Bye Google

Crap crap crap.

Google has been talking for a long time about leaving China. Apparently there were censorship issues and other disagreements with the Chinese government. We all heard about it back in January but nothing had happened since. Until this morning.

Goodbye Google.com.cn. When I try to go to Google.com or use my toolbar google search I get automatically switched to Google Hong Kong. Weird.

Right now I can still get into my Gmail account and I can search in English using Google HK, but I am going to be up a certain creek without my paddle if China decides to block Google entirely. Not only do I use Google at least 10 times a day, that's where my e-mail account is. ARGH.

*grumble grumble*
Stephanie

Pay For The Funny!

I am pretty sure I mentioned before that I've been spending time with Zuloo Smack, an improv group (apparently the ONLY improv group) in Shanghai. I've been going to their weekly labs when I was available and have been in a total of three performances so far. The first two were at Bali Bistro and one, this Saturday, was at Sound Blue.

I did improv all four years in college and I was really excited to find an improv group here. I had done performances at Drew for mixed audiences in terms of size and reception. I still say the best show that I was in was the one we did as an opening act for a Thursday night comedy group in the Space (a hangout on campus). The two Bali Bistro performances had it's ups and downs. Two serious downsides were that the stage was TINY. I mean like the size of a large elevator. Try acting in that kind of space. The other downside was that the people there really didn't come to see improv but to eat, so it kind of felt like we were interrupting.

Saturday's show was the first time that I have performed in an improv show that people paid to see and it felt really good. The American Women's Club was doing a charity and we were the entertainment. The Sound Blue stage is a little bigger so we had more freedom and the people coming CAME to see improv. It was so cool.

I think one of my favorite parts of the night was the game Genres, where we act out a normal scene, then do it 2-3 more times in different movie styles. For example, the scene we did Saturday we did again as a chick flick, a western and a musical. I was in the scene with Matthew and Christoper. I've done scenes before where we have to sing, but this was the first time EVER we had someone actually playing the piano that we had to sing along with (think Whose Line Is It Anyway). I don't know if the fact that there would be a piano player for that scene was mentioned during a rehearsal and I just wasn't paying attention or what, but that was a HUGE surprise for me standing up there on stage when the music started. It went really well though, and someone from the audience later told me I had a lovely singing voice! :-)

It was a lot of fun doing improv for an audience that came specifically to see us. It was really cool to get a lot of compliments from people watching after the show. I love performing in front of people. It's a nice rush.

Afterwards, the actors all went to a bar called Bell and hung out a little while longer. It's a fun group of people. Especially Elizabeth! I'm hoping that she and I will go to Hanoi during a long weekend I have the first weekend in May. We'll see!

Much Love.
Teh Sprof

Nice Guy Taxis

I've had my bad luck with taxis in China. Especially in Shanghai. I've had taxis that have purposely tried to rip me off. I've had to deal with such things as them messing with the meter, taking the longest way possible to get to my destination, getting "lost" or even saying they had no change when I tried to pay with a larger bill.

I've learned to deal with it. Usually with preventative measures. I always repeat where I want to go at least twice to make sure we are both clear. I bring a map so that I can point out exactly where I want to go. I will say in Chinese which characters the street names are or by which route I want them to take me. I always pay attention when they are driving and if I know they are going the wrong way I make a stink. I've gotten the fare reduced a few times because I know they were doing something wrong. Still, on occasion, I know I've been ripped off and there wasn't really anything I could do about it.

With that mindset, yesterday was a really nice change. TWICE yesterday I was taking a taxi and before we arrived at my destination they lifted up the meter so that I got a reduced price. The only time a driver has EVER done that for me before was because I demanded they did since they had taken the long way around. Both times yesterday when I asked why they did it the drivers said they did it because they had gotten a little lost. I had been paying attention and both drivers went maybe the TINIEST BIT out of the way. Nothing I would bother complaining about usually. Instead they both realized what had happened and just made sure I got the real price. I was shocked the first time it happened and beside myself when it happened the very next time I took a taxi.

It's a nice change to have taken a ride with an honest and kind taxi driver.

-Stephanie

The Contents of a Woman's Purse...

Things at work continue to be crazy busy. I thought I would post something but since I don't have too much time to really get up to date I thought I would be silly and post something as a kind of window to my life. Last night I cleaned out 3 purses and 2 backpacks I had been using on and off because I was getting tired of not being able to find what I needed everyday. They say the content of a woman's purse will tell you a lot about them. Here is a list of everything I found:

2 Cameras
3 Greeting Cards
5 Packages of Wet Wipes
7 Packages of tissues
1 Pair of sunglasses
3 Chapsticks (all Burt's Bees)
3 Necklaces
2 Hairclips
1 Novel
2 Chinese dictionaries
3 Notebooks
1 Sudoku book
1 Chinese textbook
2 Maps of Shanghai
5 Containers of Doublemint mints (2 of which were empty)
11 Pieces of gum not in their packages
3 Partial packages of gum
2 Mirrors
1 Pack of Beijing Opera playing cards
81RMB in assorted bills and coins (and one British penny)
1 Container of floss
1 Pair of folding scissors
1 Wallet
1 Change purse
and
1 single journey subway ticket.

This subway ticket really bothers me for two reasons. One: I ALWAYS use my transit card. ALWAYS. and Two: You need to put the subway ticket back in the machine to get out. Did someone slip this thing in my purse thereby trapping themselves in the subway? I am really confused.

Also not mentioned was a PILE of receipts and empty gum wrappers which I tossed and a PILE of entrance tickets I was still carrying around from my trip with Mom and Bethany.

So what do you get from the list? The only pattern I see is that I live in Shanghai, am studying Chinese and care about dental hygiene.

Later taters!
Stephanie

Why Haven't I Posted?

"Why hasn't Stephanie posted?", you may ask yourself. The answer is simple. I am awash in responsibilities.

Apparently this semester is front loaded with craziness. I have been back at work for less than two weeks but have already had 4 meetings. The Extended Essays are due the end of this week and since I have two EE students I have to read draft after draft and give advice about them, as well as filling out supervisor forms and conducting interviews. Me, the worrier, is paranoid I am going to miss something important that will make them lose points so I have been reading all the IBO documentation about EEs that I can find.

CAS (creativity, action and service) is also winding down for the seniors. I have to have final interviews with each of my 5 CAS students by Wednesday next week, as well as reviewing their handbooks, filling in progress reports and giving final comments. I found out there was going to be another River of Hearts volunteer event this Saturday so I took the initiative to try and get some Pinghe students to go. I put up a sign up sheet, organized a meeting point and sent announcement reminders to the classroom teachers. This is the first time I am doing something like this by myself so I hope it goes well. I've got 20 students signed up already.

In the world of classes, right now I have my normal class schedule of 12 classes a week with grade 11 and 12. In about two weeks I am going to have an open class where my co-workers will observe me teaching (I get so nervous for those). After that I have about 6 weeks of TOK (basic philosophy) classes that I will be teaching on top of my normal workload. I am teaching my TOK class about Art I put together last semester for the grade 10 class 3, and doing a new section on The Power of Names for the other two grade 10 classes.

I also have a GIANT STACK of winter homework that I am trying to get through ASAP so it doesn't just sit on my desk and take up room. At least it makes for interesting reading since I tried to give them creative writing prompts that they could have fun with.

I hope all this doesn't come across as complaining. I would rather be awash in responsibilities than feel useless. I feel a lot more involved with my students and my school this year and it's nice to feel like what I am doing matters. And this craziness shouldn't last long. This is a relatively short semester (19 weeks), and once May rolls around my responsibilities with the 12th graders are pretty much over. They start their exams then and as soon as the exams are done they graduate.

In my life outside of Pinghe, I am still going to improv lab. We have a meeting on Monday to discuss some upcoming shows. I'm happy to be performing again. My Chinese classes will be starting up again next Tuesday at the same school but with a new teacher and a classmate! I hope the classmate and I get along and that the teacher is good.

I've been having fun hanging out with various people, but nothing really blog worthy. I went to a birthday dinner for a friend at a Turkish resaturant, met up with someone I haven't seen since high school who happened to be in Shanghai, as well as various dinners and nights out with coworkers. I have kept up my Sunday night baking tradition and brought some brownies in on Monday. I think next I shall make sugar cookies using a lovely heart shaped cooking cutter my friend Rose sent me.

Anyway, I am sorry for the delay and hopefully I will have something more interesting to post soon.

Much love!
Stephanie

GEISHA PICTURES

D'Arcy sent me my pictures and the CD with all the files from our geisha makeovers. SO EXCITING.

I plan on posting a real entry soon, but I just couldn't wait to share these pictures!

Loves,
Stephanie

Day Nine Onwards – Shanghai

Guest Writer: Stephanie's Mom and Bethany

On Monday, we didn't set an alarm.  We slept late and S even served us hot drinks in bed (mocha for B, tea for me).  Then we went to the local huge shopping center (Carrefour) down the street.  The bottom floor has multiple cafeterias and we picked and chose several different foods to share.  Then we picked up a hair dryer and a few other things.  It was crazy busy due to the upcoming New Years.

More than once, while standing in line, someone cut in front of me or tried to cut in front of me.  S had to warn me more than once because I just wasn't paying attention and let a small gap in front of me.  It is just like driving, if there is a gap, someone will go into it.

We were thinking of going for another massage, but we were so tired, we decided we needed to rest more first.  As we walked back to S's apartment, we saw workers (in cook's outfits and such) playing cards in groups on the sidewalk, sitting on the ground or squatting.  When we got back, we popped in a DVD and chilled.

That night, Stephanie had scheduled a wine tasting with her favorite wine tasting bartender, Pierre, for us and a few friends.  Pierre emailed pretty late and said he was laid up in the hospital.  Stephanie tried to work something else out but we ended up just having several bottles of wine and some really interesting food with Stephanie's friends Stephanie and Fleur joining us.  Stephanie is a teacher at PingHe just like Stephanie and Fleur is a website designer for an Australian company.

After dinner, Fleur headed home and the four of us headed to one of S's favorite bars, Windows Underground, in the basement of a building.  They play American pop music and their drinks are cheap.  Being a Monday night, we were able to grab a table right away.  S showed us a dice game we can play without being able to hear each other talk (you use hand signals for the game) and it was a lot of fun.  A guy from Zambia named Sam, bought us all a round of drinks, then joined our dice game and then tried to convince me to stay in Shanghai, he would even pay me.  Okay, time to leave.

We grabbed a taxi to the apartment and got home about 2AM.

On Tuesday, we slept very late.  Then we headed to the Yu Garden and Old Shanghai.  It is a large collection of shops and restaurants, from very cheap to very expensive.  The entire area was very elaborately decorated for New Year's and was beautiful.  We went to a popular restaurant for Shanghai style dumplings.  We then crossed the bridge that is supposed to give us long lives.

Then we walked along the Bund, a row of beautiful European style buildings along the river's edge.  They are doing all sorts of improvements in preparation for the 2010 Expo, so there was a wall between the road and the river and the sidewalk was being improved.  We saw the famous Shanghai skyline all lit up across the river.

We then walked toward Nanjing Road, another row of modern stores and restaurants as we headed toward the subway.  One thing I saw that was interesting was delivery bikes for several restaurants, including KFC and McDonalds.  Why don't they offer that in the US?

On Wednesday, we went for a Chinese all-body massage.  It's amazing how many aches and pains our bodies have from walking ALL day and sleeping on really hard beds.  So really, they are necessary.

We then headed to the Shanghai museum and learned quite a bit of Chinese history.  It was much more fascinating that we thought and ended up running out of time and got kicked out at closing time.  A bell rang, the security guards shooed us out and as we sat on the front steps, planning our next step, we saw the procession of security guards exiting.

We walked down the rest of Nanjing Road that we didn't see last night.  Everywhere we went, we were always approached by street vendors.  The most interesting item they were trying to sell us here was a set of two wheels that you strap to your sneakers. Then you could walk when you wanted to, or roll away when wanted.  If only I was younger…

Stephanie then brought us to another great restaurant.  My favorite dish, which I had requested to have again which I remembered from our last trip, was a caramelized potato dish.  We had it here and it was awesome.  We grabbed a cab home which went right underneath the skyscrapers.  We were able to take some interesting pictures of them with their tops lost in the fog.

On Thursday, I desperately needed to stay off my feet, especially since we were going out Salsa dancing at night.  I suggested B and S feel free to go out without me.  It was a very rainy day which was perfect for me to stay in.

***Bethany Writes About Her Day!***

I still wanted to walk around more to take in more Shanghai.  Stephanie graciously offered to take me to see 2 Buddhists' temples and the Fake Market (another huge market place with designer purses, sunglasses, and all kinds of other items).  We decided to visit the Jade Temple first because Stephanie had not been there…that way if we only made it to one temple, it would be new for Stephanie too.  Off we went. 

It was a cool rainy day, not great for outdoor sightseeing but we pressed on.  We stopped for breakfast at my favorite coffee spot, The Coffee Beanery.  We had a western breakfast.  I had my standard mocha and Stephanie had her caramel macchiato.   After breakfast, we jumped in a cab headed for the subway.  We took the subway to the closest stop to the Jade temple and grabbed another cab from there to the temple. 

The temple was surprisingly busy with worshipers.  Stephanie explained this was most likely due to the impending Chinese New Year's which is a very important time for the Chinese.  As we walked into the courtyard, we saw 3 large vessels with burning fires.  People were crowded around the fire lighting incense.  Around the courtyard and beyond were structures all in the traditional Chinese architecture.  Inside each building were many deities, everywhere you turned, with stools in front of them for the worshipers to kneel and pray.  They also had amazing detailed beautiful alters in front of the larger deities.  The alters were covered with gifts of fruit, food, coins, and other items.  We watched as many people walked through the temples, kneeling to pray to almost every deity.  At the back of the temple area, we heard chanting and peeked inside to briefly see part of a Buddhist service in progress. 

We now headed to the front exit and on the way were greeted by a woman asking if we wanted to try the tea from the temple…a special blend only available at the temple.  After Stephanie confirmed the tasting was free, we followed her upstairs for the tea ceremony.  We tried 4 different teas and then she blended several together for us to taste.  As we sipped our tea, we wondered if Ms. Vickie was awake yet.  Stephanie and I both liked teas #5 and #8 so we both bought a box of each.  As with most things in China, these were not prepackaged so the woman scooped out our tea and put it into our pretty boxes.  Then off we went. 

It took a few minutes to catch a cab back to the subway (I'm getting used to this occasional inconvenience now).  It wouldn't have been quite so bad if it wasn't cold and drizzling.  It was nice to get in the cab and on the subway to warm up some.  Stephanie, having seen both temples now, said that she liked the Longhua Temple better and we should go there.  Whaaaaaaaa!  I'm cold and wet.  I reminded myself that I asked for more sightseeing…besides when would I be back to China????? 

On the map, the Longhua Temple looked closer to the subway stop than the Jade Temple so we thought it might be within walking distance.  Hhmm!!!!!   I think the map lied or maybe I was just being a weenie because I was cold and wet.  Well, we made it.  This temple was similar in layout and architecture with many worshipers.  However, the insides of the buildings and the deities were more impressive.  One building had 3 walls (top to bottom) of small Buddhas, each one slightly different.  Another building had 4 large statues of females with their backs to each other.  Each one had 8 arms, all holding a different object.  We went through several other buildings with large gold deities.  The ceilings inside the buildings were absolutely beautiful with detail carvings and designs.   Stephanie was right.   This temple was more impressive and I was glad we went.

We took a taxi to a different subway line instead of walking more in the rain.  Now to the Fake Market which is inside the subway tunnel at the science museum stop…warm and dry.  This area is an underground mini-mall with small shop after shop all willing to barter for the sale.  I spotted some D&G purses I liked.  Fake, of course, as the market name implies.  We haggled with the woman for a bit getting her down from over 320 RMB per purse to 300 for both.  I wasn't anxious enough so we decided to have lunch at a food spot next door.  We enjoyed lunch and wondered again if Ms. Vickie was awake.  As we walked out of the lunch shop, the purse woman was waiting to pursue the sale.  I offered her 250 for both and ended up settling on 260.  SOLD!  J We browsed through a few more shop and I bought some D&G sunglasses.  Then it was back to the street level to catch our cab to the grocery store near Stephanie's apartment.

Tonight was supposed to be hairy crab night before salsa dancing.  We stopped at the grocery store but it seems that hairy crabs are out of season so we had to come up with plan B.  We made the short walk to Stephanie's place.  And now the answer we had waited for…Vickie was up but snuggling under the covers in bed.  We rested a bit for our big night out.

***Back to Vickie!***

We went to dinner at the nice restaurant near S's apartment in our salsa outfits.  It was a windy, cold night and the walk was very chilly.  We were finally able to get the famous Shanghai hairy crabs that Stephanie told us about earlier in our trip, and tried the spicy bullfrog.  Yum yum.  (Really!)

The salsa dancing was on the 65^th floor of a 5-star hotel with beautiful views all around.  Lucy, Fleur and another of S's friends Ibrahim joined us.  After we each did some dancing and had one expensive drink each (78RMB!!  Eep! That's more than the 1 hour massage costs!) we headed to a jazz club.  After 1 more drink each, we headed home.  As we were getting into the cab, we were approached by a little girl begging for money, with her mom standing close by.  It was shameful to see.

On Friday, we had some more baozi for breakfast.  Two of them cost a total of 3.8RMB.  Wish I could have these at home for breakfast too.  Today was our day to actually go to the famous Shanghai skyscrapers and unfortunately, it was an extremely cold and windy day.  First we went to the Pearl Building, the one with the balls and tripod legs.  Stephanie suggested we go up into the higher building, the Financial Center, for the views, and go into the Shanghai History museum in the basement of the Pearl Building.  It was very interesting and informative.

Then we headed to the Shanghai World Trade Center.  It is the building that looks like a giant bottle opener, with a gap at the top.  We first went to the 97^th floor (the bottom of the opening) and took tons of pictures and looking up at the 100^th floor above us.  Then we went to the 100^th floor (the top of the opening) and took tons more pictures.  Some of the floor blocks were glass and we were able to take some pictures looking straight down.  B had some issues with the height and the glass floor but she survived.

We grabbed some dinner and used the heated toilets (mmmm) and headed to the Super Brand Mall.  It is a huge mall with 9 floors.  We each had a Dairy Queen Blizzard.  Of note here is that the options for the blizzards are not the same as home.  No candy options so B had to settle for oreo and nuts.  Then headed out to the edge of the river to see the Bund all lit up for the night.  There were many boats and barges going down the river, it is busy all the time.  Again, more sales people (jasmine for you…you like lazar lady) and a McDonald's kiosk.

We grabbed a taxi back to Stephanie's apartment but first stopped to see S's DVD lady.  Then, on the walk to her apartment, we stopped several times to see fireworks taking place very close to us.  The fireworks caused the car alarms to go off right near us.  According to Stephanie, they will get more and more frequent closer to the New Year.  Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and Sunday will be the New Year.  We will be leaving just before everything closes for the holiday.  As I'm writing this, I hear even more fireworks all around us.

B and I packed because our flight leaves at 5PM tomorrow.  We decided to go for a foot massage in the morning, grab a few supplies at the Carrefour, go for a hot pot luncheon and then head to the Maglev and home.  I probably won't post again until I'm home and Stephanie probably won't post for a while because we completely exhausted her.  But she was an absolutely great hostess and we had a fabulous vacation.  If anyone else has an opportunity to come visit her, you really should.

Bye and B and I will see you back in CT soon.