fabric market frivolity and a new find in Shanghai

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After months of resisting the pull of the fabric market, I finally went. And it was so much fun I am afraid I will become an addict. I went back today to pick up my items and managed to get out of there without buying more. Because if I buy more, then the cycle begins and I fear it might not end. Now, I'm sure, Mark fears this too.

First of all, I should credit my lovely fabric market tour guide, Joanna. She invited me to come with her and her mum, Anne (I like to call her a mum not a mom since she's from the UK and they say mum). I'm being culturally sensitive. We met up at my place and shared a taxi to the fabric market. Before heading in for what we knew would be intense shopping, we fueled up with coffee and toast at a nearby coffee shop. The waiter and I had a communication issue when I tried and failed to order my drink with soy milk and Anne's drink with regular. We got 2 regular cappuccinos and 1 soy latte. I sent the extra drink back and I'm sure I was not talked about nicely after that.

We made our way into the market with a plan. Joanna was very strategic and urged us to follow her plan, which we did. We went through the 3 floors packed with stall after stall of tailors and fabric, and started out with a lot of looking, but did make stops to buy various items we each had on our to buy lists. I brought a skirt I love from Ann Taylor Loft and am had 2 made in pretty spring cotton fabrics with embroidery. They turned out great and will be featured in future photos to be sure. I had fun bargaining and found my Chinese was appreciated and I was praised for my efforts.

After a long and productive shopping expedition we were ready for more food and drink. We went to an area I hadn't been to called The Cool Docks. Seems like an up and coming expat oasis. Joanna knew of it and we had a great lunch at a Greek place. We had wine, sat in the sun, had coffee and dessert after. The perfect day.

I won't list every thing I had made, but I did like everything I picked up today. It was pretty impressive to have all these custom clothes made in a week's time.I'm guessing most people ask for additional alterations to get the perfect fit, but I am all about instant gratification so I took my new duds without complaint. The shops all said If I have issues I can go back and ask for changes. I doubt I'll go back for changes, but you never know. Now I will test the durability of my new clothes before buying any more. That's my strategy. Patent pending.

The next item of note is our Sunday adventure this past weekend. I was poking around the guide books trying to find a new thing to do--we must have 10 books on Shanghai alone. I came across a description of a used book sale that takes place on the grounds of this Confusian Temple in Old Town. Sounded good to me. I envisioned a flea market and my image was correct. We bought tickets to enter both the book sale and the temple buildings and gardens.

We were not able to find many English language books. With the exception of a table of kids books, with mostly preschool level titles, I saw some very battered old paperbacks and a couple old National Geographics in English. Oh, there was a copy of Dianetics. That made me laugh. There were a lot of interesting and very old, mini-comic books. They were in Chinese, but the illustrations were fun. Emily bought one book for about $2.50 and the rest of us just looked.

Then we explored the temple. We felt like we'd found a hidden treasure. The book sale was one thing, but the temple grounds and buildings were amazing. Once again right off a very noisy street in a busy part of town you can escape into this calm peaceful scene. This has to be one of my favorite parts about Shanghai. The endless opportunities to be surprised and the limitless number of places to explore and wander.

Then it was back home to prepare for our first family language lesson. This was my bright idea. I was looking for a tutor for myself and found, through our pal Ian, this woman who tutors him. She is only available on nights and weekends, though, so I thought up this family lesson concept. The tutor had never done anything like that, but was all for trying, so we had a 2 hour lesson and it went very well.

I was nervous, and I am pretty sure I was not the only one. We all took notes, Nathan was the most diligent note taker. The teacher was writing notes too and I soon realized she would likely leave her notes for us. I didn't share this hunch with my fellow classmates, but I was right. My desire to take a shortcut when studying has not decreased over the years. We practiced ordering food on the phone for delivery to our apartment. It was fun to study as a group.

The weather is fantastic and I hope it lasts through Mother's Day. Joanna and I already booked our brunch for Sunday. Table for 9. 3 Moms (mums), 4 kids and 2 doting husbands. Should be a great time.

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Photos

post shopping ladies lunch
with wine. greek food. sunny day. heavenly.

wishes
I read that these contain people's names with the colleges they hope to attend

class is in session
and I being the class clown, went to get my camera.

Comments

[Linda]

the pull of the fabric
The fabric market does sound fabulous. We should all have a place where we can take in our favorite-fitting pants and have duplicates made...in this and that fabric. Enjoy your Mums' Day breakast.