Susan's Shanghai Blog - Week 9

This was somewhat of a boring week (sorry!) Thursday I got to go to a customer here locally who had an issue that they needed assistance on. I finished there and provided some information and thought I may need to go back on Friday. Good thing I didn't! Friday we woke up and it was a bit overcast, and then a light rain started. By the time we got down to the lobby, it was a veritable "gully-washer". Standing water everywhere and raining harder than I had seen in months. We waited for a little while downstairs, hoping that it would slow down. We were watching the people who work in the building coming in, carrying umbrellas, drenched from the waist down ... we weren't getting any warm fuzzies about walking to work. A couple other guys waiting in the lobby decided to make a run for it, rolling up their pants legs before heading out. It slowed a little and Tom and I headed out. It is about 2 1/2 blocks for me to walk to the metro and by the time I got about a block away, I was now drenched from the knees down and I just could only imagine what I would look like by the time I got the rest of the way to the metro and then the block walk on the other end. So I turned around and headed back to the apartment. Tom got quite wet as well, his shoes totally wet through to his socks.

Saturday turned out to be a nice day and so we headed out to finish the walking tour that we had started. They seem to have alot of like-named shopping centers, normally one on the Puxi side of the river and one on the Pudong side of the river. Even our street, DongTai road, has a same-named street on the other side of the river. This time, it is "Times Square" which is a shopping complex a few blocks from here, and sure enough .. on the other side of the river as well. As we walked by, we saw a Ferrari temporary museum setup in front so we took a few minutes to stroll through. It was quite facinating, with 2 Ferrari's inside as well as a couple engines. On one wall, they showed the history of the various cars from the first "passenger" car to the present and on the other side was the history of the racing cars. They also had various other pieces of paraphenalia such as a racing helmet or the actual steering wheel from one of the race cars. Tom said if he was forced to have a Ferrari, this would be his choice.

From there, we headed over looking for an indoor bird and flower market, which was nowhere to be found. Or at least, nowhere for US to find! Then we headed down this street that has an "antiques" market but as the travel book said, it is more like a junk or flea market. Lots and lots of old things, a few things that would be considered tourist souvenirs, and lots and lots of old stuff.

We then headed over to a section of town called "Xintiandi" which means "New Heaven and Earth". It is a swanky pedestrian area full of shops, restaurants, and bars. It is composed of an area of reconstituted traditional shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys. On the way over there, we passed this very cute and calm little park in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city.

This week I had a business suit tailor-made which consists of a skirt, pants, and jacket, as well as 2 blouses to wear with it. I was quite impressed with the quality from looking at it, and it fit quite well. If anything, the skirt may be just a little bit in the waist, but she said I could come back and they can take it in if I wish. Tom took this picture ... which came from our tailors. We'll preface this statement with .. I'm sure our French sounds like this also (although gosh I hope not), but just a glimmer of the interesting English translations and phrases we get here.

We also purchased our first tickets to any type of an event here. The Duke University mens basketball team (Go Duke!) will be here playing some "friendship" games at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. We'll see how good the seat map for the arena is, but supposedly we are 3rd row center court. We'll know for sure Thursday.

The ticket says they are playing against the China Olympic Team, but Tom has been following the Duke boards and the concensus there is that it is the China National under 23 team, which really makes more sense.