"Mmmmm... Beer." - Homer Simpson

Qingdao, Land of Beer!
Fresh streams of golden amber,
another round, please.

So we're temporarily unable to post picures along with our blog entries. Until that is remedied we will just have to dazzle you with our descriptive writing skills. In a pinch, I always revert to haiku... Hmm, ok that's not going to work. A better bet would be to check our posted pictures after reading this entry, which you can access by clicking along the right side of our blog page. It's titled something like "tiff and zach's photo stream", and then on the right hand side of that page click "Qingdao". This is also the direct link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiffandzach/ , after which you also click "Qingdao".


Tiff and I traveled north, to Qingdao two weekends ago, with our friends Marc and Meredith. Marc and Meredith actually went to Penn with me, and then we ran into them here in Shanghai, of all places. Meredith works for the U.S. Consulate which is also at the Shanghai Centre, so she and Tiffany had gotten a chance to know each other going to lunch together. Qingdao is only a little more than an hour flight from Shanghai, and this was the last weekend of their annual three week beer festival.

We knew the trip was going to be a good one when it started with a sign in the airport directing qualified passengers to relax in a special lounge. "Qualified" in this case meant "For the old, weak or pregnant." Chinese are nothing if not direct!

Qingdao is well known as a resort town in China, and we passed bus after bus crammed with Chinese tourists. It has a beautiful beach coastline that actually reminded me a little of Monterey. It's also known for it's hilly, tree-lined streets and European architecture. In China's history, various regions have been "conceded" to invading forces, and Qingdao was, in the early 1900's, a German concession. The ever-industrious Germans, needing a new home to celebrate Oktoberfest, quickly built a brewery in town, which has survived to this day, and now produces the world-renowned Tsingtao beer.

We got a chance to tour the brewery which was pretty interesting, and all weekend local residents and tourists were relaxing and drinking big bottles of Tsingtao along the beach and at outdoor sidewalk cafes and restaurants. We enjoyed our own dinner feast at a great restaurant where we got to pick out our seafood dishes, while they were still swimming around in their tanks! Crab season just starting and we had some great fresh crab. There was a particularly scary jar of snake liquor, I believe, on the bar, with a whole snake coiled up inside! Suffice to say, we stuck with beer.

The Germans also built a beautiful cathedral up in the hills that is visible all over town. The interior, however, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s and rebuilt by the Chinese in the 1970’s. Apparently the bold, slightly outlandish culture of the disco 70’s was not strictly limited to the US. The interior of the church reveals the wide variety of bright paint colors available to designers of the time. Marc also tells us the image of “God” appearing over Jesus in the main mural at the front of the church is borderline sacrilegious. It does sort of remind me of the irreverent Monty Python movie, “Search for the Holy Grail”…

Qingdao is also helping host the 2008 Olympics by holding all the sailing events in their newly built facility on the ocean. We are starting to see signs of the Olympics all over China, and Qingdao's Olympic sailing facility was a lot of fun to tour.

We also visited a castle residence built by the Germans with gorgeous ocean views. In a decidedly Chinese touch, there was a "Love Playgound", complete with a giant heart teeter totter, and faux wedding aisle built into the castle gardens. Of course they charged us extra to take pictures in the garden, but for 25 cents we just couldn't turn it down!

The rest of the time we spent strolling along the boardwalk taking in the sights and enjoying the salty ocean air. We walked by a picturesque spot overrun by brides and grooms taking dramatic wedding photos. Tiffany got stopped for a picture herself, which led to the picture taker wanting his turn, and then some passerbys also wanted to get in the action. All told, Tiffany stood patiently and smiled along for about 15 photo ops with random Chinese men! It was very funny how intrigued they were. Finally, like a true celebrity handler, I waved them off, as a bit of a throng was beginning to gather, and pulled her away from her crowd of admirers.

Next time, on the blog: A trip to Nanjing with Tiffany's co-workers! Chills and thrills as Tiff and Zach sit dumbfounded on a tour bus while everyone yells at each other in Chinese for a weekend.

Will Travel for Good Blogging Topics

We apologize for the delay in entries, but lately, we've been doing a lot of small weekend trips around China. This has increased our fodder for good blogging with lots of stories and photos, but has decreased the amount of time we've had to actually update the blog with quality entries. So to tide you over, be sure to check out some of our recent photos by clicking on on the 'Tiff and Zach's Photo Stream' under 'Links' to your right. You'll be able to take a peek at some of our recent adventures, which will supplement our forthcoming entries where we will include a few of these shots and plenty of 'peanut gallery-esque' comments. Most recently, we've taken trips to Nanjing, the old capital city, and Qingdao, a quaint seaside town that was once conceded to the Germans (which is apparent in the town's architecture and love of beer). We finally have a travel/guest free weekend coming up and will do our best to 'bring the funny' to our upcoming entries, but for now, enjoy the pictures!

New Year, New Look

It's hard to believe, but today marks our 1 year anniversary in Shanghai! To mark the occasion, we've given the blog a new look. Twelve months and 116 blog posts later, we're still as entertained as ever by our surroundings. Apparently, the culture and customs are rubbing off on us.....Case in point, recently, Zach thought it would be brilliant to wear our matching 'Black Eyed Peas Concert shirts out to dinner. It is extremely popular for couples to dress alike on purpose. There's even a Chinese term for it, 'qing lu shan', which literally translates to "emotions alike clothing". Our friends insisted we take a picture in front of one of the concert ads to fully document our 'qing lu shan' debut.

Manners and Other Musings

At the beginning of the month, I had the chance to go back to the US for the first time in almost one year. I spent a whirlwind week seeing as many family and friends as possible, spending time at our family’s lake cottage, and stocking up on all the wonderful food I miss back in China.


There were a few observations I had while I was home:

1. The air was so clean! I think the sky was blue every day I was home; unlike the questionable Shanghai gray we have the majority of the time.

2. Everything was so quiet! It was like I was wearing earplugs, even when my dad picked me up at O’Hare. There was no superfluous honking or piercing Shanghainese being thrown around.

3. The grocery stores seemed 50 times larger than I remembered! We shop in grocery stores that are equivalent to Walgreen’s in terms of square footage, so I found it extremely entertaining to just wander down the many aisles of Jewel and Target taking in all the products. The cleanliness of these stores was also impeccable. Our local grocery store has a cat that lives in the grocery store that loves to climb over the food.

4. People seem so friendly and polite! Of course, after living in China for 11 months, I've found the culture leaves a lot to be desired in terms of western manners (note previous blog references to pushing and spitting). I sneezed while in line at the gas station, and the cashier said ‘bless you’. I almost hugged him! There are no customs when it comes to excusing someone when they sneeze, so every time I say 'bless you' to one of my colleagues out of habit, I hear giggles from the peanut gallery. My Shanghainese assistant confessed that the office thought I was a religious zealot as they assumed I was religiously 'blessing' everyone from time to time.

5. Everything was extremely easy. I could read the labels at the grocery store, and when I had a question, I could understand 100% of the answer, as opposed to bits and pieces with my kindergarten level of mandarin. It was wonderful!

After a fun week spent relaxing at our lake cottage, taking a mini road trip with my best friend to Indiana University and her new home at the University of Illinois (we both decided the former is WAY better), hanging out in Flossmoor with family, and trying to eat every type of food I miss and can’t get in China, I was ready to get back to the chaos of Shanghai. Granted, life is a lot easier and more comfortable in the states, but the trip home made me realize I still have lots of adventures (not to mention a pretty cute partner in crime) waiting for me on the other side of the world.

Walk to Work with Tiffany

One of the benefits of my job is it’s a 20 minute walk from our apartment. While I do spend part of the walk looking at the ground to make sure I don’t step in any byproducts of the Chinese spitting custom, I try to make sure I pay attention to the myriad of things going on around me. I’ve managed to capture a few of these on film:

Across from my office, they have a senior citizen version of 'Mad Hot Ballroom' every day. It's great to see Chinese people do the rhumba in this heat. I don't know how they do it!








I was initially trying to get a picture of these smelly crawfish, but this patron was so excited I was taking his picture, he ended up being the subject. He was shocked and thrilled when I showed it to him on the digital camera.







Extremely popular this time of year is the sun umbrella. Ladies across the city protect their lily-white skin from unsightly, low-class tans. From a practical standpoint, though, it does keep you cooler with the mobile shade producer. Zach and I are wondering how hot it's going to have to get before we get our own his and her's umbrellas.....I have to say, we're getting close!








People always seem to be moving things in any way possible throughout the city. Whether it's dragging huge mounds of things by bike, or in this picture, baskets of fruits by crude yokes, things get moved! Thank god massages are so cheap here, those people's shoulders must be wrecked!








I always pass this man doing his exercises in the park. I have to give him props for his trendy adidas track pants and innovative workout moves!











China boasts an 86% literacy rate and it shows. The government posts all the major newspapers (including one in english print) at various places throughout the city. You can always find readers grouped around at any time of day.








In the past 12 months I've noticed the safety laws (as well as helmets, car seats, and seat belts) are.....non-existent in China. The no helmet, stand-up and look over the front of the motorbike method of getting your child to school is extremely popular in traffic-choked Shanghai. Something tells me Britney Spears should move to China, as the Chinese would be a lot more forgiving of her questionable parenting skills......











Without the burden of a pesky helmet, it's easy to stop for a cut and a shave at your local sidewalk barber!












I admit, I may have owned a plastic visor or two back in the eighties, but these full face ones freak me out. Granted, I'm sure they're great for blocking out the sun, air pollution and any stray spit that may come your way while whizzing through the Shanghai streets, but they still look pretty freaky!


All in all, I have to say the 40 minutes I spend walking to and from work are usually a highlight of my day. I am always guaranteed at least one or two 'only in China' sights or smells.........

Meanwhile, back in China...

Tiffany is out of town for the week, back home in Chicago, enjoying all the wonderful quiet and cleanliness that we have learned to appreciate from our time in China. In her absence, I thought I would just put together a few odds and ends for an entry.





China is no place for the claustrophobic, or those who fear crowds (known as "enochlophobia", I found out, but couldn't find the origin of that word. Enoch was a biblical character, but I didn' t read anything about his particular fear of crowds. Isn't the internet great?!)








And judging by this city model layout at the Shanghai Planning Museum, no one expects the crowds to lessen any time soon. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but basically the colored buildings already exist, while the white buildings are planned construction. It looked to me like about 60% of the model was built, and 40% were still to come.




Luckily, the Chinese are not "xenophobic" and have been very friendly and welcoming to us as strangers in their home country. Of course, along with that they are quite curious and practiced masters at the art of non-subtlety.

I know I've mentioned this before, but the Chinese are admirably open with their feelings, in the sense that they seem to be saying, "Hey, I'm curious. Of course I'm going to stare!" whereas in America that seems to have become a cultural faux pas and downright rude. But the Chinese don't mean any offense by it, and we (well, Tiffany really) have gotten sort of accustomed to it. Basically, it doesn't surprise us anymore, but it still makes us laugh.


Which isn't to say that sometimes we don't grow weary from all the crowds and staring and noisy surrounds. Sometimes we just want a timeout, a brief respite from the action, hide out from everybody and maybe take a quick nap.

And we are fortunate that China has essentially three weeks of national holidays, National (or Golden Week) holiday in October, Chinese New Year in February, and Labor Day in May. Last year we stuck around for National holiday and Chinese New Year, but now we know better. These holidays are the perfect chance to get out and see some of the sights of Asia. And if we can find a nice place to relax as well, all the better!


Let's see, what else? I had a few opportunities to meet some interesting people lately. One was Colin Powell, who spoke in Shanghai a few weeks ago. He seemed like a very nice man, and pretty down to earth for a general.









And then I attended a Wharton-sponsored event with the Undersecretary of Commerce, Frank Lavin, with Mark and Meredith, who are our friends here in Shanghai, and my classmates from Penn. The part of the speech that I remember was the US urging China to crack down on piracy, which made me think, "Ooh, I wonder when the new Pirates of the Caribbean will be available at our fake DVD store?" but then I realized Mr. Lavin was speaking about intellectual property rights and was actually trying to stop the widespread sale of fake DVD's... But honestly, I don't think I would know where to buy a DVD that wasn't illegally copied! It's not like there is Blockbuster down the street, or Netflix. (That's not an excuse, by the way, it's just the feeble justification we fake-goods loving expats like to counter with.)



Finally, here is a slightly disturbing find from our weekend trip to Sanya. It was in the closet. In case of fire, it is an air filtration mask, I believe. I suppose it is very practical and should be reassuring to have on hand, but that picture made me think of some sci-fi apocalyptic movie. The Chinese could really learn from Americans, I think, and remove that blunt honesty tendency in this case. I suggest replacing that picture with a Disney cartoon character, for a more G-rated, gentle image.


So that's it for now. I found some expats who play football (American with your hands, not European/Asian/everywhere else in the world with your feet), and went out for a few hours yesterday to run around. I am as a result sore beyond belief, and groan and make pained, complaining noises every time I sit down or get up, like an 80-year old man. (Signs You Are Getting Old #41.)

P.S. Oh, wait, I almost forgot. My sister, Lisa, was written up in the San Fran paper recently. I was just so proud, because I finally see the result of all my years of hard work being her older brother paying off ;) Here is the link to the article, and I am also proud to see that 5 of her 10 favorite local haunts are food places!

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/23/LVGS2K1CTK1.DTL&type=travelbayarea

It is strange to see her objectively as an adult and successful career woman. For some reason, I still think of her as my little sister...

T-30!!! (pronounced "tee three oh!")

Tiffany turned 30 on July 21st!

While I was mildly saddened by the loss of my "twenty-something" wife, we had lots of fun celebrating the big occasion, also known as T-30. It started with a weekend trip to Sanya, which is on the Chinese island of Hainan, in southern China.

Hainan is pretty much the only beach resort in China with year around pleasant weather and is sort of known as the Hawaii of China. The Chinese have a loooong way to go before they have Sanya as developed as Hawaii, but Tiffany and I thought we would go down and check it out for a weekend. It was the perfect recuperative/celebratory weekend.
We had an amazing room, beautiful weather and hung out by the pool, walked along the beach, and swam and read and ate and drank fuity cocktails poured into carved out coconuts.

Though you may not be able to read the sign on the right, it warns swimmers of jellyfish, and Tiffany wisely avoided a repeat of her Indonesia experience and stuck to the hotel pool.

Which wasn't altogether safe, as you can see from the waterslide pictures. Tiffany clearly had the edge on form here, while I basically re-lived a childhood nightmare of the time I almost drowned off a hotel waterslide in Hawaii.

We then returned to Shanghai to continue "Tiffany's Week O'Fun", although she actually claimed the entire month for her birthday celebration.

Tiffany's co-workers surprised her with flowers and a "watermelon" ice cream cake. That picture on the right is an ice cream cake cleverly designed as a watermelon. These Chinese are a creative lot, and this may go down in history right up there with gunpowder and noodles among famous Chinese inventions.

Thursday we went to the Blackeyed Peas concert, which was a blast. They are a very popular band and it was a ton of fun to see them live, as they just seemed to be having a genuinely good time up on stage performing. We got two t-shirts, which I made Tiffany wear with me the next weekend so that we could adapt to the local Chinese saying, "Qing lu shan", which is a term to describe a couple that dresses alike. Yes, it is so common here they have coined a term to describe it!

Friday we took the day off, and when I asked Tiffany where she would like to go for her birthday lunch, maybe the world renowned Jean-Georges, somewhere along the picturesque Bund or perhaps up to one of the breathtaking vistas in one of the hotel restaurants. Immediately she answered, "TGI Fridays!!" and once again, I knew I had picked the right wife. So after a momentous 30th birthday lunch of buffalo wings, mozzerella sticks and hamburgers, we went and got facials at a very nice spa (China price? $32 for 90 minutes.)

That evening we saw Lion King, which is showing now in Shanghai. Incredible costumes and sets! The creativity and skill of the actors is astounding as they are transformed into elephants, hyenas, giraffes and more.

That pretty much wraps it up for Tiffany's birthday! "Sheng ri kuai le!" as they say in Chinese