Shanghai: Week 6 - Entry 3

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Sunday, October 7/07

Hey everyone!

Well, Shanghai continues to dazzle yet frustrate....regarding the latter, one of my colleagues uses the acronym 'TIC', for 'this is China' for every time something doesn't go the way you'd expect and lately we, too, seem to be throwing it into every other sentence....for example, on the first night of our holidays, the taxi took us to the wrong area in Saturday holiday traffic and after one hour in gridlock we ended up in the wrong part of town; our pay went into the bank for the first time but our money cards didn't work; the internet guy came to our apartment twice and we still don't have web access: TIC, TIC, TIC....TOC!!!

But then one late evening, walking down the major shopping street Huai Hui Lu (why hi loo), we discovered to our amazement that seemingly overnight it had been transformed into an Autumn Festival wonderland. As far as you could see, trees lining the street had been wrapped in purple twinkle lights, and strung between were multi-coloured flashing stars. As usual there were passerbys everywhere: parents and their children out way past their bedtime, flocks of shoppers (the stores here never close) young people out on the town, and grandparents in their pajamas out for a late night stroll -- and 'TIC' took on another quality of, well, 'this is China'??!! Truly it was breathtaking.So we're continuing to find the YIN (sorry about the misspelling in the last entry :-) in a sea of yangs, and such Autumn Festival celebrations have been a delightful example.

It also helps, we're learning, to plan a lot less. For example, a family of eight bumped us from a one-day bike trip in the surrounding countryside...so we set off to buy our own bikes and tour the local neighbourhoods instead. We've also used the week off for Autumn Festival to organize our apartment, and that has meant yet another trip to IKEA. Maybe it's time to branch out for more exotic shopping locales, ie "Taikang Street" is a renovated network of laneways, where you can pick up unique pieces from local artisans and designers. But that's been a recent discovery...in the meantime, here are the pics of our place...sorry if it's starting to ressemble a page from the IKEA catalogue. (But I have to admit, it's hard to avoid picking up those comforts from home, at ridiculously low prices!!)

So, here is the latest update as we await yet another typhoon and celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.

And now that you all have seen our place, come on down!!

'Til next time....

Amy & Roel,

alias
Luolan and Li Ming

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Photos

Huai Hai Lu
Autumn Festival wonderland at night.

Hallway mirror
Interpretation by local artist......or is this really us after two months?

Front hallway
Observing our new home.

Living Room
Small, but cosy

Stairway
Access to second floor

Bedroom
Large and comfortable.

Kitchenette
Small but functional.

Japanese bedroom
Large but very uncomfortable!!

Ikea Catalogue page 47
You don't always get want you want...but if you try real hard :-) Not that we need satellite TV...but we're hooked!!

Dining/Computer/Water...etc
A catch all room...but nice to have!

New Shanghai bikes
Our new wheels parked in our third bedroom.

Wet Market
Thanks to our bikes, we're discovering little nooks and crannies around the city -- like this street sale of fish, frogs and eels.

Comments

[Carly]

Amazing apartment..
...can't wait until I move in! Eh roomies?

[martha]

hey
Hi you two, your blog is great sounds like your adventure is going well (except for that market selling frogs and EELS!), your apartment looks very cute and cozy. Everything here is good just had turkey dinner, quiet without you two headbangers. Lauren is grooving along at Glendon with papers starting to loom. Happy Anniversary, 35 yrs is quite a milestone, was also Harry's BD on the 10th, on thanksgiving we watched movies with him, but it made us all a little sad. I will keep in touch, Lauren got a laptop for school, so I'm getting more into that thing called the web. Love you, Martha.

[aimsey and roelie]

We're counting down the days. All of the Christmas music played, all of the time, everywhere helps! Start looking into flights too, roomie!! Talk to you this weekend? Love, Luolan

[aimsey and roelie]

Headbangers are us
Hey Marth! It was great to hear from you and, yes, you HAVE to get a computer! Take it from a headbanger...it's time to get in the groove 21st century-wise!! Besides, it makes the distances a lot smaller. It was nice to hear about Thanksgiving, and I think Harry is trying to speak to me...I forgot about his birthday (that happens over here a lot...Craig are you reading? Mike? oops!!) and then I had a vivid dream about him...and after reading your message i think it was on his birthday!! So Harry is still with us :-) So get a computer and get online and drop me a line!! Have to run now...work is beckoning. Tell Lauren i think about her all the time at Glendon, working hard...is she enjoying it? Tell her that's an absolute must! Talk to you later. Say hi to the gang, Love, Amy