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.

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.

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.

Shanghai from under the umbrella: Part 1

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

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

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

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

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