Uniform party and rainy day shots

I met up with Selena at Tai Kang Lu (a great art district) and bought a cool helmet to use with my fashionably local electric bike. Did I mention that it kind of screams "revolutionary helicopter helmet?" Coincidentally I was invited to a Uniform party that same day(!) so.. I went as a pilot with my new accessory. Very fun, I love costume parties. Great ice breakers! It turned out to pretty good- I can turn the ear holes on or off. Thus, I could ignore boring conversations if needed. Got a great picture with Emily and Jerry, who also decided sport revolutionary uniforms. Don't we just look like a great propaganda poster?

That day I also went to the Fabric market- 3 floors of little indoor stands that mostly make jackets, shirts, qi paos and other generic clothing. I'm a little skeptical of a shirt I had made- but we'll see when I pick it up on Thursday.

Also, it's been raining this weekend so here are a few fun shots. For some reason, I loved the kitty. And there's us at our IDEO ladies brunch (although we took this shot at a completely random place.) Oh, and I snapped a picture of these three stores in a row. I know that imitation of products is common, but imitations of store names... right next to each other? Come on now, lets get a Little more original!

A foreign tradition and local culture

My friend Rebecca has a family tradition that has passed down through the ages- Having an"Ice Cream for Breakfast Day." (can be anyway in Feb- this started 40 years ago) She invited me over and I brought along Thomas and Evan. We had a table full of toppings which ranged from wasabi peas to fermented tofu. I mainly stuck to the MMs. There definitely were some winners- crushed mint Lifesavers and Hawthorn candy. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, I'll have to carry on the tradition in SF when I get back.

This weekend I also visited the Shanghai museum. My coworker Kelly was in town, and Wendy joined us as well. It's a great museum but we only spent 2 hours there before we all wanted to grab lunch! We visited the top two floors that mainly had jade, furniture, name stamps, coins and calligraphy. Next time I'll check out the bronze. Also, I couldn't help but buy a useless kite in the shape of a large squid for $7. I will have to bust it out on the Marina someday.

Badminton and TangYuan (sweet dumplings)

So, yesterday was the final day of the Chinese new year. (yeah, I feel like it's been a long time too) With it came a whole bunch of fireworks, but also, tang yuan. Or, sweet dumpling soup. Eating tang yuan is a tradition on the last day of the new year and so this past weekend I decided to host a little party and invited some girlfriends over to try to make some. Selena brought some ingredients; we started with glutinous rice flour and mixed in some water which then makes it feels like play-dough. We then add red bean paste or sesame paste and roll it into a ball. After boiling you eat them in their soup. They are like soft hot mochi balls and are pretty filling. I still have a bunch left in my fridge so I hope there is another holiday soon so I can finish these, haha.

Also, I tried playing badminton for the first time! Wilson, a friend of mine, was a champ in the Bay area, so he taught me some pointers. I think I might just stick to tennis... I could hardly hit the birdie.

New Ride

Funny how one gets accustomed to an area in so short a time period. I've noticed that I've taken less pictures because I am finding things less out of the ordinary. I think I need to go back to the US to reset my perspective. Profuse spitting, dog crap all over the place, etc... not even a second look anymore.

Anyway, so I made a big purchase today. I've been wanting to get a bike for various reasons and set out today to buy one. However, there are so many to choose from. I decided I wanted an electric bike, one- they don't really have those in the US, two- during the hot season which will come faster than I know it, I won't want to be pedaling a lot, three- hey, it's close enough to a motorcycle but I can't go at top speeds (and shouldn't) with all these crazy Shanghai drivers.
I got one down to 1400 RMB which is about 200 USD. Now, its hard to get a decent used bike in the US for that much so buying a new electric bike was a pretty good deal. Check out my new ride below. It's got a removable battery, lights, pedals for when I want to pedal, horn, basket, lockable compartment, rack, and service anytime I need it. Not too shabby. I bought three locks as well. One to keep the battery on, one for the real wheel, and a longer one to tie to a post or something. I'm starting to look authentic people! well, maybe not with my helmet on.

Relatively speaking

So, Chinese new year is a time to visit family, pay respects to your ancestors, etc. And I didn't know it before I came out here, but I have relatives in Shanghai! My grandma grew up in Shanghai, but I guess I never asked about details. My aunt who lives in Seattle sent me a nice bday card a few weeks ago and included a photos of my great aunt/uncle and she said I should visit them.
So, last Friday (I went with Thomas from work who speaks Shanghainese just in case) we went to visit them, and they were only 10 minutes away. Well, a man opened the door and with a few questions and photos, I found out that he is my grandma's cousin. His brother was there as well. My great aunt and uncle, did I mention that they are 101 and 102 (!!!!) were sleeping. How very cool. He showed me an address book of all my relatives and low and behold, my parent's name and address were in there too. I went out for lunch with him and a few more relatives today, who were all born and raised in Shanghai.