CNY 2010

Chinese New Year is coming up. One of the rare times I managed to get to the 'Old Town' to buy some annual CNY door decorations to usher in good luck for the coming year. This time I cut back on buying only 2 decorations; 1 traditional 2-pc scroll for our front door and another 2-pc Year of the Tiger ones for the kids' room door.

These days...

These days... just want to sit down in front of the TV and watch TV series on DVDs and knit...

These days... work has been picking up and so have been working until late every night. Sometimes not getting home until 2am...

These days... still have lots of unfinished sewing to do but just too tired to go near my sewing machine...

These days... we've been exploring Shanghai on foot on weekends with the kids and they've been great sport...

These days... experiencing more migraines than before...

These days... kids doing great in school, with teacher singing praises...

These days... Audrey is into art, doing all sorts of drawings, crafts, painting, cutting, even on her own...

These days... Samuel has been on daddy's computer trying all sort of games online, and even good at it...

These days... life is good.

Walking

After I'd dropped kids off at classmate's home for the morning, walked about 7-8 blocks to the office. Xintiandi is on my route so I took some quick snapshots of Shanghai after the rain.

A Big Rainbow

Today, we had a huge downpour which left a lot of flooded streets. A couple hours ago, we were rewarded by this bit of sun that filtered in through the gray skies. And then a big rainbow appeared which we rarely notice in Shanghai.

School Year Drawing to a Close

Last few days of school for the kids. I'm kinda going to miss walking to school with them. In spite of all the traffic noises around us, we still manage to get some conversations going.

The other day, Audrey was telling me all about Pizza Planet on Toy Story 1 and how you can eat pizza there but no place to sit, where there's play area, and where you can buy some drinks.

Samuel usually walks quietly beside me and corrects me when I say the wrong name; he pretends he is Buzz Lightyear one minutes, Sponge Bob Squarepants the next, Bob-The-Builder a few minutes later.

The only thing I don't miss is the the Shanghai heat that we end up arriving at the kids' school dripping wet.

Thank You for 4-day Weekends!

We just had a very enjoyable and productive 4-day weekend while kids had only 3 days off, back to school on Sunday.

Day 1: Thursday


Lots of walking around our neighborhood. Did a couple shorts using fabric bought from Ikea about 3 years ago! Quite happy with the result. Pattern from Betsey & Joey which was also something I purchased years ago and never got the chance to do anything with. I made the kids shots longer than pattern and added a cotton lace edging on Audrey's. They wore these the next day when we visited a family friend. These were my first ever sewing project and can't wait to do more...

Day 2: Friday

Spent almost all day at friend's apartment compound. We had lunch picnic, then kids played in the big sand pit which has real beach sand flown in (from somewhere), and more playing in the other playground area with climbing frames and more.

Day 3: Saturday



Went on sightseeing bus to check out Shanghai. Got a few new Japanese linens purchased on local 'ebay'. They are so yummy. Decided to immediately make another pair of shorts for Samuel from same pattern as Ikea shorts and a Lazy Day Skirt for Audrey from the Oliver+S, found via SouleMama.

Day 4: Sunday


Kids had school that day. Perfect as this gave me and Simon some personal time. Decided to check out my favourite hang-out, a very very local area of Shanghai that sells wholesale/retail stuff. This is what I ended up. The elastics on the left will go on kids clothes and I have another plan for these, too. The wide ribbons are from a new stall that just opened and had wall-to-wall of gross grain ribbons! Didn't know which one to buy. Buttons made of shells will be for some project I've been planning and will be selling on my Etsy shop shortly. This area of Shanghai is my equivalent to those craft stores you have in the West.

Expo 2010

Everyday in Shanghai we see so many things happening and everywhere places are changing or getting a facelift in time for the upcoming World Expo in 2010.



The city government has been steadily beautifying a lot of areas in the city adding a lot of greenery. Yesterday morning, on Huai Hai Road, a major thoroughfare, we saw these women working on adding shrubs bit by bit to this shape of the mascot - Hai Bao. When I passed by late that afternoon, they were still finishing this up.



On top of these beautification projects, the government is also trying to educate pedestrians on observing the rules. On a lot of major intersections, you can now see installed this kiosk where they've used Legos to show the right places to cross and when to cross. On top of this are 2 small posts where you have to put these circular discs to rate your satisfaction on the traffic helpers' service(s); red for satisfied and blue if not satisfied.

What is interesting is the usage of colour and which colour is used to associate 'satisfied' and 'not satisfied' feedback. In the West, red would typically mean negative and blue or green would mean positive. In China it's the other way around... I suppose because red is an auspicious colour here.

Anyway, about these new improvement measures, I'm a bit in doubt whether the government will be able to change the mentally of people. Everyday we walk around in Shanghai, you see both pedestrians and people driving cars, riding bicycles or motorcycles blatantly ignoring traffic rules. We sometimes even see people trying to get across in spite of these traffic assistants shouting at the top of their lungs to head back to the sidewalk. What I feel is that everyone thinks they have the right of way. This is regardless if it was a pedestrian trying to cross the street when it's not safe yet. Or motorcyclists or bicyclists who feels you should get out of their way. Or car drivers and bus drivers who feel they are 'bigger' than you because they have a car and you should get out of the way. This is something we encounter almost everyday esp. when we walk the kids to school.

I'm really in doubt people's mentality can be switched around until the World Expo begins... I sure hope so. I keep remembering this conversation I had with a taxi driver in HK when I went for a business trip a few years ago. He was comparing China to a computer. In terms of hardware which is the infrastructure, China is already advanced but in terms of software, which he associates to people, is still some ways behind.

Earth Hour

Yes, we turned off our lights at 8:30pm today. We saw lots of the skyscrapers turn off their lights, too. Was really exciting. We saw the Skyway Landis Hotel Shanghai turn off the lights at exactly 8:30pm then a few other buildings followed (at least ones we can see and know) like The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, JW Marriot at Tomorrow Square, Le Meridien, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt. The Aurora and The Citi Group's buildings did not turn off their lights until 15 minutes or so later. The Citi Group's building stood out because it was the only one with the brightest screen still on.

Some department stores on the major roads like Huai Hai Road did not turn off their lights. It was sale weekend and they would loose their big sales by doing so...

Street Seller

As we live near an indoor wet market, we see some unusual sights some mornings on the way to the kids school. And today was one of those days I just couldn't help but take a quick snapshot or this man on the street trying to sell soft-shelled turtles. What was interesting was his cone-shaped hat which is rather an unusual sight in Shanghai nowadays and a mismatched footwear; needlework winter slippers on one foot and a shoe on the other.

Recycling Station

Seen on the streets. A man asleep under several brollies (umbrellas) beside a cart that says: Xuhui District Recycle Collection Station. So I guess he is waiting for people to bring their stuff over and it's been a slow afternoon...

Cinderella in Shanghai

Last night, I got to watch the musical Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella starring Lea Salonga in Shanghai. Fantastic! Great show! The costumes, the music, the stage production, everything was just awesome!

I managed to catch the last show they had in Shanghai and the theatre was packed. This was a surprise as it did not seem to get a lot of publicity even in the local expat magazines. I only happen to be reading an old Shanghai Daily newspaper on Sunday that I found out the musical tour was in Shanghai until last night. And I was also surprised to still be able to get 2nd row seats the day before.

The whole time, I kept thinking I should have brought my daughter, Audrey, as there were quite a lot of kids watching the musical and some even in their Cinderella costumes. Fortunately I did not bring her as my mom and I had to walk home after the show in the rain.

The show was truly worth every RMB spent! And wish I could go to see it again, this time with Audrey...

Pantry Magic

Pantry Magic
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

On one of those rare occasion, spur-of-the-moment night after work, Simon and I went to check out the Dongpin Road and Taojiang Road area only to find new changes to this area of the city.

Shops have been updated. New shops have opened. An English pub has closed, an old building converted into a mini 'mall' with a few designer-y shops inside, a French baker has opened a branch here, and new restaurants.

The biggest thing that got me so very excited was Pantry Magic selling cooking utensils and stuff. Similar things I would get at the Panhandler's in Hong Kong. Now finally, there is a real kitchen shop to get western cooking gadgets in Shanghai.

The next thing we need is Shanghai would be an HMV and a PageOne and then we are 'complete'!

'Am I Look Good?'

'Am I Look Good?'
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

My colleague and I attended the opening of a restaurant that we helped develop the identity for. It's called Pipalli and the first shop is in Beijing.

As I was getting ready to board on a flight, saw this poster outside a nice little coffee shop inside the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.

An almost perfect poster. 'Almost' because it is ruined by the Chi-nglish on the bubble... 'Am I look good?'

The Heat Is On!

Summer has descended into Shanghai with force this year. Temperatures have soared up to 39°C yesterday and expected to keep at that temperature for the next couple days. Government has started imposing 'energy conservation' with air-conditioning in offices getting shut down early; 6:30pm at most.

When we arrived back from a quick trip to Hong Kong yesterday, the hot air just came full blast in our face as we stepped out of the airport! It felt like stepping into the sauna. And S thought Hong Kong was very hot and humid more than Shanghai (though HK temperature was less humid). The kids were sweating right away, and not to mention S who was soaked!

With the sweltering heat, the outdoor pool where we go to every weekend was packed by 10:30pm with no lounge chairs left. The club even ran out of clean towels! This reminds us to keep with our early mornings (today was an exception with the kids adjusting to being back home hence we had a late start).

Bridge 8

Bridge 8
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

On a rare day out last month (sans the kids), Simon and I went to check out this place called Bridge 8. It's a cluster of renovated old industrial buildings which now houses a design companies, shops, and restaurants.

A bookshop selling design books has also just opened at the annex building's ground floor. We had a great time browsing thru the books and magazines and ended up purchasing some for the office.

The offices within Bridge 8 looked really cool and interesting place to work in but both Simon and I are still happy with where our office is currently at, conveniently located in the heart of the shopping area on Huai Hai Road.

Sheshan

Sheshan
Originally uploaded by arlyna.

Right before the Chinese New Year, we took the kids out to The Le Meridien in Sheshan, about 30 minutes from downtown Shanghai. It was to get away (even for a couple days) and also do a trial run on how it would be to travel with the kids.

The hotel is surrounded by a lot of greenery and even has a man-made lake and a beach! It just felt like a totally different world in spite of it only less than an hour away from our home.

The kids experienced playing in the sand for the first time ever. If only it weren't nippy and we were wearing coats, then it would have felt like we were in a beach resort.

The kids' swimming pool was also great! We were there each day we were at the hotel. The look on the kids' face when they were splashing about and enjoying themselves was just a great feeling, so you can say we enjoyed the pool time as much as they did.

And on top of all these amenities, the hotel also had a playground complete with swings and slides on the other side of the man-made lake which one had to cross via the stepping stones.

The other interesting thing is the kids enjoyed playing in front of the full-sized mirror in our room. They were simply fascinated at seeing their reflections and would sit in front of it, keep walking back and forth, dance, and more. It was just so funny seeing them making faces to see how their reflections looked!

Certainly a place we would go back again.

I've posted some more photos on my Flickr. Check them out now.