But British Imperialism Tastes So Good!

Jan 20, 2006 – Zach
Tiffany and I traveled to Hong Kong for the weekend. My dad was on his way back from his annual Buddhist mecca to Thailand (you can see a 12 min. video of his trip at http://mindobserver.com/downloads/, which has both Quicktime and Real Player versions available), so we planned to meet him there.

What a shock to the senses! Hong Kong is so incredibly…. civilized. Or “civilised" as they would say in the Britspeak that pervades, even among the Chinese locals. Like an oasis in the desert, Tiffany and I were mesmerized by a whole population of Chinese that could actually understand us speak, and we eagerly drank in all the wonderful English with which they replied! Asking for directions? No problem! Ordering food? Didn’t have to point at a picture once!

No motorcycles racing down the sidewalk, no bicycles flying in front of your path, and NO SPITTING! Well, Tiffany and I just thought we were in heaven. The metro was well organized with many lines and stops, and passengers who didn’t storm each train as if it was the last one that would ever come again. Hong Kong seems much more dense than Shanghai, but is so much more efficient that it is quite easy to navigate.

Friday we got lost trying to meet up with my dad, and were happily asking everyone in sight for directions when we ran into him. Both of us were wandering around the wrong building!


Here’s a shot of what I thought was a decorative feature in the HSBC building, but is actually the real vault doorway to an escalator that goes down to the safety deposit boxes.








After meeting up, we walked around the streets of Hong Kong and finally settled on a restaurant for dinner that met our criteria: has customers, looks clean and looks cheap. Sure enough, the food was very good and inexpensive. But it tasted strangely familiar, and as we walked out of there we looked up and noticed the sign – Shanghainese food! So much for the authentic local experience…

Saturday we had dim sum at the IFC building, which is one of the newest and I think tallest skyscrapers in Hong Kong. After that we wandered around Harbour City mall for the afternoon. Hong Kong truly is a shopper’s paradise! The sheer volume of goods available was overwhelming, and unlike Shanghai, the quality actually appeared to be more substantial than the “should last a few months” standard to which we’ve become accustomed. The prices weren’t as cheap, but still we estimated that most things were 10-20% cheaper than the States. And they actually carried shoes in Tiffany’s size, so she was happy. (Here in Shanghai, they just laugh when she asks for her size.)

For dinner we fed one of our Western food cravings and visited Dan Ryan’s Chicago Steakhouse, where we inhaled a full side of baby back ribs, mashed potatoes, giant steamed broccoli, and a gooey, molten chocolate cake!

After dinner, fat and happy, Tiffany and I waddled over to a very hip joint called Aqua, located on the top floor of another skyscraper, and were treated to 360 degree nighttime views of the city. We met up with Tiffany’s friend Melissa (whom our faithful readers may remember, visited us in Shanghai last November) and her boyfriend Jim for a few fancy cocktails at this swanky bar. The closest to a genteel, classy bar of this caliber that I could think of in Shanghai was a place called Bar Rouge. Of course at Bar Rouge, the bartenders instill anarchy when they periodically light the bar on fire… Then they do the same to the deejay’s booth. And drunken patrons dance around the fire like crazed monkeys. It’s very Lord of the Flies… So come to think of it, they’re not really all that comparable.

Anyhoo, Sunday we had brunch at the venerable Peninsula Hotel, which is arguably the nicest (read: most wallet-thinning) hotel in Hong Kong. After that it was a boat tour of Victoria Harbor, a large water feature that dominates the Hong Kong geography. In fact, many people take the cross-harbor ferry to commute to work. What a great way to start each morning! While the ride is probably less than 15 minutes, you get a spectacular view of city skylines on both sides of the Harbor. And the water wasn’t rough, so it was also a very peaceful ride, with the boat bobbing and swaying in a gentle rhythm.

After the boat tour, we walked along the waterside, where Hong Kong has a Hollywood-type Walk of Fame, with stars commemorating Chinese actors. We walked to the Intercontinental Hotel, which has a great waterside location, and had big, fat burgers for our last Hong Kong meal of the weekend. If it sounds like all we did this weekend was stuff our faces, it’s because it’s true :O

All in all, it was great to visit with my dad, who was our first parental encounter since our Great Far East Adventure began. And oddly enough, by the end of the weekend, we started to miss our good ol’ Shanghai. With all of its daily insanities and frustrations, and all of its cultural idiosyncrasies that we may never understand, Shanghai has endeared itself to us in a way that I believe Hong Kong never could. The orderly, proper behavior of Hong Kong will never compare to the loud, unruly character of our adopted hometown.

Which is not to say that a return to Hong Kong isn’t in our future. I mean, there is still so much more shopping to be done…

A New Job, Same Old Cultural Faux Pas

As many of you know, I recently started a new job as marketing manager for Shanghai Centre. I have responsibilities ranging from managing our ad campaigns and planning events for our residents to sitting on my company’s official Bird Flu Committee and choosing apartment decorations and retail stores for our complex that appeal to western, particularly American, expatriate residents. Out of the 600+ staff, I am one of only 6 westerners, only two of which are American. Needless to say, a key theme of my job is ‘lost in translation’……………


A prime example of this is our company New Year’s party. Our party reminded me of a mix of...........






American Idol (lots of individuals getting up and singing poorly in front of the entire 600 people)












a kids’ birthday party (there were games where grown adults competed to see who could break baloons fastest)











a frat party (there were organized beer drinking contests)







and the lottery (there was a lucky draw where coveted prizes like humidifiers and electric toothbrushes were given away).






The party was in full swing when I managed to fall upon what Zach and I like to call a ‘blog-worthy’ moment. During what I thought was a request for volunteers to play the pin the nose on the drawing game, trying to be the good sport that I am, I enthusiastically volunteered. Since the entire event was conducted strictly in Chinese, it took me a while to realize I had mistakenly volunteered to sing a song of my choosing acappella in front of my entire company. This completely excited the crowd, as they were eager to hear my ‘American vocal stylings’ from the new girl. After I realized I was facing possibly one of my worst nightmares, I managed to recruit my Canadian boss be my back-up dancer and sang the only short song I could think of, Happy Birthday. The crowd had no idea what I was singing, they just knew it was English and seemed to be pleased with that. Needless to say, it will be a long time before I volunteer for any ‘company activities’ without fully understanding what I’m signing up for!

Concrete Jungle

Tiffany January 17, 2006

With 17 million people, 45,000 taxis, and over 4000 skyscrapers, Shanghai is urban to the core. While there are a surprisingly good amount of parks and green spaces throughout the city, people are not actually allowed to walk on the grass but are limited to the concrete paths set up along the perimeter. The grass is methodically policed by guards with whistles who will run towards you and signal distress if you even look like you might step on the grass. In addition to the police, groundskeepers ‘sweep’ the grass with brooms to keep it in order around the clock. Needless to say, Shanghai is not a place you visit to commune with nature, and the closest thing you'll see to an exotic animal is a blonde, blue-eyed american. Or so I thought...


Last week when I was taking a cab to work. I was looking out the window at all the people and shops when I saw 2 HUGE baboons walking down a crowded Shanghai sidewalk. They were being herded by a local Chinese man, and I’m not sure where they were going, as the zoo is an hour out of the city and the only circus in town is IKEA on the weekends. Thank goodness for rush hour traffic, as I was able to get a good look at them. I'm sure the owner was violating about a billion animal and health codes, but it was pretty amazing to see. It was truly an ‘only in Shanghai’ moment.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Happy Chinese New Year)

We are under attack! Large cannons boom in the distance, smaller detonations crackle in rapid fire nearby; explosions rock the night, and startle us incessantly.

Aaah, Chinese New Year approaches… From what Tiffany and I have been told, January 29th will be a day to behold. As the Chinese welcome in the Year of the Dog, it is important to scare away all the ghosts. And the one thing we all know about ghosts is that they hate LOUD NOISES! Here in Shanghai, it appears they will attempt to recreate World War II all in one day, just to make sure the ghosts really are gone. Actually, it is supposed to be a riotous celebration, and despite the fact that our other alternative was a beach in Malaysia (plane tickets were sold out), I think Tiffany and I will actually enjoy experiencing our first, full-fledged Chinese New Year’s right here in Shanghai. And by the sounds of things, if practice makes perfect, Shanghai’s cacophonous symphony will be a masterpiece!

Tiffany received a wonderful New Year's present for the 'Year of the Dog', a very cute stuffed dog from Rachel, her Chinese ex-coworker, along with a very comfy pair of slippers that I think I will be frequently “borrowing”. One of our favorite Chinese cultural practices is taking off one’s shoes upon entering the home. Most visitors will actually remove their shoes at the doorstep and maybe even leave their shoes outside the door, so as to make sure they don’t track any dirt/spit/noodles into your home. If you’ve ever seen the streets here in Shanghai, you’ll understand why we’re so grateful for this habit!

As for the calendar New Year’s, Tiffany and I were still enjoying Cali’s company. As well, three of Cali’s classmates from his Harvard MBA class were in Shanghai, in the middle of a 3-week trip through Asia. We were more than happy to chaperone them for New Year’s Eve, since they didn’t speak a lick of Chinese, and “three nice Jewish boys from Harvard” apparently doesn’t carry as much weight in China as it does in Manhattan. Besides, as Tiffany says, it’s refreshing and comforting to find someone even more helpless in China than us! So we relished our relative cultural superiority for the evening, going to a party at our friend Tara’s.

Tara and Cali, as it turns out, both attended Bowdoin College in Maine, and immediately bonded as fellow Polar Bears. After that, it was on to GuanDii, a fun dance club in Fuxing Park, which is pretty near our house. We danced ourselves silly with all the fervor and abandon that the last day of the year deserves, and bid 2005 adieu in proper fashion!

Up next - 2006! A brand-spanking new, clean slate of 365 days with which to fill with more adventures in China. Plans for the year include a weekend trip to Hong Kong in late January, the aforementioned Chinese New Year celebration, a few trips outside of China (or at least to other parts of China), and our first return trip to the U.S. (probably this summer). On our list of resolutions aka wish list: a new apartment (our lease ends in February), new inspirations for clothing at the fabric market, and a new, full-time job for me (I’m currently an intern, a title that ranks me slightly below the office cleaning ladies and slightly above dog poo.)

Shanghai Christmas 2005

And what a wonderful Christmas it was! Our first in China will certainly be one to remember. Of course we missed all of our friends and family back in the States, but luckily we had our good friend Cali Tran with us in Shanghai to help us celebrate.

Cali arrived on Friday, Dec. 23rd, and was immediately struck by a sensation of being caught in a “really, really big Chinatown!” but with much worse drivers. His observations helped Tiffany and I realize just how much we’ve adapted to life in Shanghai in our 4 months here.

Typical conversation:

(Cali, recoiling): “Omigod! Our cabbie almost hit those three kids!”
(Me): “Really? I didn’t notice…”
(Tiffany): “That was their fault for crossing in front of us; I mean really, who’s going to win in a game of car versus pedestrian?”

or,

(Cali, gagging): “Ack..ugh, eww… what is that awful smell??!?”
(Me, sniffing around): “What smell?”

Our big party was held Christmas Eve at our apartment. Cali and I busied ourselves with one of our favorite pastimes – cooking! Our guest list was as follows:

Me, Cali and Tiffany – The Hosts
Rachel, Stacey and Helen – Tiffany’s Chinese friends from her old job
Peter and Richard – Rachel and Helen’s boyfriends, respectively
Kevin and Vanessa – our friends from Abroad China (the program that set us up here in Shanghai)
Vivian – Rachel’s friend
Jan – Tiffany and my Chinese teacher (and Tiffany’s current language exchange partner)

Since most of our guests were Chinese locals, we had promised them an all-American menu. Tiffany prepared her famous appetizer dish – a layered dip comprised of shrimp, cocktail sauce and cream cheese. We laid out crackers to scoop it up, but they loved it so much they started eating it by itself!

Cali and I prepared steak, garlic mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese (with 3 types of cheese mixed in), broccoli, and banana bread. And Tiffany topped it off with homemade chocolate chip cookies. Oh, did we tell you? Tiffany and I bought a small oven (about the size of a large microwave)! Very exciting.

Anyway, we decked out the apartment in lights and our tiny Christmas tree with ornaments galore, candles all over and lots of garland and fake snow spray. Combine that with non-stop Christmas music and hot apple cider, and our Chinese friends were drowning in Christmas celebration! It almost feels like more of a Christmas when you have to explain everything to people. I guess since we’re used to celebrating it back home every year with people who’ve also celebrated Christmas their whole lives, it’s only natural that some of the “magic” fades. But when you’re trying to explain in simple English and broken Chinese what exactly is the purpose of the ornaments hanging from a fake Christmas tree and why exactly we hang Christmas stockings with care, well, it makes you think a little more. Not that I had any answers to their questions…

So it was a long and enjoyable dinner. We got to watch their faces as they tried exotic treats (mashed potatoes, oooh!) and fancy desserts (banana bread, aaahh!), we explained Christmas to them as best we knew how, and we all had fun getting to know each other better despite any language and cultural barriers. Now if that’s not holiday spirit, I don’t know what is!

There were sooo many pictures taken that I couldn’t possibly upload them all onto our blog. However, if you’d like to see more pictures from our Christmas party, you can do so by logging on to the following website:

www.kodakgallery.com
login name: tiffandzach2005@yahoo.com
password: tiffandzach