Everyday life

Saturday, March 26, 2011

In my Skype call with Marcy this morning, the conversation moved into what we have to do before we can go out.  She suggested that I share some of this on my blog with pictures.  For any outing, large or small you must plan.  I have mentioned this in several of my blogs, particularly regarding addresses for the taxi drivers.  But this preparation must also be done for anything that might be difficult to find in the grocery store or doing everyday things. 

That was the case for me on my last visit to the grocery store.  We have been looking for mailing envelopes which has turned out to be a bust with every visit to the Carrefour.  So when I went on Thursday, I was determined to ask if they had them.  So I prepared for my Thursday outing.

 First stop was the Dragon Fly for a little personal pampering.  I would be trying the facial.  They use German products so I thought it would be alright.  Not to worry there, they speak English… or at least pretty good English.  Vickie would be administering the pampering today.  She was very young and had been in Shanghai only 4 years with her husband.  She moved here from somewhere in Middle China.  She named the province, but the name did not stick with me.  She referred to me as Madame…. Spoken as ‘MaaaDom’.   Is Madame comfortable?  Is Madame warm enough? And so on…. It was really chic.

She spoke to me of her parents, her Mother in particular.  Her parents were farmers in this middle China province.  Her Mother had lived a very hard life.  To assist her Mother, she sends money home to her.   She said she wanted to make her Mother’s life better.  I admired her for that loving gesture she makes for her Mother.  She enthused about wanting to have a daughter when they decided to have children.   She also told me of her love of dogs.  Of course I shared my story of Miss Maggie… I really miss her!  She had a dog, big dog, only 7 months old that had died.  She was still sad about it.  

She asked me what grade my children were in… I had to smile to myself… and told her my children were grown and had children of their own.  She told me she thought I was only about 40!!  Thanks, but no… my eldest daughter is nearly 40.  But I must say… I was terribly flattered!!!  Matter of fact it made my day!!

But I digress… back to the everyday life.  Here are some examples of what I do before heading out to the store.  On this particular day, I knew I had a few things on my list that I had not seen in the store so I wanted to make sure I could ask for them.  Now, bear in mind… I try to only ask questions that the answer is easy for them… a nod…or shake the head ‘no’… or take me to it… or point me in the right direction.  This is just page one.   Don’t laugh about the eggs… there are all different kinds of eggs available… duck, goose, quail, green, and many others… I wanted to make darn sure I was getting chicken eggs.

I also needed to put more money on my prepaid phone and pay my utility bills.  I wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings.  You just go to any convenience store to pay your bills.  It is very interesting the way they do things here.  So I try to be prepared for anything I might need.  I go to the translation application, type in English and translate.  Cut and paste to a word document.  We bought a printer just for these kinds of tasks.  Printing maps from Google maps, or translations or anything else we think we might need when we are on our outings around Shanghai.  Like I have said before, it is critical to a successful outing.  If you are not prepared, your fun filled day of exploring can end in frustration.

By the way, I did not find the envelopes.  They had the 8 1/2 x 11 size, but no normal mailing envelopes.  It was very disappointing.  And… they had no canned water chestnuts… BUT they had fresh in the produce section!!  Since I had never seen fresh, I was a little concerned that I would get the correct thing, but a young Chinese woman showed them to me.  Fortunately I know the Chinese character for water.  See the symbol that is third from the right… see the 2 flicks on the top left section?  That means water.  Using that and the following characters and a little pointing to the produce… we managed to get the right thing!  And the next picture is… you guessed it… fresh water chestnuts! I broke one in half to show you the inside of it.

I will have to go to the internet to figure out how to prepare them so I can use them in my dish.  But I have water chestnuts!!  I am thinking when I need bamboo shoots I will have to buy fresh of those too; then peel and cook them.  There are very few canned foods here.  There are wide selections of pickled products, but they are not in cans or jars.  They are in sealed plastic pouches.  So if you are hungry for some kind of pickled vegetable… you are in the right country!  And they have lots of dried fruits and nuts; an entire aisle at the grocery dedicated to these 2 products.

Now on to what was really planned for today.  It would be an expedition, of course, but of a very different kind… more of a mission really.  We were on the hunt for an address that would yield us a Baby Shower Water Purifier Shower Head.  We did our homework and mapped out the route.  Since we would be in Puxi,  we thought we would have dinner there too.  And naturally, we would HAVE to stop at the Hershey soft serve for dessert!

We are off and today, although a little chilly, is a beautiful sunny day.  They must be starting to recognize us around the market now because we only had a couple of people try to give us their card to lure us in with discounts for today… or we walk with the confidence of a local now.  Not sure which it is, but they don’t run after us so much anymore.   There are lots of people in the common areas around Century Park metro station.  There are whole families out roller blading or flying kites, having lunch on the benches, or children just running and playing.  There is one thing that is consistent no matter where you go… the children… the giggling and squeals of delight that is pure kiddo.   Dodging the roller bladers, we make our way to the escalator and down to the metro.  We are headed to People’s Square station.

Being the old pro’s we are now and having decided that we were not going to rush and stress each other out, we found the correct exit that would put us right at the street we needed to get to, Huanghe Road.   Huanghe Road is off Nanjing Road.  Nanjing Road is THE road for shopping in Shanghai.  Our destination however, is 256 W Beijing Road, Rm 102.  We are looking for GreenWave Solutions.  We cross over Nanjing to Huanghe in search of a shower head.  It is an incredible journey, see the pictures below we snapped along the way.  Many of the buildings have a distinctive art deco look to them.  It is like stepping back in time.

  

We arrive at West Beijing Road and began looking for 256.  We pass a plumbing store, but it is not 256.  We find 256, but it is a laundry and cleaners. What is up now?  Michael consults the Blackberry, googling the shop again… yes we have the address correct.  So we head back to the plumbing store … it is possible it could have moved. 

There are three really nice Chinese women in the store… I inquire about their English.  No English… The one thing we had failed to do before leaving is to make up a translation sheet like I showed you in pic above for the name of the product.  Oh silly me… I thought the person at Greenwave would know what we wanted… never did it occur to me we might have a problem finding the place or communicating with the owner.  They had an English web site. 

So in my desperation, I rip out my Mandarin phrase book and Michael is looking for the translation.  Michael has failed to charge his Blackberry and we are almost out of juice…. Not good!   But I am determined.  The ladies were just delightful… with the few words I could find to convey my desired product and the address I am looking for… they still were unable to help us.

I was not going to come all that way and go home empty handed… that just was not part of the plan.  So I tell Michael I am going to the laundry and ask the owners if they know where Rm102 is… and it does not matter that they do not know English and I know very little Chinese… and very poor at what I do know.  So in I go… I ask if there is a room upstairs that is 102.  Now this is all happening with charades and a google map with their address on it. 

Then she consulted her husband and between them…they get it… she motions me to come through the laundry to the back.  A little fearful to head back there on my own… I yelled out to Michael who is standing on the street to come into the store.  We are taken to the back alley way apartments of China. 

This was something I had read about, but never thought I would see and visit.  It is a maze of corridors with doors and community toilets dotted along the corridors.  It was an incredible site.  The variety of smells, the way these people live, the rundown buildings, it is overwhelming. They took us around to an area where there was an older woman tending a baby.  They were trying to help us but could not understand what or who we were looking for.  With the help of the Mandarin Phasebook, I was able to find the words ‘water’ and ‘filtered’.  With that… a light bulb must have gone off in the older laundry man’s mind… he indicated wait a minute and he disappeared leaving us with the woman and baby.  A couple of minutes later he came back smiling broadly and motioned us to follow.  He took us around a couple of corridors then down one to an open door with a young woman standing there talking on  a cell phone.  She hands me the phone and on the other end is the distributor for the GreenWave Baby Shower Purified Water shower head.  We had success!!!  He was amazed that we had come to his home…. We had no idea when we set out to 256 W. Beijing Road RM 102 that it would lead us to the man’s home.  We thought we were going to a store front to buy a product.  We negotiate the price and he sells us one over the phone.  His wife gets all our info for the warranty and we exchange money…and we are off.   In this case, perseverance paid off.  Michael admits he would have given up without even going into the laundry.  We thanked the laundry couple for all their help and left.  As we walked down the street with Baby Shower Purified water shower head safely tucked in the backpack… we could not believe what had just happened.

 But as we passed back by the plumbing shop, we had to stop in and show them our purchase; since we had had such a tough time trying to explain it the first time around.  They were all interested as they greeted us again.  The owner had arrived in the meantime, and she spoke a little English.  So all four of these Chinese ladies were examining the shower head and then reached into the case behind them and drew out a shiny new water purifying shower head… at a fraction of the price.  They had been so gracious to us; we bought it from them for the other shower.  They wanted to know what we paid for the other one… I would not admit we paid considerably more than they were asking for the one in their shop.  We just said ‘way too much!’.  Thanking the ladies, we stowed our second shower head in the backpack and set out again for People’s Square and lunch. 

If we had been able to communicate clearly about what we were looking for, the ladies probably could have helped us the first time around.  However, if that had happened, we would never have had the opportunity to see what lies behind the store fronts of Shanghai.  So even though we paid considerably more for the Baby Shower, it was well worth the experience we had and the keen insight about how some of the locals really live.  In this instance, I felt we had really embraced the culture. 

I also reflect at how truly blessed our lives are.   We live in large homes with modern conveniences and plenty of fresh water and toilets and showers for our personal use… several in most homes.  We have large yards for our children to play in.  When we decide to go somewhere, we hop in our new automobiles and take off.  Most people in China do not own and cannot afford to own a car.  Most people walk or ride very old bicycles… some have motor bikes; which is why most of them are thin and quite physically fit.  But to see those back alleys and communal toilets… you have to be struck at how good our lives really are.  It is humbling.

We made our way back to Nanjing Road and began walking around People’s Park.  We ran into a fellow American on our way… he was from Chicago.  He had been there a few days on business and was taking in the sites.  He worked for Phillips… the light bulb division.  We walked and chatted for a couple of blocks and then he headed across the street toward the Shanghai Museum.  We continued on to Raffles City.  It is a seven story mall on Tibet Road.  We went in and straight to the escalators bound for the 6^th floor.  There were many eateries to choose from and we figured we would find something that would strike our fancy.  We ended up in the Ramen Play Restaurant.  After perusing the menu and a few questions for the waiter, we ordered.  It was some kind of broth with ramen noodles topped with a breaded and fried piece of pork, scallions, chives, bamboo shoots, and some kind of pickled something.  Well that pickled something was so hot and spicy… wooooo… the after burn was almost too much.  I figured pretty quick that would be shoved to the side and left.  But other than that… it was tasty.  And it was perhaps one of the cheapest meals we’ve had since arriving in Shanghai. 

My tummy was pretty full and satisfied, but I had left room for the Hershey’s soft serve ice cream that I knew was right down the street.  So we paid our way out and were headed to the down escalator.  We spotted a hair salon.  Michael was weeks overdue for a haircut and was looking very shaggy.  The kids even noticed when we talked on Skype.  He wanted to find a place and opportunity had presented itself.  We checked out the services list with prices:  Stylist -88 RMB, Sr Stylist – 120 RMB, Top Stylist – 150 RMB, and there were 3 more categories, Artistic, something, and international… each getting more expensive.  So he decided to give it a go… Steven would be our Top Stylist.  So in we go and he discusses what style Michael would like… that would be basically the same style it is… only shorter…  and no, we would not be wanting the beard done.  While Michael is escorted by an aid to the wash basins, I got comfortable in the chair next to his.  Steven began his process.  I was amazed how he flicked the scissors back and forth as he cut and then the comb.  He would flick them back out of the way while he parted off the hair then cut then flick… and so on.  But in the end, it turned out pretty good and Michael was… number 1…relieved and number 2… he now knew where he could come to have his hair cut.  Here are a few snaps of the hair cut.  I almost forgot about pictures, but Michael reminded me and Steven was ok with us taking his picture.

       The end result!!!   And tomorrow I would take scissors in hand and trim that shaggy beard up.  It is way past due.   Before we left though, we got his card and he let me know he also cut ladies hair… if I would like a haircut today also.  Perhaps another day I would give it a try, but not today.   And we were off.

Here are some pictures we took of various points of interest on People’s Square.  This was a beautiful church which I unfortunately failed to get the name.  The second photo is of the People’s Palace …we think.  Those 2 figures that look like statues… those are two real soldiers standing guard perfectly still.  It looked painful to stand at attention, motionless for who knows how long… not me!

 See that image on the building selling watches… our own George Clooney thank you very much!!!

That odd looking building that looks like it has a square hat on is the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Museum.  Among other things, it has a miniature replica of what the future Shanghai is going to look like.  We have not visited this particular museum yet.

This was the last photo of the day before we headed to the metro and home.  I have no idea what building this is, but it has an interesting architecture… so it became my final snap of the day.

People’s Square - Saturday, March 19

Michael and I had made a pack that we would use one day of every weekend and get out together to go exploring.  Today would be no exception.  Destination…. People’s Square. 

What to expect….

People's square is a spectacular space in the heart of the city.  It is a garden-type open space surrounded by buildings and public facilities for administration, cultural activities, transportation and commerce. The People's Park, People's Mansion and Shanghai Museum are sitting on the central axis.  The central square lies between People's Mansion and Shanghai Museum with two smaller squares on each side. The total area covers up to 1,806,600 square meters.  The central square is arranged with a 320-square-meter water fountain, a Shanghai map and the ground is all laid in granite stone. There are 36 lights with stereo around the central square and 6 pieces of relief which reflect the history and culture of Shanghai.

Two small pieces of grasslands are decorated with flower terraces and sculptures. The large square is circled with a green belt made up of camphor trees, pines and shrubbery.  A stone path, lined with benches, wanders all through the green belt.

People's square is also the converging point where metro line one meets line two. From the square you can get to many shopping centers.  Leaving metro line one, tourists enter a street where famous shops from Hong Kong assemble and can also get to Dimei shopping mall, a shopping center like a maze.  Going from metro line two, you can get to an old street lined with old-styled jewelry shops, restaurants and teahouses and so on, which reminds you of the old days.  From the entrance to metro line one to the no 9 entrance of metro line two, lays an underground department store and a restaurant from which you can also get to New World City, yet another shopping mall. And just around the corner from that, the Rodeo Drive of Shanghai…the famous Nanjing road, a shopper’s paradise.

Now … on with our expedition… we are planned out, backpacks loaded, money, camera……and we step out of the apartment building…  OH NO... it is starting to rain!!!  Back in to get the umbrella’s… a little rain is not going to stop us.  So armed with our umbrella’s, we set off for the Metro. 

We boarded Line 2 and headed for People’s Square… riding the subway is pretty uneventful now that we are seasoned metro travelers.

We get to People’s Square and head out of the station to the street.  There are many different exits depending on where you want to go.  We picked one that would lead us out to People’s Park.  As we emerged from the subway we were happy to see that is was not raining… just a light intermittent mist.

Right after we got across the street and began to survey the area, we are approached by a young Chinese man.  He tells us he is from Beijing going to University and asks if we are American.  He is anxious to practice his English.  During our cultural training we were told not to be alarmed if we were approached by young people while we were out and about.  It is not uncommon for the youth to want to practice with English speaking people.  So we talked about 15 minutes and he shared with us the best places to go in the area.  He was very curious about us too and asked the whole gambit of ‘what, when, where, and how’ questions.  We really needed to move… so we thanked him and eased away. 

Onward… through the main gates and boom… we are stopped again by a group of young girls wanted to know if we speak English… they want to practice too.  If we stop for everyone wanting to practice English, we are not going to make much progress today.  We smiled and wished them a happy day and continued on our way.

We wonder through a little of the park and discover older Chinese woman practicing Chinese movement or exercising, groups of men chatting, children playing in the park and lots of people just doing what we were… wondering and looking.  There were beautiful flowers and landscaping and the walkways meandered around little landscaping themes.  We even stumbled upon an amusement park… what a surprise.  There were quite a few rides… from a carrousel to bumper cars.  We found our way to the street… not so much by choice, but purely by accident.

Although we had only scratched the surface of the park… we found ourselves across the street from a mall… and a quick survey revealed a huge sign hanging from the corner shop….. HERSHEY’S…. ummmmm…  Chocolate!  And with any luck at all… American chocolate!  So we plotted our path to get across the street and to the Hershey store…and a bonus… Starbuck’s is right next door!!  My chocoholic husband could not wait to get across the street… and since this was a really busy street, we had to cross the cross-street on our side and then over the busy street.  These had to be the longest lights in Shanghai.  But the scenery is great… this is right by the sidewalk… can you tell what he is trying to say….’Hurry!!!’  We still had not gotten across the streets at this point.

We quickly made our way inside and it was wall to wall Hersey’s Candies…bags or a variety of decorative cups and tins… stuffed animals with the logo.  How do you choose when it is so expensive and there are so many varieties?  We wondered around for probably 15 minutes trying to decide what treat we would take home with us.  The smallest bags were priced equal to 4.25 USD… which is double+ the cost in the US for the same size bag.  OK… we went a little nuts (no pun intended)… Almond Joy’s and a Heath bar for me…Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and a Hershey bar for Michael… and Hugs/kisses to share.  And much to our surprise… they take American credit cards… yeehaw!! We don’t have to spend our RMB’s (cash).  I can’t tell you exactly what we spent…but it was way too much for CANDY!!  But we are smiling!!!

With our chocolate fix in the backpack, it is on to the Starbuck’s…almost.  Out of the corner of my eye I see a sign… soft serve … Hershey’s chocolate ice cream!!!  Michael spotted it about the same time.  Why is it when there is a lack of a particular something… that is the very thing you crave the most?  Ice cream is one of those things.  Don’t get me wrong, there is ice cream here… but it too is sky high expensive to buy in the grocery and the only American brands I have seen is Haagen Dazs and Nestle’s.  So when I see places like Cold Stone Creamery and now this… well, you just cannot pass it up.  So we indulged... went for the medium size and skipped the coffee.  It was soft serve, but not just regular, it had Hershey syrup swirled in it!  We both were like kids with wide eyes and broad grins.  It was so yummy!!! We made our way to the street and found a place to stand and enjoy every drop.  Ok.. I am drooling here just thinking back on it.   So enough about this and on with the day…..

Next stop is the Shanghai Museum.  We think we see it in the distance so we head to the corner to cross the street.  The only way to get there is to cross the street and go through the pedestrian tunnel.  Pretty cool huh!!!  We thought so too… see the picture below.

So into the tunnel we go… there are so many people headed to who knows where because this tunnel intersects and veers many directions.  Thank goodness it is well marked.  And there are vendors lining the walls selling everything you may or may not need or want… from wallets to purses and lots of junk in between.  It seems that is a way of life here.  You have to learn to ignore them and keep walking when they come after you.  That seems to be their queue that you are not interested.  If you try to be polite and tell them ‘no thank you’… they figure they have your attention and become even more determined to sell you something.

Another thing we noticed in the course of the day, there were only a handful of beggars and street people.  The most we have seen in all our outings and there were maybe only 4-5 all day.  Which I really found surprising given the size of the city and this area is considered the city center. 

Through the tunnel and we are out and standing on the grounds in front of the Museum.  Time for a few pictures to give you a hint of what is around here.

We move fast don’t we?  Hong Kong Shopping Center is actually an underground shopping area that specializes in products from Hong Kong… or so I read.  We did not take time to head down to it, but maybe next time.  I am quite confident we will be back.  And the landscaping and flowers are gorgeous… and I can only imagine what they will look like once we really see some warmer weather.  It is in the 50’s or below most days.

The Shanghai Museum is one of the only free Museums that we have found.  It is run by the government and there is military presence all in the building.  You must go through a metal detector and your belongings go through an x-ray scanner.  It was like security at the airport without having to take off your shoes. 

The museum is 4 levels… so we headed to the top and would work our way down a floor at the time.  First exhibition is the history of the Chinese currency.  We walked the entire wing… hoping to see something more interesting than the last glassed area. The oldest currency looked like knives with a little hole in the handle.  Then for centuries it was basically round circles of various sizes with square cut outs in the middle.  The last couple of areas got very interesting, but I must admit… I was glad when we completed this hall.

The next exhibition was dedicated to the different clothes or costumes.  This area was really interesting to me.  We actually took quite a few pictures in this display.

Is that mask great or what?  The masks were pretty funny.  There were a couple for a husband and his wife… if they really looked like the masks… they were truly a strange looking pair… oh yeah… one for the auntie too… she was a sight!!

From the costumes to the Jade exhibit….  Now that was incredible!!! There were pieces of carved jade, albeit crude, that date to 5000 BC.  I was blown away.  It is so amazing that… first of all… they have pieces intact from that long ago and second, we were tracing history in carved jade pieces and the whole evolution of that skill.  To see pieces that were around the time of Christ on earth was just overwhelming!  Unfortunately no cameras in this area… although I did see people taking pictures, I respected the rules.

Next stop was the furniture exhibit.  The first thing I noticed here… the chairs were really high off the ground.  I expected the chairs to be lower than normal due to the height of the Chinese people, but that was not the case.

This is a six poster bed…king size.  The screen to the right is carved ivory.  It was incredibly detailed as were most of the carvings.

 

The furniture was pretty interesting, but the slow walk through the museum had done us in.  We determined that we could easily walk 10 miles, but the slow moving and standing through the museum was too hard on our backs and we would do a floor each visit.  Aside from the fact we had been in there for the better part of 3 hours and only covered one floor.

So down the escalators we went and to the front doors we headed.  It was raining again… umbrella’s up!  There was a really cute couple taking pictures in front of the museum as we were passing.  They asked if we could snap a photo of them.  I totally understood that… take a look at our pictures… one or the other but never both in the same picture.    See our together picture below… in the rain!!!!  Thanks to the young couple that snapped this one!!!!

We are pretty much starving by now… and we have planned…almost everything…but not where we wanted to eat…oops!  So we figure we can find a place and I have a places couple still in my handy notes book.  It all sounds pretty easy... right?  We catch a cab and we are good…. WRONG!  We have nothing to translate the English address to Chinese.  The application that would make that translation for us on Michael’s blackberry was unavailable. 

There is one thing we have learned… without the address in Chinese characters… we do not get where we need to go.  Showing Chinese characters to the cab driver is essential.  Even when we are going home and try to just say our address to the driver, he pleads ignorance.  And we know we are saying that right.

It had stopped raining, so we head out on foot towards the Bund… I know there are restaurants there that have been rated very high.  Either we have crummy luck or something… the street we decide to take to get us there… nothing that even remotely looked promising turned up.  We happened upon a mall, of a sort.  We are thinking there are bound to be restaurants in a mall.  Well that is what we get for thinking.  There are places to eat… but all in Chinese and nothing looked promising.

We did however; notice an entrance to the subway.  We were tired and hungry… we gave up and hopped the metro for home.  We would stop at Julie’s Food Experience for a bite to eat once we got to Creativity Street and then a quick 5 minutes to home from there.  It was a good predictable place and we were so hungry.  We did not want to stop into a restaurant we knew nothing about only to find ourselves with a disappointing meal. 

So we hit Julie’s and with a very full tummy and an exhausting wet day, we headed for home.  Every expedition teaches us to plan better… and this was no exception!!!

Sad News

Wednesday, March 16

I spoke to Jennifer today… Chris’s sister has passed away today.   She was 40 years old.  There will be an autopsy to determine exact cause of her death, but it is believed that it was her heart.   De’an is now in the loving arms of our Lord.  She leaves behind her husband and 2 children, as well as her parents and siblings.

This is the first time since we left that I feel so completely helpless.  They are hurting and I cannot be there to help tend to the kids or be of some comfort to them.  My heart breaks for them and my prayers are flowing to not only Chris and Jennifer, but for the entire Kemp family as they deal with their grief.

Thursday, March 17

It is already a difficult time for the family, and they received word of another death in the family.  Marcy and Jennifer’s cousin, Sarah has also passed away.  She has been a special needs person her whole life and now she has gone to be with our Lord where she will run and be free of her earthly restrictions.  Again my prayers go out to my children as they grieve, but to the rest of the Smith family as they too deal with the sorrow.

There are many things that could happen that makes being around the world a little inconvenient, but the hardest are the times that your children are hurting and need you the most and you cannot be there for them.  This is certainly one of those times.  

What an Amazing Day!!!!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Happy Birthday to my Kendall girl!!!!  She is 11 today. 

Today was the best … I got up this morning and started my day on Skype with the kids.  Then set about mapping out my day. 

I called the Dragon Fly Spa and made an appointment to have a foot massage.  The first thing I heard on the other in was English.  I knew it would only get better.  I had been concerned about calling not sure if I would have someone on the other end that could understand English or my terrible Chinese.  I made my appointment calculating what it would take to get ready …ride the metro… and walk to their shop.  I figured a foot massage would be a cheap and safe way to check this place out.  It came highly recommended so I thought … what can go wrong with a foot massage?  So all I needed to do was show up there at 1pm.

I decided to start my book of places.  Up until now I just found it on the internet and copied stuff down.  But we have a printer now, so I started a document of addresses for places I will go regularly.  You never know when you might be running late and need to catch a cab.  I cut and paste the place and address so that I can print it off to show the driver so that if he does not understand my Chinese… I can just show him.

Dragonfly @ Hongfeng Retreat

386 Hongfeng Road, Pudong Shanghai

上海市浦东新区红枫路386号

Turns out today would be the first test of my new system.  And as luck would have it, here it is 12:30pm and there is no way I will make it to Jin Qiao on the metro and then making the walk.  So it is a cab time and I get to test out my new flash cards.  Fortunately there is a taxi at the gate and better yet it is one of the company’s I really like… yea me!  My flash cards paid off.  They worked like a champ… yea me..again!!!!!  And thinking ahead, I had put together one for everywhere I was going today just in case I needed it.

We are off and to my delight… he is eager to speak English with me and help me with my Chinese… it just keeps getting better!!!  We chat, loosely speaking, the whole trip… me with my Chinese Phrasebook and him correcting my pronunciation.  But it was great!!!  When we got to the spa… he gave me his card and told me to call him if I needed another taxi… I get another ‘yea me’ today!!! This is, without doubt, the nicest and friendliest cab driver I have had since arriving in Shanghai.  I feel like I am really starting to fit in.

Welcome to the DragonFly Spa!  I could tell when I walked in… this is going to be wonderful… the smell and the dribbling water and soft mood music.  AND… the receptionist spoke English… ahhhhhh… what a relief.  It was going to be 60 minutes of told bliss called the Oriental Foot Massage.  The description reads… ‘Relieves headache and migraine, enhances the immune system, improves blood circulation, normalizes organ and gland function.’  I don’t know if all that happened as a result of this massage, but I can tell you with the utmost honestly….IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!!  I loved every minutes of it.  I was relaxed and pampered in the most comfortable chair that laid all the way back.  There was this pillow, reminded me of a buckwheat pillow my Mom used to have… but way smaller and more of a long rectangle… and heated.  The guy laid it across my stomach and put my hands on it…. HUMMMMMMMM!!! I know I must have been purring it was so nice.  By the time it was over… I was so relaxed… almost comatose!!! 

With all the walking we have been doing … my feet have been pretty sore.  So this was just the ticket to sooth my aching dogs!!  Well.. when offered the opportunity to buy a prepaid membership that entitled you to a 30% discount every time you have a treatment… that had my name all over it!!!  I signed up for the card and my 150 yuan foot massage reduced to 105 yuan… and when you translate that into USD…. My 60 minute slice of heaven only cost me about $18.50.  Now I ask you… is that not the best $18.50 a girl could spend?  I thought so too!!  So now I am plotting my next visit.  And Michael has decided he might would like a massage too….since I gushed all about it when I got home.

Anyway…still basking… on with my day.  My next stop is the Shanghai Community Center.  Victor, our cultural trainer, had recommended I go there and get acquainted with what is offered there to help expats and their significant others get acclimated.  We were told it was also a good place for expats to meet other expats.  They offer tours and language training.. and all kinds of social opportunities.  They also have a variety of volunteer opportunities if one has an interest. 

I decide since I blew it this morning with a cab, I could make up for it by walking it from the spa.  I had mapped it out, but did not fully realize how far it was.  As it turns out my little walk ended up being about 5 miles or so, but that’s ok… my feet were up to the challenge.  I was renewed!!

It is located in a really nice villa complex, in a clubhouse.  This was a really nice clubhouse too.  There was a convenience store and a coffee bar.  A sign and arrow pointed the way up the stairs to the ‘community center’.  Not really knowing what to expect, I slowly opened the door and poked my head in.  I was immediately greeted with a smile by a young Chinese woman asking to help me.  I introduced myself and announced I was new to Shanghai.  A bubbly young American woman came around the corner and introduced herself as Lauren and that was the beginning. 

She is from Virginia and has been here for 2 years.  We moved our conversation to a sitting area in the lobby and continued to chat there for the next 30-45 minutes.  She was just delightful.  I asked her what brought her to china and she said without hesitation…’Jesus’.  I knew this was all meant to be.  She shared information about Bible Studies and a Christian Church for Internationals.  It was just perfect.  Perhaps the plan for me is beginning to unfold and reveal itself.  I am looking forward to connecting with the Bible group and starting a fellowship at this church.  I had passed the church when I was walking from the spa.  It turned out to be on the same street.  What a blessing it was to meet Lauren.  The first thing that popped into my head was Jeremiah 29:11.  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  This was surely the beginning of something wonderful in my journey through this faraway place.

She also gave me some tips on food and restaurants.  We talked milk and meat… I was so relieved to meet someone that is as skeptical as I about the food.  She directed me to the Pines Market, which is very close to the Carrefour in Jin Qiao.  Not the Carrefour I usually go to, but being I was so close (maybe only a mile or 2) I would walk back to just to explore what the Pines Market had to offer.  I was truly a fortunate day for me to have met her and am so looking forward to connecting with her again.

I headed out to the Carrefour and the Pines Market.  This would be my first time inside this Carrefour… oh my … the first thing I see is a Bread Talk… yea!  I can get my favorite bread again… and I bought 2 loaves…just for the record.  Then I turn around and there is a Dunkin Donuts… what more could a girl ask for?  Michael will be so surprised when I bring him home a few donuts for breakfast tomorrow.  And... buy 2 get one free… a bargain to boot!  I’m having the mother lode of ’yea me’ today!!!

So bread and donuts safely tucked into my pull cart… I head into the Carrefour.  It is huge and way better than the one I usually go to in Thumb Plaza.  I wish I had more time to just walk around, but it is after 5 and I need to really step up the pace.  I wander through as quickly as I can although I have to browse a little.  The produce looks really good … I just cannot pass up a chance to get nice produce, since that is our main food consumption these days.  But I manage to buy everything on my list and get checked out.  Then over to the side to sack and load up my handy dandy pull cart with my purchases.  Everything fits but the bread and donuts...no problem, they are in a bag with a handle.  We are good to go. 

Now over to the Pines.  It is kinda funny really.  Michael and I had been right here on Sunday at the bookstore.  We did not venture in the Carrefour and the building that houses the Pines Market… we thought was some kind of sports arena… a skating rink.  It just had pictures on the outside that led us to believe that is what it was.  We could not have been more wrong.  I walked into the building and it is a restaurant row.  There was a Starbuck’s just as you come in… then one after the other of restaurants… The Blue Frog is even in here… that is a place that serves American food and it is supposed to be really good.  It was on my list of places to eat!

I find the Pines Market and it is really pretty big.  It is clearly not the size of the Carrefour, but a nice size.  The first thing I notice is 80% of the folks wandering around are American and European.  But I am so happy to see lots of American products.  Again, like the City Shop, it is more expensive, but sometimes you just gotta have that ‘something’ that tastes like home.  Fortunately we are building up our list of Import stores to choose from.  So whatever that craving is, we should be able to find it at one of the places.

I make my way through the store noting various products.  I found the milk that Lauren had recommended.  She had also advised me to look at the meat.  I ended up selecting a couple of chicken breasts, pork and ground beef.  As I was completing my tour of the store, I spotted a fairly nice selection of cheeses, and added that to my basket.  Knowing that nothing else was going to fit in my pull cart, it was time to wrap it up and check out.  With my one additional bag, I was out the door.

I had passed a gelato shop on my way to the Pines and wanted to treat myself to some ice cream.  I had skipped lunch and was getting way past hungry and working on famished.  I thought this would tide me over until I could get home.  There were only about a dozen flavors to choose from.  I selected something I thought was rather predictable…chocolate.  I took my first lick… man that has a spicy hot kick to it…. surely not the ice cream.  So I took another lick… yes, it is the ice cream.  What on earth have I gotten?  The young lady behind the counter could tell I was confused… but she did not speak any English.  We had done the ole ‘point and nod’ to select it in the first place.  As I looked closely as the card below it, it presented with a British Flag, and under the flag were the words, ‘British Spicy Chocolate’.  Oops!!!  I was committed at that point.  I had already parted with the money.  So I smiled at the ice cream lady and off I went, trying to decide if I liked this taste or not, but very disappointed it was not regular chocolate which I had expected.

I am getting good at hailing taxis… and this evening was no exception.   Loaded up and off to home sweet home with a smile of satisfaction on my face from an amazingly good day in Shanghai.