20 June 2010: Hair cut, buys at the dirt market and our new friend Daisy

20 June 2010 China Update

It's sunny, warm and very pleasant here today.  Since having a mid-week holiday, and knowing that I'll be flying out tomorrow evening to go to France, we didn't want to do anything big, so we have rested and relaxed!  

Yesterday, my big deal was going to get my hair cut.  One of the tough things about moving is you have to get new hair care, new doctors, new dentists...all of the personal care items.  So far, I haven't needed the Doctor, and I still plan on using a US dentist on trips back...but I had to get a new hair dresser.  Around the corner from the hotel, there is a hair place, so I decided to go..with Rod's prodding!  I went in, they greeted me, told me the price (68 Yuan...about $10.00) for a wash, cut and style.  I said OK, and this young man (looked like he couldn't have been over 14 to me!) took me back to was my hair.  The room was filled full of recliner spa type chairs with hair bowls attached.  I laid back, and he got my hair wet, shampooed it and gave me about a 15 minute scalp and neck message..I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  I came out of my trance and went to get my hair cut by another older man.  I'm guessing the young guy is an apprentice because he watched the entire time as the other man cut my hair.  Neither one spoke english...so I had to show how much I wanted off with my fingers...I'm not exactly thrilled with the look, but, one thing about hair...it will grow out!  Not really great...but here's a picture anyway!

Today, we went to the flea market and looked around and ended up buying several decorative items to put in the apartment.  Rod made friends a few weeks ago with a young girl who speaks english and he bought a nice piece of petrified wood from her...there is a forest of petrified wood in her home town and she brings it to Shenyang to sell at the flea market.    We also bought from another guy a bronze cloisonné bowl and a "singing bowl".  The cloisonne bowl looks old, but I'm not sure it is...I really don't trust anything to be authentic...I'm sure they see the foreigners coming from a mile away and see $$ in their pockets.  It's amazing how much they will start off asking..and how much you can actually buy for.  The singing bowl is common here..you hit it and it reverberates like a bell, then you rub it on the edge with a wooden stick and it will really reverberate and get a lot of harmonics going to "sing".  

"Daisy" (her english name) and her mother in front of their flea market store with a few pieces of petrified wood on the table in the background

Bronze cloisonne bowl with dragon handles, a piece of petrified wood and the singing bowl.

A ceramic figurine of a baby human riding a baby dragon, and a cloisonné pot.  This pot is not old, but I liked it!

I'm not sure any of this stuff will end up in my decorating scheme in the US when we return..but I figure we'll be here for awhile, so we might as well have something interesting in our apartment!

I"m not sure what I'll do for updates for the next month and a half...it's possible, nothing...it's possible something.  It depends on whether or not I'll take my computer.  For those of you on FB, I'll see you there for sure...for those not on FB...it could be mid August before my next note.  

Thank you all for your emails...keep us in your prayers as we travel.

Sarah

16 June 2010: Dragon Boat Days and the Imperial Palace in Shenyang

16 June 2010 China Update

Hello everyone!  Happy  "Dragon Boat Day"...don't know about Dragon boats?  Neither did we before we moved to China!

It was a national holiday here on Wednesday and Rod and I took some time off to see another sight here in Shenyang.  Before I get to that, here is something I got off the internet about the Dragon boat festival. 

"The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in the shape of dragons. Competing teams row their boats forward to a drumbeat racing to reach the finish end first.

The boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival are traditional customs to attempts to rescue the patriotic poet Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. Chinese citizens now throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water.  Therefore the fish could eat the rice rather than the hero poet. This later on turned into the custom of eating tzungtzu and rice dumplings.

 

The celebration's is a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year. It is done so by different practices such as hanging healthy herbs on the front door, drinking nutritious concoctions, and displaying portraits of evil's nemesis, Chung Kuei. If one manages to stand an egg on it's end at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year will be a lucky one."

Rod and I didn't see the dragon boat races  here in Shenyang, instead we went to the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City).  This Forbidden city is only slightly smaller than the one in Beijing and is in really good shape for it's age...Some of these buildings have been around since the early 1700's and many of the artifacts on display were around in the 1300's.  It's amazing!

This is Rodney and Sarah in front of the Royal throne building in the main coutryard.  The entire complex is probably at least 100 buildings, all very traditional architecture.

Here is a close up of one of the roof lines...I always like the little figurines on the roofs, and also the little end caps on the ends of the tiles.

Close up of the roof line at the imperial city in Shenyang, notice the dragon rain spout and the end caps on the roof tiles.

At the Palace, there was a place where you could pay a few Yuan and get the traditional dress costumes...I'm sure none would have fit me, but I did get some good pictures of some of the Chinese visitors getting into them as you'll see below.  The little girl only has the hat, but I thought she was adorable, so I took her picture!

Little Chinese girl at the Imperial Palace with her hat                                                                                                           

Chinese woman on "Dragon boat day" at the Imperial Palace in Shenyang, China

Sarah with a little boy in traditional dress...

Back to work tomorrow!  Have a great "rest of the week" everyone!

Sarah

13 June 2010: Shanghai expo, Pearl shopping and the Bund

13 June 2010 China Update

Greetings all,

This has been an cram-packed week.  I had 1 day in Shenyang at work, then I had to go to Shanghai for a series of meetings.  Rod went to Shanghai with me and we took the opportunity to see some sights! 

As you may recall from one of my first entries in the blog, I found a pearl market in Shanghai...so of course I had to go back (and this time take Rod!)  Here are a few pictures of pearls at the market!

 The lady at the market, stringing pearls.

 Rod walked me to the Michelin offices (the tall buildings in the background) and we took photos beside the hotel in Shanghai.  Shanghai weather seems to be alot like Columbia, SC...hot.  In addition, it rains alot!

 As you probably know, 2010 is the year of the world Expo and this year it is being held in Shanghai, China.  The expo is an event that lasts for about 6 months and gives each country a chance to showcase themselves.  This year, the theme for the expo is "Better City, Better life" and is all about sustainable development and living green.  Michelin is a major corporate sponsor of the French pavilion and plays a part in the overall pavilion experience.  I was able to attend the expo and I can tell you, it was huge!  They have been experiencing over half a million visitors per day...over 2.5 square miles is the area of this expo.  The lines were long..(thankfully, since Michelin was a sponsor of the pavilion, we got a VIP entry to the French and Monoco pavilions).  Rod chose not to go to the expo..too many people...and too many long lines!

 Just entering the China Expo with some Michelin colleagues

 Sarah and Mr. Bib

 The French Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo.   The vertical green garden is a reference to the classic french gardens, but instead of taking up a lot of space, it is all vertical!

The Great Britain pavillion at the expo

 I didn't take a photo the USA pavillion...it wasn't very pretty to me...looked like a huge oil storage tank! (This was at the same time as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico too...)

The biggest attraction at the expo was the Chinese pavilion...1 huge building where each province of the country had a mini pavilion inside this big building. 

The Chinese pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai expo

The Tibet area inside the Chinese Pavilion

The Inner Mongolia area inside the Chinese Pavillion

After the expo, I came back to the hotel and rested my weary feet!  The next day, Rod and I went to downtown Shanghai to an area called "the Bund".  It's a nice riverside walkway with a lot of skyscrapers on the opposite side of the river and one of the iconic landmarks of Shanghai, the Pearl TV tower. Interesting during the day, but spectacular at night!

 Rod on "The Bund" with the giant pearl behind him

We came back to Shenyang this morning and I'm glad to be back home!  On the taxi ride to the airport, I saw something I'm not sure I'll ever see again...unfortunately I couldn't get my camera out in time to get proof...we saw a moped on the interstate highway with 3 slaughtered, skinned hogs strapped to the back...the driver cruising down the highway just as normal as possible..no plastic, no covering...just naked, skinned hogs on a moped going to some "open air" market...I think it will be awhile before I can top that!

 I've got a busy week this week, then next Monday, I'll fly back out to France and I'll be there for a month preparing for some important meetings on the project I'm leading here in China.  Rod will join me mid July, and we'll take a few days of vacation.  I'll write another update next weekend, then I'm not sure when the next one will be..haven't decided yet if I'm going to take my personal computer with me or not.  

Hope you all are having a great summer!  Keep those emails coming!!

Sarah

4 June 2010: A Chinese Wedding

4 June 2010

Sarah’s China Update emails

Greetings all,

Hope this note finds you all well!   It's sunny and warm (borderline hot) here in Shenyang...it seems like it went from Winter to Summer almost over night.  People told us that Spring didn't last long...and they were right!  The town is putting out a lot of petunias, salvias and marigolds and most of the time, they look pretty good!

Last weekend, Rod and I were invited to a wedding for one of my colleagues at Michelin,  so of course we went!   A warning up front to the men on this list...this could really be a "chick flick" note...so if you're not really interested in weddings...you might want to stop here.  I will say that a Chinese wedding is different than a Western one...so go ahead...get in touch with your feminine side and read on!

The wedding was at a hotel ballroom and the invitation said to be there at 9:30am, so like the punctual Americans we are, we were there!  We were shown the way to the ballroom and were seated at the front table.  The room was set up with a large aisle down the center with a table and flower arch in the back of the room and a small stage in the front of the room.  People were dressed very casually and there was lots of talking, visiting, eating, smoking, drinking etc going on for about an hour.  At the same time the bride and groom showed up, there was a master of ceremonies all decked out on a pink sequined coat, giving the play by play at about 500db!  The bride and groom entered together in the back of the room and poured champagne for each other, then the walked down the aisle with rose petals being showered upon them.  There was a large inflatable ball type thing they entered and said what I guess was their vows (commented all along by the MC...still at 500db!). This ball thing also served as a projection screen for the slideshow of photos during their time together as a couple.  Then, they came out and the ball deflated and they were introduced to the crowd (to the tune of Star wars!) .  After the vows, the parents of the bride and groom came up and each made a small speech and drank some wine together.  Then, the employer supervisor of the bride and groom each went to the stage to give a speech.  In our bride's case, it was a French man who tried his best to read a note he had written, and had translated into Chinese...what an order!  Anyway, most importantly, she was a beautiful bride and she and her new husband walked down the aisle smiling and waving out the back of the room.  Then the food came out..and kept coming!  There were so many plates of food, they just stacked them on top of each other, leaving a big heaping pile in the center of the table..if you really liked what was brought out first...too bad, it was buried!  The bride and groom re-entered with a new set of clothes (she had a dark pink sequined dress now) and they starting making the rounds to the tables.  It is customary for the guests to present a gift of money in a red envelope (red is good luck)  to the bride, who immediately gives it to her assistant who stashes it away in a big purse!   It is also customary to be offered (and smoke) a cigarette and a glass of beer..since neither Rodney nor I smoke or drink, we had to politely bow out of that custom...believe me, there was enough smoke in the room to go around with everyone lighting up!  The last part of the meal was brought out and it was a special dish made of mashed potatoes with some type of food coloring, made to look like a Phoenix bird and a Dragon, both are for good luck (I think).  The bride had this special dish put at our table.  I felt bad because we were all so full that we could barely move, much less eat more!  After we ate, we said our goodbyes, but from what I understand, the bride and groom had been doing something with the wedding since about 4:00am and would go on well into the evening.  I'm tired just writing about it!  Below are some  

pictures.

This is the wedding aisle in the hotel as some of the guests arrived.  

The aisle before most of the guests arrived.  The big purple screen in the front of the room is the inflatable ball/projection screen.  Notice that there are several smokers!

This is the wedding party with their parents.

 This is the table stacked full of food...this is mid course...it's not the end of the meal yet!

 This is the bride in her 2nd change of clothing that we saw...people told me it's many more during the day!

Otherwise, I've been working a lot this week, trying to get ready for my project milestone presentations, so I have had no time this week to see anything else...including my dear husband.  I hope to make up for lost time while we're in Shanghai next week...together! :-)  I've still gotta work, and on Friday, I'll be going to the World Expo (from what I understand, like the World's fair...and it's highlighting China..imagine that!)  Rod and I will stay Saturday for a day together in Shanghai and discover it a little more together.  So, I'll write about that next week.

Keep those emails coming!!

Sarah