Chinese New Year

Xīn Nián Kuàilé!

     Chinese Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is celebrated for most of the month of February.  The girls and Chris are off school and work February 9th - 15th.  This is the biggest holiday of the year for the Chinese, and most spend this week with their families.  For many migrant workers, the trip can take them a week of travel each way.  It also may be the only time they see their wives and children all year.  Chris said they expect many of their current workers on the Shanghai Disney construction site will not return after the holiday - this is very common - but a headache for the Disney managers.
     The stores are packed with packaged gifts for people to take back home.  Since there is often long journey, the most popular gifts are individually wrapped candies, nuts and dried fruits.  Yesterday at Carrefore, big boxes of Ferrari-Rocher candy were loaded into carts as fast as the workers could get them on the display.

The store was also filled with lots of traditional and non-traditional decorations for New Year.  Of course I bought some!  We now have a "Double Fish"hanging from our front door - the symbol for ample food and abundance.  Also two hangings of red coin purses, with the symbol of "Fu" or wealth, and strung with gold drums (the sound to ward off bad luck), and gold coins (to bring good luck).  The tradition of giving red envelopes, or "lucky money" to those who have helped you through-out the year shows gratitude.  I am officially going native.

     Shanghai Daily (Expat newspaper) warned of travel congestion during the month of February.  Lots of people on the roads, extra buses running and probably more accidents and traffic.  So we are staying in Shanghai during the break and will possibly do some easy day tours.
     The additional road travel will also cause added air pollution.  Shanghai is known to have poor air quality, and sometimes it is actually hazardous.  We have (4) air purifiers in our house that run all day - one downstairs and one in each bedroom.  Chris has changed the air filters in them and it's pretty disgusting.

Half day tour of Shanghai

The Lambs had a very busy Saturday morning.  We took a tour of the city, with an English speaking guide

Shanghai Cultural Museum
We saw traditional clothing worn by all the different ethnic & regional cultures.  An entire wing of Jade sculpture, gold figures, hand-carved wood furniture and panels. I thought the most interesting was a room depicting the evolution of the Chinese monetary system.  Our guide explained how coin minting was created, and how it evolved into the origin of paper money.

necklace of coral and turquoise 

hand-carved wood and lacquer chair of 9 dragons

hand-carved wood cabinet

Pearl Factory and Showroom

We were given a demonstration of pearl harvesting.  A guide asked Katie to select a fresh water oyster from a tank.  She explained that the fresh water oysters were seeded, but there was no telling how many pearls if any were inside until it was opened.  We watched as she opened the oyster, and were happy to see a pearl!  She then opened a small sea oyster that was 3 years old.  This oyster also had a pearl.  She showed us the difference in appearance, and explained that the sea pearls sometimes were different shades depending on the mineral content of the water.  She also said that pearls that were harvested, but irregular shaped, were ground down and made into face cream! 

Jade Buddha Temple
When entering the courtyard of the Temple, the incense smell is very strong and it is very crowded.  Chinese Lunar New Year will begin in a few weeks, and many people come to the temple to burn incense, and leave offerings for good fortune in the year ahead.  They leave sweets and oranges, and pray to the huge golden Buddhas.  The Jade Buddha is on an upper floor, and we were not allowed to take pictures in that room.  It is a large White Jade Buddha, all carved from a single stone.  Really beautiful and very impressive.  All throughout the temple, there are statues of animals that guard the temple.  If you leave a coin in the mouth of the statue, you can make a wish and it will be granted.  There is a Koi pond that is overflowing with fish.  The fish actually came up to girls to be fed and petted.

 

Snacks

     The snacks here in China reflect the different palate of the Chinese people.  I know that this is the largest market in the world, and US snack companies are trying to get the Chinese as hooked on junk food as we Americans are.  Even some "plain" potato chips taste different than they do back home, less salty.

Numb & Spicy?

 There are lots and lots of European-style cookies available.  Not only because there are many German and Swedish people here (the bulk of the European expats), but also because they are eaten with tea.  The cookie aisles are full of imported cookies in large tins that are given as gifts when visiting other families.  Very few American cookie brands, I've seen Oreos and Pepperidge Farm brands only.

Happy New Year!

      It is very wet and cold this week.  The high this week is 40 degrees.  Overcast and drizzly, no snow but no sun either. The girls are still home from school this week and all they want to do is stay in their pajamas all day.  Funny, but that's all I want to do too.

      Last week we visited the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.  Lots of interactive exhibits for the kids.  They both played ping pong with a machine that kept returning their balls.
      I loved a "plastique" creatures of the deep display.  It was an entire wing of sharks, rays, whales, etc that were dead, but embalmed in plastic.  They were partially dissected so we could see inside the stomach and skeleton of the animal.  We saw the inside of a shark, and all it's babies inside it's stomach.  Gross and cool at the same time.
      The best part was the indoor rainforest. Once we entered, we hiked up a hill and there are waterfalls, lots of foliage (real and fake), and hidden snakes (fake).  We commented on how this would never open in the states because OSHA would insist that the steps were too moist and slippery and there would have to be hand rails and handicap access.  Chris commented on the good rock-work.
      There was also a "disney-like" dark ride through the body's digestive system.  We rode in a slow-moving car on a track, and began at the mouth (literally, with teeth and everything), slid down the throat, and into the stomach.  There we watched smiling bacteria churn and bubble.  Did I mention this ride was in 3D?  We then went into the intestines, and occasionally an animatronic (lame) figure would slowly pop out of the corners and try to scare us.  The final stop of the ride was in the bowels where there was lots of action.  A cartoon character explained what was happening, all the while holding his nose (I get it).  I had to assume this was the breakdown of the waste matter -- forgive me, the whole thing was in Mandarin.  Then in the end (heh, heh), the characters fling balls of poo at the riders in the car.  The final screen shot is a cartoon of the rectum spewing in 3D.  EEeeewww.  Of course the kids thought that was the best part.
      There is a brand new high-speed train that goes from Shanghai to Beijing in 8 hours.  The train opened the day after Christmas.  There was an engineering display of the train in the museum, and tracks that run all through the bottom floor.

Emily

Katie

Buddy's blog

Why do people here insist on treating dogs like..,er,..dogs?  I am part of the family!

Things I will never do:
1.  Wear shoes
2.  Color my hair - have some pride, please..
3.  Beg for anything - pizza does not count
4.  Wear anything called an "outfit"

Things I will always do:
1.  Eat all my food in one gulp
2.  Drool water from my bowl
3.  Bark at the mailman - my job
4.  Smell everything

Shoes and standing?

this is abuse

Ugh

I had to go to the vet the other day.  She who is called "Mom" thinks I might have a bladder infection.  Don't ask me where I got it.  Heh, heh.  So I been pee-ing a lot - what's the problem?  Just making my mark if you know what I mean.  But it's a drag that I have to go outside to pee in the mud - it's been raining a lot lately.  I like the paw art I make when I come back in though - I didn't realize I was so artistic - hidden talents rise to the surface.
      Anyway, going to the Vet is the worst.  First they had to take my temperature - that is just messed up.  If you knew where they took it, you would shake your head with pity.  They had to hold me down for that one.  Don't like being violated, no sir, ..er dog.
      There is a pet store next to the Vet that "Mom's" puppies Emily and Katie hung out in.  There were dogs there for the girls to pet.  These Chinese dogs have no pride.  Lots of begging, and yipping and generally doing anything to get the girls' attention.  Shameful.
      Now these girls are asking for a new dog!  What's up with dat!  Imma gonna put my paw down, and say NO more.  The one that smells like pencil led and toothpaste, Emily is going on and on about how they are cute, and cuddly.  What am I - fog?  Does she think I'm not listening?  Then the one that smells like candy and peanut butter, Katie even said she wanted a kitten!  A KITTEN!  Revolting.
       This is a one pet family.  It could get ugly.  Grrr.

masterpiece

check it

Holiday Vacation

      Emily and Katie have been out of school since Thursday, December 20th, and Chris has taken the week off.  On Friday, we made dumplings at our friends' the Jost's.  It was the night of Winter Solstice, and it is traditional to eat dumplings that night.  The girls were into it, and although the dumplings may not have been pretty, they were still tasty.

dumplings!

      We had a great Christmas, but very different from Christmas back in Pasadena.  We decided to come up with "new" traditions while we are here in China.  So on Christmas Eve, Katie got to pick what we have for dinner: Mexican Food.  It was actually very good.  Not as good as El Super Burrito on Colorado Blvd., but the best we've had in Shanghai.
       Christmas morning, we opened gifts (thanks to Nana & Papa, and Grandma, Jichan & Uncle Charlie!), and had sweet rolls for breakfast.
       On Christmas night, we went to see the Chinese Acrobats Show.  It was really great, like Cirque de Soleil, but less magical, and more acrobatic.  Less European and more Chinese - does that make sense?  The girls loved the show, and watched a lot of it peering through parted fingers.
       Today, Chris and Emily both had hair cuts.  The hairdresser shampoos your hair in the chair by piling it up with lather.  Also, Emily had her first manicure - very cool.  Later, we went to Tom's World at Super Brand Mall (like Chuck E. Cheese without the pizza).  Katie was sitting at a game where you lower a crane and it tries to pick-up a stuffed animal.  Chris said he could picture her in 20years at a slot machine in Vegas with a bucket of quarters and a gin & tonic.

I love tokens!

Slot machines are in my future

Shampoo?

Fancy!

Things that are hard to find:
1.    Canned beef stock - hard to make a stew without it.
2.    Fresh tortillas - usually they are frozen, and sometimes stale.
3.    Craft supplies
4.    Planting soil

Things that are easy to find:
1.    Variety of really great oranges:  tangerines, pomelo, mandarins, all kinds  
2.    Good fake Uggs boots - $15 USD for really good looking fakes
3.    Lots of things with Disney / Mickey logos - shirts, mugs, purses, anything you can imagine.  All unlicensed, but hey, it's free advertising.

Thoughts on Shanghai...

      I think it'll take about a full year until we really feel like we have this Shanghai thing down.  Right now the weather is really cold, and we are so not used to it!  It may actually snow on Sunday morning.  This week it has been rainy - not heavy, but constant.  And when it's not raining, it's still very cold.  It will rain and be gloomy for the next few months, with January and February being the coldest months of the year.
      Our floor heater is working now, and it is very hot!  The heater gauge for each room goes from zero to 35, and I keep it under 10.  Sometimes the room so warm, that I have to open a window.  I've heard from people that if you keep the downstairs heat on, you may not have to turn on the upstairs.  That is what we are trying right now.  But it is nice to have warm floors in the bathrooms when we wake up in the morning - very toasty!
      We had some trees and hedges trimmed in our small back yard.  A gardener came first with a pair of hand clippers and hedge trimmers.  I told him that there was also a large tree in the back yard that was dead, and asked if he could remove it.  This lead to a conference of sorts.  He didn't really understand what I was asking, in my beginning Mandarin, so we had to call Marie.  Marie is our "butler", basically a person who works here with the Seasons Villas Property Management that is assigned to help me.  She is great and speaks very good English.  She had the head landscaper come out, and he agreed the tree was dead and authorized it's removal.
       Suddenly, 4 men showed-up to take care of business.  They brought a very rickety old ladder - looked like it was made by twining together boards and slats, and a bicycle with a flat trailer hooked to the rear.  They cut the tree branches from up on the ladder, but removed the tree trunk with a small hand-held saw.  The rake they used to clear the leaves looked like it had been handed down several generations.  It was held together with wrapped coat hangers.  So these men worked very, very hard and very, very quickly with poor tools and bare hands.
      This is such an example of China.  The people don't make their own decisions, they don't go outside the box and they do what they are told, but nothing more.  Maybe this is due to generations of following the status quo, and the population is not encouraged to take risks.  But once a job is assigned, they work harder, and faster than anyone else.  And there is no complaining, just perseverance.
      It's easy to admire the simple lives a lot of people have, until you realize they are stuck in poverty.  They live better than the previous generation, so they are proud and feel blessed.  Their children, the next generation of young Chinese are really the ones that will impact the world.  They are modern and educated and driven.  But they are still very close to their families, and very connected to their towns and villages.