Shanghai Sports

So besides Yao Ming and maybe the 16 year old gymnasts, China doesn't seem to hit the worldwide sports section often. Did you know that at an early age, scouts go around and pick the "good athletic kids" out and train and train them throughout their schoolage life to be primed for competitive sports?  There is not really a culture around young team sports, except in schools.

Sports is definitely a topic of interest to me so I've dabbled in a few to get some perspective.  I've played soccer, tennis and basketball out here, which I didn't do much of in the Bay Area.  I've also played ping pong, but we already know that is pretty popular here.  Overall, playing sports here is not that different- except for maybe lack of space, lack of women participation, and lack of "fancy athletic gear" that us Americans so love.

I played soccer with the local Steelcase team out here and they just play for fun during some weekends.  We always play on artificial turf as Shanghai is lacking in green pastures (nevertheless open spaces!)  Because of this space constraint, teams have to share a fields. (Once a team gets scored on, they get off the field and wait another turn.) Oh, did I mention that there were No Girls? They're allowed, but it's just not the norm.

We also play basketball with the office about twice a month.  We go to nearby courts and today we played 4 on 4.  I unfortunately jammed my pinkie and now it is black and blue.  drat! And I was going to check out the Ultimate Frisbee club today at noon. I guess that'll have to wait.

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More about bikes

So here are a few fun shots from various methods of transport I use daily. (okay, let's just stick to bikes). The first one is a fun one that Thomas took of me- I ride my electric scooter to work just about everyday. It's great because the office has a basement where I can charge it, and it's not So fast that I will lethally injure myself. I also get a kick out wearing my "helmet" every time as well.

I went on a bike ride with some friends this weekend around LuWan (the French Concession) and we saw some great neighborhoods. Biking is the best way to get to know (any) city, and in Shanghai once you know where the good bike streets are and you have a bit of courage to turn left with cars coming in every which way, you're set. We went thorugh a lot of alleyways and I need to retrace our route on a map so I start to memorize more street names. One memorable event was that I got a flat tire. Luckily right in one of the little alleys was a guy fixing bikes. Now, in the US, I'm sure that some guy would sell me an inner tube and also maybe $10 to change it. This guy saw it, just pulled out the tube (without taking the tire off), put it in a water bucket and found where the hole was and patched it. The whole thing took like 4 minutes and its was 3RMB. (40 cents)

The weather is already hot (well, the Chinese think this upper 80 degree weather is just "warm") so we went early to beat the heat. With the beginning of May this hot, I can only imagine what August is like! I do forget what seasons are, living in the Bay area for the past 5 years. I must say, it's nice to change up my wardrobe.

I see a lot of stray kitties around, and in my apartment complex basement, there were two kittens who were scampering around. Can you spot them?

Food, Folks, and beef jerky

I've been keeping track of some interesting food packaging and thought I'd write a post after opening a "Russian doll" creme candy today.














If you didn't already know, I have a big sweet tooth. While Maria from PA was in town, we went on a splurge for Chinese candies. I'm traveling in Guangzhou right now for some research on my project but decided to crack this open. Inside the plastic flow-wrap was a whole other roll wrapped in paper, and then upon opening that, I had to unwrap each individual piece. Maybe they want you to really appreciate this candy by all the work that goes into opening it!




























So here's another odd "first moment of truth" packaging example. I saw these on the shelf in the snack isle and first reaction; mmm! Sweet candies. ah..no. I can't read that much Chinese, but I knew these words. "很牛" literally means "Very Cow." Yeah, not that appetizing, but just so you know, that is also slang for "that rocks." So, actually it's a pretty good name. Its a beef jerky brand and they package the meat in little candy morsel pieces... a little surprising but hey, it's full of taste and spice so why not?














And here is a package of Lay's "Pringles." They are in a similar inner-foil tube, but once opened, you can pull out a tray with mini-chips. Or are they called crisps? It makes sense as there weren't as many crumbly ones at the very bottom. But alas, the little chips are probably too dainty for American tastes. Another "cute" thing to add to the Asian list.

Shanghai Retail

Shanghai is a city of many things, and shopping is definitely up there. I thought I'd show a few of the more "local" retail outlets and business outlets that I come across everyday.

Let's start off with this one. You'll see a lot of these- they are "wedding photo" shops. Specializing in taking photos of you and your fiance around town in their outfits, they pop up in these make-shift stores around town. People usually do this before their wedding day.

Speaking of make-shift stores, Shanghai (and maybe China) has a habit of setting up huge promotional stands in high traffic areas. Such as this: a Coca-Cola Light giveaway near a large mall.

Lots of entrepreneurial spirit here, and we're not talking about Facebook aps. There are a lot "cubbie stores" where they just rent out space that you fill up and they sell your stuff for you. You can arrange it however you want and the proceeds from what's sold from your cubby goes to you!

My nearby DVD store.

Not a great picture, but there are a lot of electronics markets which are floors and floors of electronics goods. I got my iphone fixed here.

So in this pic, you'll see someone selling oranges, street food, and clothes. I'd stick to the oranges.

Just a shot to show a little taste of what distribution system is like here. that's the next blog entry :)