We are back from our second day of Olympics and today was a .5 on the 1-10 scale. Our event today was tennis....and....it poured rain and the tennis venue was total chaos. More on that later...

We are back in our apartment after a long day in the rain and crowds....we are hoping to watch the USA vs China basketball game on the television. We went to a restaurant this evening to watch the game....but the weather (major rain and lightening) was making the reception really bad

Two days ago.... Shanghai....
On the way to the airport we stopped for lunch at a new (or at least new to us) Mexican restaurant. The food was good and I think we will eat there again...

Restaurant alley in HongQiao

Security at the HongQiao airport was Extreme!!! There were several queuing areas, x-rays, and check points. Everyone was escorted through the security maze one person at a time. As soon as we entered the airport we were wanded and put in a "holding area" until....well ....I am not sure what the qualifying mark was for when they let the "holding area" people go. I was happy we got there a little early even though the process went pretty smooth.

On the plane to Beijing....

Tucker was playing with his camera..,

We arrived in Beijing to....well....lets just say the sky was not exactly blue. We were amazed at how many private jets we saw while we were taxiing to the airport. We think we even saw Air Force One.

Welcome to Beijing...

CCTV building....

We decided to rent an apartment for the four days we are in Beijing. Tim found this place on the internet and it looked like a good option....It has been a good place to hang out but we have had a few "issues" with the place.

This is our apartment building...
The apartment grounds ...this picture actually looks much better than it does in real life...
front door......we are on the 18th floor.

This is Tucker and Abi's room...these beds do not have mattress.....they have one comforter like blanket on top of a wooden board.....no kidding!!!

This is our living room....
This is Tim and my bedroom

One of the bathrooms.... This bathroom has a tub/shower combo but not means to keep the water in the tub area while taking a shower....hmmmm?

We waited for our apartment contact person for over an hour. When she arrived we had to wait for a while longer to get a key. The air conditioning was turned off so the apartment was REALLY hot and muggy. We were a bit grumpy by this time. We left our house at 11:00 and it was 6:00 when we finally got the key to the apartment and went off to find dinner. We made arrangements for the "contact person" to come the next morning and take us to the police station to register our arrival. This is a new requirement in China any time you check into a hotel or stay someplace in China that is not your "primary" residence. They are imposing very high fines for hotels and others that do not comply with this law.

We walked to a Papa Johns Pizza for a quick pizza so we could watch the opening ceremony on television at 8:00. The pizza was not quick....they ran out of cheese....I am not kidding! And the first three things that I order...they said Mai you....which means.....we don't have. The good thing.....we met some nice people in the restaurant...three young boys that were with their teacher and her husband. The boys were anxious to practice their English. We all shared our frustration with the service and it somehow seemed more fun.....

We watched part of the opening ceremony....I was falling asleep and Tim and I went to bed before we saw the US team come into the stadium.

Stay tuned for more of our Olympic fun and disasters!

We are in Beijing.....so many things to write about but no time yet. We watched two womens volleyball matches yesterday and this evening we are going see two tennis matches.

We have had many crazy things happen in our short time in the capital city....stay tuned for highlights...

Tomorrow we are off to Beijing...stay tuned for highlights from the Olympic city.

Random pictures from today...

View of our apartments (on the right of the lovely gray pole) from the Nanpu Bridge
The Nanpu Bridge....remember the waterfall that was pouring off it a few months ago? Today...no rain....just blue sky's
Sunset tonight
It was another very nice day in Shanghai...

Abi found this sign at IKEA today......

Basketball

USA vs Australia

Last night we drove two hours to the sports arena to watch the USA/Australia exhibition game The traffic was crazy...and it turns out it was the same sports arena where we watched the men's tennis matches last year. We were lucky to have the car.....Tucker had to take four different subway lines and a taxi to get to the game.

The crowd at the security check point just outside the gates.

The USA team warming up...

The US team won but I have to say the Aussie team played really hard. I was a little disappointed that the US team did not play as well as I expected. We saw a few amazing plays but overall the game was not as exciting as I thought it would be.

I identified the players that I saw at the Portman yesterday. It was Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard. The two tallest players on the team. 6.10 and 6.11.

During half time we were entertained by a group of boy dancers/acrobats. They were very good and Abi and I thought it was great to see boys preforming instead of the typical girl show!!! Okay...they did have girl dancers too but we hardly noticed them!

Hello to the Expat that sent me a message through my blog. I would be happy to tell you where the lamp store is located! The message came from "Blogger" so it did not give me your email address. The store is located in JinQiao across BiYun (I think that is the right spelling) Lu from Carrafour. Please send me your email address and I can give you more information. deb@deborahspofford.com

Wow!!! Today is a very clear day. Yesterday we could hardly see out the window and today it is just beautiful. Humidity is down but the temperature is hot!!!

View from the living room...I can see four bridges and the factory today...in fact I think I can see the factory workers....okay...well...maybe not....

This is a construction site in front of our building.....There were protest signs posted in our apartment complex before we left for the US wanting the construction stopped.....Apparently the this building was supposed to be "short" and some how the permit was suddenly issued for a "tall" building. We are not sure if the protest helped but all construction has stopped.
View towards the Bund

This is the last building to be built in our complex. It has almost doubled in size over the past few months. It sat for a long time (over one year) in a partially constructed state. Then one day they started working on it again...... It is now almost level with our floor.

I went to the Shanghai Center today to get my hair cut. And....as I always do...I went into the Portman hotel to use the restroom......they have really nice "facilities" and it was a long drive from JinQiao. I stepped in the door and Holy Cow...police everywhere and security guards and a wand machine and a luggage scanner! Did we take a wrong turn and somehow end up at the airport? I thought to myself.....someone really important must be staying here....and...since I didn't tell them I was coming I knew that all the security was not for me..ha ha!! I acted like I was staying in the hotel and went right through the security check. And...the restroom was really great!
I was still a little early for my hair cut so I exited the hotel and went to find the ATM machine. The machines were surrounded by several young women all looking very American. So...I waited my turn for the next available machine. While I was extracting my cash one of the girls (and I do mean girls...I am sure if we did the math they could all be my daughters) asked me what the exchange rate was for China. So.....I told her and then helped her do the math to withdraw $300. Then I asked her what she was doing in Shanghai? She said...I am a dancer for the American Basketball team. Ahhhhhh!!! I guessed that the players were also staying in the hotel....thus all the security. Then I went upstairs to the hair salon and followed two of the basketball players into Tony and Guy. OH MY GOSH...they are sooooooo tall. They had a very short discussion with the clerk and then left the salon. Since I am not an avid basketball fan I could not identify them....

After my hair cut....I went to Starbucks and there were two more basketball players. They were not Americans...they were members of the Russian Basketball team. So....I guess they are all staying in the same hotel. I just hope the American team members can stay out of trouble!!!!

A friend dropped off a bag of magazines while we were in the US and as I was flipping through one of them....an article jumped off the page. The magazine is the April 2008 issue of InStyle. I don't mind the "older" issue because English magazines are a luxury here costing $10-$12 dollars per magazine. Anyway....the article says....This year's hottest travel destination.....China!!! Today I am wondering if they mean hot as in temperature or hot as in "cool factor". The humidity is so heavy I think I can see it in the air. Back to the article....it says "China is embracing capitalism with enthusiasm and nowhere is this more evident than in its two major cities: Shanghai, the glossy city by the sea, and Beijing, the sophisticated capital turned Olympic venue." Now.....I happen to know a great little Bed and Breakfast place in one of these great cities overlooking the Huangpu river.....so......if you want to visit this year's "hottest" destination....come on over!!!! I would suggest waiting for a month or so however unless you really want "hot!".

The Olympics are just around the corner.....in fact the opening ceremony is in four days. 08-08-08 at 8:00pm. Eight is a very lucky number in China....thus the chosen date and time for the opening.

We will be going to Beijing on Friday to see some of the sporting events. The first round of tickets were given out through a lottery system and we qualified for this lottery because we have Chinese residents visas. Although we did not get any of our first choice picks....we did get a good variety of events. We have volleyball, fencing, diving, basketball, and tennis. We also have tickets to three football (soccer) matches that are being played in Shanghai. The opening ceremony tickets were given out one by one...ie...each of us had to apply separately for one ticket. We did not get any of the opening ceremony tickets....Tucker looked up the price of tickets a few weeks ago...the cheapest was $2000 and the most expensive was $20,000.......so......we will be watching it from our hotel room in Beijing.

The USA Olympic basketball team is in Shanghai and they are playing an exhibition game tomorrow night......so.....we are going to watch that as well. There is Olympic excitement in the air here as this is a really really really big deal for China.

Good news....the Shanghai Daily reported yesterday that China will open more websites during the Olympics so the games can be reported without censorship! That is a huge step for China.

It is Sunday night....Tim is home! Yippee!!
We went to an American style diner for dinner tonight that opened recently in our neighborhood. In fact we have several new restaurants in our "hood" that are somewhat Western style. The diner is only about two blocks from our apartment. So.....we walked...and when we were finished with dinner it was pouring rain. Lightening, thunder, and buckets and buckets of rain. Four people.....one umbrella. Thank goodness I had possession of the umbrella....ha ha. We waited until the lightening stopped an then started walking home. Tucker took off at a run and we didn't see him again until we got to the house. The rest of us shared the umbrella and dodged from cover to cover. We wait....the rain poured harder. Then...out of nowhere the "umbrella lady" appeared. She was carrying about 15 umbrellas...and.....they were for sale!!! Our lucky day!!!

One of the "Java Jewels" daughters got married this summer!!! This was a mile stone as this was the first wedding of our children! The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time being together for the evening.

Deb, Norma, Tracy, Julie, and Penny

We visited several different universities while we were in the Pacific Northwest. This trip was to Tacoma to visit University of Puget Sound.

On the road to Tacoma

Abi was bored with the drive so she started taking pictures of anything and everything...

the toes


Washington scenery

electronic equipment

The sky through the sun roof.....

The jury is still out on which school was the favorite....but now Abi has many options for applications. Her school counselor requires the kids to apply to 6 different schools.....

RoadTrip to Corvallis

Deb with friends Becky, Kim, and Anna (Rachel was out of town)

We all lived in Corvallis together when our kids were young. Anna and I moved from Corvallis to Vancouver and it was great to have a reunion with everyone!

Fourth of July

We had a very impromtu BBQ in our back yard...it was really great to do something so American!!

Tiding up the patio for a BBQ...look at that blue sky!


Playing with fire...

The weather in Shanghai has been gentle to us as we returned to the big city. The weather is much cooler than it has been during the past few weeks. We are very grateful!!! Abi and I actually walked to lunch today and did not melt! The air has been clear and we have been able to see the 4th bridge that Tim discovered this summer. The bad weather in Taiwan has been good for the air in Shanghai.

It is a little weird being back in "the big city". I really enjoyed sitting on our patio, cutting flowers for the house, and using the BBQ. All things that we can not do in the city. One thing we did notice while in Vancouver.....taxis do not come to our driveway. It seemed weird after we have gotten used to very accessible transportation we have in the city. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa loaning Abi a car she was able to have the freedom of the road while we were there. We realized how much we depend on the transportation options available to us in Shanghai.

We are still amused by the number of people that walk around Shanghai in their pajamas....the ladies even wear their high heals with their PJs. It is just too funny to see this and the hot weather seems to increase the number of PJ sightings.

Here are some more pictures from our time in the US...

Laura's birthday....The Pool Cake!

Abi's friend Laura had a birthday while we were home. The "Pool Cake" is sort of a tradition in the Merrett family. My friend Norma made this cake for Laura's sister when she was about five years old. Laura liked the cake so much (and was a bit envious of her sisters cake) she asked for the same cake for her birthday...and for her next birthday and for her next birthday and for many birthdays since then. This year Laura turned 17 and guess what???? She wanted the pool cake again. The pool cake idea came from a magazine picture and Norma recreated it many many times. However.....over the years many of the special pieces of the cake...like the little people... and have disappeared. So...this years cake was a "version" of the original and Norma and Laura told us that is was not as beautiful as past cakes. We thought it looked great all the same!!!!! And.....yes the center of the pool is blue jello!!!!

Abi and Laura after the birthday dinner!

The girls went shopping in downtown Portland for the day in the "Grandma Mobile" and met us at the restaurant for dinner....which was Chinese food!!!

Laura's gift from her parents was a cooking class in Portland. Abi got to join her for the class and they had a great time...

The Class kitchen

The birthday Girl

Playing with the Bud dog.....

Meet Graham Shaw

Graham was born on Abi's birthday in February...He is the son of the Kate and Jon....our friends and youth director at church. This was the first time we got to meet him......what a cutie!!!