Amandrew (or Drewmanda)

You know how the tabloids and gossip rags are always giving couples one name? Like “Bennifer” (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) or “Brangelina” (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie)? My good friend and co-worker from Washington D.C., Andrew, and his wife, Amanda, came last week to China to visit Tiffany and me. Rather than referring to them separately throughout this entry, I figured I’d similarly anoint them with a single proper noun. But neither Amandrew nor Drewmanda really strikes that “US Weekly” chord with me.

Drewmanda's trip started as many of our previous Shanghai guests have, with a warm welcome from Francis. Francis is a 'Shanghai Gem', one of the few Shanghai drivers that A. Speaks english B. Understands the meaning of 'quality service'-read provides water for fatigued guests and a calm english music selection (Norah Jones) C. Does not at all stoplights to open the door and spit on the ground. As I said, he's a gem.



Once safely delivered to our house, Tiffany and I had them on a whirlwind tour of Shanghai while they were here. We walked our neighborhood and took them to see 'Fuxing Park', where they were so inspired by the ballroom dancers in the park, they decided to join in!







Next stop, the Fabmo (fabric market), where they picked up let’s see, 3 suits, 9 shirts and a blazer for a little more than $300. We then treated them to a comparison walk through first the old Shanghai neighborhoods, and then the new Xintiandi, a popular restoration of older Shanghai architecture, and then the classic Bund walk along Shanghai’s river.

We took the cheesy tourist underground train to see the Pearl TV Tower, caught the Shanghai acrobats show, ate a ton of good food, and of course, took them for massages after all that!

They were amazed to see all the craziness in first person after faithfully reading our blog entries over the past year. And Tiffany and I were proud to show off Shanghai and all its “unique” features and idiosyncrasies, from the variety of street food vendors throwing together wok-fuls of piping hot noodles and hawkers of fake goods taking us into hidden closets where the “good” fake stuff was, to the frightening web of pedestrian/bike/moped/ car/bus/truck traffic flying criss-cross and every direction and the bright neon lights emblazoning the buildings and highways to illuminate the city as the sun went down.

Random artistic shot of Tiffany at Tomorrow's Square (it's a JW Marriott building, not a Disney World exhibit):

And they were the first to participate in what Tiffany and I hope will be a successful new tradition. I’ve been complaining for months about how bare the walls are in our apartment and trying to figure out a way to spruce them up. We finally figured, why not make our guests work a little while they’re here, and help us decorate a bit. So our guest room will now be an open canvas for all future guests to leave their mark!