Spreading the love... one kick at a time

My friend Kelly had never felt a baby kick before. Luckily it was a very active kicking day for our little girl. It was really sweet how happy it made Kelly. It made me so happy to be able to share my little kicker with her.

 
 

A night out

The Open Mic that William hosts every Wednesday night tried a little something new last week. We all went to a restaurant on top of an art gallery and had a night of singing. It was pretty entertaining. We just had a Mic and any one who wanted to could sing. It ended up being pretty entertaining.


Here's a picture of taking Baby out for a fun Shanghai night out.

 

Painter Street

No it's not a type-o. In true Chinglish fashion the name of this place is called "Painter Street" And that's just what it is. A street, or ally really, of painters.



This is a fun little street to just walk down a look at all the crazy things they have but it's also a good place to buy art for your home. MUCH better than just buying the generic IKEA stuff that every one else also has.




Most of the stuff here are replicas of something else, all with various quality. Some are really good. You can buy what they already have out or you can bring them a picture of what you want them to copy and they can do it for you.
There are some originals here too. You just have to look around and see what you like.



Something else fun that you can do here is bring a photograph or family picture and have it painted. I saw one shop that looked like they were particularly good at it.



Or if you want a certain theme for a kids room or something you can have those painted also... there was one guy who seemed to really like to reproduce TIN TIN paintings.



At least one of the artists was a traditional Chinese painter but most everything else was western or modern.

You could also order custom frames. Any color, any size.



This place was so much fun to just walk around and admire but I think it would also be really fun spend some money here. If only I had a larger place to decorate :o)

OH.. if you are here traveling you can buy paintings here and they can take the canvas off the wood and role it up for better transport home. You just have to get someone to put it back on once you get home. Or you could just bring a big enough suit case for all the art and frames you buy.

Painter Street
212 Wending Lu,
near Nandan Lu
文定路212号，
近南丹路，

This is for Julie...

the only person I've EVER known of to actually SLIP on a Banana Peal.
I came across this peal on my walk to the subway the other day... it just reminded me...



It's a dangerous world out there.

A Taste of Home

We are spoiled in Shanghai. I admit it.
Sometimes (if you go to the right places) it's easy to forget you are in China.

Like last night.
Last night was Monday night. Every Monday night there's a local bar/restaurant that has buy one get one free hamburgers. They are still expensive but you only have to pay for one. So occasionally we indulge. Like last night. (I forgot to take a picture of my burger so you will just have to trust me... it was wonderful... and they even had mustard!)


The only problem is that all the OTHER foreigners in town also take advantage of buy one get one free burgers. Sometimes that's fun... some times you meet interesting people or see people you haven't seen in a while. Other times it's annoying (Especially if you sit next to a table of annoying Americans or French people).

Anyway, There are lots of things in Shanghai that are little tastes of home. Here are just a few examples.


McDonald's is everywhere... you just can't avoid it.








Starbucks is taking over the world... or at least China. There are WAY to many of these here! (But they are the first ones to start playing Christmas music every year... which is the only time I go there)





This actually surprised me so I had to take a picture of it. It's the US Flag flying over the Regency Hotel.



7/11 just arrived in Shanghai. I was very excited about it and was looking forward to a summer filled with ICEEs but alas, they have no Icee Machine :o( you can find Chinese steamed buns there though.



I had no idea we had Kinkos in Shanghai and don't know what I would ever use them for ... but we have them :o)

I told you Shanghai was awesome!

Signs Signs Every where Signs.

One of the most fun parts about living in China...are the signs!! Most of the good ones have disappeared but we still find some pretty fun ones.

I saw this sign yesterday ...



What exactly do they want us to keep clean? Any Guesses?


While you're thinking about THAT... Here are some other signs we have seen in our adventures in China.
(William took most of these pictures)


This one is actually my favorite. I found it in Hong Kong.


This is William's Favorite. I'm glad they are so clear! Not vague at all!


I have no idea what Neighboring the world is... but be on the look out for it.





Hey. We went to the Gerest Wall. It was great. :o)


This is an advertisement for a gym.



During the Olympics they had these "Yea China! Let's all be Civilized" banners every where(ie. behave your selves while the foreigners are looking) I thought this one was particularly funny.



This is a restaurant.



And the number one! My ULTIMATE favorite of all time is THIS one...

It's on a list of services provided by a massage spa... I'm STILL wondering what it mean they do to you and I'm to scared to go and find out.

Now that's using your Noodle

Welcome to Shanghai Noodles.
Why Noodles? Well I'm not really sure.. except that's what I was eating when I made this blog. Besides. I really like noodles. Rice noodles anyway.

My Mom has been asking me to make a blog for MONTHS. So I gave my self a dead line and it has arrived. Actually it's past so I guess it's time.

It's been a long LONG time since I've attempted blogging. I'm a bit nervous that I won't be any good at it. But hopefully this will be fun and will help keep every one updated who wants to be.

We had a Sampa Site when we first arrived in China but that was immediately blocked by the Great Fire Wall and the site was kind of annoying to navigate (plus, blogger has a spell check). So here I am on Blogger.. which as just recently been blocked by the GFW but we are hoping that is only temporary. (VPNs are life savers over here)

The reason for all the recent blockings (youtube, twitter, blogspot, Wikipedia was and then it wasn't again but now selected Wiki pages are, and many many other sites you won't think worth blocking) is because this year marks the 60th Anniversary of the PEOPLE''s Republic of China... that is... the establishment of the Communist government in China. And in China they like to flex their muscles every once in a while to remind us they are still in charge.

SO. We will try to keep this going as long as we can. But it already looks like we are going to have trouble loading pictures.

Stay tuned...