Jade Buddha Temple

Yesterday, we ventured to the Jade Buddha Temple, one of Shanghai's only active Buddhist monasteries.  The temple is famous for two large Buddha figures carved out of solid pieces of jade and transported to Shanghai from Burma. (No photographs are allowed of either, so you won't see them here.) Beyond those, highlights of our visit included witnessing a brief service and a lot of chanting by the monks who live there, being treated to a tea ceremony, and stopping in the on-site vegetarian restaurant. There, we ordered eggplant with vegetarian meat and spicy bean curd with mushrooms and peas. Yum. Definitely a contrast from the football festivities of the night before!

Here are some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41697057@N04/sets/72157622221611649/ - enjoy!

Football and beer

Lest you be concerned about us (er, Jeff) being cut off from some of our (his) favorite things while living here, we spent last night with some friends at the Park Tavern, where they had a good selection of Irish beers on tap and were airing a re-play of Thursday night's NFL opener. Jeff, though having had accidentally seen the final score ahead of time, was still very much in blissful suspense during most of the game.

 

This picture was taken inside, at the bar, but we spent most of the evening outside on the patio, where they were projecting the game onto a huge screen.

Three weeks, mail, and a teddy-bear bouquet

We've been here for three weeks today, though in some ways, it feels like much longer. We're both into the grove at work, and feel like we know our way around (at least our part of the city) reasonably well. To help it feel more like home, I'm excited to report that the postal system does indeed work here. We got our first pieces of mail on my birthday (perfect!) and have gotten more since. It seems to take about two weeks in this direction.

 

On a different note, today was Teacher's Day in China and one of Jeff's students celebrated by giving him a large teddy-bear bouquet (literally, a bouquet made of teddy bears.) Apartment decorations - check!

 

 

 

 

Qibao

Yesterday, we ventured out of Shanghai for the first time, to the ancient town of Qibao. (Admittedly, not that far outside of Shanghai, as it's still on the Metro line.) Qibao was built during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127.) Today, it is most famous for its large temple (where we enjoyed the sound of chanting monks); its canals, bridges, and gondolas; its small, winding streets filled with shops and food vendors; and, its crickets. The legend is that some of the best fighting crickets were en route to the Emperor when the cart carrying them crashed in Qibao, releasing the crickets who have been breeding there ever since. The crickets are used mostly for fighting (think boxing on a much smaller scale.) Though we weren't able to see any fights, we did visit the cricket museum to check out some "specimens." Here are some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41697057@N04/sets/72157622160509887/.

 

(We promise, we are working very hard during the week. I swear.)

Noodle shop dinner

On nights when we don't feel like cooking or traveling to (and paying for) a fancy-ish dinner, we head to one of several local noodle shops. They are everywhere, with several just a few minutes out our door. They're almost always small - just a few tables - with no frills, but with great, inexpensive (about a dollar or less for soup and an entree), and filling food.

 

Tonight, we tried this one on our way home. We ordered by pointing at what we wanted on the picture menu hanging on the wall and then the chef created the noodles from a ball of dough in a matter of seconds. Like almost all of the shops we've visited, there was a little kid hanging out - likely the child of one of the owners/workers. Tonight, we shared a plate of noodles with tomatoes and scrambled eggs - a common dish in Shanghai. Yum!

French Concession

Yesterday, we met up with a friend from college and her husband, both of whom who have been teaching at an international school in Shanghai for the past year. They had recommended a Yunnan Province-style restaurant called "Lost Heaven," which turned out to be incredible. (One of the most notable things was their signature cocktail, which had chili peppers, lime, and coconut in it. Wow!)

The restaurant is located in the French Concession, a four square-mile area of the city that was the colonial French settlement in the 18 and 1900's. Today, it is one of the more beautiful areas of the city, with wide, tree-lined streets, restaurants, bars, shops, parks, and a large arts district. We explored Fuxing Park, where locals were spending the afternoon dancing, playing games, and drinking tea; the Taikang Lu arts district, a maze of little alleyways filled with cafes and art galleries; and, some of the shopping on Huaihai Zhong Lu, which has almost every store you can imagine.

 

After dinner, we popped into the "Sooth Wind Massage" parlor, where we got 1-hour massages for about $9.00 each. As it turned out, though, the traditional Chinese massage was a little more painful than it was soothing. They found knots that neither one of us knew we had! Worth it for the experience, though.

 

Here are some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41697057@N04/sets/72157622136528845/ - enjoy!

Teachers' Day Banquet

Every year, to celebrate Teachers' Day (a Chinese holiday in September), our school puts on a banquet for all of its teachers. This year, there were 440 teachers attending, so the hall needed to be huge. (This picture doesn't quite do it justice - the foreign teachers were seated on the floor, in the back, so it's difficult to see the main seating area.) We were bussed out of the city to a large convention hall, where we had a multi-course meal. (I've attached a picture of the last bits of food - fruit signifies the end of a meal here.) Beyond food, we were also "treated" to several toasts and speeches and karaoke-like performances by all of the new Chinese teachers. Traditionally, all of the teachers are given a "prize" before leaving, too. In the past this has included pillow shams, cooking oil, and blankets. This year, we got bath products - shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. Maybe it was a hint?

One Thai-reffic birthday dinner!

Tonight, for Carrie's birthday, I took her and a bunch of our friends to the best Thai restaurant in Shanghai.  We took a cab into the French Concession and arrived at our destination safe and sound.  I had called the restaurant earlier and had them text me back their address in Chinese so I could tell the cab driver where to go. The restaurant was down a dark, yet "romantic" alley.  We ordered family-style dishes and were treated to some of the best food I have ever tasted.  Thai people know how to cook!  The evening was nice and relaxing with plenty of toasts and bad birthday singing for Carrie.  This weekend I plan to make up for my lack of gift giving by taking Carrie to Dragonfly…a "premium" massage parlor, and treat her to the works package.

 

P.S.  There was a parrot at the restaurant that said "Ni hao" and "good morning."  It just added a special memory to the whole evening.

All you can eat (and drink) Indian food!

To celebrate two fellow teachers' birthdays (yes, the day before mine), we went to a little restaurant tonight in the French Concession that offered an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Indian buffet for about $13 a person. Dangerous.

 

Here's a picture of the restaurant's dancer, who performed a couple of times while we were there. One of those times involved Jeff on the stage with him. You can imagine. Needless to say, an excellent time was had by all!

First day - check!

We survived the first day of school unscathed. It was good to finally meet our students and get a sense for what our classes will be like. Though some of my students seemed hesitant to participate, most of my 9th grade students lit up when talking about Harry Potter and the Twilight series (they were asked what they had read over the summer.) And, after asking them why English might be useful to learn, one student suggested, "so that we can talk to Ms. Henning-Smith."

Jeff reports that his students seemed suitably intimidated by him. Especially the 6th grader who'd run into him and fallen over before class.