Melissa visited!

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

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

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.

Julia visited!

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.

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

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!

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.

1. 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.

Road trip! 2: MIDI music festival

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

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

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.

Project 2: Dinner chez moi

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