Shanghai Times

Last night I threw a surprise party for Amara. The party was held at our friend Henry's new restaurant. It is a very nice place - they serve Brazilian food, and it's cheap, too! Henry is from California and also studied Chinese at East China Normal University. They did an excellent job serving our party.
The surprise was very hard to organize and keep Amara in the dark at the same time. In fact, Amara tried to organize a party a few days later, because she didn't know. This caused some confusion with the guests.
It is Chinese tradition for the the person whose birthday it is to pay, so we honored the custom and treated everyone.

I decided to throw the party yesterday because people are really busy around the 23rd.

Today I went to the travel agent and booked our flights for our upcoming SouthEast Asia trip - We will fly to Nanning (Southern China), and take a train into Hanoi. We will spend a few days there, and fly to Bangkok. We play to spend several weeks travelling through Thailand (including the beaches of Ko Tao), and make a side trip to Ankor in Cambodia. We will then fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and spend a few days with our friend's Sue Gee and Adam, whom I went to College with in Michigan. We will return to China from Kuala Lumpur.

Thank you for the Christmas Cards, YES, they HAVE gotten to us.

-Erik

Yesterday Amara and I went online and downloaded a bunch of christmas music to get us in the christmas spirit. She downloaded some Bing Crosby christmas classics. I mistook the singer for actor Bill Cosby, which Amara found hilarious - I said "thats NOT the guy from the jello pudding commercials?!?!!" I decided to download the Beach Boy's christmas album, which I've listened to at every christmas since I was a boy. Listening to this music makes me sad I will not be home for the holidays.

I have "secret santa" gifts that I need to buy at both work and school. I always enjoy doing this. I am also excited to shop for Amara's present, although she told me not to buy her anything since we are saving our money for our Southeast Asia trip next month. I think will also buy a christmas tree. The local Carrefour sells cheap plastic trees that will do just fine. As for stockings, we don't have any, so maybe we will use socks.

Today my classmate from Holland handed out special cookies to celebrate Sinterklaas. She was nice enough to think of Amara by packing her a little bag full of cookies for me to take home for her. It was a very nice gesture. This Christmas, we might not have our families but we have our friends.

No pictures today, we haven't gone anywhere interesting lately.

To everybody I haven't had the time to call or email personally, Happy Holidays!

-Erik

Erik Here. Thanksgiving in Shanghai was a bit lonely being without family. However, we got together with a couple of our American friends to celebrate the holiday. We ate at an American restaurant that was offering a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun. Akio, did you go to my sister's?

It felt a little strange going to class and work on Thanksgiving (Me and one other student were the only Americans to show up that day). I am glad I went that day, because I found out that I got an A on my Oral exam and B on my written exam. That made the day much better.

We joined a gym last week. It was only 900 yuan (120 dollars) for the entire year. The price included personal training services, and all the classes we want to take. My trainer is a huge chinese guy who calls himself "hulk" because Hulk Kogan and the Incredible Hulk are his heroes.

We truly have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Amara here. Thanksgiving was good this year. We had a good night with our friends. We've been keeping busy with work and studying Chinese. Like Erik said, we joined a gym and its been a lot of fun. I joined with one of my Chinese girlfriends and we take all kinds of classes together, yoga, salsa and belly dancing, and pilates. So Erik and I have both been on a bit of a health kick lately. The Chinese are so healthy! It makes going to McDonalds a little embarrassing. Oh, also, good news! I finally have my work and residence permit. I ended up not having to take another health exam (which costs about $100) so I was thankful for that. Now I am finally working legally in China. Also, we are free to travel in and out of China and I don't have to waste more money on visas to get back into the country.

Here are some pictures from Yuyan Gardens and one from Thanksgiving:

Last night we went to see one of our favorite bands, Linkin Park, at Hongkou Football Stadium. It was very close to one of the campus's I teach at. We had been inside before when we watched the US women's soccer team play Nigeria.

This was our first concert in China. There were a few differences between concerts here and concerts in the states. For one - instead of bouncers guarding the stage, there were about 100 chinese soldiers standing in a straight line, in full military attire (not BDU's, but the formal wear). The second difference was that there was no "mosh pit area" to stand.

After the show there was mass chaos - imagine 20,000 people all looking for taxi's at once because the trains were not running after the show was finished. A mile and one hour later, we eventually got one.

with hit bands, broadway shows, and other western influence, Shanghai is starting to resemble Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul more and more.

Today I had my mid-term exam. It was a good thing I had been studying for weeks, because it was one of the tough.

这个星期一我们一起去杭州，邵兴，朱家角。杭州，邵兴，朱家角 都很漂亮。在杭州，我们除茶馆儿。杭州的茶很好喝。杭州有很多商店，还有很多便宜的酒吧。我的朋友住在杭州。他也是MICHIGAN人。他去我们的宾馆。在绍兴，我们散步，坐船。在朱家角，我们买东西

This past Monday we went to Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and Zhujiajiao. They are all very beautiful. We visited a tea house and drank tea. Hangzhou has very good tea. Hangzhou has many stores, and also many cheap bars. My friend lives in Hangzhou. He is also from Michigan. He met up with us at our Hotel. In Shaoxing, we took a walk and went for a boat ride. In Zhujiajiao, we bought many things.