ERAr.

So we went to see ERA tonight. I had high expectations which was probably why i was disappointed. well, it's not the only reason i was disappointed but one of them. the other one was because i saw the Wuhan acrobats and they were AMAZING. i wanted to see something just as spectacular but these acrobats just weren't. they were also older than the Wuhan acrobats, which featured really young kids. dkf saw cirque du soleil many times and of course felt ERA just wasn't impressive. but it was his first chinese acrobat show. i think it's partly because these particular acrobats perform daily and may not rotate with other acrobats. therefore, they may lose their "freshness." the props and themes seemed outdated and cliche and just not cutting edge enough. but still, i admired their ability to do pretty unhumanly things that i could never do, so i still marveled. but the finale was by far the most impressive: acrobats on motorcycles circling in a large cage, going reeeeeeeeeal fast. they kept adding the quantity of cyclists, one by one. at one point, there were 5 of them! to be honest, it seemed more dangerous than it was worth. but all were safe. i had not seen that act at the other acrobats show. that was the clincher.

ERA's slogan was Miss it and you Miss Shanghai. i disagree. you're not missing much.

seeing ERA was an ERAr.

where

to

next...

the nature of life is change. and the nature of change is life. i believe everything happens for a reason. with time, that reason becomes clear. i believe in fate, destiny, reason, circumstance and coincidence.

let us now see what's in store.

when in china...KTV!

can't get enough of these KTVs, even if we are singing the same english songs over and over again.. we need to seriously learn some chinese.

a single rose..

dave says giving a bouquet of flowers is like buying someone's love, but a single rose is an expression of it...he better not be saying that as part of his budget plan!

thanks baby. it was beautiful even if it never bloomed.

Anhui restaurant performers and SH x'mas decorations

don't know what they were singing about but it was caustic to my ears!

ERA

i wanna go i wanna go i wanna go... to chinese cirque du soleil! let's hope they're not sold out! i am so craving performing arts!

ERA - Intersection of Time
The Multimedia Theatrical Spectacular

As a multimillion-dollar stunning acrobatic extravaganza, the first of its kind in China , ERA is a multimedia odyssey whose inspiration is a direct result of the combination of traditional Chinese acrobatic arts and modern technology. Just like Shanghai , ERA evolves through a constant collision between the past and future.

ERA is a love story, yet it is also a contemplation across the millennia, a fascination with that other dimension man has yet to conquer: time. ERA's acrobats are on a quest to find that tenuous point of balance, the intersection between X, Y and Z.

Not only will the audience be amazed by the acrobats' control and precision, they will be enchanted by the world that is created through the use of multimedia, technology, lighting and sound effects, elaborate costumes, original live music and a lot more.

As such, ERA can remain universal, without language or cultural barriers. A thousand-year-old gesture is worth a thousand emotions, a thousand images, a thousand words ……

Allow us to feed your imagination and bring your dreams back to the present

Highlights of ERA
* Dream Mirror Cage
* Magic Water
* Compass
* Parachute
* Orbital Station
* Zero Gravity
* Forever
* Spanning Earth

Latina

makin funny faces

our placards were usually facing this way :) it means MORE meat for me!

happy and full, usually synonymous w us!

Jingjing and her lebanese teacher buddy!

although she looks full, she only ate half a burger. made us look like serious oinkers.

since we were on a pig-out roll, we also ate at a Brazilian BBQ called Latina. sad to say, but this meal was better than the one that took place the previous day at Lawry's (see previous post). the meat was well flavored, there was quite a variety (beef, pork, chicken, lamb) and made in different ways, and all you can eat salad, soup, fruit, and other entrees. it was really good and cheaper than Lawry's. i would so go back. between turkey day and the day after, we must have eaten 20lbs of meat. i didn't regret it one bit! i mean, look how happy we are!

Lawry's: where you find a perfect over-rated, over-priced turkey day meal!

bread n butta

full and happy, except when the bill came out.

apple tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert

about to chomp into his dessert

apple tart w ice cream dessert

prime rib and turkey

the prime rib freshly cut from the moving table with turkey on the side

mmm..prime rib

pumpkin soup--not bad

mediocre salad but at least it was cold

the chilled fork

spinning salad

dressing is poured as bowl spins

enjoying his glass of house wine. it might have been as impressive as the prime rib.

i sure missed the traditional chinese style hot pot thanksgiving back home. ah well, there's always next year.

hannah mae.

sometimes i just want one cuz they're so darn cute! i wanted to play with her so bad but she was busy sleeping, like all babies do. what an angel!

The Halloween "Red Party " photos

photos from the Halloween "Red Party" at a nice chic bar in Xintiandi. it was so memorable, i forgot the name of the club. full of expats and smoke. but basically you're supposed to wear something red to get in for no cover and free bad drinks. dave didn't get the memo. :)

an x'mas wish.

today i saw my little orphans again. it seems that despite the shanghai cold, they are snuggled up warm in their bundles of foreign knock off jackets and coats. they were happy as ever. i wonder if they anticipate us coming to see them every month. they do seem to recognize us. and us them. their happy smiles just light up the dark corridors of the orphanage. oh how they clamour for love and attention. they fight to hold our hands, to hug them and to carry them. and when we do, they have the biggest grins. sometimes they even get feisty and rough with their little friends. i always remind them to be nice to their brothers and sisters and to praise them when they look after each other. because that is all they've got. there is a sad story today. a little girl, about 9 or 10 years of age was an unfamiliar face. she looked mature, serious and smart. i asked her how long she had been there. 1 month. did she like it there? it's OK. where did she come from? i did not understand what she said b/c my chinese stinks. (i later learned she came from the police department). and after we left the orphanage, the coordinator told us her story. her mother is in prison for embezzlement. has a 10 year sentence, has finished just 1 year. her father just passed away. her grandparents would not take her in. and her mother refused to sign papers allowing her to be adopted. so the police department took her in, let her sleep and live there for the past year. her job was to guard the gate at the P.D. this was of course against regulations. so the P.D. had to relocate but at the new site the head person decided she could not stay with them anymore, so they sent her to the orphanage. should he feel guilty that he just sent her to this sad little place? i sure hope so. the little girl's complaint was that at the orphanage, she could not get schooling and read her books because the other orphans destroyed her books, which was true b/c they are tear-happy. and here she was, stuck in this place, a brave yet scared little girl. and when the volunteer asked if any of these kids could get adopted, the worker said, "who the hell would want THESE kids?" so sad. and a volunteer who went up the 3rd fl where the infants stayed said that the room where kids are usually tied to their beds was locked shut, with the sound of many many children in there, and there was a foul odor emanating. there has been a h1n1 scare lately and my guess is they quarantine any sick little ones in there. she said there were alot fewer kids in the room that they were allowed to visit.

to the children there, may your x'mas and new year's be joyous. i will remember the grasp of your little hands around my fingers, as i twirl and dance with you, causing giggles of delight and smiles on your face, as you sing the songs from old dvd's that you've heard oh so many times. may love and peace be with you..til i see you again.

white dreams...

snowy lands
so far far away
how i wish i could visit
then forever stay.
to feel the powder
betwixt my fingers
oh how i wish
the magic would linger...

dear santa,
this christmas, please let me see snow. it just makes my insides all warm and fuzzy.

all work and no play...

we're trying to plan a winter vacation somewhere. we should probably do it soon before all the snow is gone. plus i seriously just want to curl up by a fireplace listening to the crackle of the logs drinking hot cocoa from an ergonomic mug that fits my palm perfectly on a bear skin rug after a long fun tiring day making snowmen and rolling around in the snow outside our cabin and wearing my tabogan and riding wooden sleds through ravines and catching snowflakes on my tongue.

i have some really nagging work cases. i took on a private patient i see in my home. she is text message-happy and i am starting to regret giving her permission to contact me. she also does not seem to respond to "i need to go" cues. last week, we went way over our hour and i said i needed to go and she didn't budge! she's quite needy and neurotic but then again, if she wasn't, she wouldn't be seeing me.

there's another child i do therapy with. the father is a pill but not an asshole. he writes these long ass emails detailing his thoughts and everything that goes on in the child's life. and he sorta dictates how i should do my work, which isn't cool. plus this case is really challenging because i feel sorta stuck and not sure where to go with him. i secretly think the joke's on all of us working with the child b/c he's super smart, is quite precocious, and is probably laughing at all of us as we create this circus around him. he's probably fine the way he is. he probably just wants to be left alone with his Lego set. and amazing Lego's he sure can build.

i am seriously turning into a dull girl. all work and no play certainly makes me a dull...girl.

on a holiday note, they are now playing Xmas music in the malls here. reminds me of south coast plaza.

priceless.

-gramma told me she tried to hook up these china mountain women she met on her recent china trip with my cousin back home. they asked her to send them photos of him. she said they were so happy at the possibility of marrying a man in america. and i was so happy to see her gain some weight. she's an emotional eater. when she has some meat on her, she's happy. i think visiting china and taiwan really is the highlight of her year.

-telling my mom that dave and i are together again...really priceless. ugh. and she's trying to rename me too. she introduced an atrocious chinese name to me last night. check this out. Hung Rui Ming. i said no way in hell am i going to respond to that name. she has a thing for changing her name to increase her fortune, luck and health. she's had like 10 names already. i told her she shoulda thought of this when she gave birth to me 32 years ago. my sister's "new" name is just as bad, but my mom let her keep the first syllable "cui." i can't recall the second syllable. the only good thing is, she gave my nephew and niece chinese names and they actually sounded cute and pretty. i forgot those too. my mom is so freakin emo. it so runs in the family. dave says she should play some online games because that way she can name her characters whatever she likes and change and delete them as she pleases. i think that's a good idea. she's supposed to visit in March when the weather is nicer. i hope my gramma comes too.

and the week ends..

i had sorta a bum weekend.

1. M. butterfly was shut down by the police for some unknown reason. darn, and i really wanted to be "cultured" in china.
2. we have been having bad luck with food. first, thanksgiving dinner was overpriced and under-good. i was craving prime rib so we went to Lawry's but it was costly and was average at best. we later learned that we could have bought an entire turkey with trimmings for a third of that price. then yesterday, after eating noodles that nearly made me barf, we walked down the street and saw a dead rat right outside the row of restaurants by the gutter. ew. then we waited an hour at china mobile and then got the most rude, impatient, racist teller who i viscerally reacted to. let's just say if we were living back in the three kingdoms, this guy would be my mortal enemy in the battlefield. then we went to a taiwanese restaurant and ordered what i thought was japanese dessert toast. it ended up being the most disgusting shell of mayonnaise mixed with icy ham, peas and carrots. what the hell. but the night got better. we tried a new thai restaurant with some friends and hung out at Cotton's, a nice bar that would have been better without the extremely loud locals, screaming at the top of their lungs. i bought a nice warm hat that accentuates the chilly weather from a vendor for less than half the price of how much it was being sold in a store up the street.
3. on the bright side, i always enjoy meeting new people from around the world and this weekend we met a lebanese man who is from australia and living in japan and teaching business in hangzhou. we also met a lady from NY who is in the marketing industry and a lady who works in a business related field living in SH. both could relate to the pains of being an ABC in china, which was super cool. all friends of friends. in SH, there is never a shortage of the different people you might come across that you never would otherwise. that is one of my favorite parts about being here.

here's to a good week.

USBeware

because i have been downloading music and video files from bittorrent, and my laptop C drive capacity is mega small, i have sorta maxed out. i haven't gotten a chance to search for a large external drive like a terabyte but i see these vendors that sell these somewhat cheap 36GB USB drives. i thought i would take a chance and buy one of them, mostly because i seriously need extra space. i knew they would be fakes but as long as they worked, i was cool.

BAD IDEA.

not because they don't work but because 3 Trojan viruses were installed on them. when i plugged it into my laptop, it said it automatically installed "drivers." well it installed viruses instead. so dave had me format the USB immediately then download ad aware and spybot and run them twice. i formatted the USB drive several more times. maybe a fluke but i tried saving a Word file on the USB disk and it somehow crashed the file. then when i tried to transfer my large music files onto the USB disk, it didn't because there was an error with one of the music files. when i opened up the USB disk to check the contents, it had these 3 mysterious files and although it said my Word file was on there, i could not locate it. suspicious behavior. so dave thinks the virus has officially infected my laptop and now infects any external drive i plug into my USB port. he had me immediately download an actual antivirus (here i thought the ad aware and spybot were sufficient) and i am running that now.

i am bummed because:
1. i wasted 110 rmb if this USB ends up unusable due to the virus
2. it infected my laptop like a bad H1N1 virus.

i knew it was too good to be true. 36GB for just over 15US? doesn't add up. and i'm no math expert.

shanghai graffiti.

can't resist the graffiti. too bad the dude wouldn't move.