Random Pics

The first picture is the building we went into.



The second picture is one of the views I caught on film.


3rd is a biking picture. These are fun!!

The famous Yu Garden

I went inside Yu Gardens with a student, Sally on my first weekend here. It was a balmy day and the sky was about ready to burst. We ran through the gardens to try to beat the impending thunder storm. We just made it and hid out in a stall selling fancy tourist goods. After the rain let up, we ate some colorful "sweets." I tried chewy steamed rice balls with surprise centers of sweet red bean paste. They are pretty tasty and there's nothing like popping a big bite into your mouth and chewing away!

Chinese Venice

On our first weekend out, Rocky took me to see some of the buildings in Pudong (a burb of Shanghai). We crossed the river in a ferry and went to a walking tour of the Yu Garden district and to see a temple. FIrst, we ate some famous juicy dumplings (dumplings you bite the corner of and drink the soup out before you eat the rest) and some noodles at the Fuchun restaurant. Here are some sample pictures from our tour!

Market stall


Me n Rocky


Me on the boat


Fang Shen bridge


Street scene


Food Vendor


Street scene


Tea of China


View from the Tea house


Bridge from the Tea house window


Fancy table at the Tea house

Some pics

Turtles at the Market


Barbie's spa on the 2nd floor


Me n Barbies


Me with my pink lipstick blending in with the other Barbies. Can you tell which one is me?

Flower, Bird, Fish, and Insect Market

Today Emily and I took a taxi to Xizang Nan Lu (a road) and met Renee at the Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect market. This was another bustling place to be on a late Saturday morning. This semi-open air market was noisy and fragrant all at once. The sounds of crickets and giant chirping bugs greeted us when we entered the market that was filled with tightly packed rows of vendors--selling just as promised and more. Would you like some chipmunks, bigger Chinese black chipmunks, flying squirrels, colorful birds, singing birds, turtles, frogs, big chirping bugs, Chinese kittens, puppies, chinchillas, hamsters, gerbils, bugs to feed your new friend, or some plants? This is just a sampler of what you could find there. Oh, and fish...yes, you can get fish. The market, despite it's crowdedness, was remarkably non-smelly. Yay!

Next we went to the cloth market where there are 3 floors of fabric heaven. I never knew how many different kinds of linens, silks, cashmeres and blends of these fibers there were. A tactile and visual paradise. The best shop was the one where I touched some angora mohair and fell into insta-love. I wanted a good price so, I haggled. She was going to loose her business with my price and I KNEW that she couldn't do anything with that last remnant of fabric. We were in gridlock for a while, but we finally came to an agreement. After that, I had to get out of there. My students/friends were instructed to not let me touch anything and lead me the shortest possible route to the exit.

Then to the Pika Pika place for some photo booth goodness--straight from Japan! You could "decorate" your pictures as much as you wanted before they were printed. We added sparkles, some butterflies, flowers, cake, bubbles, our names, tiaras, watermelon, fish, octopus, and the list goes on. This was the fun part and they became sooooo pretty. I can't wait until they come to the US. Why aren't they already there???

Lastly we went to the Barbie shop. 5 floors of pink, happy upbeat lounge music, and Barbie galore. I tried on some Barbie pink lipstick and posed with the life size Barbies. The lipstick made me feel so pretty as I posed with the fake barbies. Then I looked in the mirror--eeek! who really looks good in bubblegum pink?! I guess sometimes it's how you feel that really matters.

McDonalds

Today's school lunch was a trip to Micky D's. Just what is a Chinese McDonalds like? Pretty much the same as in the U.S., only with more tasty side options. For lunch I had a cheeseburger with cucumber slices and special spicy sauce. Instead of a pop and fries, I had a Mango pie and a blueberry fizzy soda ice cream float to drink. Mmmm! Before we went back to school, I ordered another Mango pie and a sweet Taro pie to go. Taro is somewhat potato-y only it has a soft purple color. I ate it at school while the students were writing. Delish! I still have my Mango pie in the bag waiting for me. Today, Mango pies are my new favorite food, followed by Taro pies!

Hot Pot Dinner

After School, a few of my students took me out to a restaurant called "Dolar Shop." It's a place where everyone gets their own hot pot of broth with a flame underneath and you have communal veggies and meats that you put in it to customize your dinner. We waited for a while outside the restaurant because it's quite a bustling place. After we got in, I tried some new foods such as cow esophagus cut into diamond shapes (this was white and rubbery kind of like squid) and some cow stomach which looked like something you might find living in a coral reef. It was white and had a lot of tentacle-like things which I think were the stomach folds. Brrrk...I don't want to think about this too deeply. I think it's good to see how far your comfort bubble can go.

While we ate and talked, and ate and talked, my thoughts focused on the simple things such as the taste and textures of the food because I wasn't always able to follow the conversation. My favorite pot add-ins were the lotus plant, which is a lot like a water chestnut in it's crunchy-ness, but has a firmer more substantial texture, the tall stringy mushrooms that come in a bundle and have the best feeling when you bite into a clump of them, and the fish balls. They had small chunks of chewy fish in a melt in your mouth sausage-y texture. Mmmm!

We also had some small rolls of mutton, shaved beef, frozen and thawed tofu (very spongy), mini-dumplings, noodles, clear seaweed noodles, bamboo shoots, and a bowl full of different greens. I'm sure I'm leaving some tasty things out, but this was the most of it. When we finished, we were served some sweet warm red rice pudding followed by some slices of watermelon and cherry tomatoes in a bowl with plastic double pronged toothpicks. It was such a good feeling to be out in the world on a balmy Shanghai night spending time in good company. What a deeply satisfying evening of simply eating out.