Red?

I wore a bright red pair of tights to work yesterday. I think I may be starting to follow Chinese fashion.

A couple weekends ago I bought some new clothes at a very fashionable boutique. A pair of black velvet pants, a black cashmere sweater with a shawl attached that can be swept to one side, or in four other positions, a black ruffled shirt and a black structured dress with elbow length sleeves and pleats on the sleeves and at the bust. The unifying factor is that all of them were black. The sales girls (two of them) were incredibly helpful, bringing me over a dozen things to try on, necklaces, belts, shoes….As I was checking out with my purchases one of them disappeared, telling me to wait. She came back with a bright red pair of tights and told me that it was a free gift that I should wear them with my black dress. I looked at her and smiled and said – “But everything I bought is black, why the red tights?” She laughed and said, “Trust me.”

That was two weeks ago. The dress has been hanging in my closet, but yesterday I bravely put it on with the red tights. My cleaning lady complimented me as I left the house, then in the elevator, someone else complimented me. At work – I received five or six additional compliments. “Your tights look great!” “Beautiful color.” “Where did you get them?” Now that I think about it, no one actually commented on the dress, just on my legs.

The sales girl was right. At least in Shanghai.

Question – Any fashion stories? Things you thought were great but looking back you can’t believe you wore them? Share!

A big Happy Birthday to my dad for today!
Cheers-

G

Free

The weather the last two weeks has been pretty nasty overall. Rain, fog, pollution, mist, wind … we’ve had the entire spectrum. Yesterday morning as I was struggling down the driveway of my complex I saw a pair of men’s underwear (boxers) by the side of the road. The picture that immediately came to my mind was someone stripping off their clothes and dancing in the rain, free from everything. The less romantic vision is that someone didn’t securely fasten the boxers to the clothes line and the wind had carried them away. I prefer my initial thought.

Question – Have you ever danced in the rain?

A Real Anniversary

Yesterday I was walking back to the office after eating lunch when it hit me. I am living and working in China. This is real. This is my life.

I almost missed the moment in the normalcy of it. I was waiting to cross the street, thinking about my tasks for the afternoon, when I looked up and noticed for the first time in a while that I was the only westerner in the crowd. But, this time it was different. I was part of the crowd, just another worker heading back from lunch.

You may say, “Of course – this is real, you’ve been writing about it for the last year. If you’re not living and working in China, where are you?” and that would be a fair question. I can answer it this way. When I was teaching it was temporary – for the first time yesterday it felt permanent and I was okay with that.

It seems fitting that this moment of illumination occurred almost exactly one year to the day after I first arrived in China. The last year, as detailed in my blog, has been wonderful – full of friends, food, adventures, language, stretching and growing. As I contemplated my anniversary post I thought of lots of possibilities. Top 10 moments in Shanghai, best restaurants here, places to visit, things never to say as a foreigner; but instead of looking back, I’ve decided that I’d like to look forward. Here are my goals for the next year:

1) Get comfortable enough with my Chinese to give a short speech at an internal work meeting.
2) Ride the bus in Shanghai.
3) Learn how to cook one traditional Chinese dish well.
4) Visit one smaller Chinese city (less than a million people); travel to Hong Kong for pleasure (not business).
5) Develop a KTV (karaoke) repertoire of more than two Chinese songs.
6) Buy a bicycle.

Happy Anniversary to the blog and to me!

Questions – Do you have any goals that you think I should add to the list? Please share.

Cheers!
G