Shèngdàn kuàilè !! - Merry Christmas

There was one box in our seashipment in may which we didn´t unpack but stored in a cupboard. It was the one box containing our Christmas decorations. When I got it out a couple of weeks ago, I held this ornament in my hands and wondered - "Wow - wasn´t it only yesterday that we packed it away? Where did this year go?"

If I would have to describe our first year in Shanghai than I would say: It was at first like going white water rafting - exciting, mad, fast and sometimes we were thrown into very cold waters. But over the months we learnt how to paddle,how  to steer our ship and since a couple of months now we can probably say that we are riding on fairly smooth waters.

Paul has settled very well in his job and with his company he can look back at one of the most sucessfull years ever. I for myself can say that I feel like have learnt so many things for my life and also starting to see now a path forming taking me forward in my professional live.

We have made some great friends here and overall we can say that we have been very lucky with all people we have met and the network that is supporting us in our live in Shanghai. We have also learnt that people are just people and it doesn´t matter what nationality they are. We all have our weired and funny sides. It is great to experience and to live in a different culture. As long as you have room for a laugh when things go wrong or you don´t understand, you will be fine. "Just go with the flow" became kind of a mantra for me in 2011.

But most of all we are thankfull  to look back at a year where we both stayed healthy (apart from the minor incidents..) and that we can say: "yes it was worth coming here, it was worth the effort". There is no better Christmaspresent this year than beeing able to say this.

With this we close the blog for 2011.

Thanks for keeping in touch!! This year would not have been possible if we wouldn´t have known that so many beloved people support us, nevermind how far away we are!!

We wish wish you all a very mery Christmas. Have a wonderful time with your friends and families.  Relax, enjoy and have a healthy and good start in the new year..!

Be proud of everything you challanged this year.

All  365 days.

Nevermind how difficult.. you walked them!

Time for a rest - Time for Christmas Season

With Love and Hugs from Shanghai

Shèngdàn kuàilè!

Geli & Paul

My camera goes on stage

The great thing about living in Shanghai is that it is full of surprises and opportunities that sometimes seem to appear out of the blue. Here is an example:

Two weeks ago I was sitting in Chinese class when my phone rang. "Hi, my name is Jon, you may have heard about me from Greig".. mhh..Yes I have...you are a friend of his  and I know also that you are a professional photographer doing cool stuff for no one less than "Der Spiegel, ect.." - I thought to myself.

 "I was wondering if you can help me" he continued " I made this commitment to a friend to shoot pictures during a concert. But I have to leave the city for another job. The concert is going to be in the Shanghai Oriental Art Center and I was wondering if you can - jump in for me?" ....?!!!?!!!!!!!!??!!! I nearly fell of my chair....

"Oh my God!"- was my first thought. I had absolutely no idea what I was letting myself into. All I was sure about  that it was going to be a low light event, not too easy to tackle. But if I learnt something in my previous job than it is there is no need to be scared because nevermind how cold the waters - I can swim! And Jon said "I think it will be fun, just enjoy it".  "OK" I said "Let´s do it!"

The next day I shouldered my bag and went Pudong to find out what it was all about.
The event was called AMRATA MUSIC SCENE. It is an ongoing music project with Chinese music on it´s core but incorporating styles of eastern, western as well as specially made instruments.

Five musicians, some of them professors for music, created some of  the most beautiful and pure music I have ever heard that night. It was just wonderful and whilst they were playing you could feel that each one of them truely loves what they do. They didn´t just play music, they WERE music.
This is what I tried to capture with my camera which didn´t let me down despite the low light :-).

In invite you to virtually enjoy some of the moments of  AMRATA SONG 2011 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on December 1st 2011:

Enter HERE

Friends, Murder - and a Mystery to solve

Last weekend there was a murder going round in Gao An Lu! It was 1939 the "Lincoln In" was hosting a dinner party and somone was killed just before that.

No panik - we were hosting a murder mystery party in our apartment. In case you haven´t heard about it, here a brief explanation what it is: It is a game played through a 3 course meal. There is a story to it and explains that someone has been murdered.  Each guest  receives an invitation upfront describing a character they need to act and play whilst investigating who the murder was.

This particular game was actually called "Murder in the Orient" and was set in Shanghai in 1939. There could have been no better place than our apartment to play this. It was built around the same time and is situated in the French Concession where a lot foreigners used to go out and  live already back than.

Since we haven´t talked about who we are hanging out with in Shanghai I decided to take this as an opportunity to introduce you to some of our friends - and suspects of this crime:

E voila - the hosts:

Lady Marmalade (French wife of a British Diplomat)

and Reverend Spooner (An American Missionary)

The guests:

Benno - alias PEKING TOM (an Australian adventurer)

and Kerstin - alias MOUSY TUNG (a Chinese House keeper)

I think she should wear this black wick more often!

Leno - alias BRUCE LYE ( a professional dancer and kung fu specialist)

and Marianna - alias SU SUKI (a glamerous Japanese actress)

and last not least:

Ati - alias WAN TON WILLY ( A chinese business men with suspicious background)

and Judith - alias XENA SPOONER (Indian born and wife of Reverend Spooner)

The whole night was great fun. Everyone acted so well that we sometimes were not sure anymore about what was made up and what was part of the skript

By midnight the muder was found - of coarse it was the suspicous looking Reverend Spooner!

Sure his wife knew about it, too:

Several bottles of wine and some Sake later everyone left around 3am.

It was a great night and we will make sure that someone will be murdered again next year!

You can´t be lucky twice...

Upfront: Yes, this is an X-ray - and yes this is MY left foot. I thought I take this opportunity to tell you a little about our first hospital experiences in Shanghai. You read right:  I it is experienceS because Paul and I have been somehow, let´s say, a little unlucky in the past few months.

A whole series of little accidents started already during our holiday in Australia where Paul slipped in a cave and managed to break his little finger. A week back in Shanghai he managed to also bang his head very badly on a cupboard. So bad that we had to send him off to hospital to get his eyebrown stiched up again. That experience alone would be worth a whole story by itself. But I leave it to that much: It happened on halloween and for a split of a second I thought Paul is playing a funny joke on me.

A couple of weeks later my sister and her boyfriend arrived in Shanghai. Maybe for sypmathy with Paul, or  maybe because of the cloud of bad luck was still hanging over us I managed to drop the corner of my laptop on my foot. It happended just after they had arrived whilst I was dancing round our kitchen table of sheer excitement and didn´t recognize the stretched out cable connected to my computer. Before I realized I had about 2,5kg of weight landing on middle toe- Outch!

It didn´t take long until the toe started swelling up and half way during our shopping stroll on Nanjing Lu I couldn´t help but noticing a crunchy feeling. I decided to pay a visit to doctor. Thanks to our insurance we can go to any private hospital and so we went to the parkyway health clinic to see a taiwanese- american doctor.

The first question he asked me was: "So, how is the laptop?"...jokingly of coarse and sent me straight down to the X-ray room. I was a bit concerned about the x-ray because despite seeing a private doctor I knew that they are still using the facilities of official chinese hospitals. And having had some x-ray experiences in India (Paul is probably still glowing..) I was prepared for the worst.

To my surprise the machine didn´t seem any different to what we know in Europe. The only difference was that besides the normal aprin I had to wear also a little metal helmet on top of my head...Not sure why.. "That´s China.." - was the only comment my doctor was giving with a grin me when I asked about why I had to wear that. A couple of minutes later the results were back and with great relief I was sent home knowing that I had been lucky. It ws just a bruise and the doctor let me off with the advice "To look better after my laptop in future".

Literally 3 days later (I was still limping) bad luck struck me again when I managed to bang my left foot very (VERY!) hard on the corner of a wall at home. I somehow kicked the corner between my little toe and the toe next to it. This time the reason was just sheer stupidity and Mr. and Mrs. Jing looked a bit concerned because they were just up for reading our water meter when it happened.

To be honest it hurt quite bad but not much different to the pain I had before. "Sure" I thought " it is just another bruise". And since the internet informed me also that under no circumstances you can do anything with a little toe,  I decided to not worry about it and to get on with my life. Well, a bit of a painful life. My neighbours at the kitchen stall down the road started looking at me a little funny every time I walked normal TO the yoga studio and ended up limping BACK home because my toe had swollen to tripple size after class.

Last friday it was 2,5 weeks after it happened and it didn´t seem to get any better. I therefore decided to go back to the doctor and let him take look at it. I got an appointment with the same guy who started welcoming me with "Hello, it´s you again - maybe you should start wearing safety shoes at home?"...and sent me straight back down to the x-ray. This time it was a different room with only a small table to rest my foot on. Thanks to yoga I was able to hold my balance quite well with one foot whilst trying to hold the other one still under the x-ray machine. I could not help but wondering what kind of shutter speed they are using on x-ray pictures??

The first thing the doctor said when I got back up was "Oh dear, when you had no problem  you came to see me, and when you  had one  you waited nearly 3 weeks to come" - Diagnosis - little left toe is broken!.. Ooops!.

There I am 34 years old and experiencing my first broken bone in my life and it has to be  in Shanghai. I had to go back to see a specialist on monday because the bone is not growing back straight. The second doctor I went to see is working in a brand new hospital at People Square. In fact it is in the same building than the Mariott hotel. When you enter reception you would never believe you are in a hospital. Big chandaliers hang from the ceiling, the reception is layed out with fluffy carpet and there are huge comfortable sofa´s to sit in. It felt a bit like the set up for an american hospital series.

Unfortunately the doctor didn´t turn out to be George Clooney but a cheerful guy who assured me that I don´t need to worry. I shall just go ahead wearing not my normal shoes but  a special sandal for a while so  that the swelling can go down. And I shall also not practise any standing postures in yoga for some weeks. I can cope with not going to yoga class, but wearing this sandal makes me looking like I´m about to go snorkling with one fin: They had it only in size 45 and it looks really ridiculous. But hey we are in China - people walk around in pyjamas in the streets -  who cares?

When I left hospital it was a beautiful sunny and warm morning. I waddled to Starbucks on Peoples park and sat down on a bench. As I enjoyed the sun, the colouring leaves on the trees and an old men practising tai chi right in the middle of the park I could not help but smiling to myself and thinking that I might have had a bit of bad luck. But Paul and I are well on the ment and sitting here in Shanghai and to be able to experience this moment and this year make me feel that despite these little incidents I´m the luckies person on earth!

November Romance - A photostory

One morning this week I looked out the window in our kitchen and noticed the falling leaves, blue skies and a bright sun shining down on Gao An Lu. I checked the thermometer and noticed that it had climbed  up close to 20 °C - despite autumn not unusual for Shanghai at this time of year.

Whilst sipping my coffe I remembered a friend of mine telling me that a few weeks ago she went to visit a forest park located northeast of the City. She assured me that it was worth going and that you could actually find some forest there (I have learnt by now that  even though it says forest, it doesn´t necessarily mean that there  is one..) It sounded like a good place to go to explore on a sunny day. So I decided to venture out with my camera in search for shooting a little story about autum in Shanghai.

A 20 kiliometer cab ride laterI found myself close to the Huangpu river but the area seemed more like  some kind of industrial estate. Was I really in the right place? But as soon as I walked through the entrance gate I knew I was right and was swallowed by green lawns, trees, lovley waterponds - and an uncoutable amout of wedding photoshootings taking place.

Weddings and Wedding photography is a big thing here in China and  quite different to us in Europe. It is well worth dedicating a whole post to it one day. But I want to find out about it some more before writing about it. All you need to know for now  is that the photos play a major part and are usually taken before the wedding.

For today I just want to invite you to  join me  for a stroll through Gongqing Forest Park on a sunny tuesday afternoon. Come and find out that even a big concrete city like Shanghai can have a romantic touch, that it can be colourful and that people here are not much differen to anywhere else in the world.

It is only when we look behind the scenes you will notice that some things are a little different than home :-)

Zuo Ba! Let´s go: This way to the ticket office: ENTER HERE

Little Fleur in Fuxing Park

In a big city like Shanghai it can take a little while to reach the outskirts when you are in search for nature. If you are looking for space and green than the best chance to enjoy  nice day here are the parks within the heart of the city.

Fuxing Park is a favorite amongst the locals and every day you can see People getting together to let their kites fly, participate in the open air ballroom dancing or play mahjong.

In Summer I met up with some friends for a picnic there. And it didn´t take long until I found myself following my dutch friends daughter Fleur around the park. With my camera I tried to portrait this afternoon through her eyes, capturing how she took it all in..involving friends, her baby sister, mother, the ayi .. and a bunch of happy Chinese.

I´m very happy to share some of  the moments of Little Fleur in Fuxing Park with you!
Please enter HERE

Acrobats in our apartment

Ever since we moved here we have  been wondering about how to fill this big empty white wall in  our hallway at the entrance to our apartment. All we knew we that we wanted to hang up one of my photographs and that we wanted it BIG.

We only had two small problems:
A) choose the right one  from nearly 40.000 pictures
B) how on earth are we going to hang it up on that wall which is from the lowest bottom to top 4 meters high and a ladder would be difficult to balance on stairs?

A couple of weeks ago we fould a solution for problem "a" and came to the conclusion that since we are not living facing the skyline of Shanghai we simply bring it into our flat. And therefore chose a picture which I took on a sunny September day at the Bund.

Soon I had it printed at the "Shanghai Photomarket", one of my favorite places in town :-). It is two buildings of 4 floors selling only photorelated stuff. One shop is specialized in prints and there we had our picture blown up on Aluminium 1,70 x 1,20 meters.

But were still left with the issue of how to get it up the wall . And because we are not supposed to do any DIYing in our aparment,  we called Sophie from our relocation agency who helped arranging the building team from our Landlord.

This morning 9:30 Sophie and the builders arrived and I was quite excited to see the way the guys solved the issue with our stair case:
Whilst one guy climbed up with the drill  the another guy (with a bandage already around his finger) lifted up with his arms that part of the ladder which was too short to reach the staircase:

Sometimes I think it is more breathtaking to watch builders and carpenters performing their jobs than watching any acrobats in Shanghai circus..I think it would drive anyone who is responsible for health and safety in Europe or Americas nuts :-)

A massive round hole of easily 2cm in diameter was drilled into the wall, before a large piece of square wood was hammered into that. I guess a chinese solution for an anchor fitting (Dübel). Once the wood was in place a screw was put into the wood and a minute later the show was over and on one injured. Together we enjoyed the outlook onto Pudong Sykline.. and I was beaming with pride!!

Lost in Translation

This is a cute little story I want to share it with you because this sort of situation happens to me all the time.

The other day I tried to buy the DVD "The Black Swan" with Nathalie Portman from one of the little street vendors which you can find here on every corner. Or in this case  he was parked right in front of my favorite Spa, Dragonfly (Very clever positioning of him if you ask me - what else could could be better than watching your favorite film after a massage ??)

At first the guy  didn´t understand anything I said and presented me the usual bunch of  brand new releases which sometimes they are still "hot" because they are  not even out in the cinema or officially puplished as DVD´s.  When they are that "hot" you sometimes suddenly notice someone getting up blocking the view - or you struggle listening because some movies are  recorded secretly with mobile phones in the cinemas and if unlucky sit next to someone with a large bag of crisps. But hey, so what if the DVD costs 8 RMB?

So I kept on  repeating "Black Swan"!!! to my little street vendor  and after a while he seemed to have understood that I was obviously looking for a film related to -hang on -  BIRDS! and therefore proudly presented to me the latest Jim Carrey film which I have no clue what the story is about but at least shows penguins on the cover.

I couldn´t help it but having a real good laugh and than explain in chinese "No, No, I mean Big bird, black bird, Nathalie Portman"..and started tip toe dancing in front of him (sort of anyway)... "Ahh..wo you!"  all clear now!!.. Followed by a big grin  he pulled out the right film from his pile of DVD´s.

Next I want to get Harry Potter - maybe I wear my new round glasses and take a broom stick with me??

Shanghai ART - Photoseries Moganshan Lu

Moganshan Lu is not an ordinary street in Shanghai. It is a complex of deserted warehouse and factories which over time were taken over by artists looking for low budget rent and eventually was transformed into modern art galleries. M50 is the largest complex and best known in Shanghai. It is hosting around 100 artists who are not only work but also living there.

But it is not only the galleries which make this place so interessting. It is more so that you can still see the transformation from old homes and warehouses into fancy art galleries. In some places it looks like people are still somehow living in the ruins which is something you see quite a bit in the old parts of Shanghai. A great place for finding lot´s of little stories.

So in September I decided to take my camera with me and to explored the venue trying to capture a feel of the place.

Please enter here to find the whole photo story - ENJOY!

My little job - is all about pictures

A couple of months  ago my sister in law bumped into a team of webdesigners who were developing a new website for the art scene in Shanghai. They told her that their plan is to promote the underground music and art scene  and that they were looking for a photographer to document their interviews.

It seemed like the perfect match because I was in search for an enviroment to get some practise and exposure with my camera. Knowing that Marie got us in contact with each other over a nice lunch, Greig (who runs  Shanghai 24/7) and  I agreed that we should team up.

And so I´m finding myself finally going in the right direction of my dream and on top of that getting free tickets to various events. How cool is that?

Want to get an impression what it is all about? Take a look the links below. The pictures were taken during an interview with Marc Elliot who is the organizer of the annual Jazz Festival held in October. We took the pictures in September in a music school called "JZ-school" and this is also where the organisation team of the festival is based.

This way to the pics and interview:
http://www.shanghai247.net/music/features/mark-elliot-jz-festival-interview
http://www.shanghai247.net/music/features/mark-elliot-jz-festival-interview-part-2

You know what´s even better? After the interview I was told it is never too late to take up drumming and could do it right there!..Maybe I make this other dream come true some time..But for now get ready for a lot of pictures coming up here. I took a lot of photographs over the past months and there is a lot of material that wants to be shared with you!

Back in Shangers!

It is 5pm in Shanghai. The night is approaching the city accompanied with drizzling rain. I´m sitting here on our sofa in our apartment with a nice cup of tea beside me and wonder " Was it really only a couple of days ago that Paul and I walked in flip flops through the parks of sydney under bright sunny skies, lovley 25 degrees and not a cloud in sight? "

It is hard to believe that our little excursion to Australia where we managed to drive exactely 4012km in 17 days is already over. The freedom of having power over a steering wheel was just awesome and made us feel a little more normal again. We  loved every kilometer of the journey despite the fact that we nearly drowned in thunderstorms near Cairns in our little van and Pauls special souvenier this time is an x-ray from Airlie Beach showing his broken little finger (nothing to worry about! and the picture fit´s nice into his collection of  "exotic x-rays". Last year we got some in India from his ankle)

Apart from that we had really a great time, meeting up with Zack and Dee in Sydney, watching whales jumping in the sea, cruising Frasher Island and the Whitsundays and for sure we had more wine and cheese than we could handle (according to the scales this morning..)

But everything has to come to an end. So on Sunday we  had to say "Bye Bye" to sunshine, pies and endless selections of dairy products in supermarkets. Yesterday I went back to school wearing socks, closed shoes for the first times in months a coat, an umbrealla and with a bit of a sigh I noticed that Ole didn´t have my favorite cheese on their shelves. Oh well...Seems like we are back to reality...

...and that means we are back in party town!! with Halloween coming up this weekend and Dragon Fly offering hot stone massages. I can´t wait to dive into the city again and to keep you posted!

Going offline to Ao Da Li A!

Ao Da Li A is how the Chinese call Australia and was a main topic in my last chinese lesson.
Why? Because we are off for 3 weeks to enjoy the greens, the sea, fresh air and great food of our beloved holiday desitnation. This time we are cruising somewhere between Sydney and Cairns... Will be back end of October and tell you all about it :-)

Zaijane!

Kite Runners..

Kite flying is a big thing here in China. It doesn´t matter which park you go to, you will always find a crowd of mostly older men letting all sorts of shapes and forms fly up in the air. Only a couple of days ago we went to Fuxing Park, right in the center of the city, to watch a dozen kits flying as high as 1000 meters!! up in the sky.

Every time this brings back child hood memories and makes me wanting to try it again. Last weekend it was finally  time for action. With out friends we got together in Century Park for another picnic. Giving the event a bit of a theme I had made "Zwiebelkuchen" (like a quiche) and the others organised wine since "Federweisser" is a little hard to get for us.

Paul had decided on an eagel for our kite from the fake market. After good 15 minutes of wondering about how to put it together we were ready to let this bird fly:

To be fair there wasn´t a lot of wind.. so we struggled a little..

but only to find out that our kite was put together totally wrong 

- did I mention already that two engineers were involved in the building process?

After another 10 minutes running up and down the green in search for wind we had gained the attention of everyone. We must have looked very lost. Or I have no other explanation for why a a young chinese guy came along and asked if he can help us. "Sure!" I said - excited about getting some professional help and seeing my toy already flying to the moon.

So I took the kite and walked to the end of the green, whilst he took the spindle and started running.. Our little Bird flew up and up and up - "hooray"...but soon .followed by a big "oohhh" commented by everyone - and our kite flew straight into the next tree...

"Oh nooo!!!" I thought...my kite!! But the next second I felt really sorry for my little chinese friend who probably didn´t only loose his face but everything else in that moment. Fortunately I managed to assure him that it was no problem, to prevent him from climbing 10 meters up the tree.

At the end we all had a good laugh about it and will try again next time. Maybe get some training from the guys in Fuxing Park upfront....

My friend Alex..

Today we are getting a little side tracked and look back to Germany. Alex is one of my oldest friends back home and we both share a passion for photography. Whilst I like to focus on adults and documentaries she has a great hand and beautifull view to capture families and children.  I´m ever so happy for her decision to launch her own photography business this month  that I want to share her link with you and to invite you to take a look at her work:

Alexandra Feitsch Kinder & Familienfotografie: http://alexandrafeitsch.blogspot.com/

Best Wishes for your new Future, Alex!

Someone is watching me!

I may have told this little story to some of you during my trip to Germany. But I just found the picture again and decided it is worth telling everyone here.

When I got up a few weeks ago I did my normal morning routine: going down to the kitchen, put the kettle on and starting the washing up. The washing up sink is located right under a window  which makes the actual  process a lot more fun because there is always something to look at and going on in our lane or in Gao An Lu.

That morning I noticed that some of the electric cables, laying on the other side of the window were moving.

Like little black snakes they were sneaking from the left to the right side of the window. As my glace followed their path I found myself all of a sudden staring into someones face - some guy who obviously had to fix something in the mess of wires which connect us with the rest of the electronic world.

To be honest I was a little shocked, because it is the last thing you expect that someone is watching your on the upper floor and I´m that sort of person who definately doesn´t want (and probably should not) to be seen straight after getting up.  Although I should have learnt already from a few days before when I walked  from the shower straight into the kitchen just to find out that someone was walking along the roof of the cafe below our kitchen to fix the aircondition and that granted him free sight into our apartment.

I think this falls in the category " Expect the unexpected" and  it is as it is and there is no way around that: After all we are in China and someone is ALWAYS watching you..

PS: I wish we would have such great bamboo ladder when I locked myself out the other day! :-)
PSS: Just realizing the windows need a clean...
PSSS: couple of days later ..reporting, windows are clean now :-)

Impressions of Shanghai Streets - Zizhong Lu

It seems like yesterday, but it is already 3 months that it was June and we got to experience the plum rain. I told you about the rain in the  post "It´s raining cat´s and dogs" but I have not shared with you the pictures which I took on the first sunny day after 2 weeks of rain.

I happened to be out y in town when the sun decided to come out. And with it all the streets came back to life. The every day picture of a grey  was over sudden exchanged by clear blue skys with white clouds and colourful washing dancing up in the air. That was the first time that I decided to get my camera out and to try a first street documentary. 

If you are curious, about what crossed my lens that day than follow me back to Zizhong Lu which is based in the former Luwan District in Old Shanghai. Just klick on the link below:

A. Lincoln Photography - Shanghai Documentaries

With the heat gone I had more time and fun to shot many little documentaries in and around Shanghai .You can look forward to seeing more picture stories,  soon :-)

Aaaahhh! a Spa...

If you know me a little then you know also  it was only a matter of time until I had to write about my favorite topic: Spa´s!!!

I don´t just like Spa´s. I´m a Spa-aholic. I L O V E them and I can´t help it.
It is all the fault  of a few trips to Thailand and me beeing ill some years ago. Ill enough for me to having had to stay off work for several months and finding out about this llittle ayurvedic farm beeing located next door to us in Nierstein.

With more than enough time back then and good reasons to do something to make me feel better I dived into  the world of facials and massages. And since then I could not help but making it a routine of not only going back to our neighbours but also to explore all sorts of treatments during my travels in  Asia.

The great thing about living in Shanghai is  - hooray !!- I´m living in Asia now! And the city is fringed with massage and spa salons. Even our Yoga studio is offering a massage service. Most  places provide the traditional Chinese massage which to be honest is not really one of my favorites because it makes you  feel like piece of unfinished edam cheese and they are poking the holes into your body - or they try to squeeze the  kidneys out of your back (aparently helps the body coping with toxics..). No, my favorite  here is a Japanese Shihatsu where you still wear a pyjama but it is much closer to a Thai  massage without the twisting and bending bits (That´s what I have yoga for now..)

Of coarse after 7 months here I have also found my favorite place - DRAGONFLY! I can only blame my sister in law who introduced me 3 years ago. I was on one of those marathon conferences in Shanghai with work and needed somewhere to recover from it.  I loved Dragonfly instantly. The athomosphere is relaxing, it smells great and there is always some plinki plink musik in the air. It has the style of a 5 star spa - but not the price level. Curious? Take a look: Dragon Fly

So last week Paul came along to have his jetlag (and hangover from his birthday celebrations ..) massaged out. When we checked out the dialog was as follows:

Lucy @ Dragonfly:      Did you enjoy your massage?
Us:                                 Yees!!.. (..followed by a big jawn..)
Lucy:                            Are you a member? You come here lot, Lina! (my chinese name)
Me:                                No I´m still no member...
Paul:                               Why not?
Me:                                Because you have to pay a deposit to become one
Lucy:                            Yes, but you can use the credit  and get 30% off every massage in future
Paul:                              So why don´t you sign up?
Me:                                ????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray! And here I´m sitting with a brand new club card from Dragonfly. The next 30 massages are payed for and when I openend my fortune cooky which I got after every treatment I found the following message:

Seems like my membership was a well and soon required investment! :-)

Please don´t pee in the Taxi!!

We were confronted with this sign in the Taxi the other day...

Not sure who has put it up, but please, PLEASE don´t pee in the Taxi... they smell already bad enough!!............

Locked out..!!!

I wasn´t even 24 hrs in the country when I was thrown into my next adventure: I managed to lock myself out from our apartment. You want to know how and what happened after that?  Come back with me to last Friday morning:

What a nice morning. The sun is shining, the temperature seems to be bearable and I can´t believe that I slept through all night. Wow! No jetlag at all! Probably thanks to the little kid behind me who instead of sleeping on the plane insisted on kicking my chair for 9 hours leavng me feel l (and for sure look) like a zombi when landing and going straight to bed once I was home.

I start unpacking my suitcase and find this nice little ornament which I bought in Bavaria for our front door.I get the hammer out and walk barefeet down the stairs to fix a nail in the door. With my last bang I´ m watch the door closing like in slow motion - CLACK - the door is shut!

"Ooops"….my frist thought and looking stupidly at my hammer in right and ornament in left hand. "Double Ooops" - I have no key with me! ...Oh dear.... "Ahh!- I have an Idea": Mr. and Mr.s Xing (the older Chinese couple who live below our living room ) have a ladder!!.. sure with that they can let me climb back again into the aparment via our balcony!

So I knock on their door and explain with my limited Chinese, hands, feet and my shut door, what trouble I am  in. Immediate reaction: "Mei you" and pointing at my feet: "You got no shoes on!!!" - here are some plastic slippers (to keep your feet warm - it is only 28 degrees outside…). And we all venture into the back garden.

Mr. Xing get´s the ladder out and tries to position it somehow between the palm tree and the house.
Looking at the arrangement it is very quickly very clear that I will NOT climb back in through the balcony because a) the ladder is too short and no matter how much I would try, I´m not Tarzans Jane, b) the ladder is already missing the first rung and looks so rotten that it would most likely not even carry lightweight Mr. Xing. So that was a clear "No go".. we all agree about that.

By that time the guy from the office - which is based below our bedroom - comes out and asks what is wrong. We all together explain my little problem and  he´s got an idea. I understand that someone he knows (either father, friend or god knows who) can be found round the corner and can unlock doors. Of coarse! After all I´m in China, someone capable of such skills can´t be too far away from us. OK -we wait for him.

Meanwhile my legs start to feel  very very itchy. As I´m looking down I can see squizillion mosquitos enjoying the meal of their live on my bare skin. "Ahhh!!!" I shout, a strange look by Mrs. Xing and we all rush into the house into the Xing´s kitchen where Mrs. Xing comes along with some bottle which at first looks like soy sauce.
I somehow understand that I shall put that stuff onto my legs. By that time I don´t care what it is because I ´m already so  terribly stung I would have put anything onto my legs which started looking like the popped up islands of Micronesia in the ocean.

Only 10 minutes later the office´s friend turns up and gets going on the log. Another 10 minutes later he gives up. "Bu keyi - can not".. bugger! For a minute we thought again the ladder option through the kitchen window. But we all agreed that even if I would make it up, I´m slightly too large to be able to slip through the metal bars - to be honest  no human but a monkey would fit through it. But since we have no monkeys in Shanghai we needed a new idea.

Ha! The Ayi has a second key! Great idea- but won´t work because
a) I don´t have  her phone number and
b) actually no ones phone number with me -  my phone is upstairs..
c) don´t know any others phone number out of my head.
d) which means also I can´t consult Sophie from the relocation agency who is somewhat like my personal telephone joker for anything needing help with..

Bugger!-- New Idea: I can ask the office if they can let me use their computer which I can use to log into my emails and that way find out all numbers and try Ayi or Paul´s driver to come and help - Brilliant!
So I knock on the office door who guides me straight away to one of their desks, I finally call Paul who sent Wan Chang, his driver, on the way - Sorted! All I have to do now is wait half an hour for the keys to turn up. "Xie Xie"! - Thanks everyone - I´m ok now. I wait here on my door step.

And as I´m waiting I watch the rain outside  and I can´t help myself but smiling and feeling somehow very happy for having managed that challange and life continues as if nothing would have happened. The office is working away, Mr. Xing comes and offers me a glass of water, I listen to the office´s Ayi cooking lunch. A few minutes later she walks past me with some yummy smelling Chinese stir fry and before I know it the office has pulled up a chair and invites me to join their lunch.

The funny thing is that I always wanted to know who works in this office and what they are actually doing. This was my chance to get to know them, to findout that they are dealing with antique furniture and they only shout loud into their phone sometimes because they are using satelite phones which seem to have pretty bad reception. I managed to spend an entire half and hour with them - the best language practise lesson I ever had .

Later on Wan Chang arrived - everyone welcomed him as if it would have been Santa Claus himself - And finally I got back into my appartment to continue with the Birthday preparations for Paul.

So what have I learnt in these 2 hours?

• I know now who lives with us in the house and have some fine neighbours
• We have a very safe flat
• Never leave the house now without mosquito repellent
• I can manage a fine  conversation in Chinese even without my telephone joker Sophie

Next week I will go back to school and learn how to say:

"I´m sorry I´m an idiot - I locked myself out -AGAIN!"

Return to Shanghai

Even the longest holiday has to come to an end. And so did my 4 weeks in Germany.  After a grand finale shopping trip to Frankfurt I found myself checking in at the airport for LH 726 to Shanghai leaving at 10:30pm last Wednesday. No actually I need to put this right: I tried to check in - and got into trouble since the scales screamed: "she´s got 52 kilo´s of luggage!!!" at me. I know what you think now: What on earth did she have in her suitcases???

Well here ist the answer:  Half of the portfolio from “DM” ( a german drug store) and half of REWE (supermarket). Why? Because everything imported is either mega expensive or it includes whitening cream - and once you know what toiletry shopping is like here you would agree it is like entering heaven when you walk through the doors of any European drugstore.

So there I was with 6kg overweight and no ex Lufthansa colleagues in sight who would for sure have let me off..
Smart as I am I  had parked my rental car outside with all my (another 15kg!) handluggage. So the check in agent asked if I can maybe shift some of my weight into my carry on bag since I didn´t seem to carry anything with me. “Sure!!, I widly grinned.. and unfolded a little travel bag which I always have with me for such occasion.  I re-loaded 6 kg into that and eventually got my boarding pass.

When I dropped off my rental car  I instantly regret having that much hand baggage. The amount of stuff I had to carry was as much as I remember Indian families carrying with them for 4-6 people.
Too late I noticed several liquids in my bag and therefore made the guy from Sixt rental cars very happy by donating to him a huge bottle of honey, a bottle of contact lense solution and  a very expensive sun taint lotion - bugger!.

Fortunately my flight was 30 minutes delayed and therefore I got the chance to relax from all this stress in the Lufthansa lounge,  phoning friends for  last good byes and  to enjoy once more “Brezel and Leberkäs” (traditional Bavarian meat loaf with prezel).. (at least my silver card is worth something if not extra-extra luggage..)

At 10:30pm  I ventured to the gate and got slightly overwhelmed and excited by the look of a Chinese crowd. Even though through my shopping trip to "Kaufhof" in Frankfurt, I was somewhat prepared to meet again so many of  my potential neighbours again. I was  thrilled when hearing the boarding announcement in Chinese. Because I noticed that it sounded familiar to me and I was actually able to understand most of it.
All of a sudden it hit me: "Oh my gosh! I´m  living in China!!!"

I just could not believe that only 6 months ago Paul and I entered the very same plane into a totally new life, not really knowing what it would be like. And there I was, understanding elements of Chinese and feeling actually comfortable with the hussle and bussle and the noise of the crowd as it pushed itself onto the plane.

And you know what? It felt good. Just like flying back to Germany 4 weeks before it felt like that this was the right thing to do. Flying back to Shanghai, back to our old apartment right in the heart of the city, back to Paul and back to friends waiting for some mad birthday celebrations for Paul ahead (Side note from Paul - there will be no post of that. Three days later he is still recovering from it..)

And as I´m writing this post I´ m sitting on the Huangpu river again, drinking my  favorite star bucks coffe latte, the sun is shining and I´m watching the ships and the chinese world go by Yes, it is good to be here and to know that many of you follow our stories from this mad city.

Sometimes it feels like I want to hug the world!  :-)!!!!!!!!

Summerbreak!

When the thermometer climbs to 32°C in the shade of our balcony at 9:30 in the morning- and when you start seeing shaved "hot"-dogs walking around - than you know it is Summer in Shanghai and that it is about time to take a break and to escape the city for a while.....

Will be back with more Shanghai stories towards the end of August.

Zaijane - See you, soon!

Dining out in "Fish street"

 

Last weekend together with some friends we decided to give the overpriced expat restaurants a miss and hit "Fish street" right in the heart of old Shanghai. All it is is a little road just of Xizong Lu and it is fringed with street vendors barbequeing their latest catches. If you don´t mind that it is a very chinese experience you will enjoy going there and mixing with the local crowd which later at night (that means after 9pm in Shanghai..) seem to be mostly young Chinese on their way to a night out.

You can look forever to find an English menue - you won´t find it. But that is no issue, because all you do is "Zhe ge -it" (point at the uncooked stuff and and say Zhe ge" which means "This! which by the way is any expats way of getting round anything in Shanghai  - or you do it even lazier like us and bring an experienced brother with you who has done this already several times :-) They than BBQ your food an bring it into one fo the many the dining rooms you are choosing to eat it in.

It is a truly messy way of eating which is why you get (and need!!) plastic gloves (need many of them!) and if you want you can also get an aprin. Food is served on skewers or in bowls and comes with a nice sauce which we have not figured out what it is.. Looks like soy sauce and tastes a little sweet.

Winners again this time were the garlic bbq oysters (less than 1 EUR each!), smoked fish on a stick (see piture above), BBQ prawns and my personal favorite "miàn bao" which are sweet tasting little bread dumplings roasted over fire

After dinner the restaurant weighs you and depending on how many kilo´s you put on you pay...

.....only JOKING!!

this guy just tried to make a little money with his scales.

You probably wonder about how our tummys felt the next day?

Mei Venti! - No Problem!! - We will be back again!

Today we are just looking at the frogs - and go to cooking school

  

Last month I wrote about how expensive it is to cook western style in China. (See Post from 30.06). After 6 months in Shanghai now it was finally time for us to learn a bit more about how to cook Chinese food.  Not that we (or to be fair I should really say Paul..) didn´t know how to do it.  But the challenge was always that when we wanted to use our brand new wok we struggled to find the ingredients or didn´t know what they were called in Chinese, or most of the times - we saw something looking good but didn´t know a) what it was and b) what to do with it.

So together with our friends Silvia and Andi we signed up for a Chinese cooking workshop at "Shanghai Kitchen", which is luckily located round the corner form us (- and the Paulaner Beergarden for that matter :-) )

Our teacher was a young Shanghainese called Jimmy, which I soon wanted to start calling "Jimmy Oliver" because he approaches cooking with no less passion than his famous English colleague. When Jimmy is not teaching he is a chef at the Ritz Carlton and therefore we were very excited to find out how he prepares every expats favorite Shanghai dishes:

• Shanghai fried noodles
• Eggplant cooked with spicy sauce
• Kongbao chicken
• Fried Pork with Pinapple

But first we went on a tour to a local wet market. From fruit and vegetables to tofu, meat, fish, rice spices - you can get anything here, see for yourself:

Below Left: Making of Fresh Dim Sum

Below Right: Tofu Stand

Below Left: Frog was not on the menue (maybe part of advanced cooking?) but it is  worth mentioning that Paul had it last friday and aparently it does really taste like chicken.

Below Right: Hairy Crabs - they are a delicatessy in Shanghai. We were told that you take them alive and boil them for 2 minutes in water. After having to swim stacked up in a drum filled with a marinade of ginger, sugar and vinegar probably in some way a relief....

Once we had completed our shopping it was time for the kitchen:

I think Paul was probably ready to kill a chicken....

no worries.. it was already dead...

Hobby Chef vs. Domestic Science Degree:

Here we go - my Shanghai noodles - approved by Jimmy!

 

Now guess how much this 4 course dinner feeding 9 people cost?

100 RMB = ~ 12 EUR!

I just hope that Paul doesn´t expect me to take on the lead in the kitchen now ... :-)