Halloween

Living in an expat neighborhood has is benefits, especially somewhere so far and so different from home!  Last Saturday, Green City, the area we live, hosted a Haunted Carnival for families.  It was not at all like the carnivals back home, but the kids had a good time all the same.  There was a gauntlet of local vendors set up in booths with candy and pamphlets to hand out as soon as you walked in.  The only one that interested me was a local farm that was selling small pumpkins for the kids to draw a face on.  Lily drew a very nice jack-o-lantern face on hers but since the markers didn't show up well I promised her we would paint the pumpkin later. 

A local hair salon was spraying colored hairspray in the kids hair.  Lily wasn't too sure about it, but after watching Charlie sit and get his done she decided she couldn't let him out do her so they both had green hair for the rest of the day!  The big attraction though was the different bounce houses and slides that were set up.  Lily was only too ready to toss off her shoes and jump in.  Charlie decided that it was too crowded with big kids and opted to hang with mom and dad.  We ran into a few of Lily's classmates at the carnival too.  She's always gets so excited when she sees one of her classmates.  She genuinely likes everyone in her class, I've never heard her say a bad word about anyone.  As a mom this make me incredibly proud, although, I think it is her nature more than my wonderful parenting skills.  

There were several craft table set up for the kids, some were free, while others cost a few RMB.  The kids seemed to like the cup spiders and after picking out pipe cleaners Lily used all of her concentration to make her spider's legs.  Charlie seemed happy to watch daddy make his while he picked out what color maker to use for the face. 
Unlike most carnivals in the US there were no rides and very little in the was of "fair" food.  Instead there were about a half dozen local restaurants that were set up under tents selling a limited version of their menus.  I got a very yummy grilled chicken plate from a Turkish place and Lucas got a burger and fries from Hooters of all things.  The kids didn't seem to be too hungry so they both just picked out our food.  Before leaving we picked up some popcorn and silly string for Lily.  Both were long gone before we got home.  

To complete our Halloween weekend we invited Johnny and Christine, co-workers of Lucas's, over to carve pumpkins with us.  The pumpkins here are a light orange color and have green streaks.  They are also usually squat instead of round but the odd pumpkins were not going to stop Lucas who loves Halloween most of all the holidays.  By the time we picked out our pumpkins from the local grocery store, sigh, and had lunch Charlie was ready for his nap so he missed the carving.  Lily came in at the tail end and helped Johnny with his pumpkin. 

While Lily waited with the patience of a five year old for her brother to wake up, Lucas put on a football game for him and Christine.  Christine is here for six months as part of BASF's Professional Development Program, and is missing football so Lucas told her she was welcome to watch with him since he knows I'm not going to.
Charlie finally woke up and the kids painted their pumpkins using every color paint I have.  It's not like our Halloween's back in the US, but it is close enough so that the kids aren't totally missing out.  

Water village & Zoo

For my parents last weekend in Shanghai we took them to Zhujiajiao (jew-ja-jee-ow), an ancient water village an hour outside of Shanghai.  A bit like Venice, these ancient water villages have canals for roadways.  Ironically the canals can become just as cluttered by boats as they highways during rush hour.  You can buy a ride on one of the traditional boats, but the idea of Charlie in one of these low boats made me nervous. 

For me the highlight of the village was the Kehzi Gardens.  Originally part of the private home of the founding family, the gardens were like a beautiful oasis.  There were little Chinese style gazebos and foot bridges that crisscrossed over a small brook that ended in a pond with koi.  In one arched building we came across a woman selling silk needle points, which was a past time for the daughter's of the family.  We got the kids each a small needle point and mom and I both picked out one with a scene of the village.  I will have them framed and will add them to our growing collection of mementos from our little adventures.  After the gardens we explored some more of the village, including two temples, both still in use.  If we ever doubted that our kids were taking in some of the culture we've exposed them to Charlie put that question to rest.  Upon entering the Buddhist temple Charlie went to the prayer bench and with amazing accuracy mimicked worshipers he's seen in the past!

After Charlie finished his prayers we moved on through narrow alleys crowded with vendors selling food and souvenirs.  As with most tourist attractions you can find the same silly souvenirs here as you can at just about any other place in Shanghai.  But, there are some genuine artists and Lucas and I picked up a beautiful wood carving of a dragon and phoenix for our wall.  Dad couldn't seem to get enough of all the different foods available.  I'm sure if language wasn't an issue he would have asked a lot of questions!

On their last full day in Shanghai we took my folks to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park.  Lucas and I have taken the kids before, it's a nice zoo and offers opportunities in interact with the animals that you don't find in zoos in the States.  Lily started her day off with a ride on a zebra, while Charlie and I climbed up on top of an elephant.  He was a bit leery at first but seemed to enjoy it once he got over his initial fear.  Can't blame him, it is a huge animal, and you can only hope that he is in a good mood!

We invited our driver, Chem, to spend the day with us.  The zoo is pretty isolated and it didn't seem fair to leave him sitting in a parking lot while we had a fun day.  The kids loved having Chem with us and kept arguing over who got his attention. 

We got to see the zoo's nursery which we missed last time and the kids seemed to really enjoy seeing the baby animals.  Also in the nursery area was an enclosed aviary, but instead of birds it was filled with ring tailed lemurs.  They mostly just sat and sunned themselves but we all found them to be incredibly entertaining.  Lily managed to get in two more rides, one with me on a camel, and one with Lucas on an elephant.  Charlie got to sit on a miniature horse which he seemed to think was awesome and both kids got to feed the giraffes and kangaroos.  As always the time went by too fast, but, having my folks here for two weeks was wonderful and we had a great time showing them around Shanghai. 

The sights of Shanghai

For my folks first week in Shanghai we saw much of the city.  We took a hop on hop off bus tour of Puxi and saw the Jing'an Temple which was moved to its current location in the 13th century but burned to ruins in 1972 and was reconstructed in the 80's.  We also saw the Jade Buddha Temple which has a sitting and reclining Buddha made entirely of white jade.  Both temples were beautiful and made sitting in traffic on a bus worthwhile. 

One of the other places that my Dad was excited to see was the Yu Garden and Bazaar.  I've never been to either so I was happy to go, I had no idea it was so big!  The bazaar is a huge maze of shops and restaurants in traditional Chinese style buildings.  Attached to the bazaar is a beautiful garden, which we actually didn't have the time to see since it was getting dark.  We did manage to find the Nanjing Steamed Buns, which my Dad had seen on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.  They have two levels, the ground level sells the steamed dumplings out a window and upstairs is a nice sit down restaurant.  They are famous for their large soup filled dumplings that are served with a straw for drinking the soup. Dad was thrilled to get his steamed bun and said it was excellent. 

The bus tour included a cruise along the Hangpu river, so after picking Lily up from school we headed across the river once again to Puxi.  The one hour cruise took us along the Bund and downtown Pudong, and because it was a 5:00 cruise the city lights all came on as we headed back to the dock.  It was a great way to see both sides of the river.  I think Lucas and I may try one of the dinner cruises that they advertised. 

Friday we took the train to Hangzhou for a couple of days and to avoid dealing with taxi drivers we hired a car and driver for our time there.   Our first stop was the Leifeng Pagoda which was recently rebuilt and someone had the brilliant idea to put in an escalator and elevator that takes you to the top of the pagoda and gives you an amazing view of West Lake.  After the pagoda we headed to King Qian's Memorial but instead of seeing the memorial which was closed we took a boat to one of the islands on the lake.  The island has a scenic walk and several shops where you could by the typical Chinese souvenir's.  Mom and Lily got matching bamboo umbrellas and Charlie and I had our picture taken with a cockatoo.  On Saturday we went to the Lingyin Temple which is one of the largest and wealthiest in China and has numerous pagodas and temples.  After taking in the beauty of the Buddha we headed to Qinghefeng pedestrian street for some shopping.  Lucas and I got a Chinese paper cuttings of a famous Hangzhou attraction and a lace umbrella.  After our retail therapy we decided to get in some more culture and went to the Tea Museum.  We learned a bit about the history of tea and got to try four different teas, Oolong, Jasmin, Black, and a local blend.  We also were given directions on how each type of tea should be brewed.  By the time we left we were pretty much done in and we decided to head to the train station a bit early.  With limited food options at the train station we decided to play it safe and had an early dinner at the Burger King, and yes, it tastes exactly the same as it does in the US.  It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad that we were able to spend some time in Hangzhou!

They're here!

After many months of waiting my folks, and our first visitors, are finally here!  We are all super excited to show them around our adopted home over the next two weeks and can only hope that we don't leave them too exhausted by the time they head home.  We're starting with easy excursions to some of the cities highlights, with the Jin Mao Tower being our first stop.  At 88 floors high I don't think there is a better way to see the city!  It gives you an amazing 360 view of downtown Shanghai, including one of the cities most recognizable landmark, the Oriental Pearl Tower.  Mom took the unique opportunity to mail some post cards from the world's highest post office and picked up a Jin Mao magnet to add to her vast collection.  Off to lunch next at South Beauty, a Szechuan place, where Dad got to try authentic Chinese dumplings and according to him the best he's ever had.  That night we took him to a local place for dumplings.  We had Chem, our driver order for us since the menu is all in Chinese and the staff speaks no English.  This is how you know you are in a "real" Chinese restaurant, dinner for the seven of us cost about $15.

Today Lucas had work and Lily school so it was just the four of us.  Charlie has yet another cold with a bad cough so we made a detour to the doctors.  Nothing major, but the doctor did give me some cough medicine for him and an antihistamine to help with the mosquito bites.  With his sensitive skin the bites get swollen and take forever to heal.  Doctor visit done we headed to the AP Plaza market, which is where you can find all kinds of souvenirs, silk robes, purses, watches, jade, and a thousand and one other things you don't need.  Using the Century Square entrance we wandered around for about an hour picking up a bunch of souvenirs, a "Michael Kors" purse for mom, and a new suitcase for dad since the handle on his broke on the trip over.  We headed home for lunch since Ayi was cooking chicken noodle soup.  The Chinese use long spaghetti style noodles and cook a whole chicken in it and use very little seasoning.  It is very simple and very good, perfect since I am still trying to shake off a cold.  Tonight we went to Simply Thai for dinner to celebrate Lucas's promotion which was officially announced today at work.  Lucas is now the Regional New Business Development Manager, bit of a mouthful, but we are all very proud of him!

Lily's Birthday

Saturday we celebrated Liliane's fifth birthday.  It is hard to believe that she is already five and as cliche as it sounds I can't stop myself from asking, where did the time go?  To celebrate I took the kids to the aquarium, which is a favorite of both.  We spent a good hour looking at all the different fish and other animals they have.  Liliane as always kept me on my toes with questions about everything and her own opinions on various topics related to fish.  We had a quick lunch at the aquarium and ice cream too before playing a few games.  Then it was time to call it quits and head home for a nap.

After naps it was time for the birthday girl to open her presents.  Charlie decided to get in on the actions too and after an initial squawk from big sister and a reminder from mom of how much she helped him with his birthday presents the presents were quickly unwrapped.  Lily sends a big thank you to everyone for her presents, which includes a scooter from her Aunties and Granny in Florida.  Not to worry, we bought the safety gear too!  We had dinner at the Blue Frog as per Lily's request, where she ordered a steak for dinner.  I guess she takes after her Papa.  Birthday cake and wishes before it was back home for bed time.

Today we took the kids to the Shanghai Zoo.  This is not the one we went to in the spring and although I'd heard bad things about animals in small cages it wasn't as bad as I'd feared.  It does need improving and the Chinese are terrible about respecting the animals and their habitats but as Lucas pointed out, they have little respect for people too.  The kids had a great time though and loved seeing all the animals.  We grabbed a traditional Chinese lunch... meat on a stick!  We got hotdogs for the kids, and Lucas and I tried pork, chicken, and beef.  We both agreed the pork was the best of the three. 

As with all attractions in Shanghai the zoo has many carnival rides including a huge ferris wheel.  With last nights heavy rains the day was humid and any opportunity to catch a breeze was not going to be missed!  Plus we got some wonderful views of the zoo.  We spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon at the park before Lucas and I agreed it was time to head home, rain was coming.  Not even a minute after getting settled in the car the heavens opened up!  One minute longer and we would have been soaked!  It was a wonderful weekend for sure.  Tomorrow Lucas heads to Hong Kong for two days.  Jealous!

Computer

So, I should begin this with an explanation... our family laptop is in the States with my folks.  We bought it just before our move here and we were starting to have some problems with it.  Naturally we wanted it looked at before we passed the 1 year warranty so we brought it in to Best Buy to be looked at.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't look at it since it is under warranty and told me that they would ship it back to the manufacturer and that it would take 2-4 weeks.  Since my folks are visiting us at the end of Sept we decided it was worth being without our laptop for 6 weeks.  I can check email and surf the net with my iPad, even Skype, Facebook, and blog.  However, it is not exactly easy or convenient to blog and upload pictures to FB or my blog.  So, for this reason my blog will be without pictures for the next few weeks unless I find an easier way to upload them. 

We had a very nice weekend, meeting most of the other North American ex-pats at BASF at a brunch at Baker & Spice.  I met two other moms that are house wives like myself, one has been here for two months, the other for less than 24 hours.  Since both have little girls close in age to Lily I invited them to her birthday party next Friday. 

That night we had hoped to try a Shanghainese restaurant but the address that was listed wasn't right.  I don't know if it has moved locations or if the address was never right but we were left scrambling to find another place to eat that would have something the kids would like.  We finally ended up at a Japanese place and although we ordered chicken wings and french fries for the kids they both preferred my beef with vegetables and rice.  Since both ate a good dinner we treated them to an ice cream from Dairy Queen. 

Today we had brunch with a family we met this summer at the Flying Fox, a popular Western restaurant.  We invited them to Julie's, which is one of our favorite places to get an American style breakfast and a place we don't get to too often.  It was nice to spend a quiet weekend together relaxing with friends. 

Xian

Last weekend we spent a few days in Xian, which is a two hour plane ride north of Shanghai.  This was our first big China trip and we were all very excited to see one of the cities that had once been China's capital.  Through my Shanghai Mama's web forum I'd found a local, english speaking tour guide, Raphael.  Raphael met us at the airport and checked us in at our hotel.  His friend is a manager at the hotel so he not only upgraded our room but gave us it a half the normal rate.  The Bell Tower Hotel, is situated in the city center making it very convient for us to walk around and see some of the cities famous attractions.  Since we flew in on a Friday night and the kids were worn out so we just grabed dinner at the hotel and went to bed early.  Saturday morning we went to the Bell Tower, which is directly across from our hotel, hence it's name.  Because Xian is a huge city and has a lot of traffic there are underground passages to get to the Bell Tower and several other parts of the city center.  The Bell Tower was built in 1384 AD and was used to tell the citizens the time.  We got there in time to watch a musical performance that was played on bells.   

 

Unfortunately it started to rain by the time we left the tower and although I had brought two umbreallas they were not enough and it wasn't long before we were all wet.  From the Bell Tower we walked to the city wall, which now surrounds the city center.  The wall which was fortified in the 14th century is about 11 meters high and between 13-14 meters wide at the top.  The bricks which are all sigined by the person who made them and are made up or a mixture of sticky rice and clay.  I'm not surprised that sticky rice was used, the stuff clings to clothes like nothing else and is a pain to clean up.  You can rent bikes on the wall or walk like we did.  Since the rain didn't seem to be letting up we bought ponchos. 

As someone who loves history seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors was such a thrill for me.  The museum which is an hours drive from the city houses the three pits where the wariors were found, all of which was farm land in the 1970's.  In 1974 it was a farmer who found the warriors.  Digging for a new well he came across a warrior's head.  The governement gave him 30RMB for the land and he now sells books at the museum and signs them for all the tourists.  The warriors which were placed as guards for the first emperor's tomb are all incredibly detailed and each has a different face.  This is a complete army with low ranking soldiers, guards, archers, calvery, and 7 generals.  After seeing all three pits we watched a short movie that explained some of the history around the time that the warriors were created.  Lily seemed enthralled with the story and asked a million questions about the bad guys and good guys and where they were now.  By now the rain had started up again so we headed to the car.  Luckily by the time we got back to the city the rain had let up and we got to see the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and temple, which also has a small museum. 

Monday Raphael took us to see real Xian, his familie's home in the hills.  For generations his family has lived in a cave cut into the mountain and although he lives in the city with his family he still has a lot of family that live in the caves.  The home is very simple, two large rooms, one for sleeping the other a comon living area.  Outside in seperate rooms are the kitchen and bathroom, and yes they have indoor plumbing and electricity.  It was a wonderful way to end our trip to Xian.  I would strongly encourage anyone making the trip to China to put Xian on their must see list.  It's an amazing city!