in Mandarin (and memorization was mandatory), and I was convinced that they probably sounded like a room full of cats in heat (I know this sounds cruel, but some of the traditional Chinese music doesn't sound like something even made by a human voice to me). I'm not a snob, but if I couldn't stand to listen to it, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a PART of it. Toni, bless her heart, can't carry a tune in a bucket. We looked at each other skeptically. Well, you couldn't fault them for their sincerity or tenacity. They wore us down and we agreed we'd be at rehearsal that evening. In the meantime, Phil (who is also singing) agreed to help us with the Mandarin. And the Chinese in this compound are always SO delighted to have non-Asians as part of their groups, you can't help but smile. Some of us call ourselves the "unpaid monkeys" because we are constantly having our photos snapped during the dances and various events in which we participate. We know for a fact that our likenesses are being used in video tapes and brochures to sell and lease apartments to other expats .... "See!! Look at all the other expats having a really GOOD time in our apartment complex! Never mind that it's the same three non-Asian people in ALL the photos .... they are having FUN!!" Toni's husband, Simon, hopes to sue somebody for copyright infringement someday and make a bundle!!

Unbeknownst to me, Suely had also been approached about the choir and, although she isn't a trained singer, agreed to participate. She and I showed up together for rehearsal. There were about 40 of us in the room. The piece selected is called The Motherland, and is being prepared for a performance on October 28th at the Shanghai Gymnastics Arena as part of the national observances going on all month (October seems to be National Month ... the 5 year National Party Congress took place this month and that was a big deal too). Phil was able to email us renditions of the music, and it is a beautiful work of music. There is apparently another group of approximately the same size with whom we will combine for the performance.

I am definitely eating my words now about the room full of cats and all. They all seem to have lovely, trained voices. The conductor is adept and passionate, also having a great voice, and the accompanist is an accomplished young man who can really make a piano sing as well. Quite a nice surprise!! Now if I can memorize the Mandarin, we'll be all set. I find myself hoping that the group continues to meet and sing together even after the performance of the 28th.

Sword Tai Chi is well under way, and I am enjoying that a lot, although I have to say that we are probably more a danger to ourselves than any imagined opponent. In fact, the danger may lie in the location of our class. We are currently meeting outside behind the management building of our complex in the garden area. Today, as we were concentrating on a dramatic lunge move, I heard a loud WHAM behind me. At first, I thought it sounded like a gunshot, but as I turned around to check Phil who was directly behind me, Hanoon (a Singaporean expat) exclaimed, "A kiwi!!" Sure enough, someone had thrown a kiwi from one of the higher story apartment balconies behind us. Phil had missed being struck by mere centimeters, and would surely have been injured had that happened. I was quite surprised by the force with which the object hit the pavement (something about velocity and all that .... I barely passed high school physics .... barely!), and one of the Chinese women called management to complain that we were becoming targets for culinary missiles today. I was amazed that a management person and several security people showed up immediately and began a search for the "shooter." I'm not sure how they thought they would find the offender, but it will be interesting to see what they tell us tomorrow.

Randy is having what we have come to call a "Chinese" day today (that being when a perfectly lovely day gets screwed up due to Chinese bureaucracy). I won't tell you what the Aussies have named it, but we're all convinced that there is indeed a department in China designed only for the purpose of making sure things do NOT run smoothly (because of course, more jobs can be created when things are screwed up!!).

Anyway, back to Randy's day. He's been asked to travel to Brazil with the first shipment of parts from Shanghai to Brazil where they are to be assembled (at least some of them .... quite the international vehicle we'll have here once it's been fashioned properly). His flight has been arranged for next Wednesday. As of late yesterday, it became clear to us that more than a current US passport was necessary for traveling to Brazil. There needs to be immunizations (please reread Randy's report of his health check for obtaining his residency here in China approximately a year ago and his needle phobia), visas must be obtained, new photos shot, etc ... events that normally require two weeks to accomplish. A real rigmarole. Not to be daunted (and one accomplishes not much here without true determination of objective and a healthy dose of optimism), he struck out early for the Brazilian consulate this morning. I've had a few phone calls detailing the adventure of his day.

The Brazilian consulate does not open until 9:30 (maybe that's how they do business in Brazil). Once inside, everything seemed to go OK for the visa until they realized that the visa pages of his passport were full (yes, the man gets around). So, before the Brazilian end of the situation could be completed, they sent him off to the American consulate to rectify his passport situation. When he arrived at the American consulate, the consulate was closed today, but another location was doing business (we have TWO in Shanghai???), so he struck out for that part of town. The second location is currently closed for lunch, but will open in an hour or so. The good news is that it is located in the French concession so Randy will get to have amazing French food for lunch today!

Oh, well. Such is life in Shanghai. One must approach everything here with an open mind and a sense of adventure ... you never know what life will hand you in this neck of the woods!!

OCTOBER 9, 2007

You cannot imagine how happy I am to be writing here again. I have been blocked (or possibly censored) from this site in a couple of different ways since my arrival in China, but somehow I always manage to find another route to connect (albeit a somewhat circuitous route). Good thing I'm an amateur IT techie!! Such is the life of a writer in a censored country.... sigh. Enjoy it while it lasts. I don't know how much longer and I can continue to run the gauntlet, but I'll persevere! You in the states shouldn't have any issues connecting to the blog site. But if you do, please email me so I know what's happening out there.

OK, I believe that during the last post, I was awaiting the arrival of Typhoon Wipha (or Typhoon Wimpy as I've come to call it). It truly amounted to not much, at least here in Shanghai. A couple of days of grey skies, drizzling rain, and a bit breezy (I wouldn't even call it windy). Wipha sort of went all the way around us before heading back out to the northern China Sea.

Apparently, the course of a typhoon is as difficult to predict as a hurricane or a tornado. Here's your meteorology lesson for today .... it's a hurricane if it is spawned in the Atlantic, and a typhoon if it is spawned in the Pacific. I've heard that some hurricanes have crossed Mexico or Central America and come out the other side to become a typhoon (having gone from one ocean to the other intact). I thought that was interesting stuff. And I believe that the direction of either depends upon which hemisphere it is located. Northern hemisphere rotates one way, southern hemisphere goes the other way (like the whorl above your bathtub drain when you let the water out .... same thing).

So what else has been happening? I've had a few more adventures with my friend, Ali, who has since introduced me to her friend, Margaret (a Brit who, along with her husband Tom, immigrated first to Australia and eventually Shanghai). The two of them together (Ali and Marg, I mean) are a scream and they should probably be outlawed from spending more than a few minutes together at any given time. They apparently have only been friends for a few years, but seem like they have been joined at the hip for most of their lives.

One adventure included lunch, a trip to a fabric market which I hadn't visited previously, a ferry ride across the Huang Pu river (for a half RMB which is about 6.3 cents US), and another market that can only be described as "any Chinese souvenir you can imagine ... on steroids!!" This market is about 5 floors of kiosks jammed with just about any trinket, toy, gift, or object available on the planet (except for a full size jade rickshaw... I am quite sure I didn't see ANY of those in there! But that's it!! Every other item made in China was for sale in that building!!). Marg and Ali are going to exhibit and sell a few items at a charity event in November, and have been gathering and creating various products for this event (I am the new honorary accountant as their previous accounting system involves one of them occasionally asking the other "How much do I owe you now?").

On this particular visit, they were looking for gift bags or boxes for some of their items. Yep, we found them. I was particularly interested in all the Chinese silk items available .... silk picture frames, coin purses and tote bags, various silk decorative items to hang on the walls or from your cell phone or pull cords on your lamps, even little stuffed silk stockings for Christmas tree decorations. It is pretty hard to adequately describe this place. It appears to be frequented by many shop owners who buy goods in bulk there in order to get the best price possible. It was very crowded and a bit like swimming downstream against the spawning salmon, but well worth it just to see all this stuff available in one place!

Randy and I enjoyed a dinner out one evening with Ali and her husband, Mike, as well as Margaret and Tom. We all met at Mike and Ali's for a drink, and then pushed on to a place called 1221 The Dining Room. I'm glad we were with Mike and Ali who happen to know the owner, a Chinese American gal called Michelle. We'd have never found this place on a bet. It was down a dark alley under an elevated road, and the metal door which had no markings on it at all was also lacking a door handle (simply push and you're in). Apparently, the 1221 thrives on word of mouth, and believe me, we now understand why! Mike did the ordering for the entire table, and everything was served Chinese style on a giant lazy Susan in the middle of a round table. Excellent Chinese food was enjoyed by all of us, and when Michelle came over to greet Mike and Ali, she insisted upon dessert for the whole table .... free of charge! Dessert was an amazing display of fruit sorbets each served inside the fruit of their flavor. For instance, there was a hollowed out pineapple that was filled with pineapple sorbet and then re-frozen. Also served in this manner was coconut, peach, and lemon sorbets. Delicious!! Other delectable offerings were tiramisu, red bean pudding, and another sweet rice mixture that were all very yummy! We will definitely be going back there (now that we know how to find the place).

I don't know if I'd mentioned that Randy and I had planned a trip to Thailand for what is known as Golden Week which is a national holiday that celebrates autumn (I hope I have that right ... sometimes the various celebrations they have here are still a bit of a mystery to me) during the first week of October. But things at work have been pretty crazy for Randy as the start up of production parts loomed ever closer. Eventually, it become apparent that our trip was not going to be a possibility for us at this time. Although disappointed, I was aware that this might happen so I sucked in my pouty lip and vowed to placate myself with some other fun as soon as possible.

Little did I know that the realization of that plan was right around the corner. Randy called me on Tuesday, September 25th, to mention that my name had come up in a meeting at work. I asked what that was about, and he went on to explain that there was a piece of equipment that was needed here in Shanghai that was currently located back in Millington. Apparently, shipping this item with the appropriate guarantees and insurances was going to be very costly, and Randy jokingly mentioned that we'd simply have to send Roxanne to fetch it. There was some laughter, but when the laughter faded away, it was replaced with quizzical expressions ... "Well, CAN we???" So he was calling me to say that this possibility was being investigated. I too laughed thinking that it probably would never come to pass.

About an hour after this conversation took place, I remembered that the upcoming weekend was the wedding of my cousin's oldest son in Saginaw, Michigan. My entire family, including my brother in South Carolina and my son in Georgia, were flying to Michigan to attend this wedding. I had one of those "I could've had a V8!" forehead slapping moments when I realized that if I indeed played courier for the company, I would probably have the opportunity to attend the wedding and visit MOST of my family in Michigan for a day or two. I broke the land speed record getting to the phone to call back Randy!!!!

This was the catalyst for one of the most whirlwind trips of my entire life. I took off from Shanghai on Thursday morning (after getting myself to the airport via the subway and the Maglev entirely on my own .... guess I AM becoming a big city gal) and was picked up by my best gal pal, Judy, on Thursday afternoon in Detroit. Don't let the same day departure and arrival fool you .... it's still a 15 hour flight. I gained back the day I lost when I last arrived here in China.

I decided to not inform most folks about my impending arrival in order have fun surprising my family. And indeed they were surprised! I'd alerted my brother so that he could help me surprise the folks (he hid me in a bathroom and then instructed them to open the door), and then my son, Jake, arrived the next evening. I jumped out from behind a pillar at the airport while he was greeting my folks, and he had the most priceless expression on his face .... something akin to that mask "the scream!!" What a blast!! The wedding was great, and everyone was really happy that I made it. I kept hoping there was a prize for the person who traveled the farthest to be there, but no. So I consoled myself with another piece of wedding cake.

I took a Monday afternoon flight out of Detroit back to Shanghai (closer to 19 hours going in this direction .... you don't have the rotation of the earth working in your favor this way). I don't recommend this whirlwind, halfway around the world and back in a few days, type of travel for anyone. Talk about "knock your socks off" jet lag. I utilized a combination of caffeine and sleeping pills to keep me somewhat on track while in the states, but once I arrived in Shanghai, I was pretty much oatmeal brain for several days.

So as not to disappoint those of us who felt cheated by the lame duck typhoon named Wipha, Typhoon Krosa whipped itself up to category Super Typhoon late last week, and took aim at Taiwan just off the eastern Chinese coast. We get most of our news via CNN, and so a somewhat wary eye was kept on the weather once this storm was announced. I have to say that it didn't take long to become jaded what with Wipha's anemic arrival, so no preparation was made for Krosa which was predicted to simply brush past Shanghai on it's way back out to sea (this is apparently the route traveled most routinely by typhoons in this area).

You know what they say about the weird second child of the family after the first one is no big deal (with apologies to my husband who IS the weird second child) .... that pretty much describes Krosa. The skies darkened and rain began to fall on Sunday afternoon. The rain quickly become a downpour. By Sunday evening, the torrents were so thick that we couldn't see the buildings across the street! Sometime early Monday morning the winds started to howl, and by Monday evening, I'd kicked myself for having not brought in my palm plant from the patio (which had so obediently resided indoors during Wipha) ... I hope it survives! I text'd Ali to ask if we should come up to their 25th floor apartment as our 11th floor was sure to be under water soon if this current amount of precipitation were to continue. She replied that coming up there was no better .... she feared the wind was about to blow their apartment off the top of building!! Our kitchen patio door was unexpectedly blown shut by the high winds and the latch broken. Being the "typhoon virgin" that I am, I hadn't secured it properly against the gale force winds.

Tai Chi was indoors yesterday against the backdrop of the driving rain and howls of Krosa thundering outside the windows, and I was informed that this was indeed a mild typhoon. Mild???? Lord in heaven, I am NOT anxious to be involved in the real thing anytime soon. I understand now why my friends in Port Charlotte, Florida thought they were going to die when struck unexpectedly by Hurricane Charlie several years ago!!

My daily walk with Suely this morning proved interesting. We noted a dozen or so fairly large trees blown over by the high winds leaving roots exposed and deep depressions in the mud where once stood a beautiful tree. Many street signs are gone, and lots of flowers, leaves, tree branches, and debris cover our lovely gardens and grounds of our complex. Yep, we had some "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto!" moments, that's for sure!! CNN is reporting that the Chinese government claims a billion dollars in damage from Typhoon Krosa! Take that, you wimpy Wipha!!

I believe typhoon season comes to a close at the end of this month, maybe next. One positive result is that some cooler temps have replaced the blazing hot heat of early autumn here in Shanghai (I think the high yesterday was 74 degrees F, with a wind chill of about 50). I expect that "Indian summer" is still in our future.