tesibria

Catching Up...

Well … it’s been a while. I must admit to getting “lazy” by just posting snippets on Facebook over the past couple (errr… few…) months rather than blogging experiences. In brief …

In December, we traveled to Kyoto, Japan, which is a truly wonderful little city – as full of shrines, big and small, as Rome is full of churches. (Our photo book of this trip is available (hopefully) here.

We also traveled back to the US, visiting Phoenix (briefly), Indiana (Jeff’s homehome), Pennsylvania (my homehome) -- where I got to love on my grand nieces and nephew, then on to Telluride, Colorado for a bit of skiing over New Years. (Jeff proposed to me in Telluride on New Years’ Eve – it’ll always be a special place for us.)

During Chinese New Year (end of January/beginning of February), we traveled to Phuket, Thailand, for a liveaboard dive trip on the Aggressor. And I can confirm that the Aggressor is all it’s cracked up to be. We had a wonderful time. Few days on the island before and after the actual dive trip – then the seven day dive trip. (Photo book of Thailand trip available here.)  

In mid-February, I joined Jeff for a weekend in Singapore during the big Asia Air Show .. and we walked a bit of the city - and, of course, the zoo.

In March, Jeff took me to Hakuba, Japan for a long ski weekend.  Skiing in Japan can't be compared to skiing in US-West.  For one, basic ski safety concepts don't seem to apply ... people whizzed by at high speeds on every hill, including the bunny hill.  But we still had a great time and, as important, we had amazing food every night!!

And, what did I do in between these trips?  Well, I survived our first winter in Shanghai.  And now know that as sweltering as summers are, they're better!  The air pollution was pretty awful many many days, which made it "not fun" to go out and explore the city.  I hibernated - a lot - while here between mid-November and mid-March - because it was just too awful outside!  I tried to figure out Chinese theatres, with little success.  (None of the theatre websites are in English and the Google translator isn't always accurate.  Shanghai needs Flixster .. or any similar sort of thing that tells one what movies are playing at what theatre!  If it exists, I can't find it - only way to know guess what's playing is to find individual theatre websites, then check out each one.) Then again, as I understand, movie theatres are far less popular here than in the states.  Why pay $20+ for a theatre movie when you can go down to the local DVD store and get the same movie (albeit of varying quality) for $2?

Anyway, our favorite weekend entertainment turns out to be the Kung Fu Komedy Club - which gets some really good acts about once a month.  And there are still dozens hundreds of restaurants/little neighborhoods to explore as well.  Now that the weather (and air quality) is better, we're getting out every weekend again.  Which is great!

Or every weekend that we're here in the city anyway.  We just got back from another trip - this time, a ten-day trip to central Tibet.  And that's the *real* reason I'm writing this catchup -- because I want to share much more about that trip than will fit in a Facebook comment.  So ... more on Tibet coming up soon!

In re: cooking adventures

Jeff and I are celebrating our Thanksgiving a day early here (two days early US time) – tonight, since he has all day work meetings AND a dinner (?!) on Thursday and we’re taking the train to Nanjing on Friday for the weekend, so wouldn’t be here to eat the leftovers if we had dinner on Thursday anyway.  I’ve been cooking up a mess for two days.  It’s quite … “fun” … since my oven is in Celsius (and can only set in 5 degree increments) – which never match up to 300, 325, 350 or any other “US” standard recipe temp.  SO I either go up a notch or cook less time, or down a notch and cook more time. 

Anyway, I have, as is my nature, gone a bit overboard on the menu.  Which –after yesterday’s adventures may actually be a good thing as my edible results average isn’t that great (except in baseball.  If cooking were like baseball, I’d be a star, as I rather consistently have a close-to 500 batting average….)

So, yesterday, I premade the following

All-Purpose Gravy:  I made this almost exactly per recipe (except less than half of the beef broth called for), and it’s the one thing that seemed to turn out “correctly.  It’s delicious.

Crispy Onions – for the Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions:  I picked this recipe because – well, I love Smitten Kitchen – but also because I couldn’t find French’s fried onions so decided to try making them myself.  Now that’s a whole lotta work (and oil to dispose of) for a pile of crispy onions but they ended up being delicious. 

Crockpot Apple & Cranberry Sauce with Orange & Crystallized Ginger:  Of course, the best cranberry sauce ever is the one on the back of the Oceanspray bag.  But I couldn’t find any fresh cranberries here and thought that since there’s tons of ginger root, this might be interesting.  Since I couldn’t find crystallized ginger, I found a recipe to make it.  The crystallized ginger turned out wonderful, I think anyway.  It looks like the pictures and tastes like candied ginger.  (Ok, it has a REAL “bite” for something candied, but – good in small doses.).  UNFORTUNATELY, I decided to get creative with the cranberry sauce.  Me getting creative in the kitchen is generally not a good idea as stuff turns out only sometimes when I follow the recipe.  BUT – the ginger recipe said to save the “ginger syrup” for future use.  So, I tasted it and it was kind of good.  So, when the cranberry sauce was still way too tart, I decided to add some ginger syrup to sweeten it up some more.  That didn’t make it much sweeter at all – only slightly sweeter but now with a bite too.  So I had to add still more sugar.  Then - when I realized I was making things worse, I just stopped.  Have a feeling there’ll be LOTS of leftover cranberry sauce – I’ll have to think of some way to hide the leftovers in some other dish.   

Roasted Garlic Chipotle Sweet Potatoes:  Another disaster.  Jeff likes savory over sweet, so I was looking for a recipe NOT including brown sugar, etc.  Only problem was that I couldn’t find Adobo sauce from chipotle chilies (or buttermilk, but wasn’t really worried about that).  So I goggled and read somewhere (can’t find it now) that one can just “reconstitute” dried chipotle peppers in hot water.  And, while I was trying to figure that out, I boiled the potatoes too long so they were way too mushy/watery.  I drained and drained (but couldn’t use oven because the cheesecake was in there), but still too watery.  Then … I added the not-really reconstituted peppers.  It just made a mess – and didn’t make the potatoes hot/spicy either – I think because they were just too watery to start.  Not sure what I’m going to do, but I’m going to play with a bit more today (can’t make them worse), and then serve them with leftovers tomorrow, depending on whether I can make them taste worth eating…

Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake:  This recipe looks sooooo delicious – other than the pecans.  I’m so highly allergic to walnuts and had a (very very) bad reaction a few months ago after eating some mixed nuts (that did NOT contain walnuts), that I’m  not taking any chances on a nut that even remotely looks like a walnut.  I know almonds are safe, so I used almonds instead.  Also, I couldn’t find graham crackers – actually 3 different “ex pat friendly” stores carried them – but were completely out this week.  (Also out of fresh sage everywhere.  But that’ll just affect the chicken...) But I did find a “premade” graham cracker crust.  It was all cracked up but – since I was using a spring form pan, I figured I had to break it up anyway.  So – I did.  Then added crushed almonds and just enough butter to make the stuff stick together again and reshaped it into the spring pan.  But – have my serious doubts whether it’s going to hold. 

I also could not find packed pumpkin anywhere, but pumpkins are plentiful, so made my own using this recipe – which really worked, although it took quite a while to get the last step right.  (Of course, I can’t exactly ask which pumpkins are “pie pumpkins” or “sugar pumpkins” – because those concepts just … don’t translate.  But I knew that a small pumpkin at the local market was delicious after making clean eating pumpkin fries last week.  I was glad that I was patient because --  ohmygoodness, the batter for this pie is lick-the-beaters-then-lick-the-bowl clean delicious.  Then I baked.  But – recipe said bake until center was “just set.”  Well, I did google that to find out what it means and read this – and tried to follow it but think I guessed it right because five minutes after I took it out, it had fallen down/settled a good 1/3+ inch.  Oh well.  I still put on the sour cream topping (which seemed WAYY too runny to me), and put it back in – this time for 10 minutes instead of the 5, hoping that’d fix it.  Don’t think it worked though it did make the edges brown.  But at least it looked pretty (but for the too-brown edges) … right up until I laid a piece of wax paper over it (afraid cats would jump up – Gracie loves yogurt, sour cream, etc.).  The wax paper fell down onto the top – which of course messed up the perfectly smooth top.  I think I should have stopped at the batter phase and just served that in custard cups or something – it was truly scrumptious.

Sooo ……..  after cooking most of the day yesterday, I have really tasty gravy and crispy onions.  I have cranberry sauce that may not be edible.  The sweet potatoes are not servable in their present state.  The cheesecake is a mystery still – I’m afraid to take off the spring form until much closer to dinner, in case the topping runs and/or the crust crumbles.

HOPEFULLY, today will go better. I’m working on …

“Perfect Roast” Chicken:  We’re having chicken rather than turkey.  Turkey is not a Chinese meat, so it’s incredibly expensive.  (I saw 8-10 lb turkeys in three stores – priced at between $90-$100 each).   Even if turkey’s weren’t so expensive, our oven is so tiny I don’t think a 5 pound turkey would fit anyway, so – chicken it is.

“Simple is Best” Stuffing:   I couldn’t find plain white bread, so used a French Baguette.  Also added carrots just because the stuffing my sisters and I made always included finely chopped carrots, and it was always delicious. 

Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions:  Have the crispy onions, so just have to make the rest… 

Balsamic Braised Brussels with Pancetta: Since I’m only batting 500, figure I need to make two greens in hopes that one turns out …  

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:  Since I ruined the sweet potatoes yesterday, I’m making plain ol’ mashed potatoes.  They’ll go well with the gravy anyway.  And I haven’t messed up mashed potatoes for a long time ….

It’s all an adventure, right?  One (other) wonderful thing about this whole experience is that I have the time to “play” and figure things out.  And I have a tolerant husband – who can make a great meal from scraps in 30 minutes or less, but still manages to tolerate most of what takes me hours to put together.  (And, all this also keeps me busy NOT thinking about fact that we're 1000s miles away from family this Thanksgiving...)

Anyway, by the end of this assignment, maybe I’ll be a halfway competent cook if I keep trying …

On making this house our home

Way back on October 9, I was all excited about the fact that our delivery was scheduled to arrive.  Well.  Suffice it to say that that was a bit (understatement) of a ShangLow kind of day because there was a substantial amount of damage to our "stuff" -- and, if that wasn't enough, they completely lost a tall dresser -- full of all my undies, socks, swim suits, pjs, etc, a wicker chest -- full of all our CDs, DVDs, and miscellaneous "stuff," and all of our pots and pans except for one.   :::sigh:::  As I said at the time, it's all just "stuff."  But, still -- we're still in the "claims process."  As in, we've submitted our claim and will wait and see what happens.  I find myself singing, "This is the move that never ends .. it just goes on and on my friend ... "  ... ... 

All that being said, I have so very much to be thankful for.  And, well, about 80% of our stuff -- including the "stuff" with the most sentimental value -- did arrive undamaged.  It was so much fun to unpack individual pieces and be thrilled that they were safe, then find special places to put them. 

And, while I was worried that I'd packed way too much stuff, I was very surprised as I put stuff away to find out that I really didn't!! Shocking.  Ok, I did find a couple things here and there that I don't need here.   (Since there are magnetic door stops on every door, I really don't need the half dozen door stops I brought.)  But, I've put away virtually everything and, believe it or not, we still have ample closet space and storage space.  (Ok, the camping stuff is BIG - too big to put in a closet, so that stuff stays in the monster gray tubs, but - that's a size issue, not a too-much stuff issue.)  And, even accounting for the space necessary to add in all the missing/damaged items whenever they get fixed and/or replaced, I think we'll be just fine with a bit of room to spare.

And, it's amazing how adding our "stuff" makes this place feel -- well -- like our "home."  I'm loving it. To be sure, there's stuff still to do (isn't that always the case).  And, to be sure, it's a different kind of home.  (That there are so few physical books is very very weird to me. But that's just how it is when you can only bring X number of books with you.) 

But -- all that being said, I am really enjoying this space -- and making this space "ours."  So, let me take you for a bit of a pictorial tour of our home:

Arriving from the elevator.  Ok, yes, that gold is ::cough cough:: just a tad overwhelming.  But, it it what it is.  I tried to soften it with woven rug and basket and one of my mom's paintings.

Now about the shoes.  I always thought that it was just a cultural custom to take one's shoes off before entering.  (I'm faced with just how ... uneducated I am about many things each day.)  It is a custom.  But - like many many old customs, it's also health-based. Shoes supposedly carry in the majority (I heard about 80% from one source) of the harmful particulates one has in one's home.  Once in the home, they get caught up in the ventilation and then in the air we breath.  So, by leaving shoes out in the foyer, we can substantially reduce our indoor air pollution.  The brown cupboard there is full of my shoes.  Jeff's shoes would only fit sideways.  (Mine barely fit - I guess we both have larger-than-average feet.)

I had been half-heartedly following the custom for the first month we were here -- and inwardly giggling when I'd be riding the elevator down and see someone's foyer literally covered with what looked like dozens of shoes. 

Now that I know the health "why" for doing so, I've become rather religious about it.  And I moved a chair out there to make it easier to put shoes on and off too.  (The deer pelt was a wonderful Christmas present from my sister-in-love and her love.  I'm trying to hide the fact that this is an extra dining room chair -- and trying to deflect from all that gold tone too.) 

The shopping bags are hanging right beside the elevator button -- because I kept forgetting to take one with me.  Thank goodness for Command Strips, Hooks, and Hangers.  Our cement-hard plaster walls would be utterly bare without them. 

Ok, moving on -- or, rather, in -- to our living/dining "great" room ... with a view:

While less than half of the "stuff" here is from our Phoenix home, the other stuff pretty much matches the style we had so it's enough to make it feel like home to us.  Actually, the layout and landlord/new pieces remind me more of my place in Chicago -- which I loved very much.  I'll take some night pictures at another time -- it's much more dramatic than daytime hazy pictures.  (Yes, that's haze today you see outside the windows.  AQI has been in the "unhealthy" range for two days now.  I understand November is the worst month for air pollution in Shanghai.  And this seems to be true so far.) 

The one-legged coffee table remains on the floor behind the couch.  (My Facebook friends know that this was one of the casualties of the movers.  I am haven't given up hope that adjusters will find a way to fix it -- and if they don't, I will.  So we'll just live without a coffee table/footstool/movie-night-pizza-table/stuff collector for a while longer.)  And the wall facing the dining room table is right now a very stark white wall -- which presents the perfect excuse for Saturday street shopping to find something to add color there.

I always wanted a full-length standing mirror -- and had no full length mirror here -- and we had a big blank wall to fill up -- and they're cheaper here than I've ever seen them in the US, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to get one. So, I did.  Just a couple days ago - from IKEA.

Now, I'm scared of these incredibly hard plaster walls after striking out trying to get picture hangers to work. 

(I tried about seven different ways recommended for plaster walls on Pinterest and other places.  None of them worked.  Even with Ook hangers.  Fortunately, I did my "testing" on the wall behind where I knew we were going to put the bed.  It's not a pretty sight.)  

Anyway, since we have two cats (and since I can be incredibly clumsy at times), I was afraid to just let it sit up against the wall.  So, I decided to splurge ($11.66) and have the IKEA guys come and secure it to the walls.  They just came today!  And -- I have to say that I love it.  It brings the light from the big living room windows back into the long hallway from the kitchen to the bedrooms.   (And, given that the cats have already tried to climb behind it, I'm thinking that this "splurge" was the right thing to do.) 

Now, on to the kitchen:

So, it's a basic galley kitchen.  It seems like There is a lot of storage, but it's "weird-to-us" storage.  There are only two shallow drawers - with hard dividers in them.  And the dividers are such that steak knives and the like are too big.  And, well ... I guess having a kitchen junk drawer is a foreign concept here.   Instead, there are just lots and lots and lots of shelves.  And they're short shelves - our wine glasses barely fit --and only barely fit on one shelf in one cupboard.  And they're not adjustable.  (I tried.  Another "whoops" that I have "fixed" with a combination of toothpaste and baking soda.) 

And the shelves under the counter are very deep - i.e., lots of wasted space, or inconvenience if you have to pull out all the stuff in front to get to the stuff in back.  (I'm not a cook, but even I can tell that this kitchen was not designed by a cook.)  Anyway, workaround queen that I try to be, I re-purposed one of the plastic organizers I brought with me as a junk drawer, and then got a couple tubs and made "drawers" in the two cabinets on either side of the stove.  It's not perfect, but it works to hold cooking utensils, measuring cups, etc., lids to pots and pans (the pots and pans went missing from our shipment, but the lids made it), and plastic storage containers.

I have to say that I just love the pull-out pantry -- and just made a magnetic wall since the fridge/freezer (beside the pantry) isn't magnetic.  It works -- for us anyway.

Also have to say that I love having a separate laundry room.  (Ok, so the machines don't work that great -- two sheets and two pillowcases are too much - have to do one sheet at a time....takes more than an hour to wash and nearly two to dry.) BUT there's room to move anyway.  I like it as organized.  And, for now, we have a sort of "wine cellar."  Ok.  Have I mentioned that drinkable wine is incredibly expensive here comparatively?  Well.  It is -- as in about three times the cost of the exact same bottle in the US - at least.  (And I'm just talking drinkable.  The "good" stuff is astronomically expensive.)   So when I find something on sale (so it's only about twice as much as in US), I get a few.  Well, last weekend Carrefour had a wine fair, with really great deals, so I stocked up. 

I will have to find an alternative wine storage system come Spring:  these two rooms are not climate controlled, so they will get way too hot next summer.  However, for now, the back room works great as storage room/wine cellar. 

There used to be a door between the two rooms, but it was just in the way, so I took it off and stuck it behind the shelving in the ayi room. 

As an(other) aside, I find it rather appalling that the "ayi room" -- designed for a live-in maid -- is uncooled/unheated!!  These rooms are sweltering in the summer and I can only assume they are going to be very very cold in the winter.  Weird.  There's also a mini-bathroom back there, with toilet, tiny sink, and shower head.  It's like being on a boat - just close the door and take a shower along side the sink and toilet.  Here - in our place - that bathroom stores the kitty carriers and a few other similar things that aren't climate-sensitive.  Anyway, I'm rambling (again).  Sorry. 

Ok -- out of the kitchen and back the hall to .. YOUR room. You know, when you come visit us?  Yes.  The sheets are fresh, the bed is made, flowers are fresh, and space is reserved in the closet of our Guest Room.   (And, we we have overflow space in my office too!)  I'm so looking forward to having visitors!

We are also blessed in that we each have our own office. Jeff's is out adjacent to the living room (which is great for when he has the very late night or very early morning calls), while mine is between the guest room and our bedroom. 

My office has a sleeper sectional ... just in case we get a family of visitors.  (I promise to relocate the litter box for the duration of your visit!!)   On a typical day though, this is pretty much an all purpose room:  my office, kitty hangout, my closet, etc.  And, the sectional -- or rather the pillows on the sectional -- serve as Gracie's safe place when the door bell rings, and her cave --  where she hides all the (fake) mice, tissues, bits of string, and whatever else she decides to horde in her special place....(It's going to be fun finding art to add color to these white walls.)

Jeff's office, adjacent to the living room, is smaller - but he also has the killer view of the river.  And he has his own bathroom.  It's a cute little office - with only one white wall for which we get to find some cool art or something to hang. 

Finally, our bedroom:  this one is still very much a work in progress as we are missing our TV stand aka tall dresser, and the walls are very bare, and we'll be looking for a rug to warm the floor (literally and figuratively), but we have the most important piece:  our bed!  I am soo thrilled to have our bed back.   And so are the cats.  We all sleep better now, to be sure!

It's also rather awesome to have a bath with a view, although it's not so great that the shower in the master bath is essentially nonfunctional.  I mean - it works - but it's a corner shower.  And the shower head sprays straight out -- onto the door.  If the door is closed.  If not, then it sprays right out onto the bathroom floor.

This wouldn't really be a big problem if you could just get in, close the door, then turn on the shower.  However, unless you're into ice-cold showers, you can't do that here.  You have to turn on the water for a good 5 minutes, then check it.  (Usually, at 5 minutes, it's "not freezing.")  Then check it again.  (Usually, but not always, at 10-12 minutes, it's lukewarm, so bearable.)  And, given the showerhead configuration, this means opening up the door at least three times with the shower head blasting water -- right out the door.  (I can only assume that the designer never took showers -- or didn't know about how long it takes to get water warm in these apartments.  Or maybe s/he was just a fan of freezing showers.)

So -- we shower in the hall bathroom, which actually is bigger so better anyway.  And, the good part is that if you get in the shower when it's warm, it'll be hot by the time you've shampooed your hair once, so ... I've learned to take warm-to-hot showers.  Of course, regardless of where we shower, we have to keep in mind that water just continues heating up.  So we have to adjust constantly to avoid it getting scalding hot. Essentially, it's like being on a boat:  one hand on the faucet, one hand to shower with.  (I'm exaggerating only a little teensy bit.  It's kinda crazy.  But you get used to it.)

Notice the bathrobe hanging on the door in the bathroom? Yes!!! Though I lost all my undies, socks, pjs, bathing suits, etc. etc., My bathrobe made it!! Yaaaay.

Anyway, the good thing (or, rather, another good thing) is that, after some repairs, the jacuzzi bathtub works.  And it's wonderful!  For me, the idea of a bath has always been way more appealing than actually taking one.  Five minutes after I got in, I'd be ready to get back out.  But - I can stay in a hot tub forever.  Ok, so this isn't really a hot tub, but I love the jacuzzi tub..  In fact, all this talking about it makes me want to go take a bath right now.  It's s chilly in here and the city lights are shining bright ... and a bath sounds like a perfect way to start my evening.

So, have a great evening folks.  Hope you enjoyed the tour.  At a minimum - if you made it this far - thanks for tolerating my blathering on.  But it just feels good to feel like I'm "home."

Things I'm learning

Ok, it's been a while since my last post and I have much to catch up on here.  However, just thought I'd share a few random things I'm learning ...

...To find out how old someone is here, you have to ask what year she was born – can’t just ask “how old are you?” Why? Because a Chinese baby is 1 at birth. However, when talking with Laowais, some (but not all) Chinese people tell you their age in “Western.” So you just can’t tell for sure how old someone is (in “Western”) unless you ask what year she was born.

...To find out someone’s birthday (in Western terms), you need to ask what day she was born – can’t just ask “when is your birthday.” Why? Because birthdays are based on the lunar calendar here. So a person’s birthday “date” changes every year. So often, the person will tell you the date that they celebrate their birthday THIS year (or, if it’s already past, the next year.) However, when talking with Laowais, some folks will tell you their “Western” birth date. You just can’t know unless you clarify.

...When speaking English, it's very important to always clarify numbers – especially those that end in “-teen” or “-ty.” Neither I nor J can distinguish between “15” and “50” when said by someone here (nor can others hear the difference when we say it).  We have been late – or early – a few times because we said 10:15, but the local person heard 10:50 (and/or vice-versa). This is so even though we clarify/repeat a few times. So, I had to learn to say 10:15 as “ten-one-five” and 10:50 as “ten-five-zero.”... Of course, we can avoid that entire problem by just saying the time in Mandarin: “shí diǎn wǔ fen” is clearly different than “shí diǎn wǔshí fen.” I’m starting to do that.

...Learning how to speak Mandarin using Pinyin (or understanding Mandarin when written in Pinyin) is easier than I thought it would be. At first, it was really hard. I mean, why use English letters if you’re not going to use English pronunciations??? Why’d they make “e” sound like “u” and “u” sound like “o” and “i” sound like “e” and “x” sound like “sh” and “z” sound like “g”?? Crazy!! At first it was like having to do a double translation: English > Pinyin > Mandarin. However, after a few weeks of that, it got much easier.

...I am not (at all) good at repeating tones/Mandarin words that I hear. But if I SEE them in pinyin, I can get relatively close. Well, except for certain sounds. Like the ü sound – which I doubt I’ll ever be able to say correctly in a sentence. (Ok. Say “oooooooooo.” Feel how your mouth is shaped. Now, make your mouth form that “ooooo” sound shape – but instead of saying “ooooooooooo” say “eeeeeeee” BUT DON’T MOVE your lips! Just say eeeee “through” an “oooooo” mouth. Go ahead. Try it! :::sigh::: My mouth just won’t work that way. just decided that I’d avoid any words with that sound in it. Only problem is, Mandarin for “attorney” is “lǜshī” – and in order to say any month, you have to say yuè – and anytime “u” comes after “y” in pinyin, it’s actually the ü sound.   :::sigh::: My poor tutor.  I just tell her we need to skip that word and I'll work on it.  After a bit, she agrees.  'Cause I'm just not getting it right.

...One can't assume that just because you bought something at a Lawoai store - or at a "reputable" local store, that it is safe and authentic.  Exhibit A:  We got a jar of peppers from a "reputable" (foreign-based) store.  Two weeks later, I realized that I'd experienced ... digestive distress ...after each time that J used the specific jar of peppers.   Exhibit B:  I purchased "Colombian Coffee Beans" from a "reputable" store.  The first two days that J used them, it was like he had morning sickness (dizziness, retching, etc.).  !! And he NEVER gets sick.  Exhibit C:  I purchased a (sealed, of course) bottle of Smirnoff vodka.  Not to drink (vodka and I do not mix well...) but for cleaning my vaping tanks (vodka is best cleaner, so I've been told.  I still put it in the freezer.  It's just what I've always done with vodka.  Imagine my surprise when I took it out to use it -- and it was half frozen.   According to the little freezer thermometer, the freezer is approx 20 celsius.  So - either my thermometer is wrong and this freezer is really really really cold, or the stuff in that bottle isn't really 80 proof Smirnoff vodka. 

All that being said, I've been purchasing vegetables and fruits from street vendors since we got here.  And neither one of us has had a moment's issue from any of the street/wetmarket fresh fruits/veggies we've purchased.  I'm becoming more and more enamored with fresh over canned ... it's better and safer.  Here, at least.

Ah, I have so much more to share but the kitties are going stir crazy right now for some reason - and it's impossible to type with one cat laying over my arms and the other getting tangled in my feet.  So clearly, I need to go play with them for a while. 

Will try to catch up on all that's been happening real soon!.

Shanghais and ShangLows

As Jeff reminded me a few times over the past three days, there will be “Shanghai” days, and “Shang-Low” days here. 

This week’s Shang-low moments have included …

…returning from vacation to learn that since it’s October, the PTB have shut off the air conditioning.  Even though it’s hot and humid outside (and about 90 degrees at home). 

And we can’t open the windows because we have cats and we’re on the 49th Floor. Andwhen we examine the windows and think, "nah, no way they’ll even try to get up here," then open just a couple – which brings sweet relief – we learn that yes, indeed, at least one can – and will – jump up and sit on the edge of the window, not caring that it’s 40+  stories up. … … …

So, after bribing him down with a treat, we realize that until we can devise some sort of screen, we really cannot open any windows regardless of how hot it is. So, we sweat. And hope it turns cooler fast.  

…walking into the laundry room to see water dripping from the ceiling onto the back of the washer where the plug is, and splashing directly onto the outlet where washer and dryer are plugged in. 

And when I report this electrical hazard to the property manager, the response is as follows: 

“Lots of people in this [building] have the same problem; it's because of the weather-typhoon in Shanghai these days.

[We] suggest that you can do some cleaning with buckets and mops. When the rain stops it will be good as usual.”

Uhm...Huh? Really?? I guess so, provided that there is no electrical short or anything. So, anyway, I unplug the washer, wipe up the water, put a bucket on top the washer (which can’t be moved much at all due to the drainage tube going into the floor), and set a timer to remember to empty it every few hours.  And then, when the rain stops, plug the washer back in and hope it works.  

Leaking about a gallon an hour ... for two days.  Thank goodness we were home.

…deciding that since it’s pouring outside, to eat in – only to discover that something went klafooey with the oven and I can’t get it to turn on. At all. No matter which button I push, it just reads STOP. 

And, while the landlord left all the “assembly” instructions of every piece of (already assembled) IKEA furniture in the place, we have no user manuals for any of the electronics. So I have no idea whether I’m just pushing the wrong buttons or something’s wrong with the stove. And so I Google the model number for 30 minutes, trying to find an online version of the manual, even though the internet is acting up again, cutting out every 3-4 minutes. And, it's just impossible to get to the “real” Google, even when on a US VPN, because it just keeps reverting to Hong Kong Google. In Mandarin. And the translator keeps crashing, so can’t read it.  Then I just give up and decide that Jeff has to cook because he knows how to cook everything on or with anything.

~~~

But then … when the rain stopped and I went out to market, and decided to try using a few of the Mandarin words I’m learning, and all the ladies stop and laugh and clap, nodding their heads. And I feel like I just won the National Spelling Bee!!! (But all I really did was say 49? in Mandarin … badly). 

And then I decided to see whether the repairs to the tub last week actually worked. And they did!  The tub fills up in only 10 minutes, and the jets work, and the tub no longer leaks when the jets are on! And ... it’s awesome!!!  This tub is so big I need to stretch to reach the other side!

 

And ... :::drum roll::: ... I learned that our sea shipment is scheduled for delivery – FINALLY – this Friday, which makes me dance around the place like a crazy woman. Our “glamping” days are ending, and I can’t say how glad I am about that!

Now, I'm trying NOT to count chickens and all that.  Things get delayed - often.  But it’s hard. I’m so ready for our stuff to get here! I’ve been “glamping” since July 18th – in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to shorten the time we did without our stuff while here. 

I’m ready to have my bathrobe back. And our bed!!! And a dresser to put my clothes (and … well, some different clothes will be great too). And our dining room table. And an actual wine glass, because it’s just not the same drinking wine out of a red solo cup. And a wine opener that actually works. And our potato peeler – I had no idea how much I used it until I didn’t have it.  And our good knives and a few more pots and pans and dishes.  And our camera cords, so we can download (and upload) pics from our travels.  And to have a few of our “favorite things” hung up on these very bare, very white (or slightly pink and/or slightly purple) walls.

Fingers crossed for Friday delivery!

 

(Of course, once it all gets here, I’ll be stressing about the fact that I packed and shipped too much stuff and don’t know where to put it all.  Because I know that I packed up way more than the list of things above, which are all the things I actually really miss………………) 

Things I wish I could capture in a photo

The kinds of things I see but just can't capture in a photo (yet anyway):

....The two mopeds flying towards me from the front as I walk, while hearing another moped beeping its horn at me from behind.  On the sidewalk.

... The car pulling up onto the sidewalk in front of me; the driver getting out, unzipping, then peeing in the bushes. While talking on his cell phone.

... The young lovers standing together, arms and legs totally intertwined ... while each one is texting (or doing something) on their phones with one hand.

... The young lovers having dinner, the girl with one hand combing through her man's hair and one hand holding the phone in which she is totally engrossed, while the boy uses one hand to eat his dinner and the other to play some game on his phone.

... The woman driving a moped, while reading her phone, for what appears to be a full block at least, until she's out of sight.

... The man driving a moped, who has a small child nestled on the foot stand, holding onto his legs, while he is steering the moped with one hand and texting on his phone with the other.   

... The woman turning at a big intersection while I'm standing at the corner, who is sort of lifting one leg and tensing the opposite arm to steady the not-quite-toddler sitting in her lap. 

... The many young real estate agents pacing on the street corner of our complex who look (and act) like concert ticket scalpers, accosting passersby with offers of great deals on nearby apartment leases, sometimes while talking into two different cell phones at the same time (every day, but even more so on the weekends).

... The man driving a moped with one foot up on the heavily-laden cart attached to a pedal/non-motorized bicycle driven by a young girl - he's pushing her down the street, impervious to the fact that multiple cars behind him are angrily beeping their horns at him for taking up two lanes of traffic.     

… The middle-aged lady hanging out her open window in her pajamas, yelling on her cell phone while waving her other hand wildly (and spitting intermittently without regard to the people sitting on the stoop below her).

... The employees at a hair salon that is just opening, gathered together in front to do some cheers then some tai chi, joyfully, the young women giggling at the young mens' moves.

... People waving down a taxi (arm straight out horizontal, palm facing down towards road, fingers wiggling).

... The young girls working the veggie stand who lay their heads down on the bed of greens to take naps during lulls in business.

... The young girl who is so tired she doesn't wake up when I call out to ask her for the price of this beautiful asparagus.

... The impeccably dressed older woman walking in front of me, who stops to hawk up an enormous loogie before walking on.    

... The man working another stand pulling of a chunk of meat selected by a customer, setting it on a piece of plywood on the ground and chopping it up, while preventing his little dog from grabbing the meat with one foot ... then bagging up the meat for the customer, while the little dog licks up the scraps off the plywood … then picking up the plywood and setting it back on the rack to await the next customer.

... The man who doesn't have a stand, but is squatting down beside two small tubs on the ground, carefully arranging the shrimps in one tub over ice - in an absolutely beautiful circular pattern.

... The four grandparents at a corner all in a circle, cooing over one adorable grandchild in split pants while they wait for the light to pass. 

 

... This is why, when I'm ready to pull my hair out because, for example, I *still* can't figure out how to set up the printer (because all the prompts are in Mandarin and I've never had a Canon printer before, and I can't find screen shots in English online, and the CD manual that came with it, which actually does have English, doesn't explain the various menus on the printer itself), I just decide to chuck it for the day and go for a long walk ...

Happy First Month-aversary to Us

Wow.  Today is September 24.  It’s been a month already. Hard to believe. 

In some ways, it still seems a bit like we are on an extended trip – we are still generally living out of our suitcases. Well, we are not literally living out of our suitcases, because we’ve unpacked them, but we are still living only on what was in our suitcases – and, since the furniture isn’t here yet, we’re using the “pile” method for the stuff we can’t hang. And I’m very glad that I got several Ex Officio shirts to wear because the “DC in August” humidity here results in, uhm, perpetual glistening, but I have to say that I’m getting a bit tired of my 5-shirt/2-shorts/1 jeans wardrobe. (Ah … first world problems, I know.) 

(As an aside, both J and I are now huge fans of Ex Officio clothing for travel and/or for being in hot and humid weather because … they’re awesome. Any wrinkles really do fall out in minutes after unballing them from the suitcase; “glistening” really does dry up in minutes; you really can wash them in the sink and hang them, and they’ll be dry before the next morning. When home and using the washer/dryer, they’re typically dry in 15 minutes or less (on low heat). And any “chopstick accidents” really do wash out easily too!)

And though we are in our “place,” since our furniture is not here yet, the place still seems a bit foreign … and very empty.  The view outward is utterly awesome.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of it - whether looking westward out across the river, or eastward over the thriving local neighborhood below.  But inside ... we’re sleeping on a smaller-than-queen guest bed in the guest room (which means that the cats are restless throughout the night because they can’t find a good spot). Our bedroom is still completely empty but for two lamps and a TV sitting on the floor, provided by the landlord. When we eat at home (rarely), we’re picnicking because we don’t yet have a dining room table (or a coffee table, which was our primary “dinner table” back in Phoenix).  We have two towels, that rarely dry in this weather, so they're getting washed every couple days.  So, it’s kind of like “glamping.” Fun, but not exactly home yet.

And, since we have two cooking pans, and very few cooking utensils, I'm making only very simple meals when I do cook, which is usually Monday nights.  Monday nights, J watches the recorded Cardinals game, so I try to make a meal. (He won’t go on Facebook or check emails on Monday, because he doesn’t want to know what happened until he watches the game.)    So, yesterdary I knew that I’d have several people in and out (again) doing various repairs and such, then have (my first) Mandarin lesson yesterday afternoon, so I wanted to make something quick. Salmon, spinach, and fried potatoes would be easy peasy, right? Yes, actually … except that I had to make the fried potatoes in the wok-skillet first, then clean it out to make the spinach. And I had to bake one piece of salmon in our only other cookware -- a (thankfully oven-safe) small sauce pan -- then take that piece out when it was done and put the other piece of salmon in to bake that one. So … let’s just say that it took a bit longer than expected and that the food was of varying temperatures when served. 

And since I only know how to cook “western food” (and barely know how to do much of that~a competent cook I am not…), eating at home is usually substantially more expensive than just going out.  I can report one bit of progress. Given my utter lack of confidence in cooking, I’ve always been a “by the book” cook – measuring stuff out exactly, making sure I have all the ingredients exactly as called for and prepped in separate bowls (to avoid missing any ingredients ). Well, I’ve learned to “let go” of some of that, out of necessity. We have two plates, two salad bowls, and two pasta bowls. If I use them for ingredients I have to wash the dishes out before we eat. So no more pre-prepping stuff into little bowls. And, since we don’t yet have our measuring spoons or cups, I’m just guessing on the amounts. A pinch here, three shakes there, a handful of this, a spoonful of that until it looks ok. And, since I either can’t even find some stuff in my recipes – or I find it but it’s outrageously expensive, I’m learning to substitute – or just skip – certain listed ingredients. So ... that’s a bit of progress, I guess. So far, J has eaten what I’ve prepared without complaint. (Then again, he eats all sorts of things most people wouldn’t so I can’t take too much comfort in that.)

Speaking of eating all sorts of things (it’s really NOT all about food…), that is another way in which this adventure still seems more like a trip than a move:  Since we are eating out a lot still, and since local food is one tenth the cost of western food, I’ve been “stretched” outside of my food comfort zone again and again. I managed to live for more than 48 years without eating, say, duck tongue, cow tongue, pig tripe (and other offal), jellyfish, tree fungus, fish cheeks, shrimp with the shells. 

And, to be sure, it’s not as if at least most of this food isn’t available in the US. It’s just that I just wouldn’t really consider eating it. Indeed, up until my mid-30s, I wouldn’t try anything “new” or “weird” – and my definition of “new” and “weird” was essentially anything that I didn’t grow up eating. Even when I decided to become a bit more adventurous – eating artichokes, spinach, and even tofu (!!) – my idea of what was adventurous was a bit, uhm, not-so-adventurous to most people probably.

Here, I just decided to go for it and try stuff at least once. And so I am. To some degree of success....

Not to yuk anyone else’s yum, but I still don’t like organ meats and tripe and that sort of stuff. (I’m thinking maybe there’s a reason that offal rhymes with awful … or that maybe I just haven’t had it prepared the way I might enjoy it.  It’s one of the two.)

And frankly, while duck really IS delicious, duck tongues and webs are a whole lot of work for a little teensy tiny bite. Shrimp shells? Well, they’re not great but they’re not awful either – just add a bit of crunch to the bite.

Now -- pickled jelly fish and cabbage? Yummy!!! Edible tree fungus? Delish! Fish cheeks?Awesome!  

 ~~~

And ... I know I will get used to our neighborhood and I am starting to recognize a few neighbors and vis-a-versa, so it’s beginning to feel “home-ish” but the neighborhood outside the complex is still so very exotic to me. To the north is the financial center, which could be AnyBigCity. To the west is the river. To the east and south are smaller “local” neighborhoods and wandering through the streets still feels exotic and foreign. Especially on weekends where you never know what you’re going to see on the street. Like “repair shop row” right outside our complex, where you can get your shoes fixed while you wait, your bike repaired, your AC repaired, or your flowers refreshed. Or, if you like, you can stop for a quick haircut.

~~~

And ... I really do need to learn at least some Mandarin beyond "hello," "thanks," and counting 1-10.  That only goes so far (which is not very far at all).  And I can’t keep calling the bilingual translator service every time I get stuck with a clerk or serviceperson at the apartment, although I'm so happy to have discovered it.  (Well, I could but that’d just not be right.)  

Very Cool Thing:  You can call this number any time of the day or night, and ask for a translation. You say what you need to say, then pass the phone to the other person.  The operator will explain what you need in Mandarin. The other person will respond to the operator, then pass the phone to you. The operator will then explain the response to you in English. It's a bit clunky, but was  very helpful when a repairman showed up yesterday to fix our tub and the gestures just weren't working to explain the issue.  The service is free - part of Shanghai city services.  I "discovered" it while at a store, when a clerk was trying to sell me something.  I wasn't "getting" what she was saying, so apologized for not understanding her and started to leave. She  held on to my arm (!) then called the number and the operator explained what I needed to know.  Sale made.  And I was assured that I got what I needed for the price I wanted.  Great service, but don't think it's a viable alternative to learning the language for day-to day living....

I did have my first Mandarin lesson last night and will have my first language exchange session tonight, so … I’m getting started on that, finally.  This is a good thing, because the printer we got only has Chinese keys and codes and I still haven’t figured out how to work it.  And, I am going to have to figure out how to use the washing machine and dryer consistently.  (Sometimes it works great; other times, the clothes are literally still soaked at the end of the wash cycle and/or still sopping after a hour in the dryer.  I have to wring them out in the sink, then dry them for ... a couple hours ... at least.  There's just gotta be something I'm doing wrong.)   I know that most of the language lessons I’m scheduled to have will be for spoken Mandarin, but I’m most interested in learning written Mandarin – at least the things I need to know to be able to run appliances and read menus and signs!   

~~~

And ... I look forward to being able to establish some routine in my days.   Back in Phoenix, my days and weeks had a general routine.  Even though we were very busy and traveled a lot, there was a general routine to all these things.  I just don’t have one here yet.  Too many things still up in the air.  It’s been hard so far, because every day “something” is going on:  a repairman is coming to fix X, Y, or Z, or I need to go find envelopes so we can mail something, or the property management needs to come by to address a bill, or a delivery of something or other is scheduled.   And on that,  let me just say that my experience to date indicates that the concept of time is very different here than in the US.  In the US, repair people will generally say that they’ll be at your place during a certain three-hour window on a certain day - and then they are often late.  So far, my experience here is that something is scheduled for a certain hour on a certain day.  But they virtually always come early.  So taking a shower within two hours before the scheduled visit is not a good idea; chances are that the doorbell will ring just as I am soaping up.  

And the only errands I can run during the day of a delivery or service are those within a couple-block area because chances are very good that my phone will ring with a message that someone is at my door waiting to deliver something .  No matter that the visit wasn’t scheduled for another four hours.  I need to get back home quickly, because they are waiting.   Best thing is to just wait until the visit occurs before venturing out.  And, there are days where nothing is scheduled but I still get a call or hear the doorbell, because someone who was here yesterday forgot to tell me something*  … or because they think they might have left something here ** … or because they miscalculated some cost and need to give me the correct change.** *  

*Yes!  This has happened twice!  Even though everyone has cell phones here, people will come all the way back to the apartment and up the elevator to tell me something they forgot to say while they were here about something!

** This has happened twice too.  Once for a disposable plastic bowl, and once for a tea mug that – despite searching for 10 minutes, we could not find here.

**Yes!  Just yesterday, the property manager employee came over to deliver 2.5 rmb (that’s 41 cents) because they had miscalculated the electricity bill.

Another thing that makes it difficult to have a routine – or to be able to plan out a day when I get up – is that I never know how long something is going to take.  Running to the store to get four ingredients might take 15 minutes – or it might take three hours because I can’t find what I’m looking for in the first … or fifth store I visit.  And I just might not find it at all.  And, I just might be so frustrated with the fact that I can’t find something or I might be so exhausted from the effort that I decide to stop in and get a shampoo/blow dry, so there goes another hour!!  And, before I know it, it’s early evening and the day has disappeared.

On that note, I just may never wash my own hair again while I’m here.  Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but only a bit.  I’ve been working my way through the multiple salons in a two-block radius.  I’m not done yet.  There are at least three times as many hair salons here as there are nail salons in Phoenix.  And I’ve found one that gives a great shampoo/blow dry, albeit without the massage and other fluff, for $3.  I found one that gives a decent shampoo/blow dry and decent massage, for $8.  And when I want to splurge and get the full treatment (ears and all), it’s a whopping $16.    I still have at least six more salons to try – assuming I stay in a two block radius.  If I decide to venture out to a 3-block radius, there’ll be a least another dozen or so to try.

And on travel, Trip Advisor has lots of information on China cities we want to visit, so that's great. But it only goes so far. Getting train tickets - or plane tickets - isn't just a matter of logging on to Expedia or Travelocity. There is no Southwest Airlines here (although we learned that at least some airline tickets are refundable, thankfully). I found a way to order train tickets online, but they have to be ordered at least four days before travel. (And right now, we can't definitively plan four days in advance due to variations in J's schedule.)

And, when we do travel like we did to Hangzhou this past weekend, it's a very different sort of trip. Even fewer people speak English. (Fortuantely, J's amazing faculty with languages is serving him (us) well.  He's already doing more than I'll likely be able to do in a year.)  

It's difficult to find a reliable map -- or has been for us so far. And my iPhone's Around Me, Google Maps, and iPhone Map are ... almost ... worthless. We were looking for a specific place J had read about this weekend, so I looked it up on Google Maps, then in the iPhone Map, then on the paper map that the hotel gave us. Google and iPhone showed the address in completely different parts of the city -- though both were on the east side of the lake -- and we couldn't even find the street on the hotel map. So, we had a cab take us to the east side of the lake and we wandered around. For three hours. Had a great time - Hangzhou is a beautiful little city - but we just couldn't find the address. It didn't seem to exist.  We walked up and down the street twice.  Tried north.  Then South.  We gave up and decided to turn back north again and just go find some dinner since it was nearing 8 pm.  And stumbled on the place. The address had no (linear) relation to the actual location of the place although it was, as stated, "lakeside."  As in it wasn't on the street named (though it was only two streets over), and while the building did have the right number on it (13), the building was not between 23 and 10 on that street. Mystery we still haven't solved. Except to know that can’t rely on addresses and maps the way we are used to doing. So, it's not exactly like hopping in the car for a quick trip to Flagstaff, Cottonwood, or Wilcox for a relaxing weekend. It's much more of a production:  Must remember to have directions to hotel in Mandarin on your phone - then remember to have your phone with you always. (Or be prepared to find a work-around if you forget it, which we did one night....) And learn to enjoy what's in front of you rather than trying to find something you think you want to see.  

~~~

I know that at some point, all of this will be the “new normal,” but it hasn’t yet sunk in yet. Maybe when our stuff gets here, this place will really start feeling like our “home.”   Or maybe when I get through one day without getting utterly stumped about how to do something.  But I’m just not there yet.  It’s hard to describe.  I opened by saying that it feels like a long trip.  That’s true – but not as in a long vacation trip.  There’s just too many “hard things” for it to be a vacation.  There’s not much relaxation going on ... well, except for the shampoos of course.   There is a lot of wonderful discoveries and excitement (or terror, when going down the wrong side of the road, or seeing someone coming at you when you’re on the right side of the road). 

The thing is, it’s not just a trip.  It's not just an interesting vacation.  And it's not yet "home" either.

It’s … different. 

It’s an adventure ... every day.

 

… Stretch, Tes, stretch …. 

About grocery shopping...

Disclaimer:  Vegetarians might want to skip this post.

I just noted how I very much prefer the smaller shops to the big "superstores."  Some days, however, I just have to bite the bullet and go.  Like today.  I needed to find envelopes - plain mailing envelopes.  I haven't seen them in any of the smaller shops nearby and I didn't have time to go wandering around to find them, so I decided to go to Carrefour, because I knew that they had what I needed.

Of course, I took my iPhone.  So, how about let's go shopping Shanghai style?

We'll start with the familiar, that is with Imported Product. 

First, a bit of context.  To figure out cost in dollars, you need to take the yuan price and divide by six. That's not an exact exchange, but it's close enough.  Second, it's kind of hard to show scale here, but nearly all the items are in smaller containers than in the US - and in metric.  (I'm thanking Mr. and Mrs. Wengerd right now because, while it's been a bit of an adjustment, thanks to them I really did learn the metric system way back when.) 

So, you can get a small box of Great Grains cereal for only $7.78.

A bag of Ruffles will only cost you about $5.88.

But, you can get a 6-pack of PBR for only $2.50.

Ok, I'm sure that at some point I will be c-r-a-v-i-n-g something from this section but, right now, while I walk through this section just to see what's there, I'm strictly window shopping.  So, moving on to the more ... interesting (to me) ... aisles.

The oils aisle.

This incredible aisle probably explains why I'm still in the process of scrubbing down my once very-sticky kitchen:  that entire wall is full of cooking oils of every kind imaginable (and some I didn't imagine).

The soy sauce aisle.

Now, I thought that soy sauce was soy sauce - that there were about as many varieties of soy sauce as, say, salad dressing.  I've been schooled on that one!  Both sides of this aisle are filled with of dozens and dozens of types and brands of soy sauces and a few related types of sauces. Of course, I can't tell the difference between most of them because less than 5% have English on them, but there clearly are differences, or they would't fill up both sides of this entire aisle.

The chili aisle.

I love this aisle.  While I can't read the labels, I can see the ingredients on most and, as Jeff and I both love chilis of all sorts, I'm having fun in this aisle.  I bought several different jars here.  I've only used two so far, but they were both yummy!

Aside:  While these pictures were taken in a big superstore, the floor space dedicated to each type of food is pretty consistent in stores here, regardless of size.  In the smaller grocery stores, the aisles are smaller, of course, but there's still one big aisle of oils, one big aisle of soy sauces, a big section for chilis, and the like.

My favorite aisle is this one:

Noodles!!

I love this aisle.  Noodles of every kind imaginable.  Yummy.  I hope to try them all while I'm here.  The rice aisle) is actually bigger, but while I'm not a big rice fan, I've not yet met a noodle I didn't love. And, there's another aisle nearby that has different kinds of "noodle-like" bags, but they're actually made of kelp, various seaweeds and the like.  I bought a bag of kelp ones to try too.

More "noodles"...

Obviously, tea is huge here too.  In addition to the very big two-sided aisle of packaged dried teas, there is a "bulk product" tea section, where you can mix and match the flowers, tea leaves, and related aromatics yourself.  

Bulk Tea "stuff."

Of course, you can get rice in bulk too...

The bulk rice section.

Most superstores have a pretty big meat section.  I have to say though, that I've not before seen meat sections as big as they are in the two different superstores I've visited here.   A partial survey .... 

First, the dried meat area:

A closer look:

Now, for the fresh meat section...

Pick your pork parts ...

Or your chicken...

Or your fish ...

Or other seafood.  But if you insist on having it truly fresh....

...You can do that too.  

Of course, there are a lot of working moms in Shanghai looking for fresh prepared food, so there's a section of prepared meats as well:

Meats ready to eat.  

For those who prefer tofu, there's an entire station of a few dozen varieties from which you can choose:

Small corner of the large tofu station.

There is a similar section of prepared veggies and other side dishes nearby.  And, as with any grocery store, there's a big produce section:

Portion of the Produce Section.

There is a frozen food section, a smaller yoghurt/dairy section, and a few others, but -- as I was snapping pics, I suddenly remembered that I'd gone to Carrefour because I was in a hurry, but somehow 45 minutes had flown by again.  

That being said, I couldn't resist one last shot, just for the folks back "homehome" who shop at Hilltop: 

CandyLand!!!  

Yes, the sweet tooth is alive and well here.  In addition to this huge candy section, there's an entire two-sided aisle full of cookies and the like.

 

And, after nearly an hour of sensory overload, it was time to go home!

 

Meet the Neighborhood...

It's kind of fun when you start recognizing one or two people in the elevator.  The place begins to feel like it might become home.

It's also wonderful to be back in a walking neighborhood.  I loved not having a car in Chicago, and I think I'm going to love it here too.  There will be days I'm thankful for the gym facilities,* but for now, I love taking my daily urban hikes.  At least once  a day, if not more, I set off to discover what might be down a street nearby.  I still have many many streets to go.  I try to go down at least one new one every day, and have to repeat streets several times to "catch" everything anyway.  I count the way "out" as exercise, walking at a clip and  and scoping things out.  But I always have a bag on my shoulder just in case ... because on the way back, I might stop by a place catches my eye.  (And this is definitely a BYOBag city.)  And I have found a treasure or two.  Like coffee filters just 2 blocks away from our house!  And Columbian coffee beans (J's favorite).  And a few other Laowai-type things -- as well as some great local things like a wet market less than two blocks away, through a side street.

*Uhm, I'm sure I'll be thankful for the gym facilities - they're quite nice.  Full open and airy gym, indoor pool, outdoor beach, the works.  Too bad I struggle doing those kinds of workouts...  Yet another thing on my "to get better while I'm here" list.

I also love being able to get fresh "stuff" every day.  Back on PHX, Jeff would get his bananas for the week.  Now, I go down to my favorite fruit guy who always sets up just outside our complex and I get a couple apples or oranges every other day or so, and he throws in a couple bananas for "free," then points to himself indicating (I'm sure of it...), "Buy your fruit from me and I'll give you a deal."  He also picks off the bad grapes and such before weighing them.  (And he really is doing that - I checked.)

The  Friendly Fruit Guy  just outside our complex.  I pass him a few times a day, every time I leave. 

When we first got here, I went to the big Carrefour supermarket, drawn to the "familiar." Ok, it wasn't really familiar in that I spent hours (literally) going through the aisles trying to find things I recognized.  But shopping at the big "Safeway/Target"-style stores was familiar, so that's where I went.  Now, I'm in the process of finding which little stores nearby carry the stuff we want.  Now, I need to go to several stores to complete the shopping list as no one store has everything, or even close to everything, I might have on the list, even for a single meal.  But, this makes every trip out just more of an adventure. (Except when I'm in a hurry.  But that's kind of rare right now.) 

Frankly, I love the excuses to be out and to have to go to several places because, as with my "hikes," I get to see OMGReally!?!? things and just "be" here, soaking it all in.  Like the busy outdoor "cafeteria/buffet" just up the street. 

 The outdoor "cafeteria," just up the street from my Friendly Fruit Guy.  (Yes, the guy in gray is washing the used dishes.) 

This is the "buffet" from which the customers make their trays.  The food must be delicious because the place is virtually standing room only between 11:30 and 12:30 each day. 

Interestingly, from what I've seen, most sidewalks are wheelchair accessible.  They all even have this strip down the middle to enable people who are blind to walk safely (presumably using a cane?).  The strips turn to round "lego" type things at each corner to let the person know that the sidewalk is ending.

The sidewalk in front of one of the local grocery stores.  The darker red stripe is on every sidewalk and is, I've been told, designed to enable people who are blind navigate safely and independently.  

Oddly though, most stores and restaurants are elevated so not at all accessible to people in wheel chairs.  Not quite sure how it came to be that virtually every sidewalk is "blind friendly" but virtually every business entrance is "wheelchair unfriendly."

Anyway, between the Friendly Fruit Guy and the local grocery store, there are two alley markets, where various vendors set up shop each day to sell services (luggage and bicycle repair while you wait), meats (cut right there to your order ... so long as you don't mind the process but that's another story), live sea creatures (eels, catfish, turtles and more), rice, spices, blankets, hats, and more.  And veggies.  I go there for the veggies!

My favorite-to-date veggie stand, just up the street from our place.

So -- that's just a teensy tiny taste of our new neighborhood ~ all (and much much more) within a block of our place.

Not-so-small victories

I don't think I've ever been so excited to do laundry as today.  But our washer and dryer are now working great.  The loads must be quite small (first the flat sheet with one or two small things, then the fitted sheet with one or two small things), but -- the applicances work and the clothes come out clean and dry.

OMGReally?!?! Aside: Where in the US can one call the manufacturer with a problem and have the manufacturer's repairman show up the next day?  And when was the last time that the cost of a service call and/or repairs was less than $50?  Here, the dryer was "fine" except that the prior resident had put the filter back together wrong so it was clogged up and wouldn't dry. The service call charge to tell me that, and explain how to put the filter together correctly was about $9.   And the guy came back four days later to deliver extra filters as they must be replaced about once a month.  Cost - $2 for 4 filters delivered to my door.  As for the washer, it had a significant mildew issue that required replacement of parts, two visits, and a 6-hour sanitizing process.  Total cost including service and parts?  $50.  So, while MsB*tch was grousing about all the people traipsing in and out, the fact is that folks get things done here!  Yaaaay.

As for other things that really stumped me in the first week - I'm developing a few "coping" mechanisms .... 

(Totally First World) Problem:  All the remotes are (a) mostly in Chinese; and (b) not at all consistent in that +/- on one might mean volume, but it means channel on another.

Solution:  

It's not fancy, but it works.

 

Problem:  Copy/pasting addresses in Mandarin doesn't always work well in my iPhone for whatever reason.

Solution:  

I pull up the address on google, snap a pic with my iPhone, then show that to the taxi driver. Works every time (so far).

 

Problem:  It's really hard to describe-by-pantomime certain things I'm looking for.

Solution:  

 

I find a pic on the web on my computer, then take a picture of it with my iPhone.  When I get to the store, I just show the pic.   Works much better.  (But I still haven't found a store with screening.  On the WanderingFool's treasure hunt list.)

 

Problem:  I'm making dinner tonight (yikes), but can't figure out what the text on the slow cooker means.  And what I do know is that there is no standard cool-to-hot/left-to-right here. (Our standard "righty-tighty/lefty-loosy" isn't even consistently applicable here.  Therefore I can't really just guess without risking burning stuff up.  I mean I think it's a slow cooker, but I'm not positive.....)

 

Solution:  

I emailed the first picture above to a new friend and she translated it for me, which I turned into a picture with translations on my phone.  

There's always a way...................

 

Update:  I still burned the meatballs.  Oh well.  They were edible.  I'll do better next time.