Happy Halloween!

   I actually celebrated Halloween on Saturday. And I even made an attempt to dress up (although failing miserably). I had made plans to head out with 2 of the ladies that I met at the Oriented happy hour. Carol is the one that already had plans to head to a party being thrown by one of the westerner monthly publications called "That's Shanghai". The theme of the party was "Heaven and Hell" and I had decided that I wanted to find a halo and go as an angel...see I don't really get dressed up for Halloween anymore so all I wanted to dress up with was a halo, plain and simple. I started my search about mid day on Saturday by looking up a costume store in Shanghai online. I found 1 address and soon took off in hopes of getting my halo. I made it to the "mall" where the shop should be and couldn't find the store anywhere (the mall isn't like an American mall, more like a space with lots of large stalls of vendors. I swear that I looked everywhere and just couldn't find it so I checked the mall across the street, another mall by People's square (an underground space connected to the subway stop) and finally back in my nieghborhood at Taikang Alleys. I just didn't have any luck.

 On the left, the underground mall by People's Square. On the right, the subway

crowd on a normal Saturday afternoon. Not even close to the number of people

during rush hour during the week (I'll be sure to capture that also).

   I made it home with lots of time to get ready so I decided to order some food and relax. I ordered from that place called The Funky Chicken. It turned out to be pretty good and I got a half of a chicken so that I would have leftover meat and bones for stock and soup the next day. It was a perfect meal to keep me feeling good for a couple of drinks out on the town.

   I decided to leave a few minutes early so that I could explore the area a little beforehand. I grabbed a taxi and headed to a part of town I've never been, my Lonely Planet calls it Hongkou and North Shanghai. The building that the party is in is even in my LP. The building is call "1933" and was an art decco style abattoir which has been transformed into a shopping complex.

 The 1933 building

The area around the building wasn't actually all that
interesting, there was just this canal.

 I was about 15mins early so I watched as people did all the last minute setting up.

I ended up with a Witches hat from my new friend Carol.
This is not Carol that I'm with but one of her friends.

This was the group that I hung out with. I only know the 2 on  right, Carol and Joan.

The party eventually got big, maybe 1500 ppl.

I had fun but only stayed until midnight since I had to get up early to run the next day.

P.S. Nothing beats homemade chicken soup! Just finished
making it tonight and enjoyed a big bowl.

To my running friends...TMI for everyone else ( I warned you!)

   It was SO hard to get up this morning but I did it. 6:30am rise and shine, after not getting home until 12:15am from my Halloween party and not actually getting in bed until almost 1am, I was tired! It was my choice to stay out that late knowing that I needed to get up early to get my long run in for the weekend before the rest of Shanghai wakes up so i couldn't feel bad for myself. Sometimes, there are things that you think that you don't want to do but after doing them you know your are a better person (or in this case a healthier person) for doing it.

   So i was out the door and started my morning run.  I was feeling good, maybe a little dry mouth from the 3 beers I had the night before but good. I ran a route that was very similar to the previous long run I did 2 weeks ago; ran a little west, then north, then east all the way to The Bund. About 3.5 miles in I could start to feel my stomach rumble..."Oh no! Not now" was all I could think. Sometimes you get the rumble but you can convince your body to forget about it but that wasn't the type of rumbling that I was getting. Ok, mile 4.5 this was getting serious...and all I could think about was if I was in the States I could easily explain to a store owner that it was an emergency and that they MUST allow me to use their bathroom but here I can't do that. I passed 2 signs for bathrooms at this point, both of which seemed to not be in obvious locations to which the signs were pointing, and there was no guarantee that they would even be open this early in the morning. Plus, I knew if I could make it to The Bund that there was a higher chance of a western-style bathroom. Mile 5.25, I can see that I'm getting SO close to The Bund but my bowels were going down hill fast. Should I stop running or keep going, OMG the torture!!

Seeing these signs can be a mixed bag of feelings. Amazing if you
find it easily and it's somewhat clean or complete torture b/c even though
the arrow points a specific direction, the bathroom is no where to be found.

   I ran to the first bathroom sign that I could find at The Bund. It was open, clean and had western style toilets. I had avoided all international embarrassment to the US! And felt a huge wave of relief. I was in the clear...I could now turn around and run home no problem. Miles 6, 7, 7.5...what the heck, my stomach was rumbling AGAIN but worse this time. I'm SO glad that I brought tissues with me (FYI bathrooms in China do not typically have TP for users, you have to bring your own) b/c now I was going to have to find one of those bathroom signs along the street. I saw one, it said 100M ahead, so I run then all of a sudden I passed another sign that said 100M behind me...what the heck, I didn't see the bathroom anywhere. At this point, there was no time for me to turn around to look for it closer, I needed to keep going. Mile 8, it hit! This part is for Megan: it was like that time running our long run Friday evening along the Spring Water Corridor. I literally could only run 5 feet before my bowels felt like they were going to explode, no bathroom in site (the only reason I survived that night was Megan and her motivational talking (and trying to distract me))...it was happening all over again but this time in a foreign country, by myself!! I was to the point where I had to stop running and only concentrating on not embarrassing myself and even with this I wasn't going to make it very long.

   For those that have never done long distance running or other endurance sports, pooping one's pants is well kept dirty secret, but it happens more often then you would like to believe. I have at least one friend who this has happened to (you know who you are, actually several people know who you are!). At some point during training you can loose control of bodily functions and one of them is your intestinal tract. Especially in running, your body is being pounded by the second, there is no down-time. In my running group back in PDX, "code brown" is the term we use when there is a bowel emergency and a bathroom needs to be found immediately. I've been running with the same group of ladies now for about 2 1/2 years and think we've had about a half dozen "code browns" total. Read this article on ESPN, worth the 5mins that it will take you to read it, I swear!

Yes, everybody poops. Even your favorite athlete. The difference is, sometimes they do it in front of millions of people.

  Back to my story from this morning. At this point you probably think that it happened to me. I am happy to report that it didn't but I was definitely the closest I have ever been to that nightmare. I, luckily, found another bathroom sign and the facility was easy to find. There is no luxury of western-style toilets in bathrooms like this so I was going to have to squat, which after 8 miles of running, wasn't sure that my legs could handle it. I was really hoping that I could make it 6 months with only having to squat for #1 but now my hopes were shattered. Squatting wasn't as horrible as I thought that it would be and now I felt a lot better, again. I still had 2 more miles to go so I was a little worried that I no longer had any tissues left, what if I have another emergency?!

For those that have never seen a squatter. Don't worry,
this is not one from today! And yes, I did take this picture.

   I made it home safe and sound. I sure hope I don't have another run like this for a very long time! The only up-side to all of this is that I ran one of my fastest 10 miles ever!!

Exploring on Friday

This week has generally been quiet in the office. We had members from all the LO QC teams in our office for a big conference (Korea, Beijing, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, India, US, Vietnam and Hong Kong) and they have been out in the field with the management from my office. Yesterday was no different which meant that I got to sit down to a quiet day of getting stuff done. I realized this week how lucky I am to have a team that treats me so well, always inviting me to join them for lunch an generally checking in to make sure that I am doing OK. The women that I met at the oriented group mentioned that they don't normally head out with their chinese colleagues at all and mine would have it no other way. I was sure to thanks during lunch yesterday.

   Have I ever talked about going out to eat with a group of Chinese and how paying the bill happens? Traditionally, when Chinese eat together only one person pays the tab. It is actually seen as impolite to fight over who owes what at the table (unlike in America). So when we head out during the work day, only one person from our group brings money to pay for the meal. Once we get back to the office that is the point that we figure out the money that we owe the person that paid.

Friday lunch crew

Oliver, Tina from the Production team and Tina from my team.
We treated ourselves to yogurt even after the large lunch

The Chinese are crazy about their yogurt!

 After work I wanted to do a little exploring, so I headed to an area that I know as XinTianDi. I had heard that this was area to lots of good shopping, I had even seen advertisements. After taking 3 subway lines to get there and getting back to street level that this shopping was mall shopping. No exactly what I had in mind but thought that I should just check it out. I wondered for about 30mins but the shops were all really expensive and not what I was looking to do for the evening.

  Once leaving the mall I wandered the street in the area and found some better shopping to do. I was getting tired and hungry and since I wasn't  more then a 1.5 miles from my apartment I decided to just walk home. I walked through some ritzy areas. I saw lots of fancy condo buildings like the one below.

I also found a high-end Japanese grocery store. I bought some organic toothpaste,
 fruit bars called Bear Fruit Bar made in Hood River OR, chocolate and olives. There
was more that I wanted but didn't want to carry it all home.

I passes under one of the elevated streets, basically highways
through Shanghai. The circle around the city which helps to
alleviate some of the traffic on the surface streets. They are
all lit up at night.

I also passed through another fancy area that had a lots of mansions and high end shops. On the left is a shop called The Funky Chicken, which had good smelling roasted chicken (and they have free delivery in my area!). In the same complex there was some ballroom dancing going on. I couldn't tell why but I stayed to watch for awhile. Then I complete my walk home, made some dinner and crashed for the evening.

Now it's Saturday afternoon and I'm off to find some sort of Halloween costume...wish me luck!

I do remember how to be social

   It seems that after 6 weeks of being on my own and not really having anyone to hang out with outside of work (beside the days that Donald was here) I still remember how to meet people. Last month a colleague of mine in Portland emailed me about a Happy Hour I should go to here in Shanghai. The HH was for an organization called Oriented which is a global networking community for Asia business minded folks.


   Unfortunately, it fell on the same day as the email and you must give notice that you will be attending. So even though it was just down the road from my apartment I would have to wait an entire month to join up with this group. A few days after the email I joined as a member, it seemed like a good way to meet people so why not, membership was free. The organized Happy Hours with Oriented happen on the last Thursday of the month all around the world (even a chapter in Portland!). Their website talks about demographics of the members which seems to be ages 25-35 and single so I wasn't sure if this was going to turn out more like a speed dating session (which I obviously don't need). Still seemed it was worth giving a shot to so I did this evening. After work I took a taxi about 15mins into the west part of town, not an area that I hear a lot of people talking about. This HH was being held at the Grand Mercure Hotel bar.

   It was easy to locate the event once inside the hotel, they had a big banner up and blocked off a section of bar just for us. Upon arrival there were only about 8 people there and they all seem to be in separate conversations with each other so I needed to figure out a good way to mingle in. Firstly, a glass of red wine, once this was ordered I went over to a group of 3 girls and asked if I could sit with them. It seems that 2 of them were colleagues and the other one they had just met so I fit right in. The event never got crowded, maybe 35 people. I met mostly people my age or younger but there were a few others more mature then myself. They had seats for everyone so it seemed that you just got comfortable and didn't really continue to network. At the end I spoke with the director and she saw the seating a  flaw also. Apparently most of there events are held at places that you really can't sit, more bar atmosphere and standing tables. Also in more convenient locations in town (this locale effected the attendance).

Jennifer from Seattle to the left of me and Michelle from Taiwan to the right.

    It was interesting to hear everyone's story about how they ended up in Shanghai. Most started as students and have now moved into jobs, others were Chinese from other parts of the country. To show that a city of 23 million people can still be a small world; I was talking about what I do and the girl across from me chimed in that she works for an apparel company also, the largest down company (as in down filled jackets) in China. Well, before she told me the company I stated that she must work for Bosideng, sure enough that was the company. Our companies do business together and I am in contact with them weekly. Small world!

The group

   All said, I am very happy that I went. I think I may have even made some friends and will be heading out this weekend dancing with a few for Halloween.

Last Day in Qingdao

   I know, i'm still 3 days behind. But I have to share these pics b/c I just find this activity so funny. I think I mentioned  in my first Qingdao post about all the women dressed up at the beach, remember? They were getting pictures taken, well on Sunday morning before having to head to the airport I walked the beach with my new friends and we saw this everywhere:

I forgot that I could zoom closer with my camera but if you notice
down the street (which was near the beach) there is a couple dressed
up and getting their photo taken

    I asked one of my coworkers on Monday about this phenomenon. It is the "thing" to do awhile before your wedding day. You and your fiance get pictures taken with 5 or 6 changes, once the pictures are ready they get displayed in the homes of each family so visitors can look at the soon-to-be-married couple. What I am unsure about is if these pictures get displayed on the wedding day. I heard both, yes they get displayed and no  only pictures from childhood get displayed at the wedding. Can anyone chime in here?

The beach is littered with couples. Brett and Addy, Megan and Kevin you guys
totally missed out on this.

Yes, she is holding a white plastic violin. I think I forgot that props
are a necessity. I saw violins, life preservers, baskets of flowers,
balloons and pinwheels (the balloons and pinwheels were being held
by the same bride). It seems the cheesier the better.

We were the creepy white foreigners taking pictures of everyone on the beach! 

 Changing the subject now...

This was my breakfast, a plain smoked sweet potato
right out of the smoker. I could have used some butter
and salt but it was still delicious. You actaully see these
smokers everywhere, even in Shanghai. Mine only cost
6rmb ($0.94USD, cheap breakfast).

   Then it was back to Shanghai were I caught a taxi back to my apartment. I ended up in a taxi of a newbie, he was younger then me, seemed like he hadn't been driving long (very timid), didn't know the streets of Shanghai and forgot to start the meter until I pointed it out to him. It was a hilariously long ride home! He'll have to learn to be more aggressive if he's going make it here as a taxi driver.

Qingdao day 2

Wow, I'm a few day behind. I had problem with my internet last night so I couldn't post this

   The next day was an early one, b/c I had invited some new friends along with me and we wanted to take the public bus to Lao Shan (Mt Lao) which was over an hour ride. I was now traveling with 3 others, Lauren from England, Dave from Arizona and Andreas from Sweden. We met downstairs of the hostel at 7:30am and walked the mile or so to the train station where we would be able to catch our bus. It took us about 20 mins once we got there to figure out where to actually get on the bus and which direction of the bus would take us to the mountain (This was just the beginning of where we found out that 4 heads were better then one). The bus ride was very crowded so at first I didn't get a seat ...but then this really tiny, nice mother squeezed to the edge of her seat to make room for me and insisted that I sit with her. I found out that her son was sitting in front of me and spoke good English, they were heading to the same place as us.

The women in the white shirt is the one that shared her seat with me.
We ended up seeing each other on the mountain and she wanted a
picture together, so I got one too. You can tell that she was very tiny.

This also meant that we would know when to get off the bus. After about an hour the bus pulled into a parking lot that had a big sign that said "Lao Shan" so we followed the crowd from the bus and got off at this stop. After walking around the facility for a few minutes we realize that this was a depot to catch a tour bus into the Lao Shan area. We hadn't planned on taking a tour bus and none of my guide books mentioned it so we weren't sure what to do. Maybe go back to our bus stop and catch the next bus to take us farther along the route or do we just suck it up and pay for a tour (which wasn't cheap). Since none of us knew what to expect once getting there, we opted to pay for the tour bus.

Left: I'm officially in the Chinese Government database now. I can't figure out why they want your

finger print to get on a tour bus?! Right: The coastline as we drove into the Lao Shan area.

We got off at the first stop so that we could start "hiking".
It was SO amazing to smell fresh air and see some wilderness.

Right from the beginning the concrete steps started.
I had probably climbed a thousand steps by this point
and seemed to be at the beginning still.

We came across a bridge that had thousands of heart shaped locks
tied to it with red ribbon. Definitely thought about D3 at this point
and how much more fun it would be he was there with me.

So this was actually called out on my tour map, Longtan Waterfall. Not impressive, right?!
We all thought it looked as if a man was standing up there out of site holding a garden hose
at full blast. I'm sure it's better in the spring time. Later on in the day we met someone who made
the same garden hose comment about this waterfall.

   There were dozens of these stands all along the mountain. They used irrigation from mountain water to keep the bottled water, sodas and beer cool. Not seen, is that they sold trinkets all along the path also. Really made it not feel like hiking. I think it's very Chinese to not have to plan ahead for a day like this but to expect and find all items that you might want along the way, hydration, food, tea and beer.

We stopped to give out legs a break from the stairs. I downed a lot of water
and ate some snacks that I had brought along. Actually, we all shared each
 others snacks and the guys each had a large Lao Shan brand beer.

For those that didn't know, apparently there are cobras in these woods ;)

We found ourselves at one of the many Taoist temples in the area.

 Not a bad view from the this point.

We decided to take a lesser known route back that included some real trail.
That is a tea field down below.

More of the dreaded steps! Me hanging out in the tea field.

  Along the way we ran into another English speaker. We chatted for awhile and soon realized that he was actually staying in our same hostel that evening. We invited him along to finish the day with us. His name is Asa and he was traveling from Israel.  He had lived and studied in China previously and was really great at speaking and reading Chinese. This was very helpful on the way down when we came across an old man tending to his tea field. He offered for us to drink tea with him so we stayed at the field for almost an hour. Because we had Asa with us we could now ask the man all sorts of questions. Where does he live? How often does he get tourists walking through his fields (apparently we were his weekly quota)? What are all the charms hanging from the tree? Where does this trail lead us? You name it we asked it b/c we finally had someone who could translate.

We continued on our way.

   Once getting off the mountain we realized that we were in a spot that the tour buses would not stop at so we had to walk along the mountain road until we could find a bus stop. It was getting late and we were all getting hungry since we really hadn't had a meal all day. We just wanted to catch that last bus of the day and get ourselves back into Qingdao so we could eat a hearty meal. We fought for seats and about an hour and a half later we were back in Qingdao.

One of my last views before leaving the mountain.

   We had all noticed the day before that a particular small restaurant near our hostel was always busy so we headed there for dinner figuring the food must be good to draw in that kind of crowd. This place turned out to be a  Uyghur ran Muslim style restaurant. Uyghurs, pronounced "Wee-Grrr", are of muslim descent and are not really Chinese. You can tell b/c they look distinctly different, brown hair and round eyes. Read more about the Uyghurs here and about the larger Chinese ethinic group that they are classified under, Hui people. In the regions where the Uyghurs come from they don't grow a lot of rice so their main staple is noodle, but not like traditional chinese noodles, more middle eastern. With all that said, we had one of my favorite meals so far in China. Check out our feast:

Clockwise from the bottom red plate: Small noodles in a tomato sauce,
fried rice, eggs cooked with tomatoes (so simple but so good!), beef
covered in cumin, lamb cooked with onions (my favorite on the table) and
traditional Chinese style noodles in broth.

   Overall it was a very exciting day. Made it back to the hostel around 9pm, stayed up for a small beer and hung out on the rooftop bar then called it a night, went back to my room to watch an episode of Psych and fall asleep.