Xi Nian Kuaile, Happy Year of the Lamb!

     Chinese New Year celebration is in full swing here.  The girls have a school assembly on Friday, and are off for a week.  Chris has had several work parties.  I know I have mentioned it before but Chinese New Year is a very big deal.  This is the longest vacation many Chinese take all year, and they save and look forward to it. Traditionally, this is the time people return to their hometowns and visit family and friends.  The week before Chinese New Year is the largest migration of people in the world.  Every year there are stories of hoards and hoards of people in train stations, airports and bus terminals.
      Some people travel for days to get to their destination.  It is a custom to bring food and gifts to your family, so there are lots of packaged food and dried meats for sale.  Say, if you are meeting your boyfriend's family, you should bring whisky and a carton of cigarettes to the father.  If you are meeting your girlfriend's mother, you should bring her a box of chocolates or dried sausages or duck.  Everything should be in gold or red packaging for good luck.  There is a lot of pressure for young people to show up with a boyfriend or girlfriend.  If you don't, the entire family will spend the holiday questioning you, and trying to seek out someone else in the village to make a match.  There is always a story on the internet about someone who "rents" a boyfriend or girlfriend to bring home.  They just don't want to hear it and they know it's coming.

sausage, pork, fish

hanging outside on Liushan Lu

Emily and I went to YuYuan Garden yesterday.  So many Chinese New Year items!  We were looking for the fabric market that was nearby, Emily wanted to buy some yarn.  The area was full of stalls and shops that sold only one thing per store.  There was a rubber band store, a shoe insole store and nylon knee-hi store.  We finally found the yarn store.  Oddly enough, the yarn store also sold slippers.  

lots of yarn, and bags of slippers 

rubber bands only

I thought these were noodles at first

sorry, we only sell toilet seat covers

only insoles

only knee-hi stockings

And of course, lots of Chinese New Year decorations.  And lots of customary red envelopes to give out to those who helped you this year: the ayi, doorman, driver, etc.  If the new year is the same Chinese animal as the year you were born, than it is considered your "golden" year.  This means it can be momentous for you, in either good or bad ways.  To protect yourself, you need to wear red undergarments all year.  Really. 

hong bao - red envelope

year of the lamb

inside crowded

outside still crowded

only underwear

Things I saw this week in Shanghai

     In the last year or so, there have been attacks by separatist Uygurs aimed at the Chinese government.  The Uygurs are natives in the Xinjiang region of China, the furthest Northwest of the country.  They are bordered by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.  Many of the Uygurs do not consider themselves to be part of China, and have maintained their own language and culture.  China considers Xinjiang to be part of China, and have enforced Mandarin as the official language, and Chinese government rule.  The Uygur fighters have a history of being great horsemen and great swordsmen.  Sort of like in the old Sinbad or Aladdin movies.  So when the Uygurs launch a terrorist attack, often it is with knives.  There was an attack on a busy rail station last year, and many people were killed in random knifings.  Really terrible.  So now, there are restrictions on knife purchases at the large grocery / department stores.  But if you go to a high-end expat market, you can buy knives without any problem.  I guess the government doesn't feel the foreigners are a risk

There are two kinds of toilets in many Chinese restrooms.  

Street maintenance workers make their own brooms.

These celebrities are huge in China.
 

Avril Lavigne

Beckham

Shaq

Family Reunion in Florida & returning to Shanghai

     We took our yearly home leave in December 2014.  We flew to Florida to visit Chris' parents Gloria & Reg, and had a full Lamb family reunion.  Chris' sister Robin and her family joined us and it was  the first time we have all been together since our wedding.
     Spending time with Chris' niece and nephew was such a treat - they are both such nice young people, not kids anymore.  Emily and Katie loved being around them both.  Although we live in Shanghai and haven't seen everyone in such a long time, it's nice feeling the welcome only family can bring.  It made us both realize how much we miss everyone, and also how much we actually like being around our families.

Emily & Nana

 Nana & Papa drove the girls around their compound one afternoon.  They saw this alligator in the pond.  Not something we see in Shanghai!

Florida gator

And of course, there was a trip to Universal Studios and  Disney World.  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was really impressive, the best things at Universal by far.  We met up Chris' sister Robin and her family there as well.

The Wizarding World

Jelly beans 

Calling the Ministry of Magic

Gringott's

We were also able to spend a short two days in California, before finally heading back to Shanghai.  We toured schools (4 in one morning!), and had dinner with the Hayashi side of the family.  The highlight was seeing our neighborhood friends the final night we were in the US.  Everyone made us feel so warm and welcomed.

Peter looks good with a beard!

Me & Maria!

The next morning, we were on a long flight back to Shanghai.

 
   I have been warned by people who have returned home after long stays overseas that the transition back to the US is harder than expected.  Some families return feeling like they don't belong in their old place anymore, and they don't fit in.   But I feel really good about it.  I can't wait to be back in Pasadena and get re-acquainted with the city and get involved in the community.  We are only in Shanghai for seven months more, and after May it will all be about getting ready to come home.   Although being here has been great in so, so many ways, after this last trip back I am feeling homesick.  We are starting our countdown!

Visiting Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea

     I have been told that the Tokyo Disney parks were hands-down the most impressive, and I gotta say I know why.  Tokyo Disneyland is over 30 years old and looks like it opened yesterday.  Tokyo DisneySea is the most expensive theme park ever built anywhere and it shows.  If you have unending resources to make everything as perfect as possible, then you get Tokyo Disney Sea.  We came mid-October, and the park was decorated for Halloween.  Lots and lots of guests come in costume (which they do all year round), they coordinate their outfits, and really put time into matching looks, hair, accessories, etc.   I understand that it's an even bigger costume party on Halloween itself.  Chris said some guests' costumes outdo the Disney characters themselves.  In Japan, going to the Disney parks is serious business.  

     Tokyo Disney sea has different "lands": Mysterious Island, American Waterfront, Arabian Coast, Mermaid Lagoon, Lost River & Port Discovery.  

Disney Sea fountain

Halloween decor lamps

At the entrance a coffin & ghost carriage

hand-holds on the shuttle

Arabian coast & Mysterious Island

gondola

our singing gondolier was quite good

The Winnie-the-Pooh ride was really impressive.  I thought it was going to be too "baby" for the girls, but I was wrong.  The queue line is takes guests through the pages of the book, and the ride itself was really charming and whimsical.  Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull and Voyage to the Center of the Earth are the two big e-ticket rides here.  Everything was so well done, and completely detailed.  

Inside Ariel's grotto

Katie watch out!

Duffy the Disney Bear is a thing here.  The story goes that Mickey Mouse was going on an ocean voyage, and Minnie gave him a stuffed bear named Duffy to keep him company.  Somehow (Disney?) Duffy came to life, and now has his own adventures.  Duffy has a stage show here that explains who he is and also introduces his friend Gelatoni who is a painter and a cat.  This all seemed like marketing to me, ways to get people to buy more merchandise, etc.  But both Duffy and Gelatoni are so big here they have their own stores, including lots of different costumes to dress them in.  All the children and young women we saw had Duffy or Gelatoni doll with them.  Really.  They did.  Since I only can handle Katie buying a few outfits (!) for her Duffy and Gelatoni, she made their Halloween costumes on her own.  

Duffys, Duffys, Duffys

Window outside the shop

And of course we had lots of fun eats.  Toy-story themed mochi filled with chocolate and vanilla cream are very popular.  People here have no problem waiting in-line for different flavors of popcorn and dumplings, as well as hot dogs and ice cream.  We snacked a lot, but had a nice sit-down dinner at the Blue Bayou.

Toy Story mochi

Roast Chicken

Kids' Burger

Lobster

 Who knows if we will ever have a chance to come back to Tokyo, but it was such a memorable experience.  I think this trip will be a highlight of all the time we spend in Asia.  Maybe out next relocation for Disney will be in Japan?!  Fingers crossed…