Italian Cooking Class in Shanghai

Yesterday I went to an Italian Cooking class that was offered at the Le Royal Meridian Hotel here in Shanghai. The class was lead by the Chef de Cuisine at Favola Restaurant in the hotel and it was quite nice! Class topic was colored pasta, and the 9 of us in the class enjoyed watching the chef's demo and the trying to make the dough ourselves. The cooking class included a lovely three course lunch at the restaurant and a short wine tasting presentation. Fantastic!

My interview with the Pankistani Spectator...

I was a bit surprised when a writer from the site, The Pakistani Spectator contacted me about doing an interview. It's a great example of how the internet people from every part of the globe! If a writer from Pakistan can find me, an American living in Shanghai via blogs - it's a pretty incredible thing.

Here's the interview, which was just posted on their website. Enjoy. ;-)

Or click the actual link below:
http://www.pakspectator.com/interview-with-blogger-emily-lopez/

Socialism is Great?

Last night I went to a book reading by Lijia Zhang, a former Nanjing rocket-factory worker who spent 10 years among 10,000 comrades effectively incarcerated in the "iron rice bowl" of the state employee. Zhang is in Shanghai in support of her memoir "Socialism is Great!"

Her story is very interesting, she grew in a poor family, went to work in a missile factory at the age of 16, learned English on her own and eventually lead the largest worker demonstration in support of Democracy which then landed her in jail. How she's a regular correspondent with the BBC and NPR. You'll have to read her book to get the entire story.

Also interesting is that the book is only published in English, and sold outside of China - so...how did I get a copy of it, you ask? Well...some things I can't reveal. ;-) She does live in Beijing, but from what I could gather, the government isn't fond of her writing and it could be more dangerous for her to publish this memoir in China, in Chinese.

If you're outside of China, try to get a hold of the book and check it out. It gives a different view of China right after the Cultural Revolution.

Apartment Renovations

Yesterday renovations started on the apartment we purchased - I stopped by today to take a peek at the progress and make sure no one was sleeping on the job. ;-) Actually, since I did pop by during lunchtime - they were all resting so I tried to make a joke in Chinese about sleeping on the job....I don't think they found the humor in it.

Here are some photos of our future kitchen and guest bathroom

Raining babies in Shanghai...

It is about to rain babies here in Shanghai!

I personally know at least 4 woman who are very pregnant and due to deliver in the next 1-2 months, in fact I helped to host a baby shower a few weekends ago for two of them. It was fantastic fun for all of us - especially for the non-Americans who don't usually have Baby Showers.

I think it's so impressive first of all to make the decision to have your baby in a foreign country, especially when that foreign country is China! (I'm learning that Shanghai especially has a couple of great hospital systems and a few specific doctors that many of the expat women use).

Back to the topic - I and two other women (1 American, 1 Norwegian) hosted this baby shower for our two friends. I love situations like this one, us crazy Americans are the only ones who do Baby Showers with games, etc and we had to "educate" our bewildered friend from Norway with what we were planning. It was hilarious.

We played typical American Baby Shower games like; Guess the baby food, Guess the size of the pregnant stomach, and the ever popular What's in the diaper? game. They all had everyone busting up laughing, especially to our non-American mom's to be.

Roel in Holland

Roel in Holland resonded to my posting on the Dragon Boat Festival (more to come on that later) but didn't leave any contact information. Roel, if you leave your e-mail address I'd be more than happy to get back to you with more information about blogging in China.

Cheers!

Dragon Boat Festival

Tomorrow, Sunday June 8th is Dragon Boat Festival Day in China!

We're going to try to see some of the races tomorrow and will let you know what they're like. In the meantime you can read this article:

Sink your teeth in dragon boat fun by -- SUNDAY marks the annual Dragon Boat Festival and it promises to be a feast for the senses - a cacophony of sound, a blaze of color and tastes and smells to excite, writes Tabitha Ang.

For most, the month of June...

In home pampering in Shanghai

I saw an ad for this website at the store earlier today: http://www.happiiwoman.com/index.html

It's a full service, in-home spa company, which essentially means these ladies will come to your home and pamper you until your heart's content. I haven't tried it yet, but I have started to spread the word to some of the other Shanghai ladies and I'm sure one of us will check this service out soon!

Obama clinches the nomination

Living in China, I feel a bit out of the loop when it comes to United States politics but I do know that Sen. Obama has recently clinched the Democratic Party nomination. Thoughts?

Wine in a Can

I noticed these cans of wine at the Japanese Grocery Store (Jiu Guong) in Jing'An near my house the other day while I was out shopping. Today I saw an article about them on one of the Shanghai websites I frequent for local information: www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai

Not sure if these are available in the USA or not. They're made by Kirin, which makes me think they're probably also selling in Japan. Next time I'm back at the store I'll buy a few and post my reviews of the taste. :-) I'll try not to be too biased.

Back to Reality

It's taken me almost a month to admit that I'm back in Shanghai and that the wedding and honeymoon bliss are over! Not that being back in Shanghai is horrible, but we had such an amazing time in CA for the wedding and then in Bali for the honeymoon that it's been hard to re-adjust to "normal" life.

Our amazing photographer, Erin Beach has posted a fabulous slide show of our wedding on her website which anyone can view.

Bali was amazing and as everyone told me, the local Balinese people are just so hospitable and friendly - it was a welcome change from what I'm used to in China. I've posted a few pictures of our trip, it was impossible not to take a bad photo as the scenery is just breathtaking wherever you go. We spent half of our trip in Ubud (an artsy town inland) and half in Sanur (beach town). Both were interesting and I'm so glad we split it up. We were able to do many short day trips from Ubud to the mountains, temples and other scenic spots.

The trip from Shanghai isn't short - with a transfer in Singapore it took about 10 hours total to fly from Shanghai to Despensar, Bali. If you're looking for a beach vacation, think seriously about Bali. The flights aren't cheap, but it is still possible to have a very inexpensive vacation once you're there.

Sexism and Politics

This article by Matt Stoller was sent to me by my sister and I thought it was important enough to post here as well. Interesting info about Congressman Dave Reichert and his campaign against progressive Democrat Darcy Burner in 2006.

His words and actions are so blatantly obvious that I'm surprised to hear no organization has spoken out against him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-stoller/want-to-see-sexism-try-ca_b_104821.html

Helping the Earthquake Victims

I just got back from Bali last night - I've been aware of the earthquake that happened here in China last Monday, but have been away from internet and most news.

Before I spend time talking about my wedding and honeymoon I'd like to post some links with information on how to get aid to the victims of the earthquake.

1. Half the Sky

http://www.halfthesky.org/

2. Charles Foundation

http://www.charlesfoundation.org

3. Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org/news/in/profiles/Intl_profile_ChinaEarthquake.html

4. United Family Hospital has sent out a need for blood. The information is at
the below e-mail address (for anyone in China)

UnitedFamilyHospital-ctg0aeb7uaaaahyaavlwtfecw2vcamta@go.kutimes.net

My afternoon lesson in Cultural Differences

This story is too good - I had to post it:


Today has been a very typical Shanghai taitai kind of day. I met with the designer and contractors who are going to work on the apartment we bought this morning, I went for a foot massage and then met a friend for lunch. Fabulous! I get home and walk in the door - my cat who usually runs to greet me at the front door is acting a bit strangely and kind of cowering around the kitchen door, but I don't think too much of it. She's a cat, cats are odd animals.

I notice that the ayi has been here, laundry has been done, things are cleaner than when I left this morning - great! Then I notice that the kitchen door is closed and the cat won't leave the doorway. Hmmm...usually the ayi leaves the kitchen door open when she leaves to let the floors dry. I open the door and don't notice anything different. Then, I walk over to the fridge to grab a diet coke and hear a scratching sound. ? That's weird - then I realized there's a box on the floor with tape around it, and there's something in the box scratching around...what the hell!? Is it a rat?! I'm not a brave person - I don't like mice, rats, any sort of insect that could come into the house freaks me out. So, my immediate reaction is to get the hell out of the kitchen and keep the door closed. What's the in box? And why would the ayi leave it there? Very mysterious and very strange...

Well, I have to call A, only he can speak to her in Chinese and find out what's going on. Poor guy, I hate bothering him with non-important items during the day but this is just too odd. So I call him, tell him what's going on and ask him to call the ayi. He calls me back a few minutes later....A sparrow (or some other small bird) flew into the house earlier when she had the balcony doors open. She managed to catch it (I have no idea how) and put it in the box. But, she thought we might like to cook it for dinner which is why she left it in the kitchen. Small birds are quite tasty she says. WHAT?! This is my immediate reaction. Wow....talk about cultural differences.

At least it's in a box, so I just took the poor bird downstairs, let it out of the box and it flew away. Poor bird, to think it could have been my dinner.....

Going to the chapel...

After 8 months of planning, dealing with seating charts and family members, RSVP's and trying not to completely break the bank our wedding day is almost here!

We're back to the States this week and the blog will be in hiatus until A and I come back from our Honeymoon in Bali!

Cheers!!!
Emily