hanging out in Shanghai

The last few days have been fun- I've hung out with Tony (a co-worker) and his girlfriend Kelly.We all signed up at a gym nearby (Megafit) that has an outstanding deal of 14oo RMB (~$210) for the year! Classes, nice showers, lockers, new equipment... even boxing lessons? Anyway, with the winter months upon us, I need to this so I don't get a Beijing duck Belly! I also went to try out hot yoga at Kelly's studio. You know, attending the class made me think I was in San Francisco. The Israeli yogi, the half Caucasian/half Asian class, and upscale facilities... who knew that Shanghai could be just like Noe Valley??
I also got a case of the sniffles, probably because the little bit of sunshine in the morning fools me and plays hide and seek the rest of the day, causing me to be unprepared for the cold that inevitably happens as we tend to walk outside more than not. So on Nanjing Lu, a very... very busy place this weekend with most Chinese taking the new year's off, and there are sales all over the place, we went to a Chinese medicinal store. After talking to the "pharmacist" I got some medication that look like rabbit pellets. I'm supposed to take 5-10 at a time? Ah, what the heck. I've taken them a day now, and I'm not sprouting any antlers, and my sniffles aren't getting any worse.
Also, we went to see MeiLanFang, starring Miss Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger lady). I was so glad to see that the movie had subtitles! ... but they were in Chinese. (You may find this odd, but basically everyone can READ Chinese characters, but just pronounce them differently. i.e. if someone speaks Cantonese, and doesn't really understand Mandarin, they can read it to understand) I reluctantly went in, thinking I'd just admire the Peking Opera singing (riiight), but to my surprise, I understood quite a bit and got the movie. It's pretty darn good, and I'd recommend it! Maybe I'll go see some Beijing Opera here.