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I have been reunited!

Shanghai was quite an adventure, but I am back  home and enjoying every moment of freedom.  I am officially an international hoarder, I brought back a 20 foot shipping container stuffed with "treasures". There were many things I missed while in China, fresh air and blogging with my pals were at the top of the list.

I made wonderful friends in Shanghai, and I hope to see them on another adventure one day. My lovely friends were willing and eager to accompany me to the shadiest places in Shanghai. With our tetanus shots up to date, and a giant bottle of hand sanitizer, what did we have to lose? We ended up unearthing some wonderful finds and have some ridiculous stories to tell.

I will be posting photos this week and will tell you about my two brushes with government officials. 

2am vs. 2pm

 Broken porcelain reused for this temple decoration.

 The weekend market in Bangkok, Thailand

We just returned from a trip to Bangkok, Thailand.  After seeing the mosaics at the spectacular temples in Bangkok, I now want to cover everything in colorful mosaics. I also did a fair amount of damage at the markets, they have the most excellent junk.
Sadly, our trip ended on a rather sour note, namely my sobbing like a baby in a bathroom at the Hong Kong airport. I won't bore you with the details, I'll just give you the low points. We thought we were two hours early for our 2pm flight from Bangkok to Shanghai. We were actually 12 hours late for our 2am flight. Who flies at 2am? Everything was sold out to Shanghai, so we flew to Hong Kong. We missed our connecting flights, I cried like a baby, we bought 12 one way tickets for four people. The worst part of this ordeal was the flight attendants storing my new pink carry-on case in the bathroom of the plane. Anyone want a pink carry-on case covered in funk?

Combustible

We have taken four trips around Asia in the past month and a half. We finally made it to the Great Wall, and it is indeed a mighty fine wall! A lovely Chinese family asked to be photographed with us at the top of a particularly steep climb, I think they were fascinated by the fact that I looked like I was on the brink of expiring. Perhaps it was the insane hairdo I've been sporting.

A few months ago I decided to have my hair straightened. Still lacking in Mandarin skills, I had to pantomime what I wanted to the hairstylist, and apparently I am not very good at pantomiming. Rather than communicating that I desired silky straight hair, I asked for highly flammable felted hair. I tried living with hair that resembled a shrunken wool sweater, but I finally ended up with a mannish acrylic fro. It's not a good look, trust me.

Joyeux Anniversaire Papa

Antique shop in the French Concession

Today would have been my father's 72 birthday, he died in 1996 at the age of 58. He was a big Francophile, and he even moved us to France when I was in the fourth grade.  I have celebrated his birthday every year with a special French dinner, and I will do the same here in China. We are looking forward to dining in the old French Concession in Shanghai tonight, he would have loved this very French area.

French Concession, Shanghai

It has been fascinating coming across some of the papers he wrote, as they are being digitized and released on the internet. I have also discovered that he held a patent on "Thermal Decay Time Logging Method", whatever that is! Sadly, I don't understand a word of what he wrote either. His titles include: "Neutron Scattering from a Solution of a Polymer", "The Effect of Long-Range Heterogeneities", and "Time Dependence of Neutron Pulses in the Slowing Down Energy Region", huh?  It looks like I inherited his love of France, his propensity for putting his foot in his mouth, his sweatiness, but most definitely not his brains.

The Fabric Market

The Shanghai Fabric Market had been on my "to do" list since moving here, and I picked the hottest day of the summer to finally make the journey. It was an overwhelming experience of beautiful colors and patterns. I bought two silk pillows and I scoped out tailors to make some vintage inspired dresses for me. The prices are extremely reasonable and I may never buy off the rack again.

Antiques + Warehouse = Love

My first trip to an antique warehouse in China involved stepping over small piles of burning garbage and one dead animal. That said, I was still thrilled with what I found under all of the filth. Today I ventured to a snazzier warehouse, no dead animals and no fires. I bought an old basket (below) and the large pink papier-mache pot (pictured above). I can't wait to return with a few more coins in my pocket!

Gorgeous

Gorgeous people, scenery, pagodas, mountains, and a lake to boot!

We went on a little trip to the historical  city of Hangzhou, just a two hour drive from Shanghai. It is perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Italian explorer, Marco Polo described Hangzhou as "without doubt, one of the finest and most splendid cities in the world". The city has a history dating back more than 2,200 years!

Some of China's finest tea leaves come from the mountains in Hangzhou. I can't begin to describe the wonderful smell of the toasting tea leaves.

I want to live in this house!

We hiked up a million stairs to get to this pagoda, I almost had to live here. The thought of climbing back down all of those stairs was truly daunting.

Trying To Butter Me Up?

I have been looking high and low for a large blackboard to use as our family calendar, just like we had in Chicago. Who knew this would be so difficult? I have found a few blackboards hanging in old shops, but the shopkeepers treat me like a serial killer when I try to pantomime that I want to buy their old beaten up board. Can you see that she is ready to use deadly force with a corn cob to get me to move along?

World Expo

China's Pavilion

(photo courtesy of the Telegraph U.K.)

Poland's Pavilion 

Macau's Bunny Pavilion

The 2010 World expo opens tomorrow here in Shanghai and runs until October 31, 2010. They are expecting over 70 million visitors and the city has spent the past 10 year sprucing up for their guests. We have noticed people working nonstop planting flowers on the side of the expressways and sweeping the sidewalks. The designs of the pavilions are pretty extraordinary and the activities sound pretty cool. There will be snow in the Austrian Pavilion and you can enjoy a picnic or bike ride on the rooftop garden of the Denmark Pavilion! They have planned over 900 parades and countless firework shows.  We are looking forward to visiting the Expo and I will post our pictures.

I Miss My Pals!

We are slowly adjusting to our new lives here. All of my appliances are the sizes of toys and the controls are obviously in Chinese. It has been a challenge accessing my blog and I hope to sort this out soon. I have ventured to the flea market twice, once all by myself.  The haggling over prices is a beautiful piece of theater. I discovered I can't take Deke with me to the flea market, he starts negotiating on behalf of the vendors.  I have bought a rickety chair, beautiful blue ceramic bowls and vases, an old suitcase, a Mao statue, an old green musical instrument, and the most beautiful vintage cookie tins. I love junk shopping in China!!!!

Getting There

The first leg of our trip involved all of us sitting in the middle seats of different rows in the airplane, beautiful planning! No one would budge so I could sit with my kids. I had Gar check how we are going to be seated on the way to China for 14 hours, and it is a little bit better. Gar is seated somewhere in the nether regions and the kids will be seated next to me.
I will be relieved to finally get situated in our new home. For reasons unknown I packed a suitcase full of socks and only one pair of pants for Lulu, so I will need to go shopping very soon. Look out Super Brand Mall.

Johnny Rotten summed it up with "No Fun"

I fell asleep last night watching a documentary about the rape of Nanking in 1937, not recommended viewing before bedtime! I awoke around 3:00 am  and did some light reading on Chiang Kia-Shek.  I spent the rest of my day planning my wardrobe for the next two years. Sorting, packing, storing,  and Chinese documentaries, oh my!
 I am asked every evening "what did you get rid of today?" A certain someone has an expectation that I am going to expunge all of our belongings before we move. The company will gladly store all of our junk for two years, so why not sort it when we get back? Imagine the dialogue from A&E's 'Hoarders' and you get the drift. It ends up that I am married to a flea market bulimic who has spent the last 20 years binging and now expects me to do all of the purging. You can see why I am looking forward to curling up with the Opium Wars tonight. No fun.

We Are Very Amused

Two of my favorite books

Dale Chihuly sculpture Victoria and Albert Museum

Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and their nine children

I went to see the film Young Victoria a few days ago and I had a fine time! A period film with plenty of dining scenes, beautiful costumes and I am thoroughly amused. I have always had a great fondness for Queen Victoria and one of my favorite books contains many of her beautiful sketches and watercolors. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is also one of my favorite museums and it houses the best museum gift shop in the world!
I am hoping during our travels I will find antique silver lockets from the Victorian period.

What's A Girl To Do?

Chinese propaganda posters
courtesy of
Chineseposters.net

Here's the skinny, we are moving to China. We will be packing and storing all of our loot and heading to the other side of the planet with just a satchel or two. I have literally been in a state of shock since my husband came home with this news. We went to China in November to check out housing and schools and found many lovely options. Lulu and Deke are thrilled to begin this life changing adventure, so we feel extremely lucky.
I have been racking my brain on what I should do during our stay in China, Gar will be busy peddling dolls and the kids will be getting a wonderful international education and I am simply terrified. If only I had the skills of my friend Rebecca Ramsey, she wrote the most wonderful book about her adventures in France. I have also been pining for Keith Johnson's job at Anthropologie. Have you caught his show on the Sundance Channel? Keith travels to cool spots around the globe finding treasures for the designers at Anthropologie.
Can I open a cupcake stand in Shanghai or scour the countryside for kitsch? Yikes, any ideas?

Lulu in Shanghai

Me in Shanghai

Gar and Deke wanted to visit the Shanghai Aquarium and Lulu and I wanted to visit the old French Concession, so we very bravely parted ways. Lulu suggested I bring a map and a clunky tour book with us, I scoffed at this saying "where's your sense of adventure?" and "we aren't the kind of people who need to follow a guide book." Plus I did not want to lug it around all day.

First stop was the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Museum set in an old mansion in the French Concession. This is a perfect spot for me, a museum plus an elegant old home. It seemed like everything in this museum was for sale, another plus in my book!

Second stop was a French crepe restaurant and it was actually brimming with chain smoking French businessmen, go figure.

Third stop was to find the long list of stores that I had circled in the clunky tour book. Lulu and I walked around for a couple hours. At every street corner I would tell her that things looked promising just a bit further down the street. When it started raining and we had not discovered any of the promising shops, Lulu declared that "we are indeed guide book people!" I believe this was accompanied by a glare.

Fourth stop was completely spontaneous, a chance to win over Lulu and her sense of adventure. I had taken off my glasses in the downpour, but I could see from across the street that there was a perfectly charming hair salon without any customers inside. I grabbed Lulu by the arm and dashed inside before she could start protesting. I had read volumes about Shanghai's famous shampoo service that included a head, neck and shoulder massage for less than $8.00!
The haze of cigarette smoke was a bit surprising and Lulu was glaring at me again, but we were going to have fun!

The service starts off with something called a dry shampoo. The stylists work a lather up in your dry hair and makes your head look like a giant Dairy Queen ice cream cone. After your hair is rinsed you receive a massage and the most vigorous Karate chops to your back, imagine Lulu glaring at me with watery eyes now.

I am now presented with a laminated card listing different services in English, so I have to retrieve my wet glasses. I manage to communicate that Lulu needs to have her bangs trimmed and I just need to have my hair blow dried. I can now look around the salon with my glasses on, oh my! I see things moving on the ground. I had to ignore the fight or flight response, our body's primitive, automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to "fight" or "flee" from danger. I put my glasses back in my purse. Two men with long pinky fingernails were introduced as our stylists.

Lulu ended up with a fabulous haircut, I was not quite as fortunate. For a very brief period I held the title of biggest hair in China! My coif reached some spectacular heights vertically and also broke some records horizontally. Finally, Lulu was smiling.