The Catch Up (Part II): Joe and Debbie in China

Advice for people living abroad: when you have to return to your place of residence after spending a nice long summer with friends and family, here's a good way to ease back into accepting the distance: drag some friends back with you!

What better way to start the school year, than being joined by our good friends Joe and Debbie. Kim and I didn't have too much time for sight seeing, with all these ridiculous expectations that we do actual start work for our jobs when we're supposed to, but luckily we had a weekend and a few days to tool around Shanghai, see the sites, and sample some food. Joe and Debbie went on to Beijing for a few days as well.



The picture of Joe in front of the Communist Party building cracks me up. Does that smile say "I love communism" or "Take the picture quick before they arrest us as spies"?

Anyway, we had a terrific time with them, and can't wait till they come back... with the newest addition to their clan! No worries, Joe and Deb - we'll have an Ayi waiting ;).

See more of our pictures here.

The Big Catch Up (Part One)

I've been terribly delinquent in keeping up this blog (as Leah has repeatedly pointed out :), so I'm going to attempt to do a quick catch up on some stuff.

6.3.07: Birthday!Kim treated me to an amazing brunch at the Westin Hotel, known for having the best Sunday Brunch in Shanghai- and there is some stiff competition for that title. We ran into our friends Jason and Liz who joined us for the meal, which made our great day even better. Here Jason is on the phone with our other friend Andrew, who has The Plan for eating at the westin. Its a three hour brunch, so you have to start out with nothing but seafood for the first hour. Seafood isn't as filling, so you won't get full quickly. Sushi, lobster, crab, smoked salmon- I can do this. The second hour you go slowly but stay light on the carbs, and then then the last hour is the free for all. We had a great time, and decided to take my parents here for their anniversary when they came to Shanghai later that summer.

6.5.07 - 7.4.07

Mom, Dad, and Jackie arrive in Shanghai! Its a few days before school ends, so they hang out and see the local Shanghai Scene. We then head off for the big Tour D'Chine! From Shanghai, we went to Beijing, Yangshou, Xian and Lijiang. It was an amazing trip, and I'll write more about it later, but if I'm going to keep up with this blog, I'll just post the photos for now. Here are some highlights from the trip. I'm having some trouble with our slow internet now, so I was only able to upload about half of those I was intending to- more will be up later:


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

You can also see them at my flickr account here.

Next up: Joe and Debbie come to Shanghai, and Kim and David go to Thailand (again).

Kyoto Highlights

I've been a bad blogger.

I've been giving all my attention to The Carrot Revolution and neglecting my personal blog. Work life trumping personal life. And I promised myself (and Kim) that when we moved to China, I wouldn't get so caught up in work life.

So, to start with, here are some pictures from Kyoto. I just discovered this little program that allows you to embed your flickr photos in your blog as a slideshow.

w00t!


Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.

In this slideshow, you'll see some Sakura (cherry blossoms), which is a big deal around that time of year in Japan, as well as images of Kiyomuzu Dera during the day and at night. I first visited Kiyomuzudera during Semester at Sea in college, and have wanted to return ever since - it is one of the most beautiful places I'd ever been. My return trip with Kim didn't disappoint. As a bonus, they had it open and illuminated at night, which is a rare occurrence and a unique opportunity.

You can see the rest of our Japan photos here, although I should throw another slideshow up later.

Freedom is My Favorite Guitarist!

I have to admit that I love "Engrish" - the mangled English that you see on t-shirts, advertisements, and kid's toys all over Japan. There's something about it that is just wonderfully bizarre. I also admit that I did drag Kim into a few stores to see if we could find some fun Engrish T-Shirts, but we didn't have much luck. The one pictured here was pretty cool though.

The only other very peculiar Engrish T-shirt I saw caught me totally off guard. I was people watching on the subway on our trip back to the airport. This guy standing with his family had a t-shirt, in the University Athletic style, that said:

Survival of the Fittest

and then in larger letters across the front of the shirt:

Social Darwinism

I have to say, where I've usually found Engrish to be 'wonderfully amusing', here i found it 'uncomfortably strange'.

You Love the Actor

Now Try the Coffee:




9 out of 10 film buffs agree: Jack Black Smooth Mocha Blend tastes more like Jack Black than leading competitors.

Japan: The Miracle Fruit Adventure

About a month before we left for Japan, I came across this interesting article on a food blog (what? I read everything!) about the mysterious "Miracle Fruit". This fruit has gathered a bit of a cult following among some gourmets and chefs. Its a small berry the size of a peanut, and it doesn't taste particularly good. Why then, you ask, has it has gained popularity in the secret underground channels of food geeks?

When you eat a miracle fruit, it changes the way that everything else tastes for about half an hour. No- it doesn't do anything to your brain (this isn't a story about how I became a fruit junkie) - just your tongue. It coats it with some kind of crazy berry juice that allows your buds to taste some things stronger and to mask other tastes. More on that later.

The other thing about Miracle Fruit- its hard to come by. Japan is one of the few countries in which it is available. When I found this out, I knew that Kim and I had a quest. We had to seek out and find this strange and rare anomaly of nature. We had a calling - a calling to go on The Miracle Fruit Adventure.

Our adventure started more as an aimless wandering. As we took to the streets of Tokyo, looking in big department stores (in Japan, fruits and confections are in great supply in department stores), small grocery stores, and even a few snack carts at the Hanami festivals. However, there were no signs of miracle fruit; and if there were, they were in Japanese.

Despondent, we were about to give up. Where could we find information in English? And then it hit me- it was sitting right there in front of my face all along. No really. I use the internet all the time at home, a country this technologically advanced *must* have the internet! Maybe even more than one!

Luckily, Josh had the internets, so I got one from him. After about an hour of fruitless searching (get it? "Fruitless"? Ha ha!) I found what we were looking for- the Miracle Fruit Cafe.

The Miracle Fruit Cafe? A whole culinary establishment based around the miracle fruit? Inconceivable!

We got our directions, and set out at the crack of dawn the next morning. Well, at the crack of dawn, I woke up to shift my pillow into another position, but only a few hours later, we'd be on our way.

Our first challenge was getting to the legendary "Sunshine City" - a mythical city within a city, an entire community of housing, restaurants, shops, and entertainment in one building. After successfully navigating the confusing maze of the Tokyo city (thanks to Kim's navigational skills), we arrived at our destination. It was like when they reach the Emerald City in Wizard of Oz, only everything wasn't green, there was no creepy doorman, and things looked kind of like they do on every other busy Japanese street (small curry shops, pachinko palaces, and a 'hello kitty' store).

Once inside Sunshine City, I knew we were on the right track- there to greet us was Our Neighbor Totoro! Finally, a sign.


Our next challenge was finding Namjatown. An entire indoor kids theme park which takes up two levels of Sunshine City. Namjatown is just bizarre. Kids run around with little cat statues, which give them clues and information when they are placed in certain areas around the park. There are small rides, interactive video booths, and video screens hidden in stones and barrels. I had no idea what was going on, because it was all in Japanese, but the kids sure looked like they were having fun.



Finally, on the second floor of Namjatown, we reached our destination at last: The Miracle Fruit Cafe. On the menu were all sorts of curries (curries are very popular in Japan) and other interesting looking dishes- but these were all distractions for those who are not true of heart. We knew what we came for.

We ordered two miracle fruits, and a small plate of non-miraculous fruit to go with it. We also ordered a plate of various cheeses.



While we were waiting for our food, Kim and I found a set of instructions for eating miracle fruit on the table. Here, the little Namjatown mascot (Namja himself?) gives directions on how to eat the fruit. Even though we couldn't read the them, Kim and I have years of experience in eating, and so we relied on our instincts. Put food in mouth. Chew. Swallow.

It worked.

The lemons tasted as sweet as oranges- we could eat them whole without a hint of sourness. Strawberries tasted like candy. Grapefruit was just amazing. The cheeses were interesting as well - they didn't taste unfamiliar, but the miracle fruit brought out interesting hidden flavors that weren't there before.

Our quest was at an end, but a true hero's journey involves bringing something back for the benefit of society. Unfortunately, we can't provide society with miracle fruits, so we'll do the next best thing:

Spread the word! I have witnessed a miracle (fruit)! Hallelujah!

Japan!

Finally! Things have been pretty busy, and I've been having trouble getting my photos uploaded to flickr- i think there's a guy in Beijing who has to physically read every page and look at every photo before it goes to or from my computer. I picture him sitting in a little office with faded white cinderblock walls with nothing but a table with an old computer, a chair, and an ashtray. Even though the ashtray is next to his computer, he still takes a smoking break every half hour. I don't blame him, the room is kind of depressing. I just wish he'd approve my internet access a little faster sometimes, but he's got his own problems.

Rather than try and sum up Japan in one post, I'll break up the trip into some small adventures for your reading enjoyment over the next few days. My harsher critics feel like I haven't been going into enough detail in my recent posts (hi Leah!), so I'll try to be a little more focused.

As an introduction, I'll talk about the best part of Japan, spending time with Josh and Noah. We didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked (due to email failures and busy schedules), but we did get to go to a Hanami Party with them. Hanami is a cherry blossom viewing party. Look at trees, hang out with friends, a little sake or shochu is involved... The Cherry Blossom trees are only in bloom one week out of the year, and so this is a very big event; and you can see why, many parks are blanketed in these beautiful pink flowers.

Thailand

Apologies for not posting in so long - between the sluggish Chinese internet, being busy at work, and the intimidating mountain of stuff I have to post to catch up - I've neglected to keep up with the blog. Time to fix that.






Kim and I spent our Chinese New Year vacation with Jackie! And if that's not cool enough, we got to see her in Thailand. We met Jackie in Bangkok, a city that is a whole different kind of crazy than Shanghai (and New York). We spent a good deal of the first day walking around markets and eating. The night market was especially interesting- rows and rows of crafts and assorted tchokes... and Thai Country and Western band at the food court.


The next day we flew down to Phuket, which was truly a white beach, crystal blue water paradise; but perhaps a little... a lot too touristy for my general tastes. That being said though, we spent a few great days doing some very touristy things: we had a great time lying on the beach, drinking out of coconuts freshly cut open, riding elephants, feeding monkeys, and visiting temple caves.





We took a boat to "James Bond Island", which was the location of Christopher Lee's secret weapon in The Man With the Golden Gun, and visited a muslim fishing village built on stilts on an island coast. I have to admit - doing the 'tourist' thing was fun.

After Phuket we went back to Bangkok for another day. We spent a good deal of the afternoon seeing the palace and the temple with the giant gold buddah. We also went to the massive market of sensory overload- the weekend market, which made the semi-insane night market seem tame by comparison.

Seeing Thailand was great - but seeing Jackie was greater! Love ya sis!

More pictures here.

NUMB3RS

Ever since we arrived in China, Kim and I have been wondering about these strange numbers that appear on abandon buildings and random walls all over the place. I found out recently what these were:

They are telephone numbers that people call in order obtain illegal documents; identification, driver's licenses, etc. Actually, that sort of explains all the terrible driving here.

Two mysteries solved!

Look Down!

I added a little widget to my blog that shows the geographic locations of some of the pictures that we've taken. Right now there is only one picture (of Harbin), but more will be showing up shortly. Scroll down and enjoy!

Harbin Snow and Ice Festival

Kim and David join Shaun, John, Craig, and Sheryl on an adventure to the distant and Icy city of Harbin, China in an effort to view the rare and elusive sculptures and buildings of the Snow and Ice Festival. Here our valiant heroes braved temperatures as fierce as the most sinister Albany chill or a very mild spring day in Siberia.

Words cannot describe the beautiful and transient art and architecture of Harbin - but pictures can:

Flickr Photoset

Flickr Slide Show

Put on your warmest winter jacket and enjoy the show.

I Didn't Know You Could Eat These.

And yet they sell them at Carrefour. Where's the meat on it?

The Fog

Hello dear readers! Sorry that I haven't updated the blog in a while, but as most of you know, we were home for the holidays. Kim and I were so happy to get together with so many of our good friends, and sad that our time together was so brief. Not to worry, though! We'll be home sometime in July, and we're also looking forward to you coming to visit (nudge nudge, wink wink).

Anyway the only thing to report about China in that time is that there was a major earthquake in Taiwan that has affected internet use all over Asia. Our internet is a bit spotty (that is, more spotty than usual), but the papers say that it will be fixed by the end of January.

Speaking of spotty, check out the visibility in this fog that settled over Shanghai the day that we left for break. I stood on the corner for a few minutes before I took the leap of faith required to cross the street. Luckily, the nicer cars would honk as they sailed through the intersection, coming briefly into visible range.

Here you can see how heavy the fog was. The first picture was taken at about 7:15 in the morning, the second at about noon time.

Happy Christmas!

Professor B made a surprise visit at our school at our holiday assembly just before vacation, and gave all the students a little tour of the new building that will be opening on campus next year:

Happy Hannukah!

The small contingent of Shanghai American Jews got together for a little Hannukah party last week. We're small in numbers, and even in the minority at the hannukah party! That was actually a nice surprise though, since so many of our non-jewish friends showed up to celebrate with us. In this picture, our friend Michelle is teaching a group of our friends' kids (who are also some of my students) about the meaning of Hannukah.

We had some potato latkas that couldn't be beat and din't get up until the next mornin'.

Chinese Hannukah Gelt!

Mini Me

The fifth grade is doing a "Space Webquest" for their science class, and are planning a trip to Mars. They put together little presentations that include dioramas of what their facilities on Mars will look like. They'll be doing little 'video tours of the diorama' but weren't really understanding how we were going to make it look like they were small enough to do a 'walk through'. This is my little demonstration video.

The Winter Ball

SAS has a big "Winter Ball" event every year. It was fun. I don't have a great deal to say about it- there were good people, good food, and good wine. I really just wanted to take this opportunity to show off my beautiful wife.

Crabs

These Suck!

Today's post is about some interesting things that you can drink through a straw. The first, which Kim is holding there on the left is "Bubble Tea" (also known as "Pearl Tea", or "Milk Tea with Sago", or "Tapioca Tea" depending on where it is ordered). Bubble Tea isn't anything new to us, as we'd often go out of our way to get one from downtown Flushing when we were living in Queens. However, it comes from this part of the world and if you haven't made it to your local Chinatown (or if you're living here in China) to taste one of these - do yourself a favor. Basically, its a drink made of tea, milk, and very large balls of tapioca. The drink comes with a wide straw for the tapioca to fit through. Very delicious!

The second thing that Kim is holding is a "Soupy Dumpling" - instead of a bowl, this soup is served in a dumpling, and usually has a big piece of pork in it as well. When you order a big one (like the one pictured here) it comes with a straw so that you can drink the soup before you eat the rest of the dumpling. There's a trick to eating the smaller ones - you place the dumpling in a spoon with one hand, and hold it steady with chopsticks with the other hand. Then you bite off a bit of the dumpling skin in order to let out the steam. At this point you can pour in some vinegar and/or soy sauce (might I recommend the vinegar?). In a few seconds, its cool enough to eat.

Yuey's Suzhou Video

This is the video that my friend Yuey took when we went to Suzhou a few months ago. Here you'll see something that is very rare to find in my own videos: me.