Nothing makes me want to blog more than a looming deadline for school! Somehow I can write plenty on here, but ask me to write a 2500 word paper for school and I just stare at a blank screen. So I am taking a break to write this 1) so that it gets written, I have been terrible about keeping up with this, and 2) I am hoping that the act of writing anything will be a reset for my brain and I will be able to finish my paper after this.
The first week of April Alex had a whole week off for Tomb Sweeping Day (QingMing). Since we don’t have any ancestral tombs to take care of, we decided a quick trip into Shanghai would be a nice change of pace, unfortunately Mark and I still had classes, so big trips were out . This semster has been really long and we don’t get a break at the university until the first week of May.
We got a little spoiled this trip into the city because my advisor was driving into the city too, and we got to tag along with her instead of taking the train. I don’t mind taking the train into the city, but it’s nice not to have to drive out to the train station, then the train, then the metro, especially with a suitcase.
We went directly to the hotel, and it was in a great spot. Right next to the metro, attached to a nice mall (which also happened to have an expat friendly lots of western foods grocery store attached). Everytime we stay in Shanghai, I try to put us in a different neighborhood so we can see more of the city and not get into a rut- but I liked this hotel’s area so much we will probably try to stay there again!
It has become our custom to try to visit our Jianbing lady whenever we go into Shanghai, so our first morning was spent treking over to her street. And we don’t know if it’s our bad luck, or if she’s gone for good, but the last three times we’ve gone…. she’s closed. The second half of our custom is to then go a couple streets over and have bagels instead. The bagels are pretty good, the atmosphere is way to hipstery for me… and the entitled whiny attitude of most the expats who eat there is overwhelming, but it’s the best bet for bagels in Shanghai.
After bagels, we went back to the YuYuan garden area (mentioned in a previous post) and while it wasn’t as crowded as the spring festival when we went last, it was pretty packed. We didn’t make it into the actual garden this time, because the line to get in was unbelievably long. We got there relatively early in the day, but by the time we were leaving it had really started to fill in and for every person leaving, at least ten were coming in.
That night we went to get dan dan mian noodles, and I got zero pictures of any of it. The noodles were good, it took a while to get everything, but it was worth the wait.
So it might seem a little silly to you all, but one thing we were craving was a big steak, and potatoes. There aren’t many places to do that in Haining, and certainly none of them are american style. I happened to stumble on a tripadvisor review for Texas Roadhouse in Shanghai- and we made reservations (although that was completely overkill!) Alex’s school in the US used to have PTA fundraisers at Texas Roadhouse, and we spent the whole ride over to the mall wondering if it would be just like it was at home, or if it would lose something in the translation.
Same menu, same bucket of peanuts on the table… things are looking good. The staff there was so wonderful too, really welcoming, and the manager even came over to introduce herself and check in on us.
Sports on every tv, baseball and hockey if I remember correctly.
That ^^ is the face of a happy man! He had a steak, just the way he wanted, a potato just right, a real Caesar salad and a beer… what else could you ask for?
This kid ate all his kid’s steak, and a decent portion of my steak… and because he asked nicely, they even gave him dessert for free. He’s going to hate living anywhere else now, where he’s just a regular kid!
The next morning, as we were getting ready, we noticed something in the sky- and I really wish I had thought to get pictures because it is truly hard to believe. Mark called me into the bathroom joking about alien invasions, because level with our room, or even a bit higher, on the 37th floor, there was something hovering in the sky. It wasn’t a plane, or a helicopter, or a bird… and as we were watching, another one showed up, flying the same height and then there were four or five. And it took us a solid five minutes or so to figure out that they were kites. I’ve never in my life seen kites flying at 37 stories up… and that led us to a park next to the hotel that we wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Just about a block away from our hotel was Zhongshan Park, a large local park that was just bustling with activity. As soon as we entered the park, we saw two people doing a traditional top with whips to keep it spinning, someone was setting up for inline skating lessons for kids, and a lady with caligraphy brushes in tea writing on the sidewalk. She was encouraging people to grab a brush and try writing, so we had Alex go write a message. At first, I think the people watching were expecting him to write in English, or just draw a picture, but he started writing his hanzi.
He drew in a crowd once they realized he was writing in Chinese, he went on to write that we live in Haining .
This older man was one of the people organizing the calligraphy area, and he was showing Alex how to hold the brush better. Alex hasn’t really learned calligraphy, he’s only learned to do the hanzi with a pen, and a using a brush is a lot different.
After Alex’s calligraphy lesson, we moved on into the main section of the park, which was so much larger than we would have guessed from the outside. There were tons of people there, different dance groups, and families everywhere, people playing soccer.
This lady was awesome! She is doing diablo sticks, but the sticks are more like fishing poles, long and bendy at the ends, at the same time, she is doing one diablo top around her hips like a hula hoop. We stood and watched her for a long time.
She even taught Alex how to do diablo! He thought this was great fun and really enjoyed chatting with her.
In the middle of park there is a huge statue to Chopin… we have no idea why.
There was a large group of people doing Tai Chi, and they looked so graceful it was hard to walk away and stop watching.
And this park was the location of the high flying kites. I still don’t know how they got them to fly that high, but it was really cool to see. One of the high flyers even let Alex hold on to the kite for a little bit as he was pulling it down to land.
After all this adventure at the park, we had to leave to meet up with another professor from the university, his family lives in Shanghai and he commutes into campus during the week for work. They are a super nice family and have a son (Erick) the same age as Alex. We met them at another park in Shanghai, and at the center of the park is a lovely Thai restaurant. As soon as they were done eating, the boys started playing Roblox… which is a minecraft-esque type game.
I think Erick and Alex will make great friends and it will be nice to have another boy his age to play with! They also took us walking around the Jingan Temple… and to a famous breakfast spot, for even more food!
These are my two ridiculous guys, and what they won’t do to make each other laugh. Starbucks in the Hongqiao train station, waiting for our train back to Haining… the starbucks in China (and maybe else where, I don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere else though) have these green carrying bags for your cups of coffee… useful when carrying one back to campus or on a scooter. So the boys put them on their heads… and I was shocked, but no one even noticed, it was like, look crazy foreigners gonna crazy and just ignore them.
Thanks for hanging in for a long post, it’s coming to the end of my semester and I’m hoping to get more writing done on here over the summer.
Traveling Expat Family 