Hair Cut

I haven't had my hair cut since January. It's been way past due for a trim. I really don't like getting my hair cut, unless it's my sister with the scissors. I am typically impulsive with hair cuts and simply walk into a place and plop myself down to get it done. Today was no different.

I was in Yu Yuan looking for mahjong racks. I bought mahjong tiles there the other day, but couldn't find any racks. Yu Yuan has a bazaar around it with tons of stalls selling all sorts of stuff. It's really touristy, but I bought the tiles there as I wanted ones with numbers printed on them. I had been in a stall in a non-tourist area selling mahjong tables (they actually mix the tiles!) and sacks of tiles. None of the tiles had numbers printed on them; only the Chinese characters. I had a bit more time to wander today than I did before, so I was going to see if there was another stall selling the racks. If we were playing in true Chinese fashion, we would eschew them, but the racks makes play easier. I walked around and through the bazaar with no success and was ready to go home. I left the bazaar and started walking down the road and ended up on a side street and then a lane. One of the shops in the lane was a hair salon. I was trying to decipher a sign with prices hung on the outside of the store when one of the employees invited me inside. Wei shenme bu ne? Why not?

I sat down in a chair and had my hair washed. A young man pumped one hand full of shampoo and then started sudsing the crown of my head using the other hand to squeeze a bottle filled with water to wet a small area of my hair. Mind you that this was done sitting in a barber's chair with no sink in sight. Once he worked up a good lather, he slowly incorporated the dry portion of my hair into the soapy part. He proceeded to massage my scalp for a good 10 minutes. Wonderful, though I couldn't help but wonder how he was going to get the soap out of my hair. When he was finished shampooing and massaging my head, he moved me to the back of the salon where the sink was located. Ah. Question answered. I didn't have to bend under a spigot outside. There he rinsed out my hair and continued to massage my scalp. He wrapped my head in a towel and I returned to my chair. A second man dried my hair and cut it. All that for 10 RMB (about 1 USD).

Rainy Days at the Consulate

Yesterday we made a special trip to the U.S. Consulate to have some papers notarized. We are working on the final paperwork to sell our house. It's been a special challenge with us being in China and the house and the buyers being in the U.S.

Two days prior I had been searching for 'legal-sized' paper on which to print out all the documents. The paperwork came to us as PDF email attachments and we were advised to have it printed on 'legal-sized' paper. The U.S. doesn't use the metric system nor does it use the same paper sizes as much of the rest of the world. Don't get me started on clothing sizes. In Europe and here in China, the standard paper size is A4, which is pretty much the same thing as the standard 8½x11-inch paper used in the U.S. We followed everything to the letter as best as we could so there wouldn't be any unnecessary delays with the house sale. We thought we needed 8½x11-inch as well as the 8½x14-inch paper. Of course, the response I got from various shop owners was the same: "Mei you" (don't have it). Fortunately, the secretary at Eric's office was able to source the right paper for us.

We took the bundle to the U.S. Consulate, which has the citizen services in an office tower attached to a mall. Once there, you show your passport to the security guards who then point you past a long line of Chinese people waiting to be admitted to the consulate. Inside you walk through a metal detector and put your purse and pocket contents through an x-ray machine. It's much like the airport. You surrender your cell phone, camera, and PDA to the guard at the front desk. He puts your belongings into a cubby and hands you the key. You are then free to enter the U.S. citizen services room. This room is separate from the main waiting room where dozens of people sit waiting for a turn with the consulate. Once you're in the citizen services room, you take a number and wait. The wait wasn't long. We handed over our paperwork, which the woman behind the counter looked over and stamped in preparation for the notary. We sat back down briefly and returned when the notary was ready. We needed witnesses for a few of the documents so we got a couple of people waiting there to help. All in all quite easy. We bundled everything up later that afternoon and Fedexed it to America.

It's still raining today. It has been for much of the week. Today I went to the foreign languages bookstore. It was nice to sit amongst books in a language I could understand.

Post Office

I started this post a few days ago and then discovered that images from Flickr are being blocked. We've fixed a few things over here on this computer to accommodate. Such is daily life in China.

I was at the post office the other day. The post office is located down a leafy street near Best Buy.



We have gotten a couple of packages from America that get routed to the post office. The front desk calls to let us know that we have a pick up slip. I bring the slip and my passport to the post office and they will then release the package to me. Letters to America require 6RMB (.75 USD) of postage. The stamps here do not have glue already on them. Once you get your stamps, you go to these kiosks set in the middle of the post office floor. There are a couple of pots of glue and brushes for you to paste the stamps to your letters.



I stink at proper glue application. It's like being back in 3rd grade during art, except I don't have a smock to protect myself from the glue. Now I just carry a glue stick in my purse. Much easier. The post office does have a sink available. Probably for glue-impaired people like myself who gets glue all over the envelope, the counter, and herself.

The Day After the Vet

Thank goodness that the vet visit is only once a year. Yesterday I put the cat in the carrier and we took a taxi to the vet for his yearly check up and vaccinations. Vet visits are not Mugsy's favorite thing. He was yowling in his carrier all the way down the elevator. He quieted once we were in the taxi. Once at the vet, he refused to get out of his carrier so we gently dumped him out onto the exam table. He then commenced his growl-hiss noises while the vet tried to soothe him in German. The vet wasn't able to do a very thorough examination since he turned into demon-cat once we entered the examination room. She could, however, see his teeth quite well when he was growling. Mugsy tried to jump off the examining table several times. I managed to catch him before he could get far. The vet had to call in a second person and between the 3 of us, we managed to get his vaccination injection administered. Mugsy then jumped off the table and hid under a chair. He wouldn't budge or go in his carrier. The vet left the room to get a broom to shoo him back into his carrier. I moved the chair and grabbed Mugsy and stuffed his unwilling 10-lb self back into the carrier. His was the first appointment of the day. It wasn't much past 9am, but we were all a bit worn. I'm sure the vet was ready to call it a day after that.

I've got some scratches on the back of one of my hands. Mugsy's anger was escalating and he simply struck out at anyone who happened to even try to touch him. Once we got home, he was back to his normal self, a little spooked perhaps, but nothing like the possessed beast he had been.

Maybe next time I'll try carrying him in a plastic shopping bag.



I saw this woman when I was walking through the neighborhood around the South Bund Fabric Market. I did a double take because I wasn't sure if I had seen what I thought I had seen. Yes, it was a woman carrying a live cat in a plastic shopping bag. She was carrying the cat in her arms like a baby. The cat was quite placid. Where do people find these calm cats? I could never take Mugsy out like that. I have no idea why the cat was in a bag. I don't know enough Chinese to ask her or even to understand should she decide to share.

South Bund Fabric Market-Sort of

What did I do today? Not much. I went out to lunch with Eric's office ladies, Wu Jin and Penny. Yu Xiao Lin and Tina couldn't make it. We had a good visit over a delicious South China (Guangdong Province) meal consisting of soup, a dish of fish heads, a savory egg custard, and broccoli. I hadn't seen the women in a while so it was good to catch up.

After lunch, I went on to Carrefour to start buying ingredients for a dinner party we're invited to on Saturday. There will be about 16 people there and the dinner is potluck. I'm making garlic black bean ribs and I need to get enough ribs to go around. I bought about 2 kg today, which I put in the freezer. I'm going back to Carrefour again later this week to buy 2 kg more. I know how to say 'I want 4 kg' in Mandarin, but it doesn't seem to really matter since the butcher doesn't pay attention and just grabs a handful of ribs and tosses them at you.

Once I returned home, I simply sat around the house stretching my calf muscles. I had a massive walk yesterday and the day before. I need to study my Shanghai map and figure out exactly how far I walked.

Saturday I took the metro to Jing'An Temple. The temple is really old (as are many things in China) -- the original structure was built in 240 AD. It's undergone multiple restorations and it's undergoing one now.

'Jing'An' is Chinese for 'Tranquility and Peace.' Given that the temple is located on a busy intersection surrounded by skyscrapers and shopping centers, the name seems contradictory. Admission to the temple is 10 RMB (about 1 USD). Inside the temple are all sorts of tourists mixed with worshippers burning incense. In the center of the courtyard is a large metal urn (for lack of a better word).



As you can see, there were streams of banners hung on the metal urn and strung out to the eaves of the roofs. People were tossing coins into the big urn, which is much more difficult than it may seem. Upon entering the temple courtyard, you see two large rooms on either side, each housing a Buddha. One of the statutes is a female form of Buddha called the Goddess of Mercy. That's what is in the following picture.



From the temple, I took the metro on to People's Square. It was my intent to find the fabric market. I had studied a map and thought that I would like to attempt walking to the fabric market from People's Square. It would be a long walk, but still doable. If I got tired or lost, I could always hail a taxi. As I walked down Tibet Road, one of the main roads going north-south, I saw a lane filled with stalls selling every imaginable piece of Chinese kitsch you could think of and then some. I don't know if it has an 'official' name, but I refer to it as the Liuhekou Curio Lane.

(Yes, there's a lot of pictures in today's post. You should see the activity in my Flickr account lately. We got a new camera so I'm going wild with it.)




You know me. If there's something to sidetrack my attention, I'm all there.




There were stores behind the stalls selling yet more stuff. Statues, figurines, clocks, old coins, brushes, mahjong sets, Little Red Books, lanterns, birds, old photographs, dishes. I think that there even may have been a kitchen sink available for sale. I walked on some more before calling it a day and heading home. I was meeting the women from my American women's group for drinks and snacks. Husbands were invited and it was interesting to see who paired up with whom.

Sunday, I took a taxi to the fabric market (I didn't make it there on Saturday). After seeing where my taxi driver took me, I don't think I would have made it there.



The fabric market is a large building with 3 floors with fabric of all kinds and in all sorts of patterns. Not far in the distance was the Nanpu Bridge. Like most markets, the building is populated with many, many individual stalls. Each stall has clothing samples hanging outside and I believe that most are able to tailor clothes. I would like to get some blouses, perhaps a dress, and some pillow covers. I didn't buy anything. I couldn't decide what sort of blouse I wanted and I wasn't feeling all that inspired by any of the ready-mades I saw. I'll have to go buy a copy of Chinese Glamour or the like and find something to copy. I should also have Eric with me when I pick out material for pillow covers since my taste tends to be a bit too gaudy for him.

Leaving the fabric market, I decided to walk around before hailing a taxi home. Just up the street was a promising lane. I had seen one fabric market and now, had found another. Here the vendors were selling fabric out in the open under an awning.



I didn't see any of the fine silks that I saw in the other building, but everything else looked much the same. At the corner, I turned and walked on further. I bought something that seemed to be a fried egg patty. At least the main ingredients seemed to be egg and scallions. I got one fresh off the griddle for about 1-2 RMB. I bought a milk tea-tapioca ball drink further on. I walked down a narrow road where people were selling fruit, vegetables, and household goods from sheets spread out on the ground and men were offering tubs filled with bulk tea. Around them were crumbling buildings, rubbish heaped in piles 8 feet high, and children openly urinating in the streets. Tables were set out in the streets and men in pajamas played cards or drank tea.



Though the streets were narrow and filled with tables and people busy at various tasks, there were still mopeds, and even cars, edging through.

I must have been wandering these little streets for nearly 3 hours. I managed to find my way to a major street and then nearly had a heart attack. I saw the Pearl Tower and it seemed so close that I could have sworn I was on the other side of the river in Pudong. Using the Pearl Tower as a landmark, I walked towards it. After awhile, I realized that, remarkably, I had somehow managed to land on my feet. I was on Zhongshan 2 Road walking along the river and I found my way to the Bund. I was still in Puxi (whew!) and near People's Square metro station. I lingered at the Bund a bit before walking to a nearby deli to pick up a burrito and salsa for supper. I was quite tired by the time I got to the metro station and to home. Of course being tired didn't mean I went to bed at a decent hour. Eric is out of town and I typically keep odd hours when I'm home alone. No exception here. I got engrossed in a movie and didn't turn out the lights until 2am.

So now Monday is coming to a close. Eric comes home tomorrow. Mugsy goes to the vet on Wednesday. I go to mahjong on Friday. I just learned mahjong last Friday and I'm still studying the rule sheet. It's about 10p and my bed is screaming out to me.