No oranges for you....

There hasn't been much for news here. I survived Golden Week and even took a day out to visit a few places around Shanghai that I had been looking foreward to seeing. I had tea at the Old China Hand Bookstore. The place has a 1930's type vibe and I enjoyed taking some time and just reading and drinking tea there. I also found the arty type street that Victoria had takend me to and found all kinds of funky things that were right up my alley. I bought a few scarves and did a bunch of window shopping.

I had something new happen. Because the vacation is so long for National Day, the school decided to make up classes. Therefore, I was at my first Saturday class. Everything went fine, but it threw me off enough to think that Saturday was Monday and then I had Sunday off. Not that it's a uncommon thing that I don't know what day it is, but I would say this is a strange reason.

It drives me crazy when I am here that I would do something the American way full well knowing that it won't work in China. Case in point: I wanted to buy oranges. I had been to the supermarket and was excited at finding a different type of yogurt. I got to the check out to pay for my groceries. The lady is very nice and tells me how much I have to pay, but also holds my oranges in the air and says something to me. It dawns on me what she is saying without understanding a word. You can't just take a bag of fruit up to the counter. First one must weigh and put a sticker on the bag in the produce department. I was too dissapointed in myself by that time so the lady held the oranges up to me again and then put them under the counter. No luck and I had to find another breakfast food. The sad part is that I was really craving oranges that day. Next time, next time.

That's all the news that isn't.

Happy Birthdays!!

There are two people for which these are special days:

My Grandma Ginny, she turns 85 yesterday and continues to live on the farm and make the best meals and treats in the world. (Sorry mom, you're good but it's hard to beat all those years of experience.) I wish her a happy day and look forward to talking to her soon.

The newest addition to the day (to me at least) is Anneli Ryan who will be the big 2-1 and joins me in the select few who turn 21 overseas. Yes it's strange but if you're creative you try to have your power hour when your 24. No one really gets it and you can laugh haughtily with all your friends and think of the days of yore.

Hope you both are well and don't do anything too silly like decide to have cake at 1:30 am. (Seriously now, who does that?)

***Just wanted to note that this post was written with no spelling errors per the spellchecker on this thing. Definitely a first***

What is that? Oh yeah, I remember those....

So it's kind of embarrassing, but as we've all learned there are times when it's just best to get it out in the open. Hagel and I were walking across Shanghai because it seemed like a good idea at the time. We ended up by the American consulate and were perusing some of the fine establishments around it. We stopped at The 88 Bar for a place to sit and watch the rain and grab a small snack. After ordering the usual fare of dumplings, we were deep in a discussion. When the waitress brought our dumplings she also put two metal things in the dish. After at least 3-4 seconds of staring at them lightbulbs went on and we said, "Oh yeah, a fork!" I think it's been the first time I've used a fork since the airplane. Now it's not that I actually forgot, but it was a little startling to adapt to something else so quickly without thinking about it.

Hagel has been busting my chops because of my fast food stance. When we were here this summer I made a big deal about the fact I wouldn't eat at a US fast food restaurant. Now this time I have ordered ice cream (my international passion) two separate times at the convenient McDo's walk up ice cream window. It seems to be his badge of honor that he has not yet eaten at one of these places. He will crack, some time, and the tide will turn ;)

Well it happened, I've gotten into podcasting. I kind of knew that it would happen but was waiting to get an iPod before I finally made the plunge. I've been troubled as of late with the fact I can't seem to find a 100% reliable online news stream from a public radio source. This was the impetus behind the whole expedition. I've got my iTunes lined up and have had some success with downloading programs. Now all I have to do is get that Nano that I've been looking for....