My dream coming true..

Everyone has a dream in his life. Mine started forming when we went to travel India 2 years ago.

I was fascinated by this country which is so different to anywhere else I have been to in this world.  They say, that "You either love it, or hate it". I fell head over heel in love with it from the first day on and ever since  I wanted to return again for some time.

You probably wonder why. But I have so many and no words to describe what it is like. If you wanted to get an idea I could only share some moments I captured during our vacation back than. Feel free to take a look if you want CLICK HERE.

Every day the world is asking us to take on new challenges, new identities, improved skills and productivity. But what we forget in all of this effort is to keep in touch with our base, the most essential of all of it - ourselfes. Our mind, our  breathing, our heart and our soul.

For a long time it has been  my dream to return to India, to re-discover my base and to  learn how to never loose touch again despite all the waiting challenges out there.

Today my plane is taking off to take me to a yoga and ayurvedic retreat high up in the mountains of Kerala. I can not tell you how excited I am to go on this one month journey, not only to India, but to myself.

And therefore we are taking a little break here.

Not only from the blog, also emails, mobile phones - switch OFF!

I want to say "Thank you" to my friends and family who have encouraged me to do take this step and supported me in my decision - any decision in my life.

But most of all, and not only because it is Valentines Day I want to thank Paul who will be spending Valentines day evening saying good bye to me at the airport and the coming weeks without me.

My dear Paul:

Thanks for beeing a wonderful husband,

for sharing my path,

for supporting me in my decicions

for believing in my dreams,

sometimes more than I do.

Thanks for letting me go,

and come back again

You are my life, my HOME!

I love you.

and I will miss you!

Lights On! - for Lantern Festival ( a Photostory)

With the start of Chinese new year, the Spring Festival season begins in China. It lasts 15 days and during that time you never know when walking around the streets whether someone is about to shoot you up in the air with a rocket or if you if you get a good night sleep. The whole country is in celebration mood. It´s great!

This year it was a little extra special because we entered the year of the (water) dragon. Of all Chinese symbols this is the most important one standing for wisdom, intelligence, enlightenment, energy, leadership, good fortune, optimism and success. For anyone who is planning on having children- this is the year you want to start a family.
I read somewhere that China is expecting to see an increased birthrate of 10-20%!! (of 1,4 Billion People) . Anyone working in the nappy-industry? This is where you want to be NOW!

Anyway...
So the 15th day after Chinese New Year is the last day of Spring festival and celebrated big style with the Lanternfestival which marks also the start of spring. (Funnily enough the temperatures dropped drastically straight afterwards).

The place to be for this event and to see  the lights is Yu Yuan Garden in Old Shanghai. It is THE tourist attraction in Shanghai and famous for it´s Chinese architecture. It is also home of the oldest teahouse in Shanghai and set amontst one of the most famous Chinese gardens in the country.
It also contains usually squizillion people and tourists...

So when I left school to go there I was mentally prepared for seeing the place from a "sandwich perspective". However it was cold, windy and tipping it down with rain all day long - which was great because this way Yu Yuan garden was - relatively spoken - quiet.

By the time the lights were switched on at 6pm the rain had stopped and I could not help but feeling ever so overwhelmed with what I saw. It was truely beautiful. And even I started feeling like a little Child wondering  through Disney Land at night.

Come with me and experience this Chinese fairytale in a photostory I put together:

3...2...1... Lights ON! (Click HERE!) 

The (big) city we live in...

Shanghai is BIG.. - not just that - it is VERY BIG!. There is an estimated  25 Million people living in the city, ~300.000 taxis driving around and a bunch of the tallest buildings decorate the skyline. When you arrive here at first  the sheer size of it all is breath taking and in the first few months living here you can´t help it but feel like you moved into a huge maze. Everything seems to look the same. Wherever you go you are surrounded by people, cars, buildings, noise, smells - and  that it is not changing much wherever you end up going to.

Last sunday Paul and I decided to learn more about our new home town and decided to walk right accross it -  about 6km across Puxi down to People suqare to visit the Shanghai's Urban History and Development Museum.

On our way we came across one of those multi story motorway juctions in town which I still find absolutely fascinating. In particular when they are empty like last week during Spring festival, - or scary when busy as usual.

The entrance to the Museum is only 35RMB a real bargain for what you get. If you plan to come to Shanghai one day I highly reccomend you go and visit it. It is an awesome place  get a first overview about where you are.

For example you can learn about historic and present architecture of all 19 districts which together form the province of Shanghai. This way we  learnt that alone the district we are living in "Xu hui"   holds about 1 Million People and covers 55km². 

It is also known for it´s typical European architecture and  it is fringed with buildings refering back to the times of Spanish, French, German  and British settlement. Until today it is often refered to as  "The French concession"

The city also shares in the museum their future plannings and visions for each district. And believe it or not this includes also their plans concerning improving enviromental protection:

But the real attraction and why you want to come here is to see the model of Shanghai in a ratio of 1:500: It is enormous!!!.. The picture is taken from the balcony one floor up) and it is showing only the "inner core" of the city - about 40km in diameter.

Now let me help you a little with orientation:

The area left hand of the river is called "Puxi" meaning "West of the river". The area right hand of the river is called Pudong  meaning "East of the river". The river itself is called "Huangpu" and joins the sea about 40km east of the city - near Pudong airport. 

Every building with more than 6 floors can be found in this model. And not only this, it also includes buildings which are still work in progress, such as the next tallest building for China (Shanghai tower 632m) which one day will stand  next to the World financial center (also called "bottle opener"492m) at the riverfront in Pudong.

Do you want to know where we are living? Let me show you:

Make a mental cross and devide the picture above into four boxes. We are living in the lower left part of the bottom box.  And just to give you a bit of contrast: Bruv and Sis Lincoln live in the top part far right -  even a little outside the picture.

 

We actually  managed to find our road  in the model. It is exactly in the center of this picture:

See the junction? We are living right behind it:

Below is the view from Xujahui Center (10 min walk from us)  looking East. The distance is about 10km to the river. Did you see that the center in the picutures has no lights? This is the French Concession. Xujahui is also where I go to school - in # 99 and #100 in the raking of tallest buildings in the world (according to Wikipedia)

The next picture shows you the view from "Garden City" in Pudong based on the eastern side of the river.  We are now looking west to east. This is  Jinqiao district where the other Lincolns live. Right on the other side of the city.  Our home in Gao An Road is located near the far back left column. Or in real live: about 45 minute cab ride away.

Can you imagine that only 10 years ago this side of the river was not developed at all  and was mostly covered by marsh land?? That gives you an idea on how fast the city is changing.


Disorientating and huge as it seems - after a while of living here even Shanghai starts to take on shape. You start to get to know your places, your way round and one day you catch yourself thinking that  it and isn´t that big after all! You even start bumping into people you have seen before in bars and restaurants because the actual expat community is estimated to be  ~250.000 people here - a small village within a mega city.

Sometimes we still can´t believe that we are living right within it.
Two little "ants" within a mega ant nest. After all it´s all a matter of perspecitve :-)