Chinese Halloween

Last Friday, midmorning, Matt called me from work.

“Are you home? I need you to bring me a red shirt.”  He then explained that everyone in his office was wearing red today, and while he wasn’t totally sure why – to celebrate Friday? the whole-office staff meeting that afternoon? in honor of the coworker who was leaving the firm? – he knew it was important that he respect this cultural tradition.

So TJ and I enjoyed the pleasant walk over to Matt’s office building, he ducked out and changed in the bathroom, and the afternoon was spent in harmony with a sea of red-clothed colleagues.

Finally, when the entire staff gathered for their meeting, Matt had the opportunity to quietly ask a coworker exactly why they were all wearing red today.

“Aren’t you American? You should know.”

Matt sheepishly shook his head and asked for further clarification.

“Red is to celebrate Halloween!”

Ah, the Chinese interpretation of American holidays…  

peace signs + red = happy halloween!

Halloween is semi-celebrated here, fueled by the American expats.  An American restaurant owner told me that after years of duplicate costumes in the states, his son was proud to be the only Spiderman in the neighborhood (mostly because he was the only costume in their neighborhood).  In recent years, a few party supply stores have started carrying Halloween decorations, and many expat-frequented bars and restaurants organized Halloween parties for either kids or adults.  When we went out to dinner on Saturday night, there was a crowd of Chinese teenagers dressed in a variety of odd garb doing the Thriller dance flash-mob style (these are the moments you kick yourself for leaving the video camera at home), which we think was in celebration of Halloween.  And the Chinese family who lives above us in our apartment building dressed up and went trick-or-treating Saturday night, so clearly the holiday is slowly spreading its influence in Shanghai.

However, it was still a bit of a challenge to find a costume for TJ.  Our Western grocery store had some very sad pumpkin-sacks and witch hats on a stand at the front.  The children’s market (a huge underground gray-market for all things kid-related) had one stall full of fairy costumes, but none were nearly small enough.  Finally I found this bear-shaped infant bunting hanging in the back of a pajama shop, and with a little eyeliner to the face, voilà!  The kitty-polar bear was born.

treading the line between parental amusement and baby torture

 

Next year, maybe we’ll just wear red.

Sightseeing

The weather was gorgeous this weekend, in the low 70s with clear skies that actually appeared blue for a change.  To celebrate, we headed out for some sightseeing on Sunday afternoon, visiting some of the most touristy places in Shanghai.  Looking back through my photos at the end of the day, this one became an instant favorite.

Matt, celebrity baby, and fan on the Bund

What I love is how this captures our experience every time we go out in Shanghai.  While Matt and I are busy checking out the sights of the city, there's always someone -- either local Shanghainese or a Chinese tourist -- who is busy checking out TJ.  As foreign and intriguing as we find this crazy place, they think of a tiny, bald, blue-eyed and smiling baby the exact same way.

Unplugged

Apologies for the recent radio silence.  As my last post indicated, we moved from our wonderfully cushy extended-stay hotel with full amenities into our "permanent" digs which, well, require a little work.  Especially in terms of internet service.  Coupled with the fact that I flushed my iPhone down the toilet -- yes, I've been able to keep my two previous cheap cell phones for years upon years, but manage to ruin my first nice smart-phone within one month -- this means I've been pretty much incommunicado with everyone besides TJ, Matt, and my new best friend the unfortunate internet repairman.

But we are limping back to life here, and of course still doing some blog-worthy things, just without the ability to blog about them.  Topics that may be expanded in future posts include...

• TJ's new big-girl crib, purchased in a transaction completed entirely through mime between Matt/me and the salespeople at the Chinese version of Macy's
• IKEA, where upper-class Chinese families bring picnic baskets and spend a day camping out in the various room arrangements on the showroom floor
• My discovery of the WalMart of Shanghai, totally my new favorite hangout
• TJ the ambassador
• Delicious things: fruit juice redefined, Cantonese BBQ, warm water (yep!), and that-candy-that-might-be-gum-but-I-keep-swallowing-it-anyway
• The Wire, as in the best TV show ever
• How Not to Get a Package from the USA to China
• TJ's first swimming pool adventure

So there's a hint of what we've been up to lately.  Hope to write more (with photos! and video!) soon.

New Home

We moved over the weekend.  Easiest move of our lives; we just jumped buildings to the one right next door.  And it was made even easier considering we don’t have our shipment yet so we only had to contend with our 12 pieces of roller-luggage from our flight.  You know it’s a quick move when you can even take your ice cubes!

I’ll do the proper apartment tour once we have a chance to settle and there’s something to see beyond the current mess.  In the meantime, I thought I’d introduce our apartment complex, which hasn’t changed since we just moved within it.  There are 21 buildings in the gated complex, ranging from mid-rise to high-rises, and all sharing a parking garage (underground) and clubhouse (central).

Val's new hangout

The clubhouse is awesome, and frankly it’s the main reason we picked this complex as our choice of residences.  Fairly standard to any Shanghai clubhouse is the gym and indoor pool, but I think ours are especially beautiful, which will hopefully inspire us to use those facilities more often.

Matt's new hangout

 

Additionally, this clubhouse has a whole series of other services and rooms, including party spaces, a spa, a golf simulator, a “band practice” room, and the icing on the cake: a huge indoor gymnasium including basketball courts, volleyball/tennis, and a rock climbing wall!

Lamborghini, anyone?

Rumor is that Yao Ming retired into one of the penthouses on the fancier lake-facing side of the complex, so Matt’s dream is to play a game of pickup against him one day.  Another rumor is that Jackie Chan owns one of the duplex penthouses as well.  Regardless, we have some ridiculously wealthy neighbors, as is evident by their choice of vehicles.

Now that we've moved out of our extended-stay hotel and into a real apartment where we'll live for at least a year, I’m excited to organize and decorate with a sense of “permanence.”  Once we get our shipment of familiar things from the states, we can really complete the settling-in process.  For now, it’s just nice to enjoy living in this beautiful, friendly complex that is already beginning to feel like home.