Pics of the fabric market

I know that you all have been dying to see what the fabric market is like. Last weekend I went to pick up my coats and they were too big so I had to get them altered, which meant that I had an hour and a half to kill but luckily I had my camera, so like any good Fudge would do I went around and took pictures. I know my skills do not compare to those of my family members, but they do show you what the fabric market looks like.

Shanghai Half Marathon

Today I ran in the Shanghai Half Marathon. I now can say that I have ran one in China (I will also be running another one in May on the Great Wall... yes, I do know how awesome that sounds). Anyways, moving on. For the first time I decided to run a 1/2 marathon with plenty of time to train. Considering there isn't soccer for me to play a few times a week or beach volleyball, I have been running quite a bit since I got here. I usually run between 3-6 days per week for about 45-90 min. I assumed that this would help me to be ready to get my best time EVER. Anyways, the past three weeks I have been fighting a cold and it has been raining, so my running got cut a lot. I think in the past two weeks I ran like 3 or four times not to mention, the week or two before I didn't run too much and when I did I felt like crap, but such is life. Long story short, my "training" didn't go as planned.

Friday night I picked up my race packet. It is the best race packet I have ever gotten. Not only is the shirt the cool running material, but we got a Mizuno backpack type thing. In the bag there were also lots of booklets and pamphlets, most of which were in Chinese, our numbers for our shirts, and our timing chip for our shoe. This morning the bus came at 5:30 am to pick us up, yes it was ridiculously early considering the race started to 7:30. I decided to plan ahead and started to get everything ready last night. Soccer taught me that it is always smarter to prepare the night before because otherwise things get left behind. As I was packing my bag with my wallet, banana, watch, Ipod, etc. I remembered that I needed to get my number. I went to the table only to remember that I threw away the race booklets and most likely my number and my chip. CRAP! no number, no race. Just my luck too, earlier yesterday I decided to take out our trash, something that happens about once a week. Considering it was 10:30 pm when I discovered this I decided to not go dumpster diving, but luckily my roommate decided to not run, so I was able to run under the name of "Janai Wallace" (oh and this also means that I would be out of my deposit for the chip).

So this morning I woke up super early ready to go. It was awesome, the start was on Nanjing Lu (one of the big tourist roads) over looking the river and the Pearl Tower. It was not raining, and the temperature was great. This was setting up to be one of my best runs ever. Well, until I started. The full 13.1 miles I never felt like I hit the runner's high and my legs felt heavy the entire time. The good news I finished, but with my second to worse time of 1 hr 59 min and 40 sec. The good news being that anyone under 2 hours got free ghetto shoes, bad news being I was bummed about my time. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. BUT, I can now say that I have ran a half marathon in China, pretty cool! Oh, and about the shoes, luck with have it they didn't have any my size, oh and my time won't show up under my name since I threw my chip away, but I do have a shirt and a bag to prove it (and a couple pictures).

More Hangzhou pics

It was just too beautiful... I needed to add more pics

Hangzhou

Last weekend I went to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a city about 2 hours from Shanghai via the train. I went with my friend Jackie and other friends from the British International School. Hangzhou is a perfect picture of East meeting West. It is famous for its beautiful lake, and by the pictures you can see how beautiful it is. It is also one of the few places in China that survived the Cultural Revolution so there are many temples and relics from the past that remain in tact. The Lake is know as West Lake and on one side of the lake are the areas that contain the temples, pagodas, etc. and on the other side a city has been built up with high rise buildings, Starbucks coffee shops, Porche and Mazzarati dealerships, and other stores and buildings showing how commercialism has crept into China. However, the lake was gorgeous. It was the first time since I have been in China that I got to actually see the sun set. It made me realize how much I miss sunsets over the ocean. In the morning I got up early and walked around the lake. In the morning the locals wake up early for their morning exercises. The exercises were fun to watch because groups of young and old gathered in groups of two to twenty people and did thai chi, sword moves, aerobic type routines, etc. Also, a few men did water calligraphy where they had these sticks with a rag or brush on the end and they would writed the calligraphy on the cement. I got pictures of one man (I actually kind of made friends with him and he took pictures of me taking pictures of him doing calligraphy and he gave me a tissue with calligraphy on it) but I am waiting to get the pictures back form my friends camera because my battery died.

Over all the weekend was perfect. It was fun and relaxing and beautiful with some crazy moments mixed in. I think the highlights included watching the sunset, going to this crazy dance club that had techno trance music and a bouncing dance floor, and then the next day going to Starbucks and having coffee while just sitting at the lake and people watching. Hangzhou is a place where is anyone visited I would be sure to take them there.

Whipped cream and jackets...

"What the heck is up with this subject title?!?" you are probably asking yourself. Well, the answer is simple... my weekend was awesome due to whip cream and jakctets (or should I say coats?). On Saturday my friends and I tried to go to the Shanghai Aquarium, which didn't happen, so we ended up cruising around the Bund area (you may have eariler seen pictures I posted of the Pearl Tour and this is the same area). Anyways, moving on, it was a perfect day: the weather was warm, the sun was out, and we were walking around. We ended up going to this placa called the City Market whihc sells Western food. There really has not been anything that I have been dying to eat, but when I saw the whip cream canister I knew I has to get it. Sure it was 6 bucks for the whip cream, but the thought of putting whip cream in my coffee made me so incredibly happy. How can whip cream be worth 6 bucks? Oh, but trust me, it is. Now I sit at my computer drinking my coffee with whip cream, maybe tonight I will put some on my hot chocolate... this is so great. I was so excited that yesterday morning I had a coffee/hot chocolate and whip cream party so I could share the goodness. I love simple pleasures.

And coats. No, I did not put whip cream on my jackets. Yesterday was the day that I went to the fabric market to pick out my saving graces for the winter, meaning my winter coats. If you want to talk about feeling overwhemed, try going to a fabric market where they can make just about any coat in any style in any color and fabric. I wanted to get so many, but limited myself to only two: one is black and white w/ toggle buttons and a hood (supposedely a Burberry remake) and the other is is this blueish color with on row of buttons and over sized pockets. Anyways, these words do not explain their awesomeness. I am soooo excited to be able to pick them up in a week or so (and yes, of course I will take pictures).

So that is what made my weekend incredibly awesome: being able to get whip cream and my winter jackets. Ahhhhh, life can be so simple yet so good.