For New Year's Eve we went to a bar called New Heights on the top floor of a building right on the Bund (the fancy downtown area). The party was so much fun it was open bar with an incredible view of the Huang Pu River in Shanghai. Here is the view from the bar.

You can never have too many or too big a Chinese Flag.

New Years in Shanghai!
We are standing in front of a Happy New Year 2009 ice sculpture...fancy stuff!

I wish I could tell you the night ended with a kiss...

Before we went out we were warned that it was virtually impossible to get a taxi on New Year's Eve. So we went outside and saw an available one, well so did about 15 other people. There was a mad sprint for the cab, needless to say, being a more athletic culture, we won. We were already in the cab, about to shut the door and this Chinese couple dove on top of us and tried to pull us out of the cab to steal it. As we were being screamed at in Chinese, out of nowhere this girl jumped on top of Jeremy and he threw her off. Then her boyfriend came after him and Ben convinced Jeremy not to go after him for fear of Chinese prison. One of the better decision made that night. What I couldn't believe is that the taxi driver didn't just drive away when we were in the cab. He sat and watched to see who would get it at the end of the fight!

Happy 2009!

A Very Merry Tacky Chinese Christmas!

For some reason, the Chinese have really embraced the commercial Christmas. There are decorations everywhere! I think it started in the western malls then spread everywhere! Here are some shots.

We saw this in a mall... What does it mean?

This is a more local view... I'm pretty sure it is all the Christmas decorations that are Made in China and Rejected by America.





Here is a view of our own little Christmas tree. It has a lot more presents now! Jeremy, Stephanie and I will be going to Japan for our 5 day Christmas holiday. On Dec. 23, before we go, Jeremy, Stephanie, Ben and I are having dinner and a small gift exchange at our apartment.


We have also been enjoying the holiday party season (Chinese style of course).

Our school organized a Christmas dinner for the foreign teachers on Friday night. It was at a nice Italian restaurant, buffet style (a really nice break from the Chinese Banquets). A few of the foreign teachers sang Christmas carols.
The Foreign Affairs Office, in charge of the event, organized a lottery. Jeremy won instant coffee and I won a USB drive. There were also REALLY cheesy games, including the limbo. Although it never game, I was just waiting for the hokey-pokey. The whole thing was a pretty werid experience, as the Chinese Administrators tried to emmulate Western culture for the westerners, but it was a really nice gesture. Afterwards we all went out downtown together. It was a lot of fun!

The next night one of the forgien teachers organized a potluck Chinglish Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange. It was a lot of fun! Jeremy made Whiskey Hot Coco (I was dubious, but it turned out pretty well) and I found a Chinese Cake at the local bakery. Everyone dressed up in their best Chinglish.

Jeremy's Shirt says "Laugh & Peace all my real of the smile & Joy"

Stephanie and I opted for the comfy option of PJ's. It's really funny because the Chinese people will go out to run errands and hang out in full pj's. They are generally loud colors and always have a matching top and bottom. These particular PJ's came straight from the local shop next door for the low price of $4 (for both the top and bottom). If you can't tell, mine are Hello Kitty and Stephanie has what we think are Pokemon. You can't quite see, but my slippers say "Fish and Merry Rain" with a copyright symbol.

Cultural Event Day

Since we are living in one of the largest cities in the world there is always something to do. So I began cultural event day in order to explore the area in our own backyard. So Jeremy, Stephanie and I set out for Old Town and the Yu Yuan Gardens.

Old town is an area that has traditional Chinese architecture. However, because of it's traditional feel, it has become a massive tourist trap. With every single Chinese souvenir you can imagine.

"Hello lady. You like? You want Mao watch? I have real jade Buddha."

Men are pounding rice to make rice noodles.

Starbucks is everywhere!

Inside of Old Town is the Yu Yuan. It was a beautiful rock garden with ponds and bridges. It was a brisk fall day so there was virtually no one there. It was very peaceful.

An afternoon on Taikong lu

Today we took a 45 minute bike ride to a very cute area of Shanghai called Taikong Lu. It's a pedestrian area with twisting alleyways and tons of cute outdoor cafes, boutiques and art galleries. There are painters, sculptors, photographers, and all the artists open their studios for you to watch them work. It has a European feel with tiny streets and exposed brick. We spent the afternoon winding through the streets, then we found an Indochinese restaurant for lunch, and found another little cafe for a cup of coffee outside. It was a nice afternoon on a gorgeous day. Here are some pics:

A Chinese Thanksgiving

As many of you know, we live in an apartment style dormitory with about 60 ex-pats, most of whom are American, but there are some Brits and Aussies. On the Friday before Thanksgiving one of the girls organized a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun! Our apartments are not equipped with a oven or stove, so it makes cooking quite difficult, however the school allowed us to use the home economics kitchens to cook. So there was a variety of delicious Thanksgiving sides. Believe it or not turkey is a North American animal, so we had other poultry such as Chinese roast duck and Kentucky Fried Chicken (a Chinese favorite...seriously they're everywhere!) Jeremy made his favorite Thanksgiving dish, "mom's candied yams," which turned out to be a HUGE hit!We also contributed some other holiday favorites

Friends and teachers

These are the girls with whom I take Chinese lessons.

Thanksgiving day we had the option to go to an all you can eat Thanksgiving buffet at a diner. Jeremy and I just couldn't picture homemade thanksgiving dinner at a diner. Instead we went back to the original roots of thanksgiving to celebrate with the Indians. Well, not exactly the right Indians, but these Indians provided a mean all you can eat/all you can drink Indian buffet, complete with entertainment.

Our Thanksgiving family dinner

The happiest and most energetic dancer ever!

Live video of the dancing.

As an aside, for class on Thanksgiving day, I let my students take a break to learn about the American holiday. I showed them Thanskgiving episodes from the TV show Friends. I taught them the colloquial vocab words used in the episode, then we watched the show, and they had to write a paragraph discribing Thanksgiving. Their answers were pretty entertaining. Everything from you have to have turkey and eat as much as you can to a harvest festival to a lie told to kids about Indians and Pilgrams. What is that holiday anyway? I'm not quite sure, but I know I really missed being with family.