Run away from the naked American

This weekend, I had a reminder of a funny situation that I was involved with a few months ago.

Earlier this winter I was using our clubhouse’s sauna. I usually prefer the steam room but it had been broken for several months (but that is a different story for a different time). I, unlike many of the natives, prefer to wear a swimsuit when I am in the sauna or steam room. This particular day, I was just relaxing in the sauna trying to get it really hot. I was standing by the coals pouring water on them to generate the dry heat. I was alone in the sauna. Both the sauna and the showers are in a separate space from the lockers. I heard a knock on the outside of the locker room door and a lady’s voice asking if anyone was in the locker room (loosely translated from Chinese). I realized it was the ayi (ayi’s do the cleaning) coming in to dump the waste baskets and mop the floor. Well, I didn’t respond because I was in the separate room and I was wearing shorts. About 20 seconds later she enters the sauna area and she sees me in the sauna. She said something in embarrassment and quickly departed the locker room. And I do mean quickly, she physically ran from the locker room. I laughed to myself and thought that Management must have instructed her to never be in the room when guests are present.

Now fast forward 20 minutes. I have alternated between the sauna and the hot tub. Very relaxing! By this time, there is now an Asian man – naked – in the sauna with me. He leaves the sauna and is standing in the room cooling off – again naked. About this time the ayi has entered the locker room to complete her task that she tried earlier. She probably assumed that I would be gone by now. Anyway, she walks into the sauna room where I am in the sauna and the Asian man is still standing – still naked. Now, instead of shrieking and running from the locker room due to the presence of a guest, she stands there and has about a 5 minute conversation with the man who just stand there bare-butt naked without even a towel.

It was so odd or I should say, their behavior was so odd. She sees the American (dressed) and runs. She sees the Asian (naked) and stops and has a conversation.

I now assume that she has been instructed not be around a Westerner in this type of situation. As far as the Asian, standing there naked in front of an ayi is no problem but I guarantee you that if it was a person of a higher class than an ayi then he would have run or covered up.

People kind of get use to having the ayis being around in the most personal situations. At work, we have female ayis who practically live in the restrooms cleaning. At first, I was very reluctant to use the facilities when they were present. Now, it is no issue to be using the urinal while the ayi cleans the next urinal over. I have even gotten to a point where I have simple conversations with them in Chinese while I am using the urinal.

I think I have graduated and am ready to try a bath house.

Girl's Night Out

Last night was the Daddy Daughter Dance for girl scouts, so I had a free pass to go out. Four of us decided to head down to the Promenade on Pudong side of the river. We went to Binjiang 1 and had a wonderful meal and good New Zealand Pinot Noir. For the first time in several weeks, it turned out to be a clear night. So we enjoyed the view of the river and all of the boat traffic moving around in the water.

After our fantastic dinner we headed over the Shanghai World Financial Center, the 2nd tallest building in the world. it was my first visit there and I must admit that I was a bit underwhelmed. Our plan was to go up to the bar area on the 93 floor. The bar is a part of the Park Hyatt, which occupies most of the top floors of the building, not sure how many. The entrance to building, which is adjacent to the entrance for the observation tower, is very nondescript. In fact, it was difficult to know if we were going the right way. Of course the two bottles of wine at dinner could have attributed to that problem. But the whole is building is ultra modern, which apparently translates to "make it difficult for simple folk to find us". But we did find an elevator, which took us to the 91 floor, where the hotel check-in is. From there we took another elevator which went to the 92 floor and headed to the Century 100 Bar. However, there was a 400RMB/person charge for a table at a window. What a crock! We decided the view from the bar was OK for us. There was a band playing, so it seemed like it would be fun. Unfortunately it appeared the band was some reject from the US, with the female singer singing rock songs like they were Jazz standards. I do not usually associate The Police "Every step you take" as a normal Jazz song. The crowd was an interesting mix of traveling business men and rich Chinese couples out for a drink and some live music. Oh, and us! While we were sitting at the bar we noticed some crazy tall drink glasses which seemed out of place in such a nice place. Would have more at home at a bar with "Yard of Beer" night. We stayed until 11 so we could get our free drink which they served us in the crazy tall glass. It was a strawberry something and very tasty. Even better was that it was free. Plus the bar tender told us to come back on ladies night when the drinks are more affordable!

After our drinks, we decided to head home. At the main entry, we had to mess with the strange sculpture that decorated the wall near the elevators. Three things reaching out from the wall was too funny for us to take a usual picture. Yes, that is me giving one a kiss on the head. Weird...

But we had a lot of laughs and as always, it is good to have lots of girl talk. So, until the next night away, I toast Kathy, Kathy, and Angie with a big "I love you guys..."

Natalie Loses Her First Tooth

Well, it finally happened. Natalie's loose tooth came out today at school. She got bumped in the mouth by another student and VOILA it fell out! It surprised me today when my cell phone rang at 5:02. She had brownies after school and she is usually not home on brownie day until 5:20. She had rushed home to tell me about some good news and bad news. The good news was that she had lost her tooth. The bad news was that she had lost it! Somewhere along the way, she had misplaced it and it did not make it home. But, she had a plan! She was going to write a letter to the tooth fairy and explain what happened. She was calling to tell me that I HAD to print it for as soon as I got home! Funny little girl.

When I got home around 6.30, she had written the note already. I guess she had decided she couldn't trust the computer! Dad had printed a couple of the pictures that I have added here. She placed the note and the pictures upstairs on her nightstand along with her Tooth Fairy box (she got this special box from the Tooth Fairy when she was born so that she did not have to put teeth under her pillow!). We placed a teeny tiny note in the box to direct the Tooth Fairy to the note which explains why there is not tooth tonight! Lots of work for a bit of money!

She and I talked about how losing a tooth is "bittersweet" for a parent. Her Gammaw explained the "bittersweet" concept this summer to her. So she understands that while it was her "best thing" of the day, it was both my "best thing" and my "worst thing". Because it means she is in fact growing up. She looks so grown-up with the tooth missing!

Well, I better go and see of the Tooth Fairy made it here already...

Natalie's Basketball Experience - Early Season

Natalie is playing in a basketball league this winter. She is a member of the Nuggets and wearing #3. There are only a few girls in this league and Natalie is youngest and smallest on her team. But, we are just proud to have her out there. Up to now they have played 4 games, won 3 and lost 1.

She has only taken about 4 practice shots, and then only because the coach made her. She prefers to dribble and stays away from the ball if possible. She likes to spend most of her hiding behind her team mates. But we are really proud of how she goes out there and plays.

There are huge differences in the levels of play, even at this level. There are some kids that clearly have been playing for a while. They can dribble and shoot into the basket, even at the regular height. And there are a few who appear to not have touched the ball much.

And just like any other kids league in any other part of the world, we have parents who appear to be extra involved with their child's playing ability. It seems especially emphasized by the international mix of kids.

Anyway, enjoy the clips. And we placed a few videos out on You Tube. More to come as the season progresses...

New Zealand and Australia Vacation Highlights

On January 16, 2009, we left Shanghai for a 15 day vacation. We took a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. And it was a great vacation!!! We all agreed that it was our best family vacation we ever had! I have placed some of the picture we took out on Picasa, just a few of the 4 Gig worth of pics I think I took!

But we started the trip with a bit of excitement. When we got to the Pudong airport to fly out 2 1/2 hours before our flight was to leave, we unloaded all of our bags and got ready to head in. But a quick count resulted in the identification that we had in fact arrived one bag short! We packed 5 bags and only brought one. Oops. And yes, we did consider just going without it. Unfortunately it was my bag we forgot. Probably the most expensive and complicated to replace. Luckily I stopped the driver before he pulled away. We quickly decided Tom should go back, get it, and haul his behind back to the airport. So he jumped in and the driver drove like a madman back to the house. Another mistake was that 5 minutes after Tom initiated his luggage adventure, I realized his journey was going to include all of our PASSPORTS. Not smart. At that point, I couldn't check us in or change our flights if we decided we couldn't make it. Geesh. The trip home usually takes at least 40 minutes. So, Tom had at least an 85 minute trip. We had 95 minutes until they closed the check-in for our flight! We decided that it would be best if Tom took the Maglev back as that makes the trip to the airport in 12 minutes, though you still have the 15 minutes to get there. We figured that the extra 10 minutes we might save was worth it. I finally found someone who would check us in with copies of all our passports. When Tom arrived, we had 7 minutes to spare! We had crappy seat assignments, literally as they were by the bathrooms, but we had seats together and we got to Sydney. That was a stressful way to start the trip, but we figured that was our fiasco for the trip, and it turned out to be!

So, we flew to Sydney, and after a 3 hour layover, flew on to Auckland, New Zealand. We arrived around 9 pm. It was 10 hours to Sydney and another 3 to Auckland. Plus a 5 hour time change. We all took showers and went to bed. ALL of us slept until about 10 the next morning! So much for seeing the Auckland Zoo! We just took a walk, had lunch, and then headed to the cruise terminal.

Auckland, New Zealand
Saw most of the city and stayed at the Holiday Inn. Nice harbour town. We got on the boat and checked out our room, 2029, level 2. We also visited the Fun Factory which was Natalie's favorite place on the boat for the rest of the cruise! It is a kids club and they do a nice job. I highly recommend for kids up to teen age. That night we met our dinner mates for the trip: Warren, Kate, and Emily. Emily was 16 months, so Natalie had a great time for the trip playing big sister. Our waiters were Carlos and Mickey. After dinner, Natalie headed to the Fun Factory and Tom and I to the Casino. I lost $20 in about two hours. Tom did better, but he never tells me how well...

Tauranga,New Zealand
Visited Hobbiton, a movie set where some the Lord of Rings was filmed. Remember the Hobbit homes? Where the tree and the party were for Bilbo Baggins? We were there. It was pretty cool. We also visited the Glow-Worm Caves at Waitomo. You take a raft inside the caves and see that they are lighted by the millions of glow worms on the ceiling. Finally we saw Billy Black's Story of the New Zealand bush at the Woodlyn Park. Tom volunteered to help Billy sheer a sheep during the show. Interesting to see Tom work that hard! It was a long day, but we saw a lot that day.


DAY AT SEA

We just hung out the pool. Well, Natalie spent half the day at the Fun Factory (as usual) since the water was a bit chilly! New Zealand is not the warmest place in the world! Tom spent the day in the Casino and Art Shows!



Napier, New Zealand
At Napier, we opted for a less busy day. We took the bus into town and walked to the National Aquarium. After that, we had to stop by Possum World. Possums, which are not native to the island, are quite the pest, so the New Zealander's figured out that they could use the fur from the possums, mix it with wool and market the heck out it to tourists! Seems to be working. That afternoon, I opted for a "Mom Only" trip. Napier is near the xxx wine area. I visited Brookfield's Vineyards (founded in 1937), Church Road Winery (founded in 1897) and Mission Estate (founded in 1851). Of course the wines were all good! But the Sauvignon Blanc at all three was especially nice. I also recommend the Shiraz at Mission Estate. Unfortunately, I do not think these wineries export. But you can order the wine online.

Wellington, New Zealand
We did our own tour here and took the boat bus to the Trolley/Tram, downtown. We took the Tram up to the Botanical Gardens. Then we walked down to the big play area in the gardens. It was nice just to hang out and let Natalie swing, slide, and play. After the Tram, we went over to the bay area and Natalie and Tom went to the Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa. That was really nice! I went shopping. Didn't buy much, just some NZ Wool yarn for the Ayi.

Christchurch, New Zealand
We didn't have any formal tours at Christchurch. We simply took the bus into town (our port was actually about 30 mins from Christchurch) and walked around the town square. We shopped a bit and checked out a local market that was set up in the square. Natalie and Tom headed back early and I continued to walk around and explore. I took the trolley around, but found it a bit over rated, at least at $8NZD. This was not our favorite stop, maybe we should have done a tour here!

Dunedin, New Zealand
At this port, we rented a car for the day. The driver took us up to the top of a small mountain for a nice view of Dunedin. Dunedin was a nice city and is home to the world's steepest road, which we did drive up and down, but it was pretty much a tourist trap! From downtown, we headed to the Penguin Place, which was out on Harrington Point. Unfortunately it was a long, windy road to get there, and Natalie go car sick about 10 minutes away! But she was a good trooper and held it until the driver got the car stopped. Of course I didn't bring any motion sickness pills with me in the car!!! Bad mom. Anyway, we got to the Penguin Place and got to see quite a few Yellow-eyed Penguins. You went from nest to nest hidden under/behind man-made blinds down in the earth. But it was really hot that day, so most of the penguins not out fishing, were hiding deep in the shade. But it was good for Natalie to experience nature so close up.

Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound, Milford Sound, New Zealand
This day was really not a dock day, instead we were supposed to visit the famous fiords of Fiordland National Park in Southland, New Zealand. But the weather was so bad we could only enter the final fiord, Milford Sound. The waves were so big this day they were breaking onto our window, which was on the 2nd level. But once we got into the fiords, I was blown away at how beautiful it was. It is really hard to describe the size and grandeur of the place. I am sure there are other similar sites you can visit, but I found this to be one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. I took about 240 pictures, but the weather was not great, so they are all pretty grey. There were really neat waterfalls and rock formations. Also, we had a formation of dolphins follow us into the fiord and swim and play right alongside the boat. Natalie and Tom were in the room at the time and took some great video of it almost at eye level! It is hard to see, but if you look, you can see the white "waves" which are really the dolphins jumping a bit out of the water.

DAY AT SEA
Was nice just to hang out. Natalie spent all day at the Fun Factory. Tom and I checked out the Casino.

DAY AT SEA
This day we really did nothing. It was pretty chilly for pool. Natalie again hung out at Fun Factory and Tom and I hit the Casino.Tom and continued our new found love of art and art auctions! We ended up buying some decent art, though due to duties and shipping cost, we had to ship it all home instead of China. Here is a Picture of an original oil by Milchael Milken.

Melbourne, Australia (2 days)
We went to the Healesville Sanctuary. We got to see lots of Koala's, Kangaroos, Wombats, and Dingo's. Unfortunately it was also 44 C. Poor Natalie about melted by the time the tour was over. The 2nd day at port, Tom went to see the Australian Open, which was underway at the stadium at the time we were there. He got to see Serena Williams play a set in the semi-finals. But it was too hot for Natalie and I and we stayed at the pool, in the water!

DAY AT SEA
Today was the final day at Sea and the final art auction. Tom and I continued our new found love of art and art auctions! We had a lot of raffle tickets since we had purchased an item (somewhat expensive!) early in the cruise, and we ended up wining a $500 credit to spend. Tom ended up getting about 2-3 serigraph prints (Pinot and Linda Le Kinff) along with a big item of a Dali print set from the Destino movie he made for Disney. I am not going explain how we became owners of Dali paintings as it is seems a bit bizarre and naive when we tell the story out loud. But we really loved the artwork we bought and look forward to the day when we own a home where it can be displayed!

Sydney, Australia (2 Days)
We went to Bondi beach and took in a bit of sun. Natalie and I swam a bit, but the water was really cold and we also had a big wipe out, so we mostly just relaxed in the sun. Bondi was pretty busy and we watched young kids (8-12 years?) learning how to be lifeguards. Pretty hard work. We had a short day as we had to head back and pack. On Sunday, we flew out of Sydney and back to Shanghai.

Summary
First of all, 14 days was the longest vacation we ever took. I HIGHLY recommend to those of you who have trouble relaxing until 5 fays into it. It really gives you a chance to slow down and not worry about cramming too much in to each day. And we absolutely loved New Zealand. hard to explain exactly why, it was more a combination of things. The people were great, the homes and businesses were tidy, and the landscape was clean and "unprocessed". Australia was OK, but paled in comparison to the NZ ports.

Walking in the Street and other Oddities

A benefit of taking the subway to work every day is getting the chance to get out into the street and get along as a local might. Well to a point anyway! The walk from the subway station at Shaanxi Nan Lu and my office is always filled the typical smells, sounds, and sights of China's big cities in the morning. There's a local vendor who drags his slow cookers out the apartment gates (I assume he lives there), sets them up on a raggedy old table made from plywood and sell warm soy milk in plastic bags and boiled eggs flavored with Cinnamon and soybean paste. Sound awful, but I expect it now on the way to work.

But there is something I get to see about once a week and I just don't get it. Huaihai Lu, the street where my office is located, is a very busy street, 4 lanes, lots of buses, no bike lane (they are supposed to walk them or avoid this street but is normally not the case), and a metal fence that runs on both sides to keep folks from just walking into traffic and causing traffic jams. That does not prevent some people from walking right down the street, in a lane where buses and cares are whizzing by! And mostly it is women who perform this perilous activity. I am always reminded of the Bruce Springsteen lines from 'Out in the Street':

When I'm out in the street

Baby, out in the street

I don't feel sad or blue

Baby, out in the street

I'll be waiting for you

And I guess they decided that if they are going to risk their lives walking in the street, there is no need to hang out close to the curb, instead they walk at least a meter away from the curb, thereby cutting traffic down to one lane! OK, so that in itself is crazy, but what I find even more bizarre is the fact that no one even HONKS at these violators!!! China will probably never cease to amaze me...

Christmas in Hong Kong

Instead of going back to the US this year for Christmas, we stayed in Asia. Neither Tom or I get the official "Christian" holidays here in China, so we were had to localize our Christmas plans. We decided to take a break from China and head to Hong Kong for some shopping and an English-speaking break! Little did I realize that in fact, many Chinese also took advantage of the shopping side of that quest and were also in HK during this holiday! Oh well! I put all of the pictures out on our updated (finally!) website. And there are a couple of YouTube videos as well, including some from her earlier 1st Grade Christmas show.

The night before we left, Dec 23, we let Natalie open a gift she had received from our driver, Zhong Biao. She got a neat game and some cut-out animals. It was very nice of him and his family to do that for her!

We arrived in Christmas eve, almost two hours late. Air traffic going to Hong Kong was cited as the reason we sat on the ground in Shanghai for so long! We arrived around noon and worked our way through the Hong Kong airport to the Airport Express station (fast train) which is right at the airport. From there we headed to Kowloon where we exited and grabbed a taxi. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile which was close to the Star Ferry and had a MRT (subway) station right across the street. We checked in and then headed out to go to the island. We took the Star Ferry over to the island portion of Hong Kong. From there, we caught the subway and headed to Times Square. We grabbed some pizza for lunch and then went and hit the stores! We bought about $200 in books! Natalie spent ALL of her saved allowance on books. She ended up with about 15 new books she picked out. Plus Gammaw bought her a book too! After buying our books, we shopped for some new athletic shoes for Tom and Natalie and some dress shoes for Tom. Unfortunately we had to haul all this stuff back to the hotel on the subway. When we arrived at our stop, we found out that the exit by our hotel was closed due to Christmas events being held outside in the streets. Oh well! Finally made it back to the hotel around 7:30. Went and had our meal in the Executive lounge. Then to bed!

Christmas day got going with Natalie opening a couple of gifts from Mom & Dad, the book and Fairy craft that Gammaw and Pappaw had bought her. Breakfast in the lounge, and the off to Disney! We took the subway and made it there at 10.15, right at opening! Hong Kong Disney is soooooo much smaller than Orlando! It was really nice, at least from our perspective. You could easily get from one area to another with a 2-5 minute walk. Still long longs for a couple of the rides, but overall was pretty easy. Only thing we underestimated was the temperature. It was pretty warm, and our little Heat Miser was wearing long sleeves and jeans. She had pink cheeks all day. We called all of our Family once we got there. Sad to not be home this year, but that's another blog...


After a full day of playing at Disney, we headed back to the hotel. Again at dinner in the lounge and then Natalie passed out around 7:40. So we all went to bed (we share a big king size!) reading our new books! Lovely Christmas!

Finally, Friday came and we just spent the day shopping at a big mall, Harbour City, that was close to our hotel. Natalie had a meltdown in Toys R Us when we first arrived. She wanted some toy and we told her she had already gotten lots of stuff and Santa had probably delivered gifts, but she totally started crying and saying we were mean. I was pretty frustrated with her, but I guess it is understandable. She had gone for 3 days getting everything she wanted, so why not continue that! Anyway, I got to shopping by myself for awhile. I got a new pair of shoes, new jeans, and a skirt and top. Nice to find western sizes. Tom and Natalie went and saw Bedtime Stories, which none of had heard about, but was the only non-dubbed movie to see.

Then we headed back to the hotel, checked out, and headed to the airport. We got back to Shanghai and our house around 10.30. A bit late, but not bad. Natalie got to see the gifts from Santa, but we waited until Saturday morning to open. She got lots of stuff from Santa, including a new Nintendo DS. She got lots of stuff from Santa and turns out that Santa had stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Bramer's and brought some stuff with him from them!

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Old Man Tom

As you recall, I am an old man (just turned 43 last week) in an older man's body that tries to play basketball twice per week.

Friday, I went to an acupuncturist to try and fix an arch issue and a neck issue.

They put 12 needles in my neck; 3 in my right hand; and 10 in my arch.

Application of the needles in my neck and hand were painless. The needles in my arch stung as they were inserted. Doctor warned me that it would hurt since the feet are very sensitive.

The concept is rather easy.
The body heals itself. An example is if you cut yourself, it will heal 100%. If you cut it a second time in the same spot, it will only heal 97% - and so on and so on. Eventually your body will stopping trying to heal it because it will think that it is supposed to be cut. Acupuncture forces an injury in the area of pain which forces the body to start to heal that area

Here is the process.
I had to lay on the table on my side. They put the needles in my neck first. Then my hand and finally my feet. The needles in my hand were needed as there are a couple of points in the hand "connected" to the neck. The needles are 4 1/2 inches in length and varies in diameter.
After he put all the needles in he then swirled/spun the needles while in my skin. After that he was done. I had to stay there with the needles inserted for 15 minutes. A nurse came in and swirled/spun them again. She left again and then returned in another 15 minutes to remove them.

That was it.

Doctor instructed me to visualize the pain in my neck and my feet and let the pain flow through my body and out my fingers and toes. Pretty corny but I did it and I could feel the pain leave my arch and neck when I did it. I did NOT feel it travel through my body and out the fingers and toes.

Doctor said it would take 2 or 3 treatments to fix my severity of injury (minor). I have to admit, my neck and my arch has been pain-free for 30 hours now. This is great since I have had this pain in my arch for 4 weeks and in my neck for 5 weeks. I even played basketball this morning which typically leads to a great amount of pain for several days in my feet. Today, I ran well - played well - all without any pain. Even 12 hours later I can walk up and down the stairs with no issues.

All in all - pretty amazing

I have two friends who had a co-worker and a father quit smoking via acupuncture with no relapse (both over 1 year cold turkey). Previously, they had tried every trick in the book to quit.

Natalie's 1st Grade Christmas Program

This past Tuesday was Natalie's 1st Grade Christmas Program, Grandma Visits Santa. She was an elf! The program was actually very cute. The elves all wore their parents white shirts and striped or Christmas color socks. They held this year's in the Rittman Center which is a really nice auditorium that they built last year. I was so surprised at how bold Natalie was this year! She walked right out for her part, no real hesitation.

We had a hard time finding socks for her costume. Seriously, I think I looked in at least 20 stores and the fake market twice looking for knee-length socks in a Christmas color. We ended up borrowing Abi Spofford's fuzzy pink socks. Abi is the daughter of our friends, Deb and Tim Spofford. Abi is a Senior at Concordia, so wearing her socks was quite the cool think from Natalie's perspective. She was really cute about it. She put them on and said "Mom, I think I actually kind of pretty in these." Out of the mouths of babes!

I also uploaded some videos from the show to Youtube. I apologize for the bad video, I was taking pictures with my Nikon and video with the Sony! Thank goodness Tom got a better version off of the real video camera.