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!"