This Saturday: Snoopy, no-fun parks, and the hunt for Christmas spirit

Though not in that order. After tutoring, I took the bus to Yuyuan, an old part of Shanghai that has been revamped to appeal to tourists. It's done its job, not only with the old-style buildings and charming cobblestone streets, but also with its ridiculously huge market of super, super cheap stuff from sewing supplies to underwear to... Christmas decorations. Now almost a month past when I usually start decorating for the holidays, I figured it was time to at least get a tree up. Forums at shanghaiexpat.com recommended Yuyuan as a place to pick up the goods.

On the walk there, I munched on a street-stall green onion pancake and contemplated the rather prohibitive suggestions posted at the entrance to the park. The No Stepping was the hardest to obey.

The Christmas stalls were a bit depressing - like shopping for the holidays at a really crowded dollar store where the price quadruples for foreigners. I managed to find a tree for Y65 after bargaining hard, only to find it for Y45 on the next block. Damn! It's not the $4 I miss, but my pride. Anyway, I felt good for having purchased a little bit of Christmas for my apartment, and was excited all night to come home and decorate (more on that tomorrow).

My friend Tim recently scored a boxed set of every Peanuts cartoon ever committed to DVD, and hosted a Snoopy night - I've always loved Snoopy, and the little movies are hilarious - the humour is so understated, and the animation and the music are fantastic. I don't even know if we got through one of the 20 discs in the set, and I'm secretly hoping Tim will establish some kind of biweekly Peanuts event, though it may end up with just me giggling in front of his TV while his roommates ask him what I'm doing there again.

Photos:
1. How not to use Shanghai parks
2. Renegade steppers
3. A sample of the wares at Yuyuan market
4. One of many Christmas stalls
5. Relaxing with Peanuts