I suppose before I begin writing about the extravagance of Teppanaki Night, I should expain what it is exactly. Teppanaki isn't Chinese, it's Japanese. There are thousands of Teppanaki restaurants all around the world and in Shanghai, China, people spend approximately 150RMB for an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's absolutely devine and I loved everything I ate. ATTENDEES: Riina (Finland) Myself (Mich, USA) Caitlin (England) Anna (Barcelona, Spain) Peter (Cali/NYC, USA) Bosco (Peru) Wei (North Carolina, USA - orginally from China) Matt (Indi, (USA) Logan (Cali, USA) Jordan (Venezuela) What did I eat? Almost everything. - Scallops - Shrimp (again, eyes and all) - Sashimi (Salmon, Sea bass) - Fish eggs and cucumber (Japanese style, not French) - Lamb - Fried noodles - Fried bananas - More beef and onions - Veggies And I saved the best for ... read more

Today is Paris Franz's (intern, sweet name right?) last day at SBR. Aside from her allergies going berserk, it's going pretty well. For lunch, we went to this Italian resto called Vita Dolce. It's a lovely restaurant - wooden staircase up to the second floor where the dining actually takes place. From 11-1p.m., the resto has a "business lunch" that includes an appetizer, main course, dessert and "free flowing" drinks - all for 78RMB ($11). Now, ordinarilly, an 11-dollar meal is a bit over my budget; however, the best thing about going to a restuarant close to work would be the likelihood of your boss going to the same one. :D When we asked to pay our bill, the nice server told us "that gentleman over there already paid for your bill" - YES! Xie xie! ... read more

Just in case any of you were curious what my life is like at SBR, I figured I'd post a short message. It's about a 30-40 minute commute to get to the SBR Office. Usually, I try to get to work about 15 minutes early so I can quickly check my email and such before cracking down. (PS - if you ever want to chat with me, the evening is best (your time).) After the quick email-checking, it all begins. My editor, Hayleigh Davies, keeps me fairly busy throughout the day. I do quite a range of things. First off, Hayleigh sends me news articles and I trim them down to about 50-60 words so they'll fit in the News Section of the magazine for the next issue or online. For the July issue, I'm working ... read more

WEEKEND IN BEIJING - Traveling-duo: Riina-Riika and me Day 1 - Both Riina and I woke up relatively early on Thursday morning (the start of our travel to Beijing). We left our apartment at about 9:30, which couldn't have been a more perfect time since there was an insane traffic jam. A 20-30 minute drive to the Pudong International Airport actually took us an hour. We had to take a bus from Shanghai's city center to the airport - it's the fastest way to get there. The bus driver was nuts - a few too many close calls - but then again, all of the drivers are nuts. It makes a lot of sense that foreigners need to apply for a Chinese driver's license before they're allowed to drive in China. It's way too dangerous without ... read more

It's always so much fun going to another country...you learn about the similarities and differences between your culture and others, meet fascinating people, try food you never thought you'd try, etc. And then of course, there are those things you wish you could take with you on every traveling adventure. My list isn't too long, in fact, I could very easily trim it down to one magical device - the Internet. The Internet truly is a remarkable thing - especially these days - you can find almost anything you're in the mood for online. The Internet, however, has a few obstacles. In certain countries, the speed of the Internet can be a bit of a problem - or inconvenient. Or maybe it's the Web sites you're actaully allowed to view that cause problems. In China, both ... read more