MORE FUN WITH LARRY & THERESE
Since having met Larry & Therese, I have to say that we sort of feel like we've found our soul mates in Shanghai. They are about our age, have similar working backgrounds (automotive), similar life style (they live on an inland lake in Michigan in the Detroit area, we have our place on Lake Huron in Grindstone), we love playing cards (especially Euchre ... OUR favorite), enjoy a nice meal and a nice glass of wine or a couple of beers. Also, their love of travel and exploring whatever surroundings in which they find themselves is quite similar to our attitude about living overseas. Of course, we also lament together the shortcomings and frustrations about living in a foreign land too. But having someone that you know understands EXACTLY how you feel (including the homesickness) goes a LONG way toward making it all so much more enjoyable.
We have fallen into an easy pattern of spending most of our Saturdays (and often a few Sunday afternoons as well) with Larry & Therese. One of those adventures happened to be the eyeglass market. The eyeglass market is a five story building in a rather shabby part of town (well, only shabby because it appears to be in a permanent state of construction .... the thought of going into that part of town makes me want to run for a surgical mask due to the excessive dust and pollution). Each floor is chockablock (to borrow a phrase from our British friends) full of stalls selling eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, eyeglass cases, absolutely ANYTHING pertaining to eyes and eye care. They will copy your current prescription into any frame (and trust me, there are a MILLION frames available), or they will test your eyes right on the spot for your current vision requirements (not sure I trust the Chinese eye test but if one's vision isn't too bad, I suppose it's OK).
Larry and Therese had been there several times and were keen on showing us this resource for optical delights. An entire pair of glasses can be had for around $40 US or even less sometimes, a little more if you want bifocals or tinted lenses. A lot of my lady friends here in our compound have a pair to go with every outfit due to the cheap pricing.
Larry needed to get a pair of glasses repaired. While we were in Hangzhou, he'd broken a bow. As an engineer, he cleverly McGyvered a bow out of either a swizzle stick or a chop stick (I can't remember which now) to get him through the weekend. We'd teased him about starting a new fashion trend ... glasses made out of chop sticks and swizzle sticks. There's probably a patent to be had there somewhere! Anyway, we went to the stall on the 3rd floor of the market building where Larry & Therese had purchased the glasses for the repair. It is great fun to wander the aisles of the market trying on glasses and sunglasses. At Therese's suggestion, I'd brought my glasses along just in case I found some frames I liked (I normally wear contact lenses ... although lately with the addition of reading glasses as needed ... sigh). Well, there was no need to worry about finding something I liked. The problem was finding only ONE thing I liked!
So we left the eyeglass market with a pair of regular glasses for me, a pair of readers for Randy, and a pair of sunglasses for me. I won't tell you what we paid for them because you'll hate us. The regular glasses I had made (they copied the script from the old ones) were spot on in terms of the prescription so I can vouch for the quality. Anyway, if they are not correct, they will fix them until they are right.
Other events shared with Larry & Therese include trying many new restaurants .... Otto (Italian), Coconut Paradise (Thai), Bacaro (Italian), Maya (trendy Mexican),Taikang Lu area as well as frequenting some of our great stand-bys like Peter's Tex Mex and Bubba's Texas BBQ for some tastes of home. Often, we end up at either their house or our apartment to play cards ... always the ladies versus the men. We've been chased out of a couple of bars for playing cards too. Apparently there is some law against playing cards in a bar in China .... might have something to do with gambling (which is done on every street corner ... mah jong or other card games are always in progress here in the streets and parks with LOTS of money changing hands). But more than once, we've been asked to put the cards away while enjoying a beverage in an establishment serving alcohol.
Also, it seems the four of us often end up shopping at the Pearl Market, our favorite "knock off" market in our neighborhood. The Pearl Market is just across the street from the Hongmei Lu pedestrian street which I am quite sure I have mentioned previously. Every kind of ethnic food imaginable is available on this street (no, we haven't tried the Iranian yet) so it's a terrific part of town where we spend a lot of time. Also, the grocery store that carries many imported items is in this neighborhood as well as the Dragonfly where we get our massages. So we find ourselves on Hongmei Lu at least once a week. It's only about a 45 minute walk or a 10 minute taxi ride depending upon our energy level at the time.
Last night, we met with Larry & Therese at Bubba's for BBQ and to watch the Michigan State Spartans play in the Alamo Bowl (tape delayed, of course). They had just flown back into Shanghai after having been home for the holidays, and as they are big Spartan fans (they have a daughter attending there), we knew a meal while watching the game would be a great way to reconnect with them.
So we cherish our friendship with Larry & Therese, and hope that we can remain close subsequent to our respective moves back to Michigan. They live about an hour from our home in Frankenmuth so it's not like they are too far away for this to be an obstacle. Heck, if the traffic is bad, they are that far away from us NOW in Shanghai!! I think more adventures will definitely be had in Michigan by the four of us upon our returns to the states.
We have fallen into an easy pattern of spending most of our Saturdays (and often a few Sunday afternoons as well) with Larry & Therese. One of those adventures happened to be the eyeglass market. The eyeglass market is a five story building in a rather shabby part of town (well, only shabby because it appears to be in a permanent state of construction .... the thought of going into that part of town makes me want to run for a surgical mask due to the excessive dust and pollution). Each floor is chockablock (to borrow a phrase from our British friends) full of stalls selling eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, eyeglass cases, absolutely ANYTHING pertaining to eyes and eye care. They will copy your current prescription into any frame (and trust me, there are a MILLION frames available), or they will test your eyes right on the spot for your current vision requirements (not sure I trust the Chinese eye test but if one's vision isn't too bad, I suppose it's OK).
Larry and Therese had been there several times and were keen on showing us this resource for optical delights. An entire pair of glasses can be had for around $40 US or even less sometimes, a little more if you want bifocals or tinted lenses. A lot of my lady friends here in our compound have a pair to go with every outfit due to the cheap pricing.
Larry needed to get a pair of glasses repaired. While we were in Hangzhou, he'd broken a bow. As an engineer, he cleverly McGyvered a bow out of either a swizzle stick or a chop stick (I can't remember which now) to get him through the weekend. We'd teased him about starting a new fashion trend ... glasses made out of chop sticks and swizzle sticks. There's probably a patent to be had there somewhere! Anyway, we went to the stall on the 3rd floor of the market building where Larry & Therese had purchased the glasses for the repair. It is great fun to wander the aisles of the market trying on glasses and sunglasses. At Therese's suggestion, I'd brought my glasses along just in case I found some frames I liked (I normally wear contact lenses ... although lately with the addition of reading glasses as needed ... sigh). Well, there was no need to worry about finding something I liked. The problem was finding only ONE thing I liked!
So we left the eyeglass market with a pair of regular glasses for me, a pair of readers for Randy, and a pair of sunglasses for me. I won't tell you what we paid for them because you'll hate us. The regular glasses I had made (they copied the script from the old ones) were spot on in terms of the prescription so I can vouch for the quality. Anyway, if they are not correct, they will fix them until they are right.
Other events shared with Larry & Therese include trying many new restaurants .... Otto (Italian), Coconut Paradise (Thai), Bacaro (Italian), Maya (trendy Mexican),Taikang Lu area as well as frequenting some of our great stand-bys like Peter's Tex Mex and Bubba's Texas BBQ for some tastes of home. Often, we end up at either their house or our apartment to play cards ... always the ladies versus the men. We've been chased out of a couple of bars for playing cards too. Apparently there is some law against playing cards in a bar in China .... might have something to do with gambling (which is done on every street corner ... mah jong or other card games are always in progress here in the streets and parks with LOTS of money changing hands). But more than once, we've been asked to put the cards away while enjoying a beverage in an establishment serving alcohol.
Also, it seems the four of us often end up shopping at the Pearl Market, our favorite "knock off" market in our neighborhood. The Pearl Market is just across the street from the Hongmei Lu pedestrian street which I am quite sure I have mentioned previously. Every kind of ethnic food imaginable is available on this street (no, we haven't tried the Iranian yet) so it's a terrific part of town where we spend a lot of time. Also, the grocery store that carries many imported items is in this neighborhood as well as the Dragonfly where we get our massages. So we find ourselves on Hongmei Lu at least once a week. It's only about a 45 minute walk or a 10 minute taxi ride depending upon our energy level at the time.
Last night, we met with Larry & Therese at Bubba's for BBQ and to watch the Michigan State Spartans play in the Alamo Bowl (tape delayed, of course). They had just flown back into Shanghai after having been home for the holidays, and as they are big Spartan fans (they have a daughter attending there), we knew a meal while watching the game would be a great way to reconnect with them.
So we cherish our friendship with Larry & Therese, and hope that we can remain close subsequent to our respective moves back to Michigan. They live about an hour from our home in Frankenmuth so it's not like they are too far away for this to be an obstacle. Heck, if the traffic is bad, they are that far away from us NOW in Shanghai!! I think more adventures will definitely be had in Michigan by the four of us upon our returns to the states.
posted by Roxanne Gillett at
6:59 PM
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