Homeward Bound... for a few days

On my way back from Brazil, I stopped in the Bay Area for a few days to do some work and catch up with some more friends. Eli and I went to the Exploratorium and got tickets to the Tactile dome... which wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Still fun nonetheless, just that it looked (and smelled) like it was made in the 70's!

Included below is a picture of a (huge!) Kinder Egg from Brazil. (Blackberry included for scale) For Easter in Brazil, and I recall from last year's trip to Argentina as well, they have large chocolate eggs of various brands, sometimes hanging from up above in grocery stores like bats!
Also below, Eli playing with the Exploratorium exhibit, and the tulips are blooming which we see them from the kitchen window.

Brazil Bash

Okay, so I am here doing research for work, but I've had a little bit of time to have some fun. We were around Sao Paulo for a bit (in a city called Campinas) doing in home interviews and other design research, but unfortunately didn't get to do much in city. After a few days we flew to Recife up in the north, and just happened to stumble upon the 472 anniversary party of that city. The Carnaval decorations were still up as well! There was dancing, eating, music... the cake is shown below, people lined up for hours to get a bite! It was one of the best cakes I've eaten, plus I was starving. Our hotel is right next to the beach too. Here are a few fun shots and video. I love the high tech/low tech coconut water cooler!

Flying through SF to Brazil

Sorry to have taken a blog break, a project I’m leading came together at the last minute and bam, gotta get tickets to Brazil for research! I flew through San Francisco first for a few days to be with Eli and had to pick up my passport as well. You might be asking, but don’t you need that to have that while traveling from China to San Francisco??

So I have TWO American passports that are valid at the same time. Yes. Weird. So, there is a strange loophole in the passport system which allows you to have more than one passport for visa reasons. Let’s say I needed to fly to Brazil and then to India, and Brazil takes 10 days, and India takes 5 days, and I just found out yesterday about this trip… well you get the point. It was amazing to see Eli and got to catch up with Alice and Dave too!

IDEO Annual Party

So our annual party was a little late this year (last Friday) and the whole office went out for dinner and KTV. We also got to do "secret santa" and everyone could choose a gift around 50USD. After writing what you wanted on a card, we drew cards. I wanted cooking lessons, and the card I drew wanted a folding bike! for $50? I went on a quest and actually found a new one for $45. Okay, so it was a bit heavy and had misspelled words, but I rode it home and it was great! (you can see it in the photo- it was Henry's) Only in China.

So in the photo below you can see everyone in the IDEO Shanghai office. Tom Kelly also made it by too; it was so nice to have him in the office as he told some great stories about how IDEO started. There are a few significant others sprinkled in there, but in all we have about 29 people I think? We are hiring a few more, so I'll have to photoshop them in later.

Chengdu and Pandas!

This weekend I went with friends Evan, Thomas, Grace, and Wilson to Chengdu! I initiated the trip because I have a big soft spot for Pandas. I had heard that you could hug one, and I was sold. We left at 8:30 am and got in around noon. Chengdu is in the Sichuan province-they are known for their spicy food! We stayed at the Haiyatt (yes- that is spelled correctly :) and in the afternoon we visited a famous poet, Dufu's, residence. We also went to a crafty street, Jingli, and it was so inspiring! There was everything from blown candy to calligraphy and ancient arrow shooting. After grabbing a quick bite at the local stands we made it to a variety show of sorts whose main attraction was the "bian lian" (changing masks) show. During the show, they dance and perform, and all of a sudden, their faces switch masks, without any hands. Very fun, and I'm still thinking about how they do it and resisting to look it up on Wikipedia.

The next day we hired a driver who drove us to the Chengdu Panda Research Center. They help breed and raise pandas. So hugging a panda for all of 2 minutes was over $100 but hey, you only live once. It was sooo cute. It isn't too heavy, and surprisingly the fur is not as fluffy as you might think. It's kind of oily. They had us wear these blue suits and gloves to protect the cub, and our clothes! To keep the little guy occupied, we gave him a small bamboo stick with honey on it. He was a little squirmy but so adorable. After that we walked around and saw pandas of various ages. In the nursury you could see all the cubs playing with each other. I might see if I can volunteer there! Afterwards, we drove to lunch and then went to a local teahouse- its a local tradition and people play mahjang and poker. I learned to play mahjang for the first time. I highly recommend Chengdu!

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.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wow, there just seems to be a lot going on right now... come Feb, I'm afraid my blog will get boring! So Chinese new year was today- it's a little like the 12 days of Christmas in that it lasts 15 days and at the end is Yuan Xiao Jie. We'll get into that later. So basically everyone takes the week off and almost all shops close. Two days ago I hung out with a few new friends and in addition to some fun board games, we bought firecrackers and set them off. (Everyone sets off fireworks on New years eve and the day of, so we were just a tad early). Some photos and video below. I had never lit a firecracker since it's so illegal in the US, and your parents scare you so much that you fear that looking at a firecracker stick might cause you to go blind. It was pretty fun! Now, there isn't a big display at the wharf or anything like 4th of July in the states- its more of a local thing. Each family, neighborhood, routy kids, etc. sets off their own. I live on the 9th floor and have a neighborhood right behind me. It's kind of fun as I can see the ground fireworks as well as those that shoot in to the sky. I don't know my firecracker trivia, so don't test me on what each of those are called! But just to reiterate, it's really crazy how many fireworks go off... it sounds like a war zone and there really isn't any regulation.

Yesterday, new year's eve, Wendy and I met up at Longhua temple, a Buddhist temple. It was 300yuan to get in which I think was ridiculous so we just stayed outside. However, that was just as interesting. Hundreds of people gathered to pray and burn incense... and there were firecrackers, and the temple had a bell that rang every 8 seconds. It was pretty intense. It was like sitting in the airport smoking lounge, in a war zone, with policemen, firemen, people praying, selling things, shoving, pushing, lining up to get into the temple, all at once.

Barack and my birthday

ok, so I'm ethnically Chinese and livin' in China and all, but I'm of course a total American patriot! Who isn't these days with Barack in office? So I started looking for an Obama party early on- and found a place, the Glamour bar on the Bund as a good place to hang. Now, Obama's inauguration started at 12 noon EST, and that's about 1am our time. (on the 21st) There were about 600 people at this bar and I met up with a few folks there. Stupid me, I dressed "American" with my baseball cap and red and white gear...but this was definitely a bar, and so shed my hat early on. Very cool to be an American overseas and watch the whole ceremony and his speech. Really interesting perspective with my current "global citizen" state right now and seeing the US from afar. I get a lot of questions about "why the Americans do such and such."

Ah, so my birthday was today too. Nice to have a new president as a gift. At work, we went out for noodles as that's a tradition on someone's birthday. If the place had served it, I would have gotten the "Long Life" noodles- which is just one big long noodle. haha. At work, they got me a cake, and I went out with some friends to karaoke (!) afterwards. Ah, KTV as they affectionately call it. We went to this place that is literally three floors of individual rooms for KTV. and there's a dinner buffet included. it was petty nice- I think there's an opportunity here for the US. Maybe WiiTV, or RockBandTV? anyone anyone?

good times. Although I must say, this year I'm not as eager to celebrate the bday in any big grand fashion. Must be getting older!