Agony of Da' Feet

I've been suffering from plantar fascitis for several months now. Some days are better than others but it got so bad I finally had to stop running marathons (haha - just checking to see if you were paying attention). It started hurting more than normal after walking around Hong Kong a couple weeks ago. Since it already felt like someone was sticking a knife in the sole of my foot, I figured why not try sticking some pins in there? I've had three accupuncture treatments now and my foot hasn't felt this good in ages.

By the way, you should have seen what I had to go thru to get these pictures. The treatment also involves sticking needles in the palm of my right hand. I took the camera in and waited until the doctor left. Then I had to sit up and snap these pictures with all these pins bouncing around in my hand and foot, trying not to bump them into anything. And it's pitch black in there to make it more "relaxing." So here I am, in the dark with a dozen needles sticking in me, trying to take pictures left-handed. These are the things I put myself thru to bring you these fascinating stories.

Mmm...donuts.

Great. This is just what I needed to help me keep that New Year's Resolution to lose some weight. We got Dunkin' Donuts now. I'd heard they were opening a store in Shanghai but didn't give it much thought as there is always some kind of rumor going around about American companies setting up shop here. Kristi and I were out walking around downtown New Year's Day and just happened to wander across it, and of course we had to check it out.
















I haven't visited too many DD stores in the US but I can't imaginethey could be much better that this. The coffee was good, the donuts were fresh, and best of all it was clean, which you don't always get here. Of course, they had to change a few things to cater to the taste of the Chinese. Check out the green tea crullers on the far left of the middle rack. I doubt those would sell too well in the States.

Seeing Our Neighborhood at 265MPH

We rode Shanghai's fast train -the Maglev- to the airport last week. Video can be found here.

Maglev is short for "magnetic levitation." Basically a series of electromagnets on the rails and on the train cars act to lift the cars off the rails by about 1/2 inch. The train actually rides on air, making it smooth, quiet, and very fast. The speed peaks out at 430 kilometers per hour, or about 265 mph. Unfortunately at present, the train doesn't really go anywhere. It runs between a station near our apartment and the Pudong airport, covering 20 miles in about 7 minutes. It stays at top speed for only a minute before it starts braking to enter the station.

There are rumors that the line will eventually be extended to the Hongqiao airport on the west side of the city, and then on to other cities in China. However, there's also another rumor that building the rails for this costs $60 million per kilometer, so I doubt we'll see any expansion for a while.

Here are some links where you can find more information about this train and maglev technology.
http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20030809_pudong_airport_maglev_in_depth.htm
http://www.smtdc.com/en/index.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train
http://science.howstuffworks.com/maglev-train.htm

Santa on Vacation

Where does Santa Claus go to unwind after the holidays?

Hong Kong.

Changing Things Up a Little

I've been playing around here with the layout, trying to reduce some of the clutter and making things a little more straightforward. I got rid of some of the widgets and gadgets and set it to display only one post per page.

I also made a change to the way comments are handled. Now the comment form is embedded in each post. If you want to add a comment, you no longer have to go to a separate page. I also set it to allow you to comment anonymously so put a name or something in the comment so I know who it's from. Your comments may not display immediately. All comments are emailed to me and I have to approve them before they're posted. I don't like doing this but feel like I have to. I've had a few morons with nothing better to do try to add some profane comments. If this extra step makes it too much of a hassle, let me know and I'll consider turning it off.

All these changes are intended to make your experience here a little more pleasant and hopefully to make it more interactive. I sometimes feel like I'm working in a vacuum here, not knowing if anyone is actually reading this drivel. I would love to hear what you guys think and maybe even strike up a few conversations amongst yourselves.

This is a work in progress so let me know if something is not functioning properly. It's a bit of a hassle administering this site from overseas. While the Internet is opening up more all the time, there are still a lot of sites that are restricted. Unfortunately, the site where I make all the layout changes is one of them so I can only access it from my office, not from my apartment.

So check back here often and don't be surprised if things change again. Feel free to yell at me if any of these "improvements" end up making things worse. And if you know of any enhancements that you would like to see, please send them my way. Thanks.

Update: OK, I don't know what's going on now. For some unknown reason, after making these changes to how comments are handled, now the link for comments doesn't appear on this post. I have no idea. At least it shows up on all the older posts.

I'm Lazy

I'm too lazy to write anything so I'll just keep posting pictures here for the time being. Hope you enjoy them.

That's Gotta Be Refreshing.

Imported from Japan. Apparently they'll drink anything over there.

Uhh...No Thanks.

Not sure what this is. It was on the shelves with the drink powders, like Tang and Crystal Light.

Dang!!! That's Expensive. Part 3

At these prices, you bet your ass it's going to be good to the last drop.

99RMB = $14.50

Believe it or not, this is actually pretty cheap. Last year, this cost around 180RMB.

So far, between our trips back to the US and the visitors we've had, we've been able to avoid buying too much of this. So if you're planning to come see us, throw a couple cans of coffee in your suitcase.

Mmm....Fish Heads

Got rice?

The heads cost about 30RMB - around $4. Those packages of nice salmon fillets next to them...11RMB. Crazy.

Mmm....Carp

If this doesn't make you hungry, there must be something wrong with you.

Unfortunately, this picture can't convey the stench of the nearby pile of "jellyfish slices."

Dang!!! That's Expensive. Part 2

107.80RMB = $15.75
At that price, it should be Extra-Special K.

Dang!!! That's Expensive. Part 1

This is a Christmas tree for sale at a nearby grocery store. 598RMB = $87. I don't know if that price includes all those nice ornaments or not. Unfortunately, some dumb foreigner will probably buy it.

Shanghai World Financial Center

As Karen Carpenter sang, "I'm on the top of the world, looking down on creation..." You remember Karen Carpenter? Skinny girl, big hair.

The newest must-see sight in Shanghai is the World Financial Center. Topping out at 492 meters (that's a little over 1600 feet for us Americans), the building finally opened a few months ago. It's the second tallest building in the world and it didn't cheat by putting some big spike on top like most other skyscrapers do. The building has observation decks on the 94th, 97th, and 100th floors. The admission price (150RMB, or about $22)is pretty steep, especially by Chinese standards, but people have been willing to stand in line for hours to get in. We've been wanting to go ourselves but had decided to wait until Mom and Dad came for a visit in October. Unfortunately, it's difficult to really plan ahead for this as you have to wait to see what the weather conditions will be on any given day. Some days it's so foggy and smoggy that you can't even see the top forty floors of the building. Luckily, the SWFC is only a few blocks from my office so it was easy for me to run out at lunchtime and meet Kristi and the folks there when we finally had a clear day. At least it was a clear day for Shanghai - as you'll see in the pictures, the view was still pretty restricted by the haze.

Follow this link to the pictures.

BSU Family Weekend

As I mentioned earlier, we abandoned Mom and Dad while they were here visiting and made a quick trip back to the States to see Kate. We were feeling guilty that she didn't have anyone to come see her for Family Weekend so we cashed in some frequent flier miles and surprised her. We had a great time seeing Kate and meeting her new friends and seeing her campus life. The trip also made us aware of some of the things we miss, like the colors of fall, football games, breakfast at Bob Evans (free coffee refills!!), and of course Kate. It was a whirlwind trip. We arrived in Indianapolis Thursday evening and left Monday morning. The only good part of such a short trip is that we weren't there long enough to really suffer much jet lag. Here are some pictures from that weekend. And yes, it was every bit as cold as it looks.

Viva Zapatas

Zapata's Mexican restaurant is located in an old part of the city known as the French Concession . Yeah, I know - Mexican, French, Chinese...it gets confusing sometimes. Anyhow, Zapata's is the place where a lot of expats hang out. There's a restaurant on one side and a big indoor/outdoor bar on the other. The restaurant is known for serving below average food at above average prices. The bar, on the other hand, is known for serving up prostitutes. For years, it has been well-known that Zapata's is the place to go to meet some friendly Shanghai girls. I guess they're trying to lose that reputation as they now have this sign posted outside.

Who Would Have Thought They Had Hockey In China?

We got free tickets thru the school so yesterday we drove to the far side of Shanghai to see China's only professional hockey team play. The team is associated somehow with the San Jose Sharks so they had a few non-Asians on the roster but it was mostly Chinese players.
This being my first hockey game, I have no idea if it was good or not but we had fun anyway. These teams play in the Asia League with all the teams being from China, Japan or South Korea. The league is home to such hockey powerhouses as the Nikko Ice Bucks, the Nippon Paper Cranes, the High1 (that's it...High1), and my personal favorite - the Seibu Prince Rabbits. As usual something is probably lost in translation.
Pictures here.

I Don't Know What to Say

I tried cominig up with something witty to say about this but I've got nothing. Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in all parts of the world. It's pretty much just another day here. Some of the western restaurants serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night but that's about it.

So we're going to have our Thanksgiving holiday today. We got up early and went to church and now Kristi is in the kitchen trying to get everything cooked in our tiny little Chinese oven. I'm serving as designated dishwasher, trying to keep the mess to a minimum while typing this with dishpan hands.

It stinks that Kate won't be here with us but we'll see her in about three weeks when she comes in for Christmas. In the meantime, we're thankful for all the friends and family back home who stop by here to read all my stupid stories. It's great to know that people care about us and that we're not forgotten. We love the comments and the emails and don't even mind when you forget about the time difference and call in the middle of the night. Thanks for everything.

Playing Catch-up Again

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything here. It's not from lack of having things to write about. It's just been a little chaotic here lately. Kristi has started taking some online classes. She is also started substitute teaching occasionally at Emily's school and she teaches English a couple hours a week at a migrant school near our neighborhood (See the bottom of this post for more on this). As for me, work is crazy-busy right now as we wrap up the design phase of this project and move towards construction. Sometime after the first of the year, part of my job will move from Shanghai to the plant site. I'll spend 2-3 days a week there and 2-3 days in Shanghai.

Mom and Dad came for a visit in late-October and stayed for about four weeks. We had a great time hanging out with them and it was a blast watching them deal with the culture shock. It made us stop and think about the things that we have become so accustomed to that we don't even notice them now. While they were here, we revisited some of the old sights and took in some new ones. Kristi and I even skipped town for a weekend and went back to the States to visit Kate at Ball State.

I have pictures of all this and will get them posted over the next couple of weeks so bear with us, be patient, and keep checking back here.

(Just a quick side note here - many of the construction workers in Shanghai are from other parts of China. Most leave their families back home and get to see them only a couple of times a year but some of these migrant workers choose to bring their families with them. Unfortunately, the public schools in Shanghai are reserved for those who were born here so the migrant children aren't allowed to attend. They have to attend these separate schools that have practically no resources. About 50 kids per class. No heat, no library, no notebooks or paper.)