Emptying the notebook

But it does have Wi-Fi, so I guess that’s OK. But then I started to wonder about how they would make Wi-Fi only available in the booth and didn’t that sort of defeat the purpose of Wi-Fi? Yes, I’m a geek.

This statue is on the way to my Chinese lessons. Just a fun statue to look at – there’s a companion statue on the other end of the street with the same girl on roller skates…

This is a wall planted with real flowers – the walkway for the Bund is on the top.

In my second trip back to Jing’an, the sun was shinging so the gold roof really made an impressive show. With the renovations going on, you really can’t get a good look at the roof, but I kind of liked this peek-a-boo shot here.

I went around Shanghai with one of the guys from Redmond this day – he said he felt a bit like he was my entourage for all the times that people would stare, talk, or ask for pictures…

This also was at the Shanghai Museum. The poem was about the flower, but I don’t remember exactly what…

This was in the Shanghai Museum. Reminded me of all the times I’ve played chess with dad and also that I need to play more chess with Noah. And Ketti.

I learned something about the traditional Chinese lions. If done ‘properly’ there is always a male and a female lion. The female will have a cub with her, just like this one does. And the male? He always has a toy, usually a ball.

So when I remembered noticing the little critter in the last picture, on my second trip back to Jing’an, I had to check out the other side. And sure enough, there’s a pair and the male has his toys. Typical. The woman is doing all the work while the man is out playing…

My grandfather’s mother used to make all their clothes and with the remaining scraps, she would make a quilt. Katie Quilts, we call them. This dress reminded me of those quilts. I hope the shop still has this when Ketti gets here and it fits…

Doesn’t show up very well in this picture, but this was a very bad traffic day. Most days, my total commute from the time I leave the apartment until I get to my desk is about 90 minutes. This day was almost double that.

And this was the cause…

And the infamous washing machine controls…

All signs point to???

Is this sign a commentary on Starbucks or a predictive statement?

While there are Starbuck’s here, Costa Coffee is more prevalent. One problem, though: They don’t open until 7:30 in the morning and I’m already on the bus by then. 🙁

Yes, and I tried it. And yes, it was quite tasty. They basically put sea salt onto the cream. Not enough to really make the coffee salty, but just enough to give the essence…

My salt coffee and a thing called a “Grand Caesar”. It’s ham, I think potato and who knows what else on top of a piece of bread. Not too bad. And the two of these together was only 15 yuan, or just under $2.50.

Since the coffee place opens late, and I couldn’t really make sense of the coffee machine at the office, I’ve been drinking more tea. There are always three pots of tea out. One green, one black, and this one of flowers and the red thingies that they keep telling me the name and I keep forgetting. But they’re supposed to be good for your eyesight, so I drink away – it’s kind of on the sweet side and very tasty.

I had to buy these for my apartment mostly to see if one, they do look like that (they do) and two, if they would be something the kids would eat when they got here (gonna have to do some selling, I think).

Yes, Yellow Tail is expensive enough in the grocery store that it gets anti-theft measures applied. Converts to just under $25 a bottle.

OK, so it’s not breaded and fried. And it’s octopus instead of squid. But it had an awesome spice mix that went on it that stayed on your lips just long enough to zing, but didn’t hang around too long… Yum!

…and live to be 99. That’s a Chinese proverb and is practiced by most people. After lunch, you’ll see large groups of people taking a stroll around the grounds. I’ve grown to like it.

Nice egocentric way to end the post. ’nuff said.