Shanghai Junk

Friday, August 28, 2009

AUGUST 28, 2009

Oh, my where has the time gone? I know my last post was sometime mid-May, and then we were off to the states for graduations, vacations, and travel. And now here I am back in the Orient. Whew!!!!


I remember that I was planning to post about an excursion taken by Therese, Kelly, and myself back in May just a few days prior to my leaving for the states. Kelly was immersed in preparations for her move back to Texas, and I had the thought that it would be nice to do something together before she departed. In all likelihood, she and I will never see one another again. Living here in China is kind of like that .... sort of like living on a military base (well, how I IMAGINE living on a military base would be as I haven't actually done it) in that you make friends (good friends), but then sometimes lose them upon their return to their homeland. Expats come and go here. That is the nature of overseas business and employment. One hopes that you are making friends for life but the fact is that some of these disconnects are permanent.


Anyway, veered off track there. Therese and I planned to take Kelly out to dinner to Zoe's in the Superbrand Mall in Pudong (more their neck of the woods than mine), and then a trip up the Shanghai World Financial building which at one point was the tallest building in the world. It's very tall but apparently has been eclipsed by one or two others since it's completion over a year ago (possibly in Dubai). After dinner, Therese's driver, Mr. Ji, drove us to the entrance of the building and dropped us off. There was a bit of rigmarole to get tickets but we accomplished it. A couple of elevator rides later, we were walking on a glass floor 100 floors above the streets of Shanghai. You could easily see 12 or 15 miles in each direction and the lights of the city sparkled beneath us like a miniature city built around a model train set. We walked around, took photos, had photos taken of the three of us, purchased trinkets, and soon it was time to head for home. We went through what we thought was an exit door, got on an escalator, and soon found ourselves in an area that could not be evacuated. We started laughing ..... NOW what??? Well, they didn't let us linger for long. Soon a door opened and an equally amused Chinese gal motioned for us to come her way, and they led us to another exit. Guess we hadn't been paying attention very well.

I said my good-byes to Kelly, and sent her home with a gift of a framed photo of Randy and me. I'll miss her smiling face. She was a nice addition to our adventures. Good luck, dear. I hope Texas always treats you well.

Our trip back to the states was without problems. It was fantastic to be home but it seemed cool compared to what we'd left behind. Of course, we hardly had time to think straight because as soon as we arrived, we were making preparations for graduations and a big party. As it turned out, Kelli graduated as scheduled. Jake, on the other had, managed to fail a couple of classes and, as a result, had to take summer school and an online computer class in order to obtain his diploma ..... sigh!!! Always an adventure.

I won't go into every detail of the summer. We had a lovely party for Kelli which was catered by the mother and aunt of a dear friend of ours from Kaumagraph. They are Mexican, and we had some of the most amazing Mexican food we have ever eaten, all while getting caught up with friends and family who had come to honor Kelli. We spent as much time as we could at our place on Lake Huron. Again, it was colder than we'd have liked but we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the time we spent there with our dear friends in Grindstone City.

It was just warming up nicely when Randy had to head back to Shanghai. I remained so that I could travel to Chicago to visit friends who had given birth to twin daughters in May. Shortly after my return back to Frankenmuth, Jake flew up from Atlanta to spend a week in Michigan with me, and then I flew south with him so that we could spent some time at his father's lake house in Georgia before driving to South Carolina to spend a couple of weeks with my brother ..... whew!! Can't believe I did all that! Upon my return to Michigan, I also was treated to a beautiful bus trip to northern Michigan by my parents where we visited a handful of casinos and enjoyed some gorgeous scenery of lakeshore areas. It was a lovely vacation which would have only been made sweeter by the presence of my husband. But he was generous enough to give me the time to really relax and regroup before heading back to China. Thanks, Honey!!

I was able to take my first direct flight out of Detroit to Shanghai on August 12 (and thanks to Judy and Neal for helping me out with travel arrangements and luggage schlepping!). Wow .... what a difference that flight makes!! Less than 13 hours, and I arrived. A mere hop compared to the 19 plus hours that it usually takes with the layover in Tokyo. This route is MUCH nicer!! In spite of the warnings about the H1N1 virus precautions that were being put into place in China, I simply filled out a health questionnaire on the plane, and turned it into immigration on my way into the airport. No big deal. My husband was waiting for me, so after a bit of a wait for the luggage to arrive, we were on our way back into a now familiar city.

My transition back to Chinese life has been much smoother than previous returns. Not sure to what I can attribute that but I will not look a gift horse in the mouth. It seemed only a week of jet lag and I was back to normal (well, as normal as I EVER get). I have resumed my daily morning visits to the treadmill in the gym, and it's been very nice to reconnect with my Yanlord posse, most of whom have returned after their summer visits. There have already been lunches and shopping excursions planned although I will admit to begging off some invitations just because of the blasted heat and humidity. I'm telling you, it's brutal here. It's not for the weak of heart (or for us north dwellers such as midwestern American and Finlanders .... we're dying over here!).

Speaking of Finlanders, I was invited at one of the aforementioned lunches the other day to a yoga class by Johanna, one of my Finnish friends. Most of the gals were lamenting having gained some weight over the summer during their vacations (well, wouldn't be vacation without ice cream, now would it?). I felt like I'd done pretty well as I'd maintained my daily walks with my father and Mattie (our dog who is the BIGGEST reason I get enough exercise back in the states ... she can't get enough running it seems, loves to chase the ball and swim in Lake Huron). So only a pound or two was gained. Anyway, I'm veering again.

So I figured a little yoga couldn't hurt me. I met with Johanna by the front gate this morning after a brisk 40 minutes on the treadmill. We crossed the road, went into the building, and up to the 9th floor via the elevator all the while deciding that we wouldn't even stay for the class if it wasn't air conditioned. We were the first to arrive and (YES) the AC was running. After checking out the schedules and the price of the class, we decided to give it a go. Now, I used to do yoga 5 or 6 years ago back in Frankenmuth so I sort of knew what I was in for. I would've felt sheepish about my shaking arms and legs, sweating body, red face, and heaving chest if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the class seemed to be experiencing most of the same. And I'm old enough to be their mother! I decided that this is probably as bad as it will be and (hopefully) it will seem easier as time passes and I do more classes. So I have decided to buy 10 weeks of class time (twice weekly) and we'll see if we can get this body into swim suit shape by October. Nemaste.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Randy and I have booked a beach holiday in Bali, Indonesia for the first week in October (National Holiday) so I have some incentive to get into shape. We are looking forward to that.

The first hitch that I encountered since my arrival in Shanghai was fact that the Chinese government has blocked most online social networking sites as a result of the unrest in Iran after their election brouhaha. I was really bummed out about that at first. I sent an email to all my friends saying that they wouldn't be seeing me on Facebook any more (and I'd really become quite addicted to it), and they'd have to just email me. But my brilliant husband came up with an American vpn to which I can connect for free which seems to get around the "big red wall." I won't mention it as I am certain that it would be read here by the monitors and then that would be the end of that. There are a lot of vpn's that others have used here and there, and eventually they all get shut down. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my connection stays open. Facebook has been a great way for me to connect with other people in Shanghai as well as a great way to keep in touch with friends and family back home.

The other issue I encountered this week was the discovery of the fact that our ayi has been stealing from us. This hurt and disheartened me more than angered me because I felt like we'd sort of become friends. Yes, we have some trouble communicating has she has no English ability, and my Chinese is remedial at best but we'd always found a way around that. I'd given her my cast-offs from the closet and drawers about which she always seemed thrilled, and I often paid her extra along the way. She really does a lovely cleaning job ... that I could always count on. But as I was going through drawers looking for something to wear, I noticed that about half of my bras were missing. Assuming that she'd simply put them away in the wrong spot, I went hunting. Then I noticed that the only ones missing were the brand new and more expensive bras, some of them never worn! Why would they have been moved? Over the next couple of days, I literally tore the apartment apart looking for them not wanting to believe what I feared was the truth. They were NOT here!! And ayi is the only person who has access beside Randy and myself (and Randy assures me he has not taken up the hobby of cross dressing). I made some inquiries of Angeli, the ayi that had worked for Margaret and Tom (also no longer in Shanghai), and it seemed she had Tuesday mornings free and could work for us. So it was with a heavy heart that I asked my friend, Phil, to come and translate for me, and informed ayi that her services would no longer be necessary. The really sad part is that those bras would have probably been hers eventually. But of course, stealing over here is like telling a little white lie .... no big deal. If you have something, and they can get away with it, they will take it. So Angeli starts next week. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Randy and I have also reconnected with our friends, Tom and Mimi (from Texas). We had dinner with them last weekend at a lovely place called Mesa/Manifesto. It is upscale Australian. We had some brilliant seafood and lamb served beautifully by candlelite along with a wonderful bottle of red. Another place to add to our list of great places to dine in Shanghai!!

OK, well it's nice to be back on the blog (which also is blocked without the use of the vpn). Now that the Shanghai adventures are starting up again in earnest, I will once again report as timely as possible. Ciao for now.

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