Be Back Soon...But Until Then...

Here's a preview of what's to come! The last day of my internship was last Friday, which also marked the beginning of two weeks of nonstop fun for Kiersten and me. Yesterday we went to the Shanghai World Expo (think very, very cool) from 8am to 11:30pm. Just like you are thinking, it was very, very cool. We have to catch a train in an hour (to Beijing for five days and then to Xian for two), so here are a couple of pictures to hold you over until we can post more. We'll have a lot to post when we come back. It just might be a couple of weeks before things settle down.

In front of the UK Pavilion

Watching the Shaolin Monks perform

Playing with babies

For the last couple of months, every Friday my friend Courtney and I have been volunteering at a local orphanage called Shanghai Healing Home. It is run by an expat lady named Christina who is amazing. They take in little Chinese babies with cleft lip and palate, usually from other orphanages, and then take care of them while getting their surgeries all set up. It is an awesome place and I have really loved going and helping out there. And we have the best job ever! All we have to do is hold and play with these adorable babies.

Courtney playing her guitar for one of the babies.

This is Anna. She is the first of the babies to have the surgery for her cleft lip. She has to wait until she is older to get her surgery for the cleft palate. Isn't she adorable?!




When I went today, I got to spend the time I was there holding one of the newest babies. (Didn't have my camera today) Her name is Joy and she is 5 weeks old. But she is the tiniest little baby I have ever seen! She was extremely malnourished when she got to the Healing Home- she is still the size of a newborn, poor thing. Today though, she was the most alert I have seen her! She was actually looking and focusing on me. She seemed to respond to me singing to her and she just seemed to look so much better. Before, she didn't even seem to have the energy to cry, her mouth would open but nothing would come out. This is a really great place and I think Christina is doing a great thing by helping these babies. I wish I could be here longer to see what happens with each of the babies.

Today was my last day volunteering there which was a little sad. I am going to miss those cuties! Unfortunately, our time here in China is quickly winding down. We fly back to the US in just two weeks. Today is Eric's last day of his internship and then next Tuesday we are off on our little China tour before heading home. Time is just flying by!

Shanghai Walks- Marriage Market at Renmin Park

Yes, a marriage market. I first stumbled on it a couple months ago when Eric was away on a business trip. I was walking through Renmin Park and suddenly I was in the middle of a huge crowd of people, all looking at these pieces of paper hanging up and showing photographs to each other. I was curious but couldn't figure out what was going on. Then a couple weeks later, we stumbled across a website listing interesting things about Shanghai and suddenly there it was! A picture of crowds of people looking at photographs and papers hung up. It turned out to be the Shanghai marriage market. So, of course, now we had to go back and really see it.



It is a very interesting place. Everyday, a very large amount of parents and grandparents gather to 'sell' their single son/daughter. The papers are basically like a resume with age, height, weight, job, salary, --all of the really important things :) -- listed. Sometimes there is a picture with it. I wish we had talked to some of the people there. I am curious to know whether this is all done with the permission and knowledge of the son/daughter. Is it like parents matching their kids up on blind dates? I'm guessing they aren't really making actual marriage matches. I would sure hope not, at least!




In any case, I thought it was fascinating. A nice Chinese man (followed us around forever trying to get us to let him draw a picture of us, for a small fee, of course) told us that there is an English marriage market on Sundays. Hmmm. Don't think that is where I'd want to find a husband!

EXPO 2010 is here

Ok, the Expo actually opened a couple of weeks ago, but I am just a little slow at getting things written. We haven't gone to the Expo yet but we will be going next week so more about that later. We (by we I mean mostly Eric) has been doing a lot of research as to what we want to see and which pavilions we want to go visit. With over 170 pavilions from different countries and corporations, along with 3 hour long lines, and one day to see it all, it is going to be like Disneyland on a Saturday in the summer-- times a million.

But for now, I just want to introduce our friend, Haibao.


'Who or what is Haibao?', you ask. No, he is not a huge glob of toothpaste, although he may very closely resemble one. He is the official mascot of Shanghai World Expo 2010. And if you were in Shanghai, there is no way you could avoid knowing that. Haibao is everywhere, literally. Huge statues, bush sculptures, posters, on walls, on trash cans, the blue guy is everywhere.






When we first started noticing him everywhere, hmm... I guess that would be our first day here, I thought he was the wierdest choice of a mascot ever (remember, he looks like toothpaste). However, the little guy (more often than not, big guy) has really grown on me.



We are even now the proud owners of a stuffed Haibao.

Laundry Day!

One of the privileges of living where we do it that we get to experience washing clothes the real way. Ok, maybe not quite-- we don't have to wash our clothes by hand. But we do have to hang them up to dry. Which, in a very humid place, is not always the funnest thing to.

Except in the very wealthy houses, no one here owns a clothes dryer and so on any clear day, you will be greeted by a very colorful sight as soon as you walk out the door. Shirts, pants, dresses, even undergarments, flying in the breeze for the whole world to see.


And since most everyone lives in apartments, each apartment has this contraption outside one of the windows of poles where the clothes hang.


I was quite apprehensive and nervous about using these-- what if I dropped my clothes or they blew away, etc... When we were in Nanjing, I never actually used it, I just hung everything up inside. But we moved here, we had less space, and I told myself, "Kiersten, you are in China, it is time to act like you are!" And so I did it. And it's not so hard. I have only had a few mishaps. The first day, I almost dropped the pole that I was putting out on a lady's head below. Oops. And then a few shirts have blown away. I just make Eric go and grab the stray clothes (so I'm not the one who has to look silly running after clothes, of course).



And some people just hang them wherever there is space :)



Is it sunny today? Laundry time!

Huangshan- Down the mountain

As amazing and wonderful hiking up Huangshan was, the best part was still to come. We stayed that night on the top of the mountain and camped, Chinese style. Meaning, renting a tent which comes with a comforter and mattress pad and which is lined up in rows with tons of other tents. It was great. :)


After hiking up with Eric that night in the dark to scope out the best spot, we woke Jeff and Carissa up at around 4:30 the next morning (aren't we nice :) ) so we could watch the sunrise. Good thing we went that early though because every single other person on the mountain was doing the exact same thing and we just barely made it to our pre-determined spot before the crowds poured in. Besides being just a bit chilly, it was beautiful. No breathtaking colors but just watching the light gradually break over the range of mountains was amazing. And the best part came when most everyone had left, giving up on the sunrise. The sun suddenly poked out of the cloud cover and gave a cool little show, albeit a little delayed.

If you look super close, you can see the tiny sun starting to poke through the clouds (in the middle-ish of the sky).

Waiting for the sun...




Our cool hiker poses...


We then set off, not really knowing where all we were going to hike or knowing what all was up there. Eric had seen something on line about a cool 'fairy bridge' so we headed that way. And of course had to take tons of fun pictures along the way.



I was only just a tiny bit afraid Eric was going to lose his balance and drop me over the side of the cliff...





We passed the cool little table and so what else is there to do but arm wrestle? This picture is exactly how I am sure we always look when I attempt to arm wrestle Eric. I try so hard and he lets me, laughing the whole time. But in the end, its always the same. Me with a tired arm and Eric still laughing.

We got to the 'Fairy Walking Bridge' and it really was amazing. It was a small bridge that went between two cliffs with a huge drop below. (where on this mountain is there not a huge drop!)




Next to the entrance to the bridge, we saw a sign for 'Grand Canyon of the West Sea.' With a name like that, how could we not go that way? We soon found that this path took us to the bottom of the canyon before heading back up again to another area. So we ended up basically climbing up Huangshan (which meant millions of more stairs) again. I think all of our legs were shaking at points.


The Chinese give very descriptive names for everything. For example, some of the scenic spots on Huangshan had names like 'Zhubajie Eating the Watermelon', 'Monkey Watching the Sea', and 'Immortal Overturns the Desk'. So Eric named this rock. Its new name: Camel Pointing the Way.





Some fun things along the way:




Once we finally made it make up to the top, we and our tired feet had to decide-- would we give in and take the cable car back down the mountain to the entrance or would we tough it out and hike down the 6.5 km? Our answer? Give us that mountain! We had to go quickly to make the bus and we made it- in just over one hour. Not bad, especially considering we were all definitely a bit shaky in the legs at this point!



What an awesome, amazing, wonderful trip! We had a blast and now Eric can check that one off! And finally change his desktop picture. :)