The Results

No Parking

no parking
Originally uploaded by sherryworld.

Xujiahui, Caoxibei Road

The Latest Stunt

Rules Pillow Fight

1. Tell your friends about Pillow Fight.
2. Tell your friends about Pillow Fight!!
3. Wait til the Times Square clock strikes 19:00.
4. Don't hit people without pillows.
5. Don't hit people with cameras.

枕头战斗规则

1. 告诉您的朋友关于枕头战斗。
2. 告诉您的朋友关于枕头战斗!!
3. 等待时代广场时钟碰撞19:00 。
4. 不要击中没有枕头的人。
5. 不要击中有与照相机的人。

Sortesvin: Liquid Crack

I can now add the following to the list of experiences I am amassing here in Shanghai:

sortesvin (aka liquid crack): A black-hued homemade Danish liquor that starts out savory, goes down licorice sweet and finishes buttery. Three shots of this stuff and I still found myself stumbling three days later.

rickshawing: Riding on the back of a Chinese garbage wagon at 2:30 in the morning singing a ballad about Carolyn's left Stuart Weitzman shoe.

skalipping: What happens when you try to skip down the road to retrieve Carolyn's left shoe while drunk on sortesvin. You start with skipping but end with slipping. Ska-lipping.

Fish

nemo 2
Originally uploaded by sherryworld.

The Sassoons: First Major Drug Dealers in Shanghai

Shanghai Triad. When looking up the yesteryear of this cosmopolitan city, one will often find a deeply rooted history of gangsterism for this city of the East. They take it so seriously that filmmakers even made a movie on the subject. So it came as a surprise to find that the first real gangstas here weren't Chinese, but those that rock the Star of David.

Took a sidetrip last week with Carolyn to Garden Books on Changle Road to get a bit more edumacated about the city I dwell in. Amongst the books I grabbed was one titled "Jews in Shanghai" by Pan Guang. The most interesting subject to note is a Jewish family that settled in Shanghai by way of Baghdad and Bombay, who were synonymously known as "the Rothschilds of the East." Their claim to fame, besides building an expansive empire in trade via the Silk Route, was their notoriety for trafficking shipping opium from the West. The Sassoons leave behind a lasting legacy that still stands in a number of historical buildings here in Shanghai, including the famous Peace Hotel. Now that's gangster. A brief article on the subject here.

Fakery

China challenges me everyday. First off, the language barrier is a pain. As a Cantonese speaker, I get absobloominglutely NO love here in the lovely Whore of the Orient. Lately, I've been affected more and more by the rampant "fakery" that plagues this dear place I call home. Sure, I've gotten used to the fact that I'm watching bootleg dvds from the corner shop that sells them for 7 kwai that, for the record, I did not buy (ahem). Clothes with the notorious labels such as "G-Satr" (Chinglish for the Dutch brand G-Star) have somehow found a way to my closet. I even eat chicken sandwiches from a knock-off KFC here.

Which is why, with eight months into my stay in Shanghai, I am starting to dearly miss that little Bay I call home. I yearn for proper swimming pools that won't cause an unknown infection on my right leg. (condolences to Carolyn's cousin) Some clothes that might fit. Medication that's not possibly fake. I crave mouth-watering burgers made with real cow meat that I can safely eat medium well. I look forward to the day I won't have to buy fruits and veggies that haven't been carefully soaked in chemical pesticides. Oh, and how about not eating meat that is known to be 20% cat meat? Ok, I know I am ranting right now, but for some unknown reason, the cab ride home tonight really inspired a case of homesick-ness that needed to get out. I just miss substantial anything dearly right now.