CLAIRE IN SHANGHAI

People In My Neighbourhood: wanna buy a cricket?

2010-11-21T20:44:00.000+08:00

If you were an old man in China, you might wander up to Wuyi Lu (three blocks away) to check out the cricket vendor's latest offerings. For anywhere from 1 RMB (17 cents), you can own a tiny pet that you keep in a tiny box designed specifically for crickets. You can feed your cricket leaves, bring it out for a cricket walk around the neighbourhood in the morning (still in its box, sadly, not on a tiny leash), and, on Saturdays, you can bring it to a local market for the weekly cricket fights, in which one cricket emerges victorious, having ripped the limbs from all other crickets.

Finding this cricket stand explained why one of my neighbours' blue toque always seems to be cheeping. He keeps his cricket and its cage tucked into the brim.

I dream of purchasing my own cricket and training it to play Debussy, a la Chester in The Cricket in Times Square. But what should I NAME it? Prize for the best cricket moniker.

The only way to eat French toast

2010-11-04T20:07:00.001+08:00

People, I've invented something wonderful. You know when you crave French toast 'cause it's comforting and also reasonably protein-rich, but you also crave reading time, 'cause it's comforting and you've recently overdone it with America's Next Top Model?

Well.

Gone are the days when your reading is interrupted by toast-cutting, and syrup gets all over your fork when you flip the page. Behold: the French Toast Stick. Simply stack yo' toast and hack it into strips. Pour maple syrup into a wee dipping bowl, and SHAZAM! You're ready to read and dip, read and dip. You can even work the couch into the equation. At the end, you're full of comfort food for your tummy AND your brain. Now, that's just efficient.

My powdered sugar went moldy, but just use your imagination.

Melissa visited!

2010-11-01T20:06:00.000+08:00

Before last week, the last time I'd seen Melissa was when I was about twelve. We went to Sunday School together at the wonderful Garneau United Church in Edmonton, the most welcoming and diverse church community I've ever known, and where Grandma played the organ.
So. When Grandma and Melissa's mom discovered we're both living in China, we all made short work of planning for Melissa to come up from Macau - I'll go down there when it's time for a visa run in a few months. It was a reunion with funness of epic proportions, and between reminisces of hymnals and Christmas pageants, we tore up the town. Art supply shopping, gallery browsing, Bund strolling, Expo adventuring, dignitary meeting, fancy dinner eating, wine sipping, trendy bar going* - two days? No problem.

Highlights included:

Me getting attacked by a Japanese toilet in a very fancy art gallery (I admit I shouldn't have pressed all those buttons)

Skipping the four-hour line to the French Expo Pavilion by flashing our Canadian passports and walking haughtily through the VIP entrance

Narrowly missing being lit on fire along with the bar at Bar Rouge - those bartenders are showy buggers

Thanks for the good times, Melissa! Can't wait to hit the slots in Macau. Just kidding, Grandma.

*Cute stuff in the mail to whoever can tell me where the heck I should put dashes in that sentence.

Oh haiii, Pearl Tower

Let the Expo shenanigans begin! That's the China pavilion behind us.


Sip You were saying, Minister?


Expo is culture-sensitive.

There is a Hershey's store. And they have Reese's. EEE!!! *Wiping chocolate peanut butter off face*

Vino at Glamour Bar - a definite thighlight

Rainy Saturday bliss: a simple equation

2010-10-23T21:50:00.000+08:00


Toaster oven-scale roast chicken and veg

Gravy, obviously

Tiny bread pudding

Shanglows

2010-10-22T22:56:00.000+08:00

You know when it's tough to live in Shanghai? When you wake up needing the kind of day where you quietly go about your tasks, listening to your iPod and, should you feel ambitious enough to cook, reflecting about what you might make for dinner later.

It's all fine if you can spend the day at home watching Seasons 1-5 of Project Runway. (Oh, it's happened.) But when you have stuff to do, there's just no way to do it without getting sucked in by the city's frantic pace. I'm talking about an end-of-the-conveyer-belt-into-the-slaughterhouse kind of atmosphere. There's noise. There are people. There are people's elbows.

Here are the two things that put me over the edge, and by "over," I mean, "in need of," and by "the edge," I mean "an ice cream cone to bring me down":

1. Yup, I speak Chinese. I went shopping for Christmas wrapping paper down on Fuzhou Lu.

ME: [in Mandarin] Hi, how much is this coloured crepe paper?
VENDOR: Three kuai [RMB].
ME: Oh... hmm - [about to explain that I usually buy it for one kuai - which is true - but will offer him one-fifty]
VENDOR: [to other salesperson]: Stupid foreigners. You can charge them anything.
ME: I can understand everything you're saying.
VENDOR: [ignoring me and holding up three fingers. In English:] TREE! TREEEE!
ME: [still in Mandarin] Forget it.

2. Um... thank you? I took my usual Line 2 back home, crushed against a pole by the rush-hour crowd. These women were so intimately close to my body that when they spoke, I could feel the condensation from their breath on my neck.

WOMAN 1: This foreigner's scarf is a strange colour. [It's mustardy yellow]
WOMAN 2: Yes. It makes her skin look worse.
WOMAN 1: But she is nice and pale.

Let it be known that Baskin Robbins' Cookies 'n' Cream ice cream is as effective a sedative as any. And now, back to Project Runway.

People In My Neighbourhood: the seafood family

2010-10-19T21:04:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite neighbourhood shops is the very small seafood store close to where I tutor on Tuesday nights. The family who owns it always smiles and says "Nihao!" as I approach, and then "The foreigner again" when I'm walking away. But in a friendly way.

Of course, business demands that they do horrible, murderous things to fish, meaning that you really have to watch your step as you pass. But October is hairy crab season in Shanghai, so today all hands were on deck for less gory work - plucking wee crabs from a cooler and swaddling their little legs to their bodies with long blades of grass. As per usual, this was all happening on the sidewalk in front of the store.

Hairy crabs are found in the lakes and rivers around Shanghai, and are a major delicacy. According to my Shanghainese cousins, crab season is a big deal because it's an opportunity for wealthy businesspeople to gain face by treating each other to crab feasts at exorbitantly pricey restaurants. I've tried them. They're super-yummy, though the crab smell lingers on you for at least a day, even if you exfoliate three times. I've always wondered if this eau de crab also has caché in the business community.

Nooooo! *flailflailflail*

Oh. Okay. (Apparently, they keep the grass long so it's easy to pluck them out of the steamer.)

The dad explained that they wear gloves so the pinches hurt less. Ouch.

Their little boy kept jumping in front of the camera, and then darting around to see the photo on the LCD screen.

Canada FLASHBACK!: (Part 2 of 4: Edmonton)

2010-10-14T12:13:00.000+08:00

Edmonton is my hometown. Now that I live all far away, every visit becomes an insane mash-up of past, present, and future as I:

dash around to all my old favourite places
to see the loved ones that I'm keeping in touch with
AND buy all the stuff I'll need during the coming year but can't buy in Shanghai for less than the price of my first-born child

At best, the situation looks like:

//
ME: Oh hi, [dear friend/family member]! ...A macaron? At Duchess bakery? Yes, let's meet there, and maybe after we've had a leisurely coffee, we can browse the racks at Value Village for vintage treasures.

ME & DF/FM: [Companionably] Yay!
//

And at worst, something like:

//

ME: Hi, [dear friend/family member]? Just stopped at a red light - I'm on my way - just have to stop at London Drugs / Superstore / Zellers / Mountain Equipment Co-op for non-sketchy vitamins / wholesale cases of Cheerios / 100-percent cotton socks / BPA-free water bottles. Augh! I have to apply for my China visa! Totally forgot! Augh! [Cars honking as I attempt U-turn] ... I might be late for dinner...

DF/FM: *sigh*
//

But this time, I had FOUR WEEKS in Edmonton. Embarrassing riches of time rained down upon my head!* So it was relaxed, and I didn't do one single U-turn. Hazzah!

Mom and Aunt Alison (2nd and 5th of six sisters) catch up at the Farmer's Market.

Grandma and I hit Jasper for some hiking.

... then we got wasted. KID-ding! (Those glasses of beer are smaller than they look.)

Carla, Nick, and I do a quality-check on the coffee at Transcend. Yup. It's perfect.

A Tarty Party: industrial design classmates Jeff and Sergio and I baked shells; guests brought fillings. It was super-fun and we want to do another one next summer, but the working title ("Summer 2011: Let's Get Re-Tarted") is a little insensitive. Suggestions welcomed.

*Quote shout-out to Uncle David, who always has the best one-liners.

The many (smiley) faces of national pride

2010-10-10T20:00:00.003+08:00

Now that the week-long holiday celebrating the PRC's 61st anniversary is over, I guess they'll take down all the national flags lining the major thoroughfares. And maybe that other patriotic symbol, the blinking multi-colour LED smiley daisy. Wait, what the -

(Also spotted near home - a purse store with JUST ONE CATCH!)

Julia visited!

2010-10-09T22:24:00.000+08:00

Remember Julia? She was one of my closest friends the year we studied together at Donghua University. Then she moved back to Poland.

:(

But she came back! And we went exploring around Xiaonanmen ("Little south door"), where Shanghai's southernmost city gate used to be. Now, it's a neighbourhood clinging to its past as highrises and a brand-new metro station pop up around it. We found an amazing laneway fabric market, took some photos, and ate lamb-on-a-stick, one Shanghai's most delectable street foods.

In the old parts of Shanghai, the photos take themselves. Bicycles, of course, are everywhere.

The fabric market street. Produce and poultry were further down. (Loving my camera's B&W auto setting.)

The colours everywhere were beautiful - it had just rained. I'm not sure if this is a storage shack or a very small home.

Duck A: "DON'T. LOOK. BEHIND YOU." Duck B: *stifled quack*

The ginger in Shanghai is incredible - so fresh it's actually juicy.

Here we are! Me rocking the old "I hate being photographed but maybe if I look sideways I'll just look ironic!!!" Works eeeeevery time.

Lessons in yeast

2010-10-08T13:20:00.000+08:00

Just another normal day on Claire's kitchen counter. Got my rice cooker over there, my O.J., my ginger tea, my favourite cat coaster, and - oh, that? THAT'S what happens when you put bread dough in the fridge overnight with naive plans to roll it out into cinnamon buns the next day.

Apparently even the highest-quality Tupperware - and I make no compromises when it comes to container quality - is no match for dough determined to make its second rise. Well. I've learned.

I was GOING to save the debut of my newest domestic skill - bread-making! - for when I'd made my first perfectly-formed loaf. But you know what? The Internet is full of intimidatingly flawless DIY baking/crafting projects, and I'm pretty sure the road to those gorgeous cupcakes and yak-yarn iPod snugglies was paved with... well, things that looked like my first loaf of bread:

But you know what? It might be crooked with a gaping air hole in the middle, and the crust might be marred by two burn lines from my toaster oven's top elements, but that bread is freaking DELICIOUS. And it was practically free. Ugly wins!

Recipe here - but reduce sugar, boost salt, IMHO.

Update on sad-sack sickness: thanks in no small part to all the Get-Well lovin' I received electronically, my gross cold is now only a cough! Hooray! I sound like a baby seal with SARS, but I can retire the hankies. Thank you for all your kind emails.

Siiiiiick. Blegh.

2010-10-07T16:44:00.001+08:00

Healthy readers,

Today is my third day in bed after being struck full-force by the angry fist of The Worst Cold In The World. Delicate sniffles? Soft Victorian coughs? Nope. Half-closed, red, puffy eyes? Maximum-velocity sneezing that makes my head snap back? Exhaustion of my ENTIRE supply and back-up supply of hankies? That's more like it.

But you know what's great about being sick? Having full license to watch total, unadulterated, crap on DVD. Yayyy! I have so far viewed, or at least had playing in the background while I passed out open-mouthed: Eclipse, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Bride Wars. I also threw in some Curb Your Enthusiasm (which has ironic humour) but only because I ran out of Gossip Girl.

Now. A few boiled dumplings, some ginger tea, and back to bed I go. Please beam immune system virtual boosters!

(No photos today - there's nothing you want to see here, I promise.)

Canada FLASHBACK!: (Part 1 of 4: Newfoundland)

2010-10-02T22:54:00.001+08:00

Mmkay, so because I had such a transcendently terrific trip home this summer, I just had to post some photos. I know, I know, I wasn't In Shanghai, as such, but, well, my heart was, most of the time, and, um - just give me a break this time. The show begins!

I went to Newfoundland to visit university friend Laura, who, with lovely partner Travis, recently produced darling, darling baby Sylvia Jean. Laura's town is so small they don't have house numbers, which, let me tell you, was a refreshing contrast to Shanghai. It was ten days of baby cuddles, home improvement projects, baking, and the occasional glass of wine. Perfect. PER-fect. I've loved Newfoundland since I spent Christmas there in 2007, and Newfoundland in the summer is all about the crisp breezes over a grey ocean, and boats hauling in capelin (wee silvery fish). I can be all about that, too.

Travis' dad Barry shows me how to pitch a live lobster into a giant pot of boiling seawater. Thanks for the sacrifice, Lobster, you and your brothers were delicious.

Laura, Sylvia and I went puffin-viewing. Sylvia: "Fresh Newfoundland air, mnyum, mnyum."

Did we make heart-shaped moose burgers? Of COURSE we did.

Shirley's Haven is a seniors' residence, in case you had other ideas.

Sad face at the airport! I'm Edmonton-bound. Until next time, mon amie.

Chris visited!

2010-10-01T20:37:00.001+08:00

What better way to settle back in to Shanghai life than by showing a friend around town? Chris and I struggled through beginner Mandarin together at the U of A, and he's been working in Beijing (sidenote: I. Love. Beijing. The wide open skies, the cute cafés. I strive to move there for awhile sometime, no matter what it would do to my blog title). Now he lives in Wuhan, a mere six-hour train ride from Shanghai. Well, not that mere. Thanks, Chris.

So, we slammed down the fifteen-twos with a few games of crib; bought glasses and Feiyue shoes; stopped by the Hongqiao driving range; spent an uncharacteristic-for-me-but-actually-super-fun evening at a nearby hipster bar; and, you know, made sock puppets. Iiiiiit was awesome.

Dinner at Wagas with Eric, Allison, and Chris' student Panda. Yes, Panda.

We're both trash-talking cribbage players, but only one of us got skunked. It wasn't me.

Chris (left) watches his ball sail into the far fence.

Chris' new glasses match Colonel Sanders'.

Mom taught me how to make these, and now I'm kind of obsessed. Chris' excitement almost eclipsed my own. He made the one on the right, and is going is going to pressure his high school students to craft them too.

Hello (again), world

2010-09-30T16:33:00.007+08:00

Yep, it's been a year since I last posted, thanks to blocks on Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, and other things that help people network and organize big events. Like craft parties and potlucks. Or, I guess, protests and rallies. Anyway, I found posting remotely really wasn't my thing. It's like painting without your glasses - you have a general idea of what you're doing, but no satisfaction in seeing the finished product.

BUT! I've just purchased a program that lets me get online through other, less internetically-inhibited cities. As such, I'll be posting regularly, and in a fancy new layout to boot. And to catch everyone up, here's a summary of the past year:

PROFESSIONALLY: (Very) full-time job doing marketing and events for a non-profit. Learned tons, worked really hard, and finished my year-long contract in June 2010. On the side, I helped my friend Bonnie develop local baking service Sweet Bon-O-Mine. These days, I'm working for self taking assorted contracts and moonlighting as a private English tutor, like every other half-pat (locally-employed expat) here.

PERSONALLY: Expanded the cast of Claire's Life with new friends, all of whom will surely make their way onto the blog at some point. I've also solidified relationships with People In My Neighbourhood (PIMN), which goes a long way towards making me feel at home here, like when my DVD guy thrusts out the latest romantic comedy when I ride by him on my bike. (Oh, and people, I don't discuss my dating life online. It makes people uncomfortable. Especially me.)

OTHERLY: Still in my darling apartment, which now features both a couch AND bookshelves. Shazam! // I spent almost three months in Canada this summer. // I'm rocking new glasses like Anastasia Krupnik's, though I still wear my usuals when I'm feeling unobtrusive. // My Chinese is way better than it was. Now I can discuss way more than my ideal husband. // I bought a new camera and am in love with it. // I still suck at cooking, but I sure can make a mean pot of rice.

So, I'm back. Thank you for staying around, and always tell me what you'd like to hear more about - I am nothing without you, dear readers!

- Claire

Testing... testing...

2009-08-21T01:34:00.000+08:00

Is this working? Can I really post remotely?

Drumroll, please

2009-05-14T21:38:00.002+08:00

Congrats, Carla! You totally found the voice of Mr. Too-Cool-for-Poodle, and as such are the winner of the caption contest. I shall be mailing you something weird and cute. Keep your eye on the mailbox!

Crazy busy these days with volunteering (this time for a local theatre company producing a night of one-acts); baking with my new friend Bonnie, who's started her own small business; and studying. I'm really starting to look forward to coming home this summer... anyone up for thrift shopping marathons or long, leisurely afternoons perusing the shelves of London Drugs, let me know.

Sweet, sweet cupcake success!

2009-05-08T23:20:00.004+08:00

Finally. After a string of failures culminating in the Chocolate Cupcake Disaster of March 29, I've pulled cupcakes out of my oven that aren't dense, vinegar-flavoured messes. I've chucked my Six-Minute Chocolate Cake recipe out the window in favour of Katie's accurately-titled Never-Fail Chocolate Cake:

1.5 c white sugar
0.5 c cocoa
2 c flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
.75 c oil
1.5 c milk
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Mix all in bowl. 350, 35 minutes in greased 9 x 13" pan, or about 10 minutes for cupcakes. Easy!

I also concocted some super-yummy chocolate icing. The process was something like this: put cocoa and a bit of butter in a saucepan, mix over low heat, adding as much milk as necessary to make stirrable. Take off heat and mix in enough icing sugar to make stiff. It's not scientific, but it's certainly delicious: more chocolatey than sugary.

The cupcakes' success may have also been aided by the wee wrappers they are snuggled in. Check them OUT! I can't even handle the baking supplies here; I just found out that I can order 10,000 customized wrappers for, like, $100. That's a lifetime of "CTB"-swaddled baked goods, people!

Road trip! 2: MIDI music festival

2009-05-05T23:15:00.006+08:00

Wu Yi, or May 1, is a big deal here - a long weekend that gives everyone a chance to realize that it's pretty much summer, yay! I ended up having the entire three-day stretch off work (rare - I usually tutor straight through weekends), so I joined Poppy and Julia on an expertly organized two-night trip to the MIDI music festival. MIDI is a three-day event that's historically been held in Beijing but was moved this year to the conveniently close city of Zhenjiang, only three hours away. Well, six, if you're caught in traffic on the way there like we were. Not to worry, though; entertainment was provided by way of music and light refreshments like beer and candy, served by our gracious - if hairy-legged - in-bus hostess Anita.

We were all a little concerned about what kinds of accommodation we'd be facing for the trip fee of Y50/night (Y33 for J, P, and I, who were all bunking together), but when we arrived in Zhenjiang, we pulled up to none other than the Super 8 Motel. Man, Super 8 always impresses. Our giant-windowed room was decorated in a winsome turqoise palette, and the cleaning ladies were super-generous with the toilet paper and extra blankets. Not bad for $6, no?

And the festival? Awesome. It was so low-pressure: with only two stages - one for the main acts and one for dance music from an impressive line-up of DJs - I never had that panicky Folk Fest feeling when you're sure the best show is not the one in front of you, but the one on Stage Seven, a ten-minute jog away. The music wasn't always to our taste, but bands like Cold Fairyland (Chinese folky trancy alternativy awesomeness, http://www.myspace.com/coldfairyland) and socalled, Hollerado, and Jets Overhead (all Canadian) made up for the weird prevalence of death metal.

Day 1: Getting there

1. On the road through the Chinese countryside: farmers tending fields amidst random acts of highrises.
2. The lovely Anita makes her first round. The apron was reserved specifically for snacktime.
3. Dao le (we're here!): The Super 8 welcomes us.
4. The rustic but effective hand-wash station on the festival grounds.
5. The "rock out" finger-horn thing is totally popular here. Wicked!
6. Buying corn-on-the-cob from one of the many food vendors. Because most Chinese people don't drink much, there was only one tent for beer - and about thirty for food. The result was a snacking bonanza tempered by meditative line-up breaks for drinks. It was very balancing.

MIDI, Day Two: Nausea prevails over cuteness, fun muddiness

2009-05-05T23:08:00.004+08:00

Photos:

1. Trying to get going over a breakfast of... fried noodles. I'm pretty sure they're what caused me to bail at 6 p.m. for Pepto and Vinyl Café at the hotel.
2. It rained overnight. You first, Poppy.
3. Drama! A hole in the wall yields a stream of sneaker-inners.
4. I always end up kissing some wall.
5. Adorable couple alert! Apparently we missed the BYOTiny Stool, Backpack, and Strawberries notice.
6. Most photographed individuals were not the band members. They were the foreigners. I shoot back and everyone feels famous.

MIDI, Day Three: funny vehicles, meat on a stick, and groupies

2009-05-05T21:41:00.007+08:00

Photos:

1. The bus - specially coated in a giant sticker for this very trip - drops us off and we almost get smoked by THIS awesome contraption.
2. The Y120 (~$22) weekend pass was crazy cheap for us, but a lot of money to people here. Fortunately, the wall planners were short-sighted (ha! ha!) and people get the exact same view from the other side.
3. Our expertly-labelled tablecloth tarp protects our bums from the still-damp ground.
4. A Canadian contingent shows its pride as Jets Overhead plays.
5. Meat on a stick: our main source of protein throughout the weekend. Poppy bought so many they started giving her freebies.
6. MIDI spirit from the skaters of the crowd.
7. Socalled, from Montreal. http://www.myspace.com/socalled Superly awesome and definitely the crowd favourite. How to describe: klesmer hip-hop? We hung out with a couple of the guys from the band afterwards, which was fun, not least because they let us use the palatial (read: clean) VIP bathrooms. It's really hard to overstate that luxury. Did you know Port-A-Johns come in a "squat" version?

So, it's back to school and daily life again, at least for the next two months. We're in the last quarter of our studies now, and time's swiftness is starting to feel very real for me and the friends I've made here. Lots of good times left to be had, though; don't worry, I'll keep you posted!

P.S. Don't forget to join the contest below! I'll leave it up 'til this weekend, but don't miss the chance to incite jealousy in all the other readers when you wow them with your amazing caption.

Post marathon! (or, This is what lazy blogger's remorse looks like) (plus: CONTEST!)

2009-04-30T11:51:00.003+08:00

Mmkay, today's post is a post trilogy, because I've been up to so much lately that I didn't want to squeeze it into one entry. This way, you can read in installments, catching up with my latest cooking adventure, for example, and then grabbing a coffee and going to MEC and and eating Cheerios and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and other Canadian delicacies, and remembering the next day that you can still admire the flower selection at Shanghai markets and even

enter a contest!

Whoo!

I've taken a lot of pictures since coming here last fall, but I'm pretty sure this one sums up the challenges and contradictions of life in Shanghai better than any other. Best caption wins the weirdest prize I can find, but don't worry, I'll totes consider your personality and taste. All will be mailed lovingly to your home. Have fun!

Love, Claire

Project 2: Dinner chez moi

2009-04-30T11:38:00.003+08:00

Midterms finished on Tuesday, and Julia and Poppy came over with the idea of cooking a real. Dinner. Like, with courses. The theme? Carbs and butter. So Julia made her trademark and highly delicious onion soup with freshly toasted croutons; I made macaroni and cheese and a side of potatoes mashed with spinach, to break up the beige colour palette; and Poppy concocted her Scottish bread-and-butter pudding, which took two hours to bake but which was entirely delectable, especially when eaten with cream whilst watching "The Sound of Music." We sang along, obviously.

Spot my new favourite cutting board under the (somewhat superfluous) slices of baguette.

Also included: produce bounty. This is what you can buy at the fruit/veg market down the street for just over three Canadian dollars. Note delicious mango at centre stage.

Photos:

1. Another reason to love China: I can afford my vitamins
2. First course: soup, croutons, and wine from the Open House caterer, who was so horrified that we usually drink Y30 bottles that he gave us a much nicer one to take home
3. Macaroni and mashed potatoes baked toaster oven-style: that means double-decker skillz
4. Second course: Julia means business

Project 1: Opening House (not mine)

2009-04-30T10:25:00.007+08:00

Every night before I go to sleep, a soft but chiding voice whispers, "You forgot to write your blog tonight, Claire." My toes twinge with guilt and then I drift into slumber, forgetting about the whole thing until the next night at around midnight. Why do I do this? I just saw "He's Just Not That Into You" and Justin Long says it's because my life lacks real drama so I have to create my own. I don't entirely agree, but at least I don't have to take up gambling or, like, catfights in bars.

So what have I been doing the past two weeks? Kind of studying for midterms, but mostly organizing this Open House party for the Community Centre (I insist on CDN spelling) of Shanghai, an organization that helps expats form, um, community in this ginormous city. The Centre offers all sorts of classes, social events for youth and for grown-ups, tours, counselling, etc., etc. It's a really cool place and they just opened their brand new office about a twenty-minute bike ride from my apartment.

About six weeks ago, I decided to volunteer there and was immediately recruited to help party-plan, which I had no problem with; although the whole thing was super time-consuming, I can't pretend I don't love choosing decorations, harassing people to RSVP, and trying to hang unwieldy banners on sketchy walls that shouldn't be depended on to hold ANYTHING up. Some photos below - mostly of the Hongqiao Flower Market, one of several in the city that offers beautiful, gorgeous, stunning flowers basically for free. The party was last Saturday night and was super-successful, despite my and my co-organizer's fear that only ten people would come and everyone would win three door prizes before we packed the catering into Tupperware to be eaten cold every night for the following week whilst reflecting on our failured attempt at entertaining. What a relief! Though the leftovers would have been great.

Photos:

1. Just one of the beautiful flower market stalls
2. This guy did our welcome table arrangement in seven minutes flat. Bam!
3. Julia wins a doorprize, tries to regain focus
4. Party favours
5. Typical: women organize, men cut the damn ribbon

Tiny apple crisp and the other highlights of my weekend (um, all food)

2009-04-15T00:53:00.004+08:00

Here's the thing. There are some dishes that should really be available in individual portions, and apple crisp is one of them. Sometimes you just have a craving, but you don't feel like peeling five apples and baking a huge dish that you'll probably eat in its entirety in the middle of the night. It's not that I don't love the rogue thrill of standing over an empty Pyrex with a soup spoon at three a.m. as much as the next person - let's just say that there's a reason God invented miniature Le Creuset dishes, and it's so you can whip up a wee dessert to enjoy whilst reading your new book on a Friday night when it's been a long week and you don't really feel like doing anything particularly social.

Photo trilogy below. The book, which I highly recommend for weekend reading despite its slightly flaky title and worrisomely purple cover, is "This Charming Man" by Irish author Marian Keyes.

Then: Saturday night. Having satisfied my longing for a.c., I felt a hole in my diet - one that could only be filled by m.a.m.p.* BUT I barely ate any vegetables last week and needed greens. BUT I didn't feel like polluting my Comfort Meal with boring, boring spinach. What's a girl to do? MASH THE GREENS AND POTATOES TOGETHER! Le Creuset made a comeback. Some say adding foreign textures to m.p. is a heinous crime. Some say it's purely efficient. Discuss.

THEN: Easter! China doesn't do Easter at all, but we are used to making do; a laid-back early-afternoon brunch included pancakes, mango, donut bits, bacon (to celebrate the end of Poppy and Julia's long and sad meatless Lent), and menacing but delicious fruit skewers. Julia dyed beautiful eggs - the trick to getting them this glossy is to rub 'em with a bit of butter - and we all enjoyed the sunshine, especially Isa, who lounged on the terrace.

Happy spring, everyone! Hope the Easter Bunny brought lots of stickers and yummy chocolate, as he used to do for me.

*meat and mashed potatoes

More Easter pics

2009-04-15T00:30:00.005+08:00

Gorgeous Polish eggs, courtesy of Julia; gorgeous Polish Isa, courtesy of sunshine and admirable personal style.

It had to happen sometime:

2009-04-07T18:22:00.006+08:00

the ubiquitous "Funny Chinese Signs" post. Hey, I'm not making fun of anyone for messing up a foreign langauge; God knows how many Western lower backs are tattooed with "cow" or "cultural appropriater," not "strength" or "harmony." But these Shanghai signs were too good not to share, and I think you'll agree that the best ones are actually due to the visuals, not the written content.

Update on me: I lost my wallet last night (no, NO!) and with it, my local and foreign bank cards, my student ID, my health insurance card, and the best passport photo of myself that has ever and will ever be taken. (It's for my own good, it was making me vain.) But my Matt & Nat wallet? Low blow. I'm pretty sure it dropped onto the floor at Starbucks, where someone scored it before I realized it was gone. I feel like an idiot.

Good news: Lindt chocolate bars are on sale at my grocery store for Y9.99 ($1.82 ). Hoardhoardhoard!

Photos:

1. This culinary delicacy is available a mere half-block away from my apartment
2. Fine print: *manky baby costumes may compromise cuteness*
3. Not sure how "Chunk Fun" got past the Lipton PR team
4. Prado Frappuccinos to follow
5. Erm.. hard to know. Points for cute diaper icon

PS. Does everyone know you can make the photos bigger by clicking on them?

Discupcakeaster

2009-03-29T21:59:00.005+08:00

Not to be down on my oven, but something's going very wrong with my trusty six-minute cupcakes. Total failed batches now = 3. The first one was no mystery: I accidentally used vinegar concentrate instead of vinegar (oh NO). But last night's two? What is going ON? I'm desperate for tiny chocolate cakes and all I get are overdense, weird aftertasty dough lumps! Any suggestions?

See below for the saddest pic in the world. My sole consolation is that the cupcake wrappers match my wastebasket.

Claire and the toaster oven: a love story

2009-03-23T16:14:00.005+08:00

Yikes! Has it been that long? I guess I was too busy making tiny muffins in my new OVEN! (*Wild applause, cheerleaders cartwheeling*) Chinese apartments don't come with ovens - even the lucky foreigners who think they've rented a place with one often find it's actually a little dish sterilizer. Alas, my kitchen had neither, and I've been stirfrying, boiling, and sautéeing (badly) for the past six months, staring pensively at the place where an oven should be. In the baking aisle of the imports store, I would slow down my cart, eye the baking powder and sigh disconsolately, knowing my kitchen could produce nothing that needed puff.

But then! Two weekends ago, Poppy and I were at a Huaihuai Lu (French Concession shopping mecca) department store and found a scratch-and-dent table bearing highly discounted appliances, including a very reasonably-priced, generously-sized toaster oven. Poppy graciously listened to me pro-and-con for ten minutes before basically suggesting that I do the only sensible thing and buy it. Which I did. I haven't looked back. Especially as I now have a reason to buy hundreds of the great cupcake wrappers I found at a wholesale place down the street.

Any recipes not involving too much butter or chocolate welcomed; it's hard to think of what to make without them, I know, but they're really expensive here.

Photos:

1. There she is, at home in my pantry!
2. Check out my balanced meal. That's macaroni and cheese (cheddar AND blue cheese, snap)
3. Darling cupcake wrappers
4. Eee, carrot-pineapple muffins!

And the winner is...

2009-03-11T22:17:00.004+08:00

(winner sneakily revealed in photo, which unsneakily reveals the amount of fun I have running contests from my apartment)

Congratulations
On the excellent use of
"Undulating" - wow!

(Secretly, the word
has always made my skin crawl -
But love the haiku.)

Just send the address
To which your favourite book
Should be delivered!

Ahem. Back to the random syllables of everyday speech/text. Thank you, everyone, for your wonderfully entertaining and syllabically satisfying submissions! Maybe we'll do sonnets next time. Which would be perfect, because as you'll see tomorrow, I recently made a purchase so exciting that it deserves every manner of amorous poetry. Stay tuned!

A haiku celebration of Chinese notebooks

2009-03-04T21:13:00.009+08:00

Hi everyone!

Hands down, one of the best things about China - and, it seems, Asian countries in general - is the plethora of adorable stationery to be had at pleasingly inexpensive prices. It's hard to express the kind of excitement generated by particularly excellent finds of the paper variety (Aunt Maureen, I know you understand), so I've resorted to that old standby, haiku. Actually, it's not my old standby. But it sure will be; I seriously feel ten times more Zen than I did twenty minutes ago. Please feel free to use your own 22 syllables to vote for your favourite book - the winner will receive it in the mail, because I love sending stuff home.

When I am depressed
The notebook store cheers me up
Zebra bums: so cute!

Gambol's so stylish
"Most outstanding achievers"
I hope they mean me

The big fat pink "M"
And the blank pages are great
Also, it has weight

I hate computers!
iPhoto won't flip these pics
Sorry they're backwards :(

Also just realized
You can't see the Gambol text
Okay, here it is:

"Gambol notebooks, made with future technology, for tomorrow's most outstanding achievers."

Shanghai from under the umbrella: Part 1

2009-02-23T09:19:00.006+08:00

With only five days left in Shanghai before Laura had to board her Vancouver-bound plane, we’ve had a lot to take in and not a lot of time to take it in in. (Grammar experimentation is exciting.) We got right to it and hit the pearl market, the fabric market, and the glasses market; we’ve been balancing the shopping with, of course, eating: dumplings, hotpot, and home-cooked stirfries and soup have been on the very full menu.

Yesterday, we went with Claire’s friends Eric and Allison to the fabric market, stopping along the way to admire the oodles of buttons for sale in hole-in-the-wall shops (see below for Button on buttons); at the market, Claire ordered a tailor-made hat while Laura agonized over a suitable cotton print for new kitchen curtains – and just happened to find the perfect wool skirt for those cold Clarenville winters. Everyone left happy, especially those of us who got to come home to make soup and watch episodes of Monk before indulging in copious amounts of Laura-imported chocolate.

Somebody in charge knew today was our last day in Shanghai, because it was raining all day – the clouds followed us all the way to the Bund, the city’s must-see destination. We took in the lower half of China’s tallest buildings, and amused ourselves with umbrella sightseeing: seriously, check that one out below. A spur-of-the-moment elevator ride in the Ritz-Carlton rounded out the afternoon. A note to prospective hotel lobby crashers: be confident when you ask directions to the washroom and act like you’re definitely visiting the penthouse when you step into the elevator. Even if you’re wearing MEC and your shopping bag comes from Carrefour.

So: Claire will be on her own tomorrow night and Laura will be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean with 400 other people, who are hopefully keeping their microbes to themselves. (One more bout of strep throat is needed not.) Another great holiday!

1. Laura testing the padded sidewalk near Claire’s apartment. Rating: 7/10 for bounce, 10/10 for capturing the moment
2. Rainy reflections along Nanjing Donglu, Shanghai’s most famous shopping street
3. Universities look the same all over the world; Claire in front of her classroom building at Donghua University
4. In the textiles neighbourhood: don’t mess with PMS security
5. Laura N. Button… or is it Laura and Buttons? (Ha, ha, ha.) Thousands of buttons nestle into shelves and drawers in button shops near the Shanghai fabric market

Shanghai from under the umbrella: Part 2

2009-02-23T09:10:00.004+08:00

6. “30th floor, please”: after a surreptitious tour around the Ritz-Carlton, we’re pretty sure we’d rather take a B&B.
7. Check out the majesty of this massive advertising boat on the Huang River. Upper stories of the Pearl Tower are obscured by fog.
8. Posing on the Bund: Heeeey!
9. Tiny old man, GIANT RAINBOW UMBRELLA. We covet.
10. Random act of sculpture. What. Is. It

All things Beijing: Part 1

2009-02-21T00:19:00.005+08:00

Before embarking on our 13-hour journey to Beijing, we stocked up on snacks at the local supermarket. Not on our list: $14 Cheerios (Claire’s not-so-silent tears below), handy can of Sweat (we’ll make our own at the Olympic Stadium, thanks), or tennis racquet bag full of meat. Seriously. More tempting were the darling Valentine’s bouquets at Taikang Lu, where we’d visited earlier in the day.

The road to China’s capital city was paved with goat cheese, trés twee crackers, and, of course, our Nalwinegene. Sleeping quarters were cramped but we made it; thank goodness the hostel had the Itty Bitty Welcoming Committee waiting. Sooo cute. Sooooooo puntable.

We snacked on dumplings (extra garlic – nice work with the Swiss Army, Laura) before heading to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City; Beijing welcomed us with beautiful clear blue skies to go with the crisp northern air. Laura was feeling under the weather that evening. Fortunately, China has a reliable 24-hour pharmacy service (see below); by the next morning, though, we decided to make the trip to Beijing United Family Hospital to see about uniting our sick one with some serious medication. As every traveller knows, though, the first step was to notify the insurance provider. Unfortunately, as Claire discovered, the number listed on Laura’s plan card was actually a hotline for “feminine company.” Nice one, Manulife. Anyway, everything worked out fine. We made it to the hospital, where Claire roughed it in the waiting room while Laura chilled with the Duke intern sitting in on her appointment. Now we know how the other half lives…

That afternoon ended up being the highlight of our trip: we rode the metro to the Olympic Park to see the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. Sooo big. Sooooooo cool. Our excitement was definitely documented by many a Chinese camera as few others were as demonstrative of their enthusiasm. Claire talked our way into the Water Cube fifteen minutes before closing (and fifteen minutes after ticket sales had stopped): wit, persistence, and a couple of white lies about Laura’s life dream of being an Olympic swimmer did the trick.

Day Three: we woke up to the first snowfall of 2009 and beat the crowds to the Great Wall. We beat the treacherously slippery slopes at their own game by sliding down – great (Great, ha, ha) fun. The snow-covered mountains were stunning, and we were lucky to catch them as most of it melted away by that afternoon. Another feed of dumplings capped off our trip before we caught the metro from Tiananmen Square to the railway station. The trip back was long – no luxury sleeper car for us this time – it's taken this long to blog about it as we recover from the train hangover.

Enjoy the multiple-posts from our adventures to date.

1. – 3. Grocery store finds
4. Nothing says “I love you” like a dozen tiny bear heads

All things Beijing: Part 2

2009-02-21T00:13:00.004+08:00

5. Smorgasbord on the train to Beijing
6. Magical crackers
7. Laura adjusts to our rather cramped sleeping quarters
8. At our hostel: What. Is. It.
9. Dumpling fiesta

All things Beijing: Part 3

2009-02-21T00:08:00.004+08:00

10. BEIJING!
11. Mwah.
12. Our first steps into the Forbidden City
13. Claire and Laura’s shadows doing what Claire and Laura do best: reading the guidebook and snapping pictures.
14. Gorgeous architecture at the FC

All things Beijing: Part 4

2009-02-20T23:55:00.006+08:00

15. Yeee! Jingshan Park just before sunset
16. “I’m here to see the Wizard”: Claire scores some cough drops from the pharmacy, 10 p.m.
17. Private health care comes with white leather couches. Claire adjusts easily
18. Water Cube! Bird’s Nest! Aiieee!
19. Laura as integral structural component

All things Beijing: Part 5

2009-02-20T23:48:00.003+08:00

20. Demonstrating our athletic prowess. It was a good fight
21. …but Claire was the ultimate victor. Sponsored by Ritz
22. Laura crossing the finish line on the square metre of uncovered track
23. Water Cuuuuuube!
24. Michael Phelps never saw it comin’

All things Beijing: Part 6

2009-02-20T12:19:00.003+08:00

25. Very cool lobby, like being inside dishsoap
26. Laura gets into the spirit of the Year of the Ox
27. The Great Wall: chilly but beautiful
28. Claire makes the very best of the slippery snow
29. On the walk to the railway station: the old City Gate

Newshangfoundhailand

2009-02-14T01:12:00.004+08:00

Welcome to Shanghai, Laura! Air Canada's faulty equipment meant we had two extra hours of anticipation before our gleeful reunion at the arrivals gate. Laura had her first taste of Shanghai culture (ie. shoving/yelling/general chaos) as we fought our way onto the airport bus, but we arrived home safely and with just enough energy left to toast (slightly late) Christmas Number Four. On the menu: wine and goat cheese, as per tradition.

Today I conquered my cheap wine hangover while Laura worked through her jetlag (jetgo? She was ready to hit the town at seven a.m.); we finally made it out the door to Yuyuan, or Shanghai's Old Town - a little touristy but fabulous for shopping and getting a feel of what it might have felt like here before the population hit its current 16 million. Highlights: a giant Year of the Ox display thing, and a motorcycle taxi ride to Nanjing Donglu. Chalk that one up to irresponsible youth.

Tomorrow evening we're heading to Beijing on the overnight train to take in the Great Wall (bien sur), the Olympic Park, and whatever else tickles our fancy. Please enjoy our first round of pics:

1. CLEENK! The Fourth Annual Claire and Laura Christmas Reunion begins
2. All the essentials. Great Wall: the pride of China's red wine industry. Or something. Whatever, it sure packed a punch
3. Yuyuan, or the Old Town... pointy peaks and all
4. The motorcycle taxi driver driving on the correct side of the yellow line. For now
5. Yiiiiiii!

Mom went home :( But at least I can cook now

2009-02-10T16:08:00.006+08:00

Well, I'm on my own now for the first time in a month. I'm okay, but it just doesn't feel right making hot chocolate for one, you know?

P.S. Claire's hot chocolate (new recipe): tons of cocoa, a little sugar, extra-creamy milk, and fresh grated ginger. Careful, the ginger makes the milk froth to twice its volume, so be ready to swipe the saucepan off the stove while bleating "Ahh! Ahhhhh!" like I did the first time.

A dash of cayenne is fab as well.

So, Mom and I had a great time in Beijing, Qingdao, Hangzhou, and Xitang. We spent most of her last two weeks in Shanghai finding new cafés, doing in-depth research on local foot massage establishments, and cooking soup. I am now the proud owner of a Westinghouse rice cooker that also has a darling steamer attachment. Rice cookers are amazing! I've been eating brown rice with milk and cinnamon and raisins for breakfast, and stirfry with white rice for lunch. Will experiment with a combination for dinner and report on findings.

I'm going to post my favourite pics from the first part of our trip; Mom, I forgot to get the Shanghai ones from your camera before you left! Oh no!

Thank you to everyone who is still following me after these weeks of erratic posting. Laura and I will be sure to get our pictures up ASAP!

Photos:

1. The beautiful Lama temple, apparently one of China's most important Tibetan Buddhist temples.
2. Beijing duck (the close-up)!! Yummy yummy yummy. You take a little piece of duck and put it in the middle of a warm, thin pancake (plucked from the slightly limp bouquet on the right); then you add hoisin sauce and onion, roll it up, and EAT IT. This was a contemporaryish place, which meant they gave us three sauces and tiny slices of interesting fruit to put in the pancakes. Mmmmmm.
3. Mom dug it.
4. Bug kebabs at the night market. Eughhh
5. Lovely candied fruit sticks. Those I can handle.

M & C photos, part II

2009-02-10T16:02:00.006+08:00

6. Our fantastic hostel in Beijing (in a hutong, a traditional alleyway full of courtyard houses - most of them have been destroyed to make room for highrises etc.)
7. Me wondering if Mom knows how to use the camera at 798, Beijing's biggest contemporary art district
8. The Great Wall! I was in a symbolic mood
9. Mom looking rugged
10. Me looking daring

M & C photos, part III

2009-02-10T15:43:00.007+08:00

11. Great Wall ZIPLIIIIINE! There goes Mom...
12. ...followed by me.
13. Me and Allison hanging out on the beach in Qingdao. Too bad you can't see the almost-naked guy in the background going for a jog after he took a little dip. (5 degrees C)
14. The ladies at Chinese New Year's dinner: Mom, me, Auntie Neu Neu (she knitted her own sweater), Auntie Na Na, and AnLan
15. Midnight on CNY: the danger is sooo worth it.

Haaaappy New Year! : China-style

2009-01-26T00:41:00.002+08:00

Mom and I are sitting across the table from each other typing on our respective Macs as countless firecrackers and fireworks explode just outside the window. Chinese New Year kicks January 1st's bum all over the place - we ran outside at midnight to see fireworks exploding from at least twelve points in our neighbourhood alone. Sadly, my USB drive doesn't seem to be receptive and so I can't post pics - I'll try to rectify this ASAP.

Beijing and Qingdao were fab, especially our four-hour hike of the Great Wall that ended with us ziplining across a giant river valley in the freezing cold. The two-day colds that followed weren't so hot (pun fully intended, ha, ha) but Qingdao was small enough that we didn't feel bad about lying in our hotel beds all sniffy. Pics also forthcoming. How does Bluetooth work? Do cameras use it? How can I get my pictures from there to here without my USB ports? Darn, darn, darn.

Much love and further posts to follow. Happy Year of the Ox!

I survived exams. And: MOM'S HERE!

2009-01-10T21:21:00.006+08:00

I bet you for sure thought I'd gotten permanently lost in the metro system or swallowed by the crowds on Nanjing Road. Not so, my dear readers; it was simply final exam stress that kept me from my computer. If you're reading this, I want to tell you how much I appreciate you coming back after two full weeks of non-posting.

First: finals. Under the exceptional tutelage of my friend Eric, a comp-sci grad student at Donghua, I studied like I've never studied before. Eric tells me that Chinese university hopefuls study for 16 hours a day for an entire year - no weekends - in preparation for the entrance exams. Only about one in fifteen make it. So I think he was a little surprised when I assured him that six hours of studying per day was a lot by Canadian standards, and that 12 would be pushing it. Anyway, I made Starbucks my second home and worked my butt off, memorizing about 400 new characters, an entire textbook of grammar concepts, and four Speaking mini-speeches on the topics of:

1. My favourite restaurant
2. My ideal husband ("All around me are handsome men and rich men, but looks and money are not as important and morals and a good education")
3. My views on interracial marriage ("Cross-cultural marriages may have some disadvantages, but mixed-blood children are almost always more beautiful and smart" [this was straight from our curriculum])
4. My opinion on old people remarrying ("Old people who want to remarry may worry that their neighbours may say this or that, but happiness is more important than what the neighbours think")

I can't wait to apply my new conversational skills to real-life situations, in the manner of "All I want is to marry a man who can pay for one vacation per year."

/

MOM IS HERE! She arrived last night at the Pudong Airport and came home to fill my cupboards with organic peanut butter, popcorn kernels, gourmet crackers, Panda licorice, goat brie, and other yummy foodstuffs that make me feel ten bazillion more times at home. Today we hit Nanjing Road - see mom brandishing her first Uniqlo bag - and went over to Fuzhou Lu, two blocks away, to the amazing paper stores there. Mom loves bookbinding and got totally giddy about how ridiculously cheap paper is here compared to the overpriced paperies at home, kind of how I got about scarves and Fineliners.

Tomorrow we're going to go to Taikang Lu and reprise today's amazing foot massage experience - it's seriously a good pain. It's so great to be on holiday and I can't wait to go to Beijing on Monday! After five days there, we're on to Qingdao, former German colony and home of China's most famous beer.

Back soon!

Photos:
1. Crazy bamboo scaffolding by the university
2. Shanghai cultural immersion: shopping
3. The beautiful paper Mom bought. Three dollahs!
4. The paper place.

Bad news for my "hips"

2008-12-27T23:00:00.004+08:00

This is the latest view from my favourite seat at Starbucks. Clearly I am being tested. How long before I start drinking Cookies 'n' Cream Americanos? Don't ask, don't tell.

My Christmas posts are confusing. Let me explain

2008-12-25T22:35:00.005+08:00

It's because I'm so excited. If you scroll all the way down, you can start from the beginning of my day and work your way up; I broke this into a bunch of pieces because I have so many pictures I want you to see. But first: a review of the peeps populating said photos, and their contributions to the breakfast potluck.

Representing...

Hungary:
Barbie (bacon)

Poland:
Julia (with Poppy, champagne & orange juice)

Germany:
Anja (maple syrup)
Jenny (with Conny & Linh, cocoa, milk, and extra cooking/eating equipment)
Conny
Linh

Scotland:
Poppy

Colombia:
Carolina (assortment of fruit, excellent coffee)

Christmas, Part III

2008-12-25T22:23:00.005+08:00

Kelvin and Anlan picked me up this afternoon for afternoon tea at a local dim sum restaurant with my aunties, who presented me with a handknit sweater and a down jacket (the whole family is intent on keeping me warm - Kelvin and Anlan, remember, gave me a space heater shaped like a penguin). We lounged and chatted and they deposited me at home just in time for me to chat with Laura in Newfoundland, tidy up from the morning, and wait for it to be late enough to call everyone at home. So, while I'm waiting, I shall mix a cup of HC&B (though I do wish there was eggnog here to make last year's invention, Noggley's, a jubilantly calorie-unconscious holiday beverage innovated in Laura's kitchen in St. John's). Merry Christmas to you all, with lots of love.

Photos:

14. Me in my new sweater, knitted by Neu Neu in two days flat
15. Kelvin deciding what to order...
16. ...under pressure from Anlan, Na Na, and Neu Neu

Christmas, Part II (b)

2008-12-25T22:19:00.005+08:00

More photos:

10. Barbie's beautiful smile
11. Julia, Anja, and Carolina savouring hot chocolate
12. Carolina getting her coffee fix

Christmas, Part II

2008-12-25T22:10:00.003+08:00

Secret Santa was lovely and Conny and I had drawn each others' names out of the hat! I knitted her a neckwarmer, and she made me earrings and a mix CD of Christmas tunes, wrapped with an assortment of adorable little things you could only find in China. My favourite part of the morning, though, was Julia's introduction of a Polish Catholic tradition in which every person takes a small sheet of communion wafer-like cracker and exchanges bits of it with every person in the room, along with her wishes for the other person person in the coming year. The result was a series of small but earnest expressions of everyone's Christmas spirit, and it was really wonderful to realize how much we care about creating a meaningful Christmas with those we have known for such a short time. If we couldn't have our own regular holidays at home, we definitely made the most of our Christmas morning in Shanghai, and I feel headed into the new year knowing that I have made some dear friends here.

Photos:

6. Hanging in the living room/bedroom/dining room. From L to R: the back of Jenny's head; Linh; Julia; Poppy; Barbie; and Conny
7. Linh opening her Secret Santa gift from Anja: chocolates just for her
8. Julia demonstrating how to use the Polish wafers to spread Christmas cheer
9. Julia, Barbie, Conny, and Carolina being sweet

圣诞节快乐: Merrrrry Christmas!

2008-12-25T21:27:00.007+08:00

In case any of you were worried about not having a great Christmas, don't worry, it's all under control - we've already had it here, and it was fantastic. Last night turned out differently than Poppy and I had planned; we wanted to go to Christmas Mass and sing the Christmas hymns, but despite our best print and Internet research skills, we couldn't find info on where to go. Concluding that higher powers had decided we weren't meant to crowd with the masses, we cut our losses and picked up Sleepless in Seattle, which we watched snuggled under my duvet while sipping hot chocolate and Bailey's (miss you, Laura).

I woke up today to gorgeous sunshine and generously mild weather - it has been really chilly here lately. Poppy came over early to open prezzies together, and although most of my parcels were returned to Canada due to a faulty address (thanks, landlord), I did have two to rip open, revealing highly-coveted books, magazines, coffee, a Starbucks french-press mug, smoked salmon, chocolate, a month's supply of energy bars, tea, and Icebreaker long underwear! Thank you, thank you, Dad and Gregor! Before long, our friends began to arrive for our breakfast potluck and a secret Santa gift exchange. With many cooks in the kitchen and contributions from everyone, we managed to produce a feast of pancakes, strawberries, whipped cream, oranges, pomelo (yummy Chinese giant citrus), and bacon, with hot chocolate, Columbian coffee, and mimosas to drink. It really doesn't get any better.

Photos:

1. Present bonanza with Poppy before everyone arrives
2. Me, Jenny, and Linh on pancake duty
3. Check out the spread! Can you spot the snowman-shaped marshmallows? Adoooorable...
4. My plate. The diamond of a wholly terrific food week
5. We are territorial about our mimosas

Mom, look what I made!

2008-12-23T18:40:00.007+08:00

Very exciting news requires a real-time update. I am so proud to be sitting here with a full tummy from a self-cooked dinner that I just HAD to share with you the details of what I feel is the first truly nourishing meal I've eaten since... well, I can't remember, a pretty good sign that I should be cooking more often. Restaurant food is really cheap here, and hotpot and street pancakes are all good, but sometimes I feel like an urban hunter/gatherer. As my current mantra/new year's resolution is "Don't Panic," I figure there's no better place to start than in the kitchen. The monetary cost incurred making my own meals with familiar ingredients can't be anything compared to the abuse inflicted on my adrenal glands as I struggle to read take-out menus and have my broken-Chinese order heard among a dozen highly aggressive other voices.

Anyway. This afternoon, I headed to Carrefour and Parkson - the two biggest grocery stores - and found green curry paste and canned chickpeas and lentils. Chickpeas! How I have missed thee! I simmered everything in coconut milk before throwing in spinach and ten million green beans. (I confess I did not make my own rice - I can't entirely rob the restaurant downstairs of the profit they've been making off me.) The result totally approximated Mom's cooking. In a good way, ha ha. Really, it made me feel all homey and accomplished, and there's even enough for lunch tomorrow. I shall forage no longer.

Just posted the photos and realized my creation actually looks pretty gross. Well, beauty/beholder/etc., clearly.

Chinese cuisine: the highs and the... less highs

2008-12-21T21:55:00.007+08:00

So my friend Katie is going home to Minnesota tomorrow, having had enough of the programme here and wanting to get her life started in the States. I'm going to miss her a tonne because (among other reasons) her love for Starbucks and for sarcasm at art openings is rivalled only by my own. Anyway, I always think when you want to say something, you should say it with food - so we took her out to eat hotpot. A lot of hotpot. At this particular restaurant, every customer gets her own little pot of broth, which is brought to a boil by a tiny flame underneath. Everyone shares the raw ingredients, which you throw liberally into the pot, fish out a couple minutes later, and devour after dipping into one of your two custom-made sauces. It's pretty much heaven. Lamb! Beef! Green vegetables! For once, a meal with vegetables AND without oil.

Conversely, if you feel like fried carbs with an extra shot of cholesterol, you can always head to one of the bazillions of pancake stands on the streets here. This one by Donghua University is probably my favourite, because the guys crinkle the pancake at the end with such zeal (see blurry hand movements). The process: first, they mush one of those fatter, smaller dough patties flat on the grill, then crack an egg on top and flip the pancake over, rubbing more grease into it than one would think possible. At this point, you can opt to add bacon, but I usually shy away as I never like to overdo it. (Clearly.) When it's all cooked, there is a flurry of pancake crinkling - perhaps to add volume before the hot sauce is added. Finally, the whole greasy mess is swaddled into a little paper bag and you're sent on your way to figure out how to eat the thing and still look at least a little dignified.

So, Katie, look what you're missing in Minnesota. On the other hand... eat a salad for me!

Weekend update: subtitles are the best

2008-12-14T00:14:00.004+08:00

Katie came over last night to hang out and watch a movie. We wanted to see Zack & Miri Make a Porno, which is supposed to be sweet, despite what the title might suggest. Unfortunately, there was no sound, but the subtitles alone were almost worth watching - the one below wasn't even the best one.

(We settled on Pineapple Express. It had sound, but was sucky. Don't bother.)

Today, I had a crafty evening as my near-bare Christmas tree was starting to depress me; I made more snowflakes (ventured into green this time, having abandoned my palette of pink and red - the pink looks too red when the light is low) and little bows. I miss hanging the ornaments from home and wish mine had a little more history and variety to them, but I'll work on it... still twelve days to go!

My favourite things: puppehs and Christmas markets

2008-12-11T20:22:00.005+08:00

Christmas is coming so seriously soon, I am starting to freak out. I still haven't found a way to hang the silver and pink balls from my ceiling, which is apparently made of solid cement; I can't find any pine-scented anything; and my attempt to melt chocolate for pretzel-dipping resulted in a first-degree microwave disaster. Thankfully, though, SOMEone has it together and organized a German-style Christmas market outside Shanghai's most ginormous German restaurant/brauhaus. The little huts were adorable, and even though most of the wares for sale were priced beyond our reach - Y45 ($9) gluwein (mulled wine)! Come on! - I did make an exception for a set of three gingerbreadmen cookie cutters. How I will bake the cookies is still undetermined, but I feel like I'm halfway there.

Our Y25 entrance tickets entitled us to a Y25 discount off anything on the (highly expensive) brauhaus menu. We poor-studented it and each ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, delicious potato-sausage soup, and shared a pretzel. The restaurant could best be described as a homey palace - all wooden beams and grand staircases (see photo).

The puppy? My favourite sight of this week. I'm not usually a small dog person, but look at his tiiiiny nose and pensive gaze! He reminds me of Oliver, my old dog.

Family and cuddly sweaters

2008-12-06T22:05:00.007+08:00

Last night I went for dinner with not only my usual companions, cousin Kelvin and his wife AnLan, but, for the first time, my entire family here: my two aunts Na Na and Neu Neu, my two uncles by marriage, and AnLan's father, Jimmy. I've been feeling homesick lately, and it was the best reminder I could have had that Shanghai isn't full of strangers. I didn't speak any Chinese the last time I saw my aunts and uncles, so it was really neat to be able to communicate with each other - they told me about their trip to Canada and the States (they were in Edmonton for ten days last month, and I never knew!), and I told them about my hopes for living and working in Shanghai next year. We had a fabulous Shanghainese dinner at a restaurant called 021; pig snout and eel were among the many dishes sampled - pig snout is a little chewy.

Na Na invited AnLan, Kelvin, and I up to her apartment after dinner to try on her endless supply of hand-knit sweaters, which she knits in her spare time and then stores in her closet, unworn. Apparently Na Na is quite famous for her knitting - she published a book about twenty years ago that was made into a calendar, she says, and I do remember her knitting up incredibly complicated sweaters for me when we were visiting Grandma Sue in Nanaimo at the same time. Anyway, I was deposited at home with a full tummy and a soft, fat, red-and-grey cardigan under my jacket.

Photos:

1. The fam in front of a rather dazzling "ice" castle, positioned imposingly in front of 021. From left to right - AnLan, me, Na Na & husband (name to be determined - I didn't want to ask), Jimmy, husband (also ntbd) & Neu Neu.

2. Sweater party! AnLan and Na Na wrestle approximately one-third of the collection back into its duffle bag, to be stored in the closet again; the closet door to the right is concealing three shelves of mohair cardigans and pullovers.

3. My SUPER-COMFY new sweater. Kelvin says it took Na Na about three days to knit. (In three days, I knit a dishcloth.)

Shanghai crafternoons

2008-12-06T17:04:00.004+08:00

I've really been missing last winter's Wednesday crafternoons at Steeps, where I and other introverted girls worked on needlecrafts and other projects while chatting about life. It's great that crafts have become trendy, because I really think making stuff with your hands is extra-gratifying when your fingers have become most comfortable on a keyboard or punching text messages into tiny phones. So, I was super-happy to have Poppy and Julia over this Wednesday afternoon for Christmas-related craftiness - I needed to start decorating my wee tree, Julia needed to wrap presents, and Poppy was determined to make enough teeny paper stars to make a chain. I felt bad that the herbal tea I brought from home tasted more like paper cup than blackberry, but we had a good time anyway. Love you, Martha!

And then, on Friday, our Reading teacher let us spend a whole class learning how to make friendship bracelets. Huge treat: we all pushed our desks together (reminded me of elementary school when we had "work tables" instead of desks) and knotted together string to the jingling of the tiny bells we added on. Jenny and I chose the same colour and pattern; her creation and water-bottle innovation below.

Tour guide training

2008-12-02T00:30:00.006+08:00

A treat this Sunday: entertaining my first out-of-town visitor, Mike (Amanda's husband (Amanda, with whom I progressed through Industrial Design, and who has Ty-Pennington-like renovation capabilities as well as a highly evolved sense of humour... excellent things in a woman) and who teams with myself and Amanda to form a formidable Speed Scrabble trio).* In China for business, Mike landed himself a day in Shanghai at the end of his trip and I tried my best to show him around a few of the places I've become well-acquainted with since I arrived here: Taikang Lu (the art street), the fake market at the Science & Technology Centre, and the riverside walkway near the Pearl Tower in Pudong, where we warmed up with a wholly un-Chinese Starbucks coffee. Along the way, we found the World's Most Balance-Challenging Outdoor Restaurant Seating, as well as the World's Teeniest Green Chair. Thanks for the good times, Mike! And especially for the tabloid magazines, specially imported for those of us who need celebrity gossip like a baby needs a bottle.

*Please excuse the paranthesetic experimentation - a guilty but satisfying indulgence. You should really try it.

I couldn't wait: my Christmas tree!

2008-11-30T02:07:00.003+08:00

I know you're supposed to publish one post every couple of days instead of three posts in one week, but I'm still getting the hang of it. I just couldn't wait to show you my tiny tree!

A little worried about the fire/bug hazard of a real tree, not to mention having no idea where to procure one, I resigned myself to buying a fake one. I didn't want to be depressed by celebrating Christmas with a fake tree that was trying to look like a real tree, though, so I just threw the baby out with the bathwater, as it were, and opted for a white one that can at least hope to be mod if not homey. But once assembled and (literally) bent into shape, it gives off a rather pleasing glow, aided in large part by the lights, which have eight settings:

1. Combination
2. In Waves
3. Sequential
4. Slo-Glo
5. Chasing/Flash
6. Slow Fade
7. Twinkle/Flash
8. Steady On

I have opted for the latter, feeling somewhat encouraged by its confident attitude.

Photos:

1. One little box, so full of potential! (The other bag holds a few decorations for the rest of my apartment.)
2. Looks like tree murder, but you could say the same thing about any surgery, halfway through.
3. Progress! Lights glowing pluckily in background.
4. Ta da!

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

2008-11-30T01:42:00.005+08:00

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

Heaven

2008-11-30T01:23:00.005+08:00

The discovery of Cake & Coffee Happy Hour has pretty much made my week. Yesterday when I was feeling a little low I just skipped across the street to slightly-upscale coffee bistro Wagas, plunked myself down into an Eames-inspired chair, and ordered a latté and a slice of ganache-happy chocolate cake - $6 well-spent! I've also discovered that English-language classic books are super affordable here, so I'm on a Jane Austen kick right now. Anne Elliott, the heroine of Persuasion, is a little passive for my taste, and I confess to being a little worried that she may not get off her butt and do any Persuading at all. I'll let you know how everything pans out.

P.S. Isn't the latté's napkin sweater adorable?

Another weekend, another free food bonanza

2008-11-24T23:27:00.004+08:00

Whoa! Two posts in one day! Well, I had to tell you about this weekend, which was super-fun, especially after my residence permit trauma (see below). Friday night was an art opening at a huge warehouse-cum-gallery down near Suzhou Creek - a German photographer was showcasing images of old and new Shanghai. The real show, though, was the rest of the event - the planner had hired ten or twelve street food vendors to work inside the gallery, providing the evening's refreshments. (Side note - I haven't completely figured out how I feel about hiring the poor to essentially be part of the show, and I'd love your input.) So... unlimited dumplings, egg pancakes, kebabs, roasted chestnuts, popcorn, cotton candy, and even mandarin oranges. And an open bar. As Katie and I concluded (but didn't verbalize quite like this), who cares about art when you can eat your face off?

Saturday night was Helene and Nico's housewarming - they're the French couple who came to my party last weekend. Their place is super-cute and in a great location near Xujiahui, which has arguably the best shopping in town. Helene had concocted potato salad, while Nico presented a dangerous beverage of sugar cane syrup, rum, and mushed-up lime, which helped everyone warm up as it poured rain outside. Katie and I had spent the afternoon shopping at the fake market (real market, fake goods) in Pudong, the new area of Shanghai, and it was so nice to just be inside with friends instead of fending off the fake Fendis (ha! ha! wordplay!); I had, however, purchased an awesome pair of earrings that don't strive to be any label at all. Picture below. I spent the rest of the weekend tutoring - I have a new student, a Taiwanese businessman, who can only meet weekends, but he's a really nice guy (don't worry, I meet him at Starbucks and he doesn't know where I live) so I figure the income is worth it.

More soon. P.S. All photo credits to Anja, who, unlike me, doesn't forget her camera. Thank you!

All manner of technical difficulties

2008-11-24T22:54:00.006+08:00

Hmm.. something went wrong; I meant this to be posted two days ago!

Instead of going to school on Thursday and Friday, I spent three hours each day at the police station with my landlord. I had to change my residence permit so I don't get tossed out of the country when they find out I don't live at the Donghua residence anymore. It was your typical Chinese administrative procedure: on Thursday, my landlord fought for attention amidst the crowd of other recent relocaters, waving my passport at the one police officer - a bored-looking woman with a number of shiny gold stars across the chest of her immaculate blue suit, presumably indicating a rank high enough to take her time doing her job but low enough to enjoy the suffering of others. Eventually, she took my passport, examined it carefully, and gave it to another officer, who looked at it with two others before taking it to the break room - clearly visible behind a glass door - where he smoked a cigarette and flipped through its pages. He returned it to us five minutes later, briefly glanced at my change-of-residence form, and told us to get a letter from Donghua University stating I was a student there and to come back tomorrow. (Even though I had already shown my highly-official student card and a form filled out and stamped by the university.)

Friday: we return with the letter, typed and stamped specially, and are told after about half an hour of waiting that we need to make photocopies of the letter, my other form, and my passport. My landlord goes away and comes back ten minutes later with copies in hand. The officer (same lady as Thursday) takes the papers, puts them on her desk, and helps the three people standing behind us in line. Then she makes three more copies of all my documents with the photocopier that is on her desk (!!!). She produces an impressive array of rubber stamps from a drawer, and an orgy of stamping follows: every page seems to get at least three, each a different shape and size. This is all intermittent - various people shove their way to the front of the "line" and are helped instead, sometimes for up to fifteen or twenty minutes, before returning to my file. This must be the reason there is plexiglass between the officer and the visitors - it keeps me from leaning over and yelling, "Focus! Focus!" and possibly hurling a steamed bun or two just to get some attention. The system here is so different from home, and I know Westerners are criticized by Chinese people - especially in business - for being too up-front, for rushing things and lacking subtlety. I know I'll have to get used to this way of conducting business if I'm ever to have a career here. I just hope the "getting used to" will happen sooner rather than later.

Happily, I did change my residence permit. I am registered as living, for free, as a friend in my landlord's spare room at his own apartment. Apparently this is standard for foreign renters, so don't worry.

No pictures - I had to delete the two I took in front of the police station's security guard. Yikes!

学校 (School)

2008-11-20T20:01:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry I disappeared for a couple of days. I got kind of homesick and dropped all lines of communication - which is kind of the opposite of what one should do, but I'm working on it.

So... despite what my postings may thus far suggest, Shanghai isn't all shopping trips and cozy parties. I'm here on a CCSEP, or Canada-China Scholars' Exchange Programme, scholarship, and as such spend my mornings studying Mandarin at Donghua University. This has to be one of the sweetest deals offered by the Canadian government - though it's in tandem with the Chinese gov't, so I shouldn't give Ottawa all the credit. They have covered my airfare, tuition, books, and a decent monthly stipend, and would also be giving me accommodation if I didn't mind living on campus with some cockroaches. Yes, the application process was lengthy, but it didn't require anything other than a couple of reference letters and a willingness to jump some hoops.

All language students are required to take three classes: Listening, Speaking, and Intensive Reading. I'm not really sure why they divide up the classes like this, as we listen, speak, and read in all of them - though I love imagining putting on earmuffs and blindfolds at the beginning of Speaking classes. Listening is the only class I really dread - we listen to recorded sentences and then try to work out which of the answers in our textbook makes sense. The hard part is that many of the characters in the answers are new, and that those of us in the class who weren't brought up speaking/reading an Asian language have a hard time keeping up. I'm often only halfway through understanding what the answers even mean before the tape rolls, someone chirps "B!" and we've moved on to the next question. This is bad for confidence and also for friendly relationships with "B!"-chirpers. :)

Classes run from 8:30 to 12:10 every day. We have two subjects per day, and two 45-minute periods of each in a row. Sometimes the time really crawls, but finishing school at noon every day always feels fabulous. My class is a nice group of people; most of the students are Korean, with the rest of us from Turkey, Japan, Poland, and Germany - and me, from Canada (there are only two Canadians at Donghua, me and a boy I've met a couple of times). Once a month or so the International Students' Assocation organizes Chinese Corner, an hour and a half of language practice with local students. This past Tuesday's theme was Street Chinese, which, disappointingly, was about traffic safety and not Asian ebonics.

Donghua's campus is quite lovely, with lots of trees. The Teaching & Research Building, where we have classes, is one of the nicest buildings - old red brick instead of a greyish tiled exterior. On the first week of school, a giant inflatable archway welcomed new Donghua students (literally: Welcome You, New Donghua University People!), and at Autumn Festival, the courtyard was lit up with Christmas lights and lime and violet floodlights. I can't believe I didn't take a picture!

Lots of love. And if you know anyone who might be interested in CCSEP, let me know - this is really a fantastic opportunity to study in China without worrying how you'll finance a year away.

Photos:

1. School gates, first week of school
2. Our classroom
3. Our class bulletin board, which won First Prize in the Interclass Bulletin Board Decorating Competition (see certificate at upper left)
4. The Teaching & Research Building
5. Chinese Corner

Last housewarming pics

2008-11-17T22:52:00.005+08:00

Photo 6: Jenny, Conny, Helene, and Anja
Photo 7: blurry soup is always the yummiest.

House: adequately warmed!

2008-11-17T22:26:00.006+08:00

Last night I finally had my housewarming party, some four and a half weeks after moving in. We drank cocktails with highly suspect Ikea vodka, ate amazing onion soup cooked in my kitchen by Julia (garlic-chopping credits to Poppy), and made my teeny apartment really feel like home. Sitting alone in bed after everyone went home, I realized what a difference it makes to be able to imagine your house filled with people - knowing that there is potential for company makes the place feel homey even - dare I say especially? - when you're on your own.

It was a great mix of people, and a good opportunity to introduce my friends here to you. Poppy, Julia, and Katie were there, and so were Megha (American), my old roommate; Anja, Jenny, and Conny (all German), friends from the dorm; new friends Helene and Nico (French); Kellan (American), a friend from school whom I met at the harrowing health-check "field trip" at the beginning of term; and Eric (Chinese), who is doing his Master's at Donghua and who was helping out on a volunteering trip I went on last month with the university.

I am planning to host Christmas festivities here as well - anyone have any decorating ideas?

Tomorrow: all about my studies.

Photo 1: Katie and Megha
Photo 2: Kellan
Photo 3: Eric and Poppy
Photo 4: Julia and Nico
Photo 5: Everrrybody! Note Poppy moving faster than the speed of light. (Why can't I post more than five pictures?)

My Saturday routine

2008-11-15T22:21:00.006+08:00

Weekends in Shanghai mean people, lots of people, everywhere. I always tutor from 1:00 to 3:00 over in Pudong (Shanghai, like Edmonton, is spliced in two by water, and Pudong is on the far side of the Huangpu River), and negotiating the crowds on the metro trip there and back is an experience unparalleled by anything in Canada. Sometimes I try to imagine what situation at home would compel people to cram themselves through doors as passionately and unapologetically as they do here. It's like the Strathcona Farmers' Market, only the same amount of people have to squeeze into one-tenth the space. And it's Christmas Eve, and there is a turkey shortage so there is only one free-range turkey left. And everyone's elbows are extra-sharp, and most people are a little shorter than usual so the elbows really get into your ribs.

The blurry photo below was the best I could do before the camera was knocked out of my hand (fortunately into my bag).

Before squeezing into the metro, I had a fantastic morning wandering around a little artsy area called Taikang Lu, where a lot of artists moved to take advantage of the cheap rent a few years ago and which has, predictably, become somewhat gentrified. Among the little shops, though, are old row houses whose original occupants still hang out playing chess outside and washing their clothes in giant, bright-coloured plastic bowls. It's a really strange mix of trendy expats and far less privileged Chinese people, and I don't feel comfortable describing it (like my guidebook does) as "charming" and "off the beaten path" when really, it's a cluster of kind of decrepit alleyways with Chinese residents that probably don't have money to rebuild or even repaint. I do think Katie had a point, though, when she said that at least it's one historical part of town that isn't being sacrificed for a new condo.

After doing a bit of Christmas shopping, I took a cab to the closest metro station. Refreshingly, the ride was beautiful - we were in the French Concession, which has gorgeous old trees hanging over the streets. I wished I could have wandered around instead of teaching in the afternoon, but alas, there is rent to pay!

Grandma, I will write more about school this week. Thanks, everyone, for your comments - they're really fun to read and make me feel like an Important Internet Presence.

Don't worry, Grandma, sometimes I eat protein

2008-11-13T23:46:00.007+08:00

I've never been much of a cook, but I have, with the help of Poppy and Julia, developed a delicious new snack. It's called Roasting Fruit-Flavoured Chinese Marshmallows Over My Burner And Eating Them Off A Fork, or RFFCMOMBAETOAF for short. I know they look a bit charred, but they are seriously delectable. I chose the photo with the smallest flame for everyone's peace of mind.

(The underlying theme of this post is Feel Free To Send Me Clif Bars.)

Road trip!: Wuzhen

2008-11-12T16:01:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, Donghua (our university) took all willing international students to Wuzhen, a little canal town about three hours away from Shanghai by bus. We weren't really sure why we drove six hours in a day to spend three at Wuzhen, but when it comes to Donghua-organized events, we've learned it's best not to ask - there's a different sense of logic here.

Wuzhen was a lot like Xitang, a closer town that I'd visited in October with my cousins - both places have teeny cobblestone streets, gorgeous old houses, and lots of photo ops. The main difference was that the view of Wuzhen included the edge of my umbrella - it poured all day! But seeing a shadow puppet play, poking around old courtyards, and being in total silence for the first time since coming to China was totally worth it.

Cast of characters below: Julia (remember her from Sunday brunch?), Fadi (Turkish, in our class), and Yan Laoshi (Teacher Yan, our reading teacher). Photo credits to Julia for the fancy red-umbrella shot - and also for the brunch photos, except for the one of her, which was allll me.

Sunday brunch chez moi

2008-11-11T13:49:00.000+08:00

This Sunday, I had Poppy (Scottish, sipping mocha) and Julia (Polish, delicately handling utensils) over for a lazy brunch. My kitchen is my favourite part of my new apartment (aside from the laundry rails that crank up and down from the ceiling), but since I realized that Western ingredients are more expensive than Western restaurant food, my gas range and lovely yellow countertops haven't been getting much of a workout. The solution: French-pressed mochas; my old favourite, French toast; and a ginormous fruit salad. Katie (American, delivering dry wit) joined us too, and sitting around the awesome sea-foam folding table that came with the flat (and enjoying the first sunshine we'd seen in a week), we congratulated ourselves on starting a new weekend tradition.

Welcome!

2008-11-11T11:49:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone!

Well, it has taken me two months and two weeks in Shanghai to figure out that keeping my loved ones in the loop about what exactly I'm doing here is just about impossible. My gmail account is littered with half-written drafts of long, descriptive emails; Facebook takes ten years to load; and my apartment's cell phone reception is limited to the corner by the window, where I can phone home if I am standing up, facing northeast. Sure, Shanghai is great, but it's darn hard to start a new life here knowing that my ties home are molding over like those gross rails on the Titanic.

So: this blog is meant to help change all that. I know it's a little one-sided at this stage, but I'm hoping that just being able to show you what I'm doing here - the food I'm eating, the people I'm spending time with, where I'm sleeping, the stuff I'm buying - will make us feel a little less far away. Please feel free to comment, ask me questions, and request parcels. I will post updates at least a few times per week.

Here's to new beginnings! With lots of love,

Claire.