Getting ready for Halloween

We brought some Halloween decorations with us, but I honestly thought we would be able to get more here.  I mean, it is all made here.  The girls and I decorated a little and we have a few small pumpkins.  Large carving pumpkins are very, very hard to find.  And are too heavy to lug home in a taxi or subway.  Halloween is a new thing out here to most Chinese.  But the younger people (teens, young adults) seem to be excited about it.  I saw some people in their twenties trying on hats and looking at masks at Carrefore, and they were laughing and joking around.  Even many of the European Moms I spoke with said Halloween is not such a big event back home.  Maybe it's mostly an American tradition.  This is when I miss living on Grand Oaks - sigh.  Halloween was always so much fun in the neighborhood.

FAILS
1.    Buying imported makeup.  I really needed a new blush.  Clinique blush in the US is $20 -$24 each. Here is it $45.00!  I had not idea the price when I chose it, but it would be cheaper for me to have it sent from the US.
2.    This is a really hard Mandarin lesson:  Shì (am), Sì (4), Shí (10) !!  The accent and tone of words when spoken make all the difference.  The classes are very challenging, and worst of all, the kids are better at Mandarin than I am.  They correct my accent all the time.
3.    We are on the third person to come out and try to fix our super low water pressure in the back yard.  I have a hose on the faucet, but the water is a light trickle at best.  This is how things oftentimes are here.  It takes about 3-4 different people to come out and even agree there is a problem before anyone can fix it.
4.    The hair color I bought made my hair kinda purple-ly.

SUCCESS
1.    Chris bought the girls new bikes last weekend.  Katie, who was always afraid to ride back home, was so happy she rode and rode with her Daddy.  Emily is already talking about riding her bike to the bus stop for school.
2.    Went to see Jeri (plant lady) at her shop.  Ordered lots of house and garden plants.  She potted them, and delivered them that same afternoon.  She also planted some outdoor plants for me, and gave me some good advice about gardening in China.
3.    Made a big pot of Chili with Beans Sunday night.  We had it with cheese, onions and tortilla chips.  It was a cold night, and it was just what we needed.

Buddy's blog

I'm still here...

Trying to figure out this China place.  Everything here is loud.  Streets are loud, machines are loud and the people are loud.  don't get me started on the taxis.  The other night there were bombs going off in the sky - I was told by the poodle princess next door that they were "fireworks" and they were invented in China.  Whatevah miss know-it-all.  She also said that China is the birthplace of all dogs.  I'm cool with that.

Had my first bath in Shanghai yesterday at Mignon Dog Boutique.  It was more than alright, I came outta there fresh as a pee-d on daisy.  They even used the furminator on me, and my hair is super soft.  I know I look good cuz when I walk down the street people stare.  Sometimes they can't stand it and have to step away from me like they're scared.  Seems like most of the dogs I see are all small, yippy-yappy dogs.  She who is called MOM says that "it is very trendy in Shanghai to have a small, precious lap dog" and "some people are afraid of big dogs".  Talk about a miss know-it-all.

R U kidding me?

I'm official now - got my Chinese dog license cards.  Could the dogs on the cards be any more annoying?  They look sooo fake.  Bows?  Really?  Makes me want to growl.

I'm gonna show people what a real dog is like.  I should go around Shanghai and strut my full doggy-ness.  Let it flow, right?

 If I can only figure out how to ride a bike...

Eating baked goods...

There are lots and lots of really good bakeries here in Shanghai.  They are French-Japanese style, and have great croissants and red-bean mochi.  They all all similar that they have pastries displayed in clear plastic cases, and all self-serve.  Customers take a small plastic tray, line it with pre-cuts wax paper sheets.  Then take clean plastic tongs, and put the items you want on the tray.  When you've made your selection, you take the tray to the counter and your order is rung-up and bagged.
I walked over to Thumb Plaza (shopping center, outside mall), and also checked-out Layas Plaza (luxury mall) across the street.  Between these two shopping areas, there were (5) bakeries, all the same style - mostly interchangeable.

BreadTalk
This was the best one ever - Japanese sweet beans, and melted mochi inside a toasted sesame roll, served warm out of the oven.  Lots of cute cakes and pastries too.

Pizza rolls, raisin rolls and pumpkin seed

WS Cake & Coffee

These were mostly French pastries, except they had Floss rolls.  They are covered by what looks like flaky, cotton candy.  It's actually dried meat, like a very dry jerky, that has been finely shaved.  They have them at all the pastry shops and even sell containers of floss to take home.

Q&T Cafe
Very Japanese-style.  Lots of creme filled pastries and custard cakes.  Best Cafe Au Lait I've had since arriving.  

Ichido Cafe
These are all over Shanghai, Japanese pastry shops.  They have one back home in Little Tokyo too.

Paris Baguette
These shops are also all over Shanghai, and I think there is a Paris Baguette in Monterey Park or Alhambra as well.  This was the biggest shop by far, and they also make sandwiches for lunch.  

lots of bread rolls with hot dogs in them

curry donut

The Lamb girls

United Nations International Day of Peace   Thursday, September 27th

Today the International school is celebrating the UN day of Peace.  There is an assembly at school, followed by a parade.  Emily and Katie will walk with the USA section and are really excited.  The UN day of peace celebrates diversity and also tolerance.  They made hair bands and beads for their hair, and dressed in red, white and blue.  Shanghai Community International School is about a third North American, a third Asian and a third European.  The largest groups at the parade were from Korea, the Netherlands and the US.  They all wore their country colors and held signs and flags.  The parents in the audience were all tearing up - I know I was.  The families all bring food representing their country for a pot luck afterwards.  The Germany table had mini sausages and kugel, the Italy table had pasta and bread with Nutella, the Japan table had sushi and soba, and the France table have pastries and french cheeses.  I brought PB&J and Ham&American Cheese sandwiches to the USA table.  At least I didn't bring McDonald's.

Late Autumn Festival    October 1st - 6th

Most businesses are closed and local chinese workers take advantage of the week off to return home to their villages.  On the flip side, people from the villages come into the city to tour and shop.  This is the time of year that moon cakes are eaten and given as gifts.  Moon cakes are round pastries with sweet or savory fillings.  The most expensive moon cakes are baked in molds with really intricate designs.  Moon cakes are sold everywhere - stacked floor-to-ceiling.  They are sold at markets, tea shops and even Starbucks.  Disney moon cakes have a Mickey on them.

SUCCESSES
1.  We have been eating lots of different things and I've been experimenting with foods I've never made.  The markets are filled with fruit and vegetables that I had never seen before, lots brought in from local farms and Southeast Asia.  The girls have been eating lots of Asian pear from Korea - much sweeter than we get back home.  And Chris likes the Pomelo that is sold already sectioned.
2.   Think I found my bacon!  It looks more like pancetta, but the flavor is very Farmer John.  Made it this morning and the girls loved it.  Ahhh...bacon-y.

Winter Dates - I think they're like crabapples

Pomelo sections

Asian pear - about as big as a small melon

FAILS

1.   Ordered two bean bag chairs for the girls' room.  They arrived and are HUGE - almost the size of a twin mattress-, rectangular and flat. They look like gigantic versions of the ones we used as kids for bean bags toss games.  The material they are wrapped in is the same as our pool cover back home - hard and stiff.  I can either send them back or Buddy will have a new bed.

Monster bean bag chairs,..er, mats?

Seriously big

2.   Lots of things in our home have remote controls - the lights, AC, TV, etc.  But all the remotes are only in Chinese.  I'm getting it little-by-little.  We have an iPhone app that helps, but not always. 

washing machine

TV remote

Not sure what this is about

The weather this week has been very nice.  Cool, in the mid - high 70's.  Humid still, but not as bad as it's been.  I'm told it is like this until the beginning of November, then it will be cold for months.  We are anxiously waiting for our ocean shipment.  It's here in China, and it needs to clear customs.  The ocean shipment has everything that we were not able to bring in our suitcases.  All of our paintings, pictures, books, as well as my kitchen items and extra towels, sheets etc.  I don't think our place here will feel home-y until we get it.  The kids want their craft bins and toys.  And Chris' drums and his bike are in that shipment.

Will update again in a few days.  I have been taking lots of pictures.  Buddy has been working on something too,...a dog blog?  hmmm...

What I miss and don't miss....

THINGS I DON'T MISS

1.   Cleaning my own bathrooms.  In China, everyone has an "Ayi" which translated means "auntie".  An Ayi is a housecleaner, nanny, helper, whatever you want.  I just started having an Ayi, and she comes twice a week and cleans the floors, bathrooms, etc.  For less than $5.00/hr and she is here for 4 hours.  Some people have full-time Ayis, but ours is part-time.
2.   Crime.  There really is very, very little violent crime in Shanghai.  You can walk at night and be very safe.  The only crime here tends to be shop-lifting, pick-pocketing.  People have their iPhones stolen a lot here.
3.   Airplanes.  There are no airplanes or helicopters allowed overhead.  Planes must fly around China or directly into the airport.  So you never hear any planes overhead.


THINGS I MISS

1.   Bacon.  With all the pork products here, I cannot find regular breakfast, salty, smoked, delicious, heavenly bacon.  I find Canadian bacon, and a sort of formed pork pseudo-wannabe bacon.  But no real bacon.
2.   Good paper products.  Toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins, tissues.  The paper products in China are not as cushy, fluffy and soft as in the US.  Kinda thin and coarse - ouch.
3.   Driving my own car!!!   The taxis are plentiful, but the nearest subway stop from us is about 20 minutes walk.  Non-chinese are not allowed to have drivers' licenses because they can't speak Mandarin or read the signs.  I wouldn't want to drive here anyway - very scary on the roads.  But still I really miss having the independence of my own car.
4.   Trader Joe's.  Sigh.
5.   And of course, friends and neighbors.

IKEA in Shanghai

Sunday morning we went to IKEA.  IKEA is one of the fastest growing companies in China.  The Chinese mostly live in small, cramped apartments so all the space-saving and organizing tools seem to be a big hit.  Besides, most of the items are made here anyway.  I think it might even be less expensive than in the US.
We spent the equivalent of $160.00 and came home with tons of items for the house.  There was also soft serve ice cream for 1rmb each - I think this is about 16cents.  We had lunch in the cafeteria.  Yes, they had swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, but we also had beef stew with rice, and there were stir-fried mushrooms in oyster sauce, and fantastic BBQ chicken wings.

I was told by Vivian (our relocation specialist with APP) that weekends at IKEA were very, very crowded.  And that you would see people using the IKEA showrooms as places to spend the day.  She was right on both counts.  The beds were mostly all un-made because people had been in and out of the covers.  Kids playing in the kids room displays, and people laying down on couches.  I've seen some of this in the US, but it's usually just to "check-it-out" not to camp out.  Vivian told me it's worse on days that are very hot and people will stay at IKEA for the day.

Relaxin'

Just like home... 

zzzzzzzz

Moving in

Wonder if they buy anything?

Buddy's blog.....

What's up canine compadres?

Yo

I've been hanging with my humans, the Lambs.  They're cool.  But they put me in a big crate and sent me on a long trip in a plane.  Burn.  Hated it.

Now I'm expected to pee in a new area that has barely been marked - I gotta get on that.  Lots of awesome new smells though.  One of my humans, the one they call "mom" keeps telling me to settle down - I am settling crazee lady - she just don't know what I been through.

So I heard that I am in China - where the hecka is that.  Now I'm seriously gonna lose my mind.  The little black poodle next door even told me that they eat dogs here.  She can't be right - I mean that's cannibalism - she's just a dumb foreigner.  She smells like cat anyway.

What's a dog to do?  Just keep smiling, wagging, and will make my move when no one is looking.....

Whatevah..

Hot Dog