I started writing this last night and then my battery died....so this post is really from yesterday.

After my Chinese lesson today I went shopping with Shirley again. She has more energy then anyone I know. She was looking for a vendor that sells dishes off the back of his bike. We went to the street where she saw him last but could not find him. So....we shopped in a market in that area.

This is Shirley. She was thinking about making a lamp shade out of this little skirt.

This young shop owner was very nice and his produce was beautifully displayed.

We sampled several different fruits at this shop. One of the fruits was called Dragons Eye. Most of them had a thin shell around the outside and the inside was a cross between a large raisin and a dried apricot. All of them had a pit in the middle and some were sweeter than others.

Shirley bought a bag of several different kinds of these fruits.

More produce.....these are beans and grains....I actually recognized a few of them including oatmeal.
Now this was a very interesting place. It was right next to the produce shop and it is a Chinese medicine shop. All the things that you see here are for medicinal purposes.

This is the shop keeper. She mixed several different things that looked like roots for Shirley and then cut them up into smaller pieces with the chopper thing next to the scale. These "roots" are then cooked into a soup broth. Then you drink the soup but you do not eat the "roots".

These are some of the things that were on the counter. All of them were dried and they do not let anything go to waste. The shop owner said that the sea horses are good for your kidneys???
Like I said....they do not let anything go to waste. I am not sure what these is good for???? If you think you know what these are.....you are correct.

Green tea is very popular in Shanghai. We carry around a Starbucks cup....the Chinese carry around a water bottle of green tea. The tea leaves are loose and eventually float to the bottom of the bottle.

This is one of many tea shops in this market. I bought some jasmine tea "pearls/pellets". Remember the tea class that I attended. I ran out of "pearls" last week and I have really enjoyed this tea ....so....I restocked my supply. The shop keeper also gave me a sample of his best green tea. I will try it at home and see if I like it. Believe it or not....I miss my green tea from Costco....I am pretty sure they would not consider that "real tea" here.

PS....note the cool pants I am wearing....these are one of my purchases from yesterday's shopping excursion. They were very expensive....$2.50. I love them!!!!!! Abi wants a pair too so we are going back to the store on Saturday. You just have to love shopping in China!!

After a day of shopping adventures I went to a "girls night out" in building 7. It was very fun and I met several people that live in my building....who knew!!! It is very hard to meet people in these buildings. It is not like you see families playing in their front yards and say hello....No one has a front yard. So unless you happen to meet someone in the lobby when you are coming or going......you really don't know your neighbors.