2009/2010 HOLIDAY SEASON

I did my usual trip back to the states just prior to Thanksgiving. Randy had made the choice to not join me as he likes to save his vacation time to be utilized in the summer when he can take an entire month back home. This is, unfortunately, NOT a popular choice with the family but it IS understandable. One arrives and must deal with eight to ten days of jet lag, only to turn around and head back to deal with it again on the other side. And the trip really cannot be accomplished very well in less than two weeks, especially when dealing with holiday activities.

I had decided (either wisely or stupidly depending on your perspective) to have the big Thanksgiving feed at our house in Frankenmuth. It turned out to be a lovely day with around 20 family in attendance. Everyone brought a dish to pass, and I set up a buffet in the basement. Worked out very nicely! Thanks everyone for all your help!

So I had what felt like a whirlwind trip back to Michigan. I retrieved my precious Mattie for a few weeks (which meant two trips to Grand Rapids), got her groomed, got in my doctor's and dentist appointments (even the dreaded mammogram!), managed to get the Christmas shopping purchased, wrapped, and delivered. I opted OUT of Christmas cards this year. I purchased and delivered a gift for the new baby girl next door, and also managed to pop in on the other next door neighbor, Esther, who at 90 is pretty much a "shut in." There were a couple of trips to Millington to accomplish some business there. There was a quick trip to the hospital with my folks for a scare involving my mother's blood pressure. She's on meds now and seems to be doing fine after a day in emergency and another day of tests. Both my sons took time to visit in Frankenmuth including my daughter-in-law, Melissa, and the grandkids, Aria, Layla, and Stuart (bless you, kids). The BIG news is that the 4th grandbaby is due in April!!! I even managed a few days in Ypsilanti with my dearest friend, Judy, and her husband, Neal, just prior to my return to Shanghai. Whew!! I shoved a LOT into a relatively short trip this time.

Anyway, suffice it to say that the trip went by SO fast, I hardly had time to catch my breath, and I regretfully didn't see everyone that I'd planned. I have to admit that by the end of the month, I was sort of looking forward to getting back to the MUCH slower pace of life in Shanghai (and of course, I missed my beloved hubby).

Shanghai seemed gray and quiet upon my return. Oh, there were a few signs of the holiday but not many. Most expats travel home for the holiday. Randy had put up the tree and hung the stockings to try to capture the spirit. But I wasn't really feeling it. Of course, jet lag is often accompanied by depression for me so I probably wasn't looking at everything with the proper cheery attitude of the season. Anyway, one evening Randy was flipping through one of the local expat magazines and asked me as I was surfing the net, "What would put you in the holiday spirit?" I answered, "Oh, some kind of performance ... maybe something with some holiday music?" He asked, "How would you feel about The Nutcracker as performed by the Russian Ballet on Christmas Eve?" "PERFECT!!!" was my response.

So my thoughtful husband purchased us lovely seats (center section, 13 rows from the stage) for a truly delightful performance of The Nutcracker. It was choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich, and the orchestra was conducted by Valery Platanov. Beautiful!!! We got all dressed up (me in HEELS even ... ouch!) and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I have to mention one thing though. At one point, the prima ballerina actually fell flat on her face. The entire theatre gasped!! I leaned over and said to Randy, "THAT'S gonna leave a mark!" We chatted later and agreed that what had happened was that she performed a leap and came down upon a piece of fallen "snow" that had not been swept up from an earlier scene. Her partner picked her up, she lifted her head, smiled, and they danced on brilliantly (I'd have run off stage crying .... guess that's why SHE is the professional!!). It was truly a most memorable way to spend Christmas Eve!

Of course, our New Year's Eve was also MOST memorable but not in the same positive aspect of the ballet. When Randall purchased our tickets for the ballet, he noticed a production of the musical Fame playing at a new theatre in the Minghang district in the southern part of Shanghai. As most of our friends were in their respective homelands for the holiday, we decided to get tickets for the musical and that would be our New Year's Eve activity this year (back home, we usually go bowling).

We got ready to go to the theater a little early because we needed to hit the ATM across the street first (I wore flats this time). Randy had arranged to meet the driver near the ATM machine which is across the street in the next compound. Got our cash and we're standing on the corner exactly at 6:00 when the driver was due to meet us. Waited and waited. I wondered aloud if he would be coming to our building instead of where we were standing because that is where he always fetches us but Randy said no, he was very clear about being out at the gate (I was doubtful .... you don't change the routine with the Chinese because it just throws them for a loop). About 6:10, Randy's phone rang and it was the driver .... "Where are you?" Of course ... at our building. Randy told him, "Shuicheng gate, Shuicheng gate!!" We waited a few more minutes .... more than enough time for the driver to come from our building to the gate. Finally, I said to Randy, "We weren't where he expected us to be. NOW he's confused and has driven off (exactly what I'd feared ... once they are thrown for a loop, they simply give up completely). After another five minutes, I feared the holiday traffic would thwart us so I suggested we simply hail a cab.

Just about that time, a "black" taxi pulled up and the driver leaned out and offered us a ride (so called "black" taxi because it's usually just a guy who owns his own vehicle looking to make some cash, or a driver of an expat that utilizes the vehicle for making a little on the side when the expats don't need him). Randy showed him our tickets which he examined quite thoroughly, and finally he motioned for us to get in. I told Randy to get the price before we go because that is sometimes a problem with the "black" taxis .... get where you need to go and then they want an arm and a leg for the ride, especially from Westerners (and by then you're out in the middle of nowhere). Driver said 100 RMB (a little more than $14) which seemed a little steep but Randall said no, it's OK. So OK, we go. Nice car .... black sedan, no smoke smell, leather seats, driver wasn't TOO crazy (or so we thought).

We got on the expressway and the traffic was stop and go .... mostly stop. But we had over an hour so I didn't worry about it too much. Supposedly, the theatre was about half hour away under normal conditions but this was New Year's Eve and holiday traffic in Shanghai is UNBELIEVABLE!!! We had a laugh about our conversations with the Chinese who happen to own vehicles because we will ask them, "WHY on earth do you feel the need to own a vehicle when cheap public transportation is all around you?" They always reply that it provides them FREEDOM. And then we laugh thinking, "YES, freedom to sit in traffic jams in your own vehicle!!!" And of course, the more money that is made in China, the more vehicles are on the road, and the MORE TRAFFIC JAMS there are. The road system is sorely underdeveloped here and the longer we are here, the worse it gets due to more and more people owning vehicles (and no fewer buses and taxis to share the road with them). And they all drive like flipping idiots ... which I know I've already mentioned ad nauseum!!

So after moving very slowly on the expressway, the driver decides this is crap and gets off to try his luck wending our way through the city streets .... BAD idea!! Those streets are virtually gridlock. At one point, we go down a bike path which has me a little concerned because you might get trapped there with no way out if the other end is blocked. Every time we got into another jam, he tried to head west to go around it (our destination was primarily SOUTH) and then we'd hit another jam, and so he'd head west to try to circumvent that one, etc, etc.

This went on for what seemed like forever .... over an hour. It was getting close to 7:30, the start time of the musical, and we were worried we'd miss the beginning. Eventually, we thought we were close .... the street names were the same as those on the directions Randy had received via cell phone from Guanxi. But of course, having never been there, we weren't sure either exactly where the theatre was located. We drove around the area for a few minutes, and then the driver turned the car abruptly around a corner only to discover that we'd accidentally gotten on the ramp to the expressway. The driver tried to back down the ramp (of course!!) but the traffic was simply too thick for that. So plan B (or were we at C or D at this point?) was drive down the expressway until we hit an off ramp where we could turn around. Expressway is, of course, stop and go, and nearest ramp is about 4 miles down the road!!!!

By now, I'm all but giving up on the musical. It's past 7:30 and we're headed in the WRONG direction. Finally, we got off the expressway, and brilliant driver (who has made several calls to someone to try to figure out exactly WHERE we were supposed to be going) decided to take a short cut through an industrial park where we too late realized there is NO WAY OUT!!! About that time, I mentioned to Randy that I could see in the near distance the streaks of spotlights sweeping the night sky and wonder aloud if that is the new Shanghai City Theatre where we are supposed to see the musical.

What seems like FOREVER later, we are finally back in the neighborhood where we THINK the theatre is located. We got on the correct street and started trying to check building numbers which was difficult. Big brand new buildings all decorated for the holidays .... but no address numbers anywhere!!! Driver rolled down his window several times to ask folks where the theatre was located. They all pointed at a big new mall area with a huge department store on one end and a Carrefour (the Chinese equivalent of Walmart) on the other. Looks nice but surely is not the theatre. Randy and I insisted that this is NOT the place. But driver insisted it was and kept pointing up .... like it's at the top of this building. So OK, we'll go. We paid the driver and jumped out. We asked a couple other folks in the area .... same answer, the pointing UP!! So we went into the mall and took several escalators to the 5th floor where we found ...... are you ready for this????? THE CINEMA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, they saw nothing but the word "theater" on the tickets and indeed that IS the "theater" in this neighborhood (at least in their "informed" opinion). If it weren't for the fact that the movie would be in Chinese, we'd have ripped up our tickets and purchased seats for "Avatar!!!!" We could NOT believe it!!!

So by now (if you're still with me), it's nearly 8:00. Not to be daunted (by now, we just want to see if we can even FIND the City Theatre), Randy asked a lady about our tickets, and she ran over and grabbed her husband who spoke excellent English. "No," he told us, "we're not in the correct place." (ya think????) but he wasn't exactly sure where the City Theatre was located. Give him a second and he'll ask somebody. He went to a ticket counter and reported back that we were only a couple of blocks away and across the street ...... from whence the spotlights were coming!!! Of course!!! By now, it's like it's a test and we're determined to NOT fail it!! We started walking. FINALLY, we arrived. Yes, beautiful new theatre very nicely decorated for Christmas. Door man let us in and a nice Chinese woman seated us in our lovely seats about 7 rows back from the stage. We sat down just in time for the curtain to fall for intermission. Sigh!!!

Well, the second half of Fame was VERY nice. The theatre had only about 200 folks in it (I would say it holds nearly 1,000) but the performance (what we SAW anyway) was excellent! Good singing and dancing, high energy. I told Randy that it must be difficult to put that much energy into a performance when there are so few in the audience but they did it nonetheless. I'm glad we persevered.

We hailed a taxi after the show to head to Hongmei Lu and, believe it or not, that driver got us there is less than 15 minutes!!!! I said to Randy that the driver of the "black" taxi just didn't know where the heck he was going at all. And the Chinese are loathe to admit they don't know something or that they are wrong. So then they "lose face" by getting us lost and taking us to the wrong place!!

Anyway, had a nice bottle of wine, a Caesar salad, and a beautiful pizza at Porto Novo (best pizza we've had in Shanghai). And then we went to Big Bamboo for a drink. Rang in the New Year at El Cubano where they had a pretty good party going on. They shot off a BAZILLION fireworks in the street at midnight (this is China after all .... fireworks for EVERY occasion!). We had a mojito (the house specialty) and went home around 12:30.

That was our 2010 New Year!! And Happy New Year to all of YOU, near or far!!