Shanghai baby

April 4th is finally here. After diligently crossing off 35 days on my little plantable calendar, the day I meet Peter in Shanghai is finally here. The first time I said "we'll meet in Shanghai" it sounded so funny. Who says that except in some ridiculous movie? But my bags are packed and I'm ready to take the D train (yes the D train) to meet my Petey in Shanghai. He's flying over the Pacific as I type, probably cursing the person in front of him because at this point you are sick of being confined to your seat.

When we planned to meet on April 4 I had NO IDEA that the entire country had the day off. In fact, they just made it a day off this year. Do you have any idea what it looks like when 1.3 BILLION people have a long weekend? I'm lucky I got a seat on the D train. It is Ancestor's Day. A day to burn money (or paper that you buy that looks like money) and offer food to your ancestors. It helps them in the afterlife from what I understand. I was actually at a temple yesterday where they were preparing for the big day. It seemed a little weird to offer up my apple to the tubby Buddha so I decided not to partake. The apples here are too good to let rot in front of a statue.








It's a big weekend planned for Shanghai. Peter needs to stay awake all day to get through the jet lag. It's a tough adjustment to reset your timing by 13 hours. I still feel like I've been assigned to a never ending night shift. Waking up a 4:00 am and shattered by 8:00pm. We have a trip to the aquarium planned, the Urban Planning Centre (don't knock it until you see the pictures), the Bund and Nanjing road at night and a tea ceremony. All with the other 20 million people in this area who are hitting the city for the long weekend.

And the other big news is I AM DONE TEACHING!!! I have one more week of classes but the students have their final presentation and exams. I did it. Phew!

Last night, Susan, the marketing teacher from NUFE, took me out for dinner. We had a wonderful meal just off of Hunan Road and then tea under the lights of here.


Good way to start the long weekend. Bring it on. 1.3 billion doesn't scare me (well maybe a little). The train station definitely scares me...