Home Sweet Home

It's been a couple of months since we've moved here and it's starting to feel like home. At least when I go out, it doesn't feel odd to be surrounded by Chinese-speaking people and Chinese-only signs. We feel pretty well settled in, including Eric's G.I. Joes.



Despite the New Year's and the May Holiday being over, people still light fireworks. I got up at about 11:30 on a Sunday night after hearing the 'pop pop pop' of fireworks going off. I could see the display in the distance from my balcony. My camera isn't very good for night shots so this is all I could imagine. The noise isn't terribly bothersome and I like to watch.



This has been a pretty busy week for me. I've joined the American Women's Club of Shanghai (AWCS) and we've started our Huan Ying (HY) group this past Monday. I met with my HY group for lunch this past Wednesday after an AWCS event in the French Concession area of Shanghai. One of the women in my HY group has actually been in China for 8 years and in Shanghai for 5. Her Mandarin is pretty good. We went to a small local place to eat lunch that Wednesday and Amy, being able to read Mandarin, ordered for the table. The restaurant staff did manage to find an English menu and we discovered that donkey meat was one of the items available on the menu. No, we didn't order donkey meat. Thursday was an afternoon doctor's appointment (routine check up) and an Expat Professional Women of Shanghai meeting. I'm meeting with my HY group again on Monday and I'm looking forward to that.

On one of my many excursions on the metro this past week, I saw something remarkable that I have never before seen. At People's Square, the people waiting to board the metro were organized into 2 lines with an open pathway between for the people getting off the train. People were allowed off the train in an orderly fashion and people then boarded the train, also in an orderly fashion. This is the way it's supposed to be done. There are markers on the floor telling you to do this but that's largely ignored. I haven't seen this happen since. Must be a once-every-70-years sort of event like Halley's Comet.

This is also odd fruit week at our house. I was at Carrefour and I saw a big fruit special display. I bought lychees and rambutan.



I'm learning that the things I had been calling lychees are in fact called longans. In this picture, the fruit to the left are lychees and the red hairy thing to the right I believe are rambutan. I prefer longans over lychees. I haven't cracked open a rambutan yet, but I think they're supposed to taste similar to lychees.

I also bought these red berries. I don't know what they're called but they have a sweet-tart taste that reminds me of the flavor of sweetened cranberry juice.



The berry, when you pull it apart, seems almost fibrous. At the center is a pit. They're about the size of a dollar coin and a deep dark red. I hope I can find more.