What a difference a year makes!

I just finished reading my friend Amanda's blog post about sitting in first class on an international flight. It reminded me of the amazing journey we had last summer heading back to Shanghai. Last August I felt like the luckiest person ever to fly on a 14 hour flight! Because of our Silver Status with United, we were upgraded to first class on our flight from New York to Shanghai. This is not supposed to happen, but they had to change planes, thus forcing some economy passengers to bump up to first class. That was us. I cried. I do that a lot! But, you can only imagine how exciting it was for us! We had everything you could imagine...lots of delicious food, wine, mixed drinks, a very comfy down comforter, a little bag of goodies and a seat that went flat! Yup, I actually was able to lay on my stomach and woke up drooling! By the time the plane landed, Travis and I did not want to get off. It was THE BEST flight EVER!

Now, fast forward to this year...slightly different.

This trip sucked. I mean REALLY. SUCKED. I cried at a few points. Shocking, I know. But this year, for a much different reason. First off, we are dumb. I have learned to never cut the time that close. We wanted to spend as much time in America as possible. Our flight was supposed to land the night before we started school. That. was. stupid. Not sure what in the world we were thinking. 

Here is how it all panned out...we got to Chicago in style, first class, free bags, lovely short flight. (Unfortunately for me, I have grown custom to first class on domestic flights. I am sure to get a wake up call soon.) Next, we got on plane number two, destined for LA. Again, great flight, although it left a little late. We had exit row seats that were in line with the door to enter, so plenty of room. Then we got to LA and saw on the TV monitors that there was a typhoon right over Shanghai. We knew it was coming, but didn't realize it was there and that it was directly over the city. The past two years we have had typhoon warnings and nothing has happened. So we figured it would be fine. Once we saw the typhoon was actually hitting Shanghai, we prepared for a long delay. It never happened. The flight left on time (with two other teachers friends aboard). This was now our third flight.

It did not start like the other two. It was an older plane, and it really showed. We had our own TV screens (thank God), but could not control them much. Certain movies and TV shows were on only a few channels and they all started at the same time. I wanted to cry right then and there. (First small hissy fit happened here.) I decided to read and do other things for the beginning of the flight in protest. When I finally decided to try and watch Hunger Games, I realized my seat didn't have a working audio outlet. I lost it. (Second hissy fit, a little bigger this time.) I went nuts yelling at Travis and telling him that we should get our money back and blah, blah, blah. You can only imagine my hysterics. He was kind enough to ignore my rant (being as supportive as possible without calling me a lunatic) and offered his outlet since he wasn't using it. I was able to watch 2 movies and the flight was not too bad after all. We slept a bit too, but it was cold and a HUGE group of friends were together and they were quite annoying. At the beginning of the flight, they had a very difficult time finding seats, they all wanted to trade. Then they were told to sit down several times, before they finally did. They didn't bother me TOO much during flight until I was in a DEEP sleep and one friend decided to scream in his friend's face (sitting right next to me) to scare him. Needless to say, he wasn't the only one scared. GRRRRRRRR!

Twelve-ish hours have now gone on and I am thinking, "Sweet, we are going to land and be home soon!" I spoke too soon. As we got over Japan, one of the flight attendants walks past me and says, "Welcome to Osaka!" I thought it was a joke. He said they had just found out that they wouldn't be able to land because of the typhoon, so we had to go to Osaka. I think I cried then too. (I told you I cry a lot.) Once we land, (in another freakin country!!!! I don't know why we didn't just go to a different city in China) they tell us we will be leaving the next evening, EVENING, 24 hours away! Again, I think I cried. 

We deplane, get herded like cattle to immigration, get told about dinner, the hotel and the next day, get shoved on a bus and off to our hotel, a 1 hour drive. Ugh. We arrive to a beautiful hotel. Amen. Our room is nice, two twin beds, but whatev. We have a nice shower and a bidet!!! :) We were to tired and frustrated to eat, so we slept. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, slept more, took the bus back to the airport and learned our flight was delayed an hour. Guess what I did? I didn't cry...yet, but I did complain! :) After standing in a line of 300 people trying to get new tickets for over an hour and a half, Travis realized we were able to go to the special line for Silver, Gold, and Platinum members. We quickly got our tickets in hand, checked our bags once again and headed to the gate for flight number 4.

As expected, we boarded the plane late and stayed on the tarmac for like an hour. At this point, I am beyond frustrated. Two hours later, I hear the joyous words, "Welcome to Shanghai!" I might have cried again, tears of great joy. All in all, we made it back to Shanghai, a whole day late and missed work. I was stressed, of course, and Travis was fine, as usual.

It amazes me to think of how different this flight was compared with last year's! Two things have come out of this 4 plane, 2 day ordeal. One, I will not come back so close to starting work. Two, I want a nonstop flight next year! I hope this brought a smile to your faces, thinking back, it kind of makes me laugh now!

Cheers!

C

Take picture?

Ah, the locals, how they make me laugh! Last weekend, on one of my mom's last nights in the city, we decided to head down to the Bund for dinner and to just take in the view. If you don’t know what the Bund is, this comes straight from Wikipedia…

The Bund has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia.

In my own words…because of this British settlement, when you are walking down there, you can sometimes forget where you are. I like to pretend I am in Europe! The buildings are gorgeous and full of character. And if you look across the other side of the river you can see new Shanghai. There you see skyscrapers with bright lights decorating the night sky. It is an amazing area to be. One side you see historical Shanghai, and the other, new Shanghai, both are equally beautiful and eye catching. It makes me think there is no other place like it. And I call this city home…

So, back to the funny locals…sometimes they love the foreigners and sometimes they don’t. This night was a time they loved us. Many times they ask to take pictures with us. When we first got here, I would get angry and not understand why they were so fascinated with us. Now, I just think it’s funny. Last weekend we met a local man that wanted multiple photos with us. First he asked Travis to be in a picture. He handed me his camera and I took a few pictures of him and Travis with the Pudong skyline in the background. After a couple with Travis, he wanted a couple with me, so Travis and I switched. Again, multiple pictures were taken. Finally he wanted a photo with both of us. This cracked me up. He made sure that each photo was horizontal and vertical. He thanked us many times and had a smile plastered on his face. It was great to make his night and we felt like celebrities!

So, if you ever travel to China and are not Asian, be ready for staring and for photo requests. Don’t over think it, just smile and feel like a celebrity. You will easily make someone’s day by getting in a photo.

Here are some photos of the night. I was practicing my photography skills at night. It was a little frustrating at times, but I ended up with a few good ones.

 A building on The Bund

 Looking down the road at The Bund side

More building on The Bund

 Pudong skyline

The Pearl Tower

That's all for now. 

C

Photography Class 1

Yesterday I went to my very first photography class. We bought our EOS camera almost 2 years ago and even after trying to read the manual, I still don't know how to properly use the darn thing. There are so many settings and most of my pictures just do not come out right. I almost always end up using Auto. Today I learned that is bad. I learned all about WB- White Balance, Av- Aperture, Tv- Shutter Speed and many other things. It is definitely going to be a learning experience through trial and error, but from just one class (which was almost 6 hours long) I feel like I know SO MUCH more about my camera. This makes me VERY happy. With all of the trips we go on and all the nieces and nephews, I need to learn to capture all these precious moments as best as I can. Since we spent a lot of money on the camera, it would also make me feel better about it. So here are a few things I learned. They are not the most interesting photos, but they show you what I am learning to do. We have 2 more classes and lots of homework. I can't wait to practice in Boracay. ;)

This may not look great, but I learned how the WB and shutter time can make a huge difference in the light in the picture. This was sitting in the teacher's apartment and just aiming at the window. Great view, huh?

Here is our teacher, Baja (pronounced Buy-ya). She is from Holland and use to be a lawyer and then changed careers. She was great. This is a photo of her moving. We learned how to adjust the shutter speed and make a moving person, or object be still. I think this will be very useful for sports and dance photos and the like.

I am pretty proud of this one. I know it's not great, but it took about 50 tries to get it semi-right. This was learning how to make a moving object still, and blur the background. Go me!

 This was an attempt at the guy being still and background blurry. He was too close to me though. However, I like the picture anyway. This is a typical scene in Shanghai. Lots of men and women pedal these bikes with stuff on the back. Sometimes they are packed so high, it amazes me they can even move the bike! I will try and get a snapshot of that someday.

I liked the "store" here in the alley way. All kinds of good stuff to buy! Another typical sight in Shanghai.

Here I liked the colors and lightening. This was nothing special, but again another little "restaurant" in Shanghai. This was a "walk up and buy place".

So, that was session 1. I have some interesting homework to do. I will be learning how to focus on certain things and blur backgrounds and foregrounds too. I didn't have a good picture of that to show, but once I do my homework, I will share it with you. That's all for now. I am off to go enjoy the sunshine with Krystle and Amanda. Happy weekend!

C

Curiosity...

You know the saying, "Curiosity killed the cat"? Well, the same goes for the Chinese...or so I believe may happen. It amazes me that I have yet to see a local Chinese person get nailed by a bus, taxi, or other vehicle. Before moving to this buzzing metropolis, I was told I would get stared at by many locals. This is a gross understatement. While I did what I could to blend in...dyeing my blond hair brown and straightening it as often as possible, some things can't be changed. My boobies (among other physical traits I was blessed with) tend to draw some attention, thanks to their size and the 'barely there' clothing one must wear in the sultry summer.


First, let me back up a bit. It is a common sight to see a local on a bike staring at a Westerner. Doesn't sound to dangerous you say...well picture this: Rush hour, cars turning in all directions, traffic lights as mere suggestions and a culture of 'only the strong survive' and 'whoever gets there first' wins, tends to create dangerous situations on the roads. Mind you, scooters, bicyclist and buses that don't have to follow any rules are also in the mix. So, when I say the locals stare, picture them doing this in total chaos surrounding them. They start on one street, stare at you and turn the corner into traffic and somehow survive, weaving in and out. It is truly unbelievable. The traffic and lack of following traffic laws in a big city is definitely something to get use to.

Now getting back to my boobies, one instance stands out in my mind. It was the first week we moved here and we had a big, fancy work party. I was wearing a strapless dress that was tight in my chest, as most of my clothes are, for obvious reasons. As we walked to the Metro, we passed a traffic light. There was a semi-truck (Chinese semi-truck) with four men in the front seat (also a common sight and another story) sitting at a red light and all of them were pointing at me with smiles on their faces and saying something (I am sure about my boobs). They continued to stare as the driver somehow sensed the light was green (it may have been the continuous horn honking behind him) and drove off, eyes still on my chest. It was quite comical.

I guess I will talk about my boobs whenever I can...but my point is that the curious stares of the local Chinese frighten me. I worry that someday as they stare at us Westerners, they will one day see that they do not have 9 lives as a cat does....

Beer

As I was walking home from school on Friday, I saw an expat couple walking down the street with a beer in each of their hands. This is not uncommon to see in Shanghai. When I saw them walking and drinking beer, it of course, made me want one myself. It was a tiring week and I was ready to pop the top and sit on my couch with my sweats on.

So I did. I went to Lawsons (a corner store near our apartment building) and grabbed a 600 milliliter bottle all for myself. I went up to the 8^th floor pulled on my sweats and sat. Shortly after, I was summoned to a happy hour. I'm a sucker for Lychee Cosmos at Cottons on a Friday night. My big dilemma however, was that my beer was not even half way gone. Problem solved- I now had a roadie. So I walked out the apartment (I did manage to change out of my sweats) and climbed into the cab with my beer in hand. The driver made fun of me (and so did Krystle) as he pointed and laughed at my beer. Off we went, drinking beer as we made our way to the French Concession…

Everyday life

I recently read a book called “Shanghai Snapshots”. The woman that wrote the book was a French expat and had lived in Shanghai for four years when she wrote it. She shared everyday stories of normal life in Shanghai. It inspired me to do the same. Although I can’t write nearly as well as she can, I hope to entertain our friends and family in America, make our friends here in Shanghai laugh with me as you know exactly what I’m talking about, and just paint a picture of life in this unique, big city. So enjoy, I hope you laugh at the stories and not my writing…

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we feel especially thankful.  It is our second year on an amazing adventure full of new memories each day!  We were lucky enough to talk with some family on Thanksgiving and they reminded me, once again, how great our life is!  I was talking with my sister Jan and nieces Lainey and Emily and they asked me if we had gone on any trips lately.  I thought for a moment and said, "Um, yeah, well there was Cambodia and then a couple weeks ago I went to Nanjing with some girl friends."  Then Emily started to laugh at how I acted as if Cambodia and Nanjing were not a big deal.  It hits me every once in while when I think about how many places we have seen over the last two years and how so many people will never get this opportunity.  And that is only one reason we are thankful!

We are also thankful for the many wonderful friends we have made here.  Not only are they just friends, they have become our Shanghai family and without them, we would never be able to live abroad!  They make our life fun, they are they for us when we need them, and they join us in making memories we will never forget!  This Thanksgiving we had some of our American friends over to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.  It made for a great night and one of my favorite Thanksgivings EVER!  Here are some pictures of the night.

 Vanessa, Bri, Matt, Tony, Clare, Krystle and Zach enjoying some drinks and appetizers while waiting for the turkey to arrive.

 Travis carving the turkey as Tony's mouth waters!

 More friends enjoying our delicious food from Bubba's Restaurant.

 Yum, Yum!

The last of the girls at the end of the night!

We had such a great time that night!  I am hoping to have some kind of a Christmas party before the end of the semester too.  However, we do have our "Casino Royale" themed work party on Dec. 10 that I am really looking forward to!  3 weeks until we are on American soil enjoying all the Christmas joy that we can squeeze into 2 1/2 weeks!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

C and T