Christmas Eve in Shanghai turned out to be pretty great---Better than expected! Even after a rough start at breakfast involving the French toast Calee was generously making for us.
Our rough start was the result of a common occurrence here in Shanghai's "Westerner Village" (Xiantindi). You return to the grocery store to buy something you've discovered as a reasonable replacement for something you used to buy back home---never the same but workable you know---and it's gone. Poof, vanished. I'd heard of this horror from others...."when you see something you like, buy a lot of it. They drop a lot of products and then won't carry them any more." Whhhhat???
You have to know, for every 20 western brands the store will carry---that you can buy without care or concern---there are 100 more in Chinese that you attempt to translate from pictures on the packaging, multiple entries into google translate, and possibly even some awkward hand gestures with the non-English speaking store staff. For example, you see the box of what looks like it could be milk near the chews section and you think to yourself -
"I think this is milk for drinking....maybe refrigeration is a Western thing (it's not in a refrigerated case but next to it!). Oh yeah, it's probably 2%. "Er" means two in mandarin...that looks like the Chinese character for E right??....."
So once you find a product that tastes good, you can cook with, and doesn't make either of you sick, that's a WIN people. We had a winning record with the French toast bread at Bazaar and then it was gone. On Christmas Eve's eve! To make a long story short, my replacement purchase was a terrible substitute. Really. Bad. Calee did his best, but there was no amount of syrup that could turn that replacement bread into French toast. And believe me, we both tried.
From there, we ended up at our clubhouse gym burning off all the bacon we ate to make ourselves feel less sad about the French toast. It had been so long since this body worked out that I was actually sore before I even left. Seriously.
Fast forward through a much better lunch at a local favorite called Urban Soup Company, and we were off to a tourist top pick called Yu Yuan Garden. It turned out to be a good time despite the biting cold (sooo cold here even after you layer up your Oregon clothing three times!), large crowds of tourists and the line-cutting Chinese lady at Starbucks....never fails to happen at Starbucks. Some days the cutting in front of you in line doesn't phase us, some days one of us must escape to outside so he or she doesn't kick her a@@. I digress.
We saw some cool ancient Chinese architecture in the gardens center and even snapped some photos. Calee found a music shop and was inspired to either take up the harmonica or the Chinese flute. More to come on that in the blog I'm sure. We even stumbled upon the craft market that I posted some photos of on Facebook. Like every market here, you discover something new---for me, this was the place to find wrapping paper which had been ridiculously hard to come by in Xintiandi for Christmas---and find several things for so cheap that you have to talk yourself out of buying it all an trying to ship it home. Overall, Expectations on Yu Yuan Garden trip were met.
From there we headed to the Glamour Bar on the Bund. It was said to be expensive, flashy and inspired by all things glitz and glam. It was all that and more, and I loved it!! My drink was delicious and only slightly over-priced. And the interior was the perfect mix of over-the-top Pink, mood lighting, mirrored chandeliers, fur rugs and velvet chairs made sophisticated by a healthy dose of wood, prints and leather chairs of all colors. I had the "passionate encounter" cocktail and settled into my pink velvet chair. And then I had another one. We looked out the window to the views the Bund bars are famous for, and enjoyed being there too early for the crowds and late enough for a great city lights view. We met the Bar manager David, and he bought us a round. Expectations exceeded.
Our evening went on for three more stops, some better than, others less than, expected. The dinner spot we chose had no tables un-reserved....but the massage place next door was open and had two spots we could take. Dinner ended up working put just fine and two of our usual dishes came in above expectations. The mulled wine on Special--did not. Christmas Eve away from home is a big day and hard to live up too. Especially when it's as awesome as I think our traditions have become.
And the ultimate test on Christmas morning in the U.S.--about 11pm to midnight here--was kinda like being there for a little while as we invaded mom's home with FaceTime. We missed seeing Gino open his toys from Santa, but we still caught the highlights from that household as well just before midnight here. Expectations for what it would be were both exceeded and missed it seemed...but now thinking about it again now, were they really "missed" because we didn't see this or that, or at one point someone couldn't hear us? That seems silly compared to what we could and did see on Christmas morning.
So I will continue to work on managing my expectations in the New Year. When unsuccessful, I will probably experience some frustration and maybe regret. Those "WHY do I live in China???" moments. Ugh. When I'm successful, I will take away great moments and memories from this awesome Asian adventure......and probably have a lot more fun.
Now, time to use a few new Chinese phrases and awkward hand gestures to find a new option for French toast bread.
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