Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Shanghai Week Two

As I write this, the kids are busily eating their nightly treat of ice cream. We usually go for dinner around 6 pm, then stroll through campus to the student store to buy a nice cold treat. Today, we had a chicken and rice dish, and not noodles. We just had to figure out how to order it! But noodle dishes are certainly more predominant than rice dishes. The weather last week was very warm and humid. It seemed to have cooled down a few degrees with some breezes this week. There is usually a daily rain shower lasting about ten minutes around noon and it has been raining overnight as well.

This past Saturday, we visited the Yuyuan Gardens (where everything under the sun is sold) and on Tuesday night went to see an acrobat show. It was very entertaining. The kids , especially, were in awe of the performers. Thursday night we take a Huangpu River cruise. I'll be posting pictures SOON! It's hard to believe that in just 10 days we will be leaving Shanghai for Kunming. I'm glad we are able to spend this time here. To my surprize, for being such a huge city, it is relatively clean and quiet. But the sheer number of people and the massive skyscrapers covering every square inch, is mind-boggling. The traffic is constant, but not loud. Cars share the road with trucks, buses, bikes, scooters of every type, men walking with carts and pedestrians. Shangai is a lot like New York (with the money to match) combined with some aspects of a rural society.

A couple of days ago I had a killer headache and thought it might be coffee withdrawal related. One can get coffee here (at Starbucks, McD's, some small shops that sell it, etc), but I wanted to experience going without. Don't ask my why, but I did. In the 30+ years that I've been drinking the stuff, I probably missed a morning or two, but not 10 days straight. G. brought his Nescafe Clásico with him (I can't stand the stuff) and he continues to have his daily coffee at 3 pm. Well, I said enough is enough, walked to McD's for coffee and my headache was gone! And was it ever good and was the best dollar I spent so far!

We have a really nice group with us. There are about 20 adults and 7 kids. About a third of the group are recent college grads, another third of older (45+) singles and 3 couples with children. The kids' ages range from 3 - 11. All the families are sending their kids to Chinese schools in September and are taking the wait-and-see attitude of continuing on in China for an additional year.

Please leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi to the world travelers. I am so glad to hear that your adventures are going well. I am always amazed at how quickly you adapt, Ann. Recent polls in the U.S. show that Mc D's black coffee rates higher in flavor than Starbuck's black coffee. So have another cup! As I speak no Spanish and as much as I would love to try to translate Gustavo's postings as well as comments in Spanish (using my 2 years of Latin and word root recognition), I have caved in and am using an on-line translator. None that I have found is excellent, but I am getting the gist of what I am reading. What fun! If anyone can suggest a good (and free) Spanish to English on-line translator, please post it. Thanks. Hugs all around, M.

Anonymous said...

Hi also to the world travelers. It sure is nice to here about your travels. George Peroit (sp) has nothing over you Ann. Thank you for updating us. How are the kids adjusting? Sandy and Michael

Anonymous said...

I've really enjoyed reading about your adventure and miss you all so much. Tell Carlos and Elena that Yensi says HI. I have a friend that has traveled to China a few times this year for work and I was telling him about you and your family. He was very interested and wants to read your blog, so I will be sending him the link. I think a you guys a lot and will keep you in my prayers. - Linda

Anonymous said...

Will you be able to post
photos? A friend