Xinnian Kuaile!!!

New Year’s Eve 2011 was an interesting evening.  Since I had to return to work on January 2^nd, Chris and I made the long drive from Chicago to Charleston and were exhausted.  We arrived home around 9:30, ate some Ruby Tuesday’s curbside to go, and watched Dick Clark in the comfort of our pajamas.  My how times have changed!

This year, we suited up and went out!

This New Year’s we ushered in the holiday with a friendly dinner, fireworks on the Bund, and some fun times at Bar Rouge. 

The evening started with a “Sparkly” potluck supper / hombrew tasting with some of our Shanghai crew. 

It was wonderful to celebrate with friends from different parts of our lives.

As part of our celebration, we popped some Christmas Crackers.  Inside my cracker was this lovely crown and a fingernail clipper. 

Even Ditka was having a great time snuggling with our guests.

After dinner, we boarded a 16-passenger van and headed to the Bund for the New Year’s countdown and fireworks!

The police were out in full force to make sure everyone had a fun, safe evening.

We loved watching fireworks with hundreds of thousands of friends.

After the fireworks, it was time to head to Bar Rouge for more fun and champagne!

This was the multi level line to get in to Bar Rouge.  Luckily, my "friend" John was able to get us in with no cover and no wait. :) 

We're having fun with the Bosch Shanghai crew.

Those dots on this picture are not stars.  They are floating lanterns containing well wishes for the new year!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

It was a great night to suit up and go out!  Thanks everyone for making the evening a night to remember, and have a great year!

A Merry Little Chinese Christmas: Our Christmas in Pictures

Chris and I have officially survived the 48-hour cheer fest known as Christmas. 

Christmas was going to be a little different this year. In China, Christmas is not an official state holiday, so I had to teach on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.   Since I could not celebrate at home, I decided to bring Christmas to my kids. 

On Christmas Eve morning, I was greeted with this fabulous tree at school.

My students had a fun day of singing Christmas Songs (can’t call them carols here), and playing holiday games.

After work, Chris and I headed to Shanghai Slim’s for a Christmas Eve Dinner.  The food was as good as it looked.

Everything on the menu looked so yummy!

This was dinner after we ate.  Needless to say, we had a lot of leftovers. 

After dinner Chris and I went to Christmas Eve Mass at St. Ignatius.  I can now say I survived my first inter-species midnight mass. 

This stray cat gave new meaning to all creatures giving praise.

The next morning we woke up to find that Santa had visited us in Shanghai!  I was SO happy that he brought me Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix and many pairs of shoes! 

Oh Hidden Valley, how I have missed thee!

After opening gifts, we listened to my Dad read my niece the Nativity Story from the Bible via Skype.  I was so happy I did not miss this family tradition.

I was so thankful for Skype today!  It was wonderful to see my family.

Chris and I then had a yummy pancake and bacon brunch, and set out to spread more Christmas cheer in my schools.

For our first stop, we watched the “Little Red Riding Hood” dress rehearsal at my middle school.  

The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood chat in the forest.

Unfortunately, I was not able to see the final performance because I had to teach at my afternoon school.  St. Nick was going to visit my kids! 

I sneak a kiss with Santa before class.

My friend Meg made it on the nice list.

Many of my kids had never met Santa before today.  Some of the kiddos did not know what to think of him.  Every student had to introduce him or herself and tell Santa if they were naughty or nice.

After meeting my first graders, Santa was beat.

One of my students, Michelle, kept asking me if Santa Claus was my husband.  I was mentally kicking myself for teaching her that vocabulary word.

Michelle was obsessed with Santa's beard.  She is such a smart kid!

I am happy to say my kids are now Santa fans.

After work, we headed to Christmas dinner with some new friends, Skyped my Griffith and Philly families for their Christmas mornings, and finally went to bed. 

Overall, it was a great Christmas!  Merry Christmas everyone!  

To Market We Go…

After my Easter experience, I was afraid that Christmas in Shanghai would be like Whoville after the Grinch stole all the trimmings and trappings. I am happy to report I was wrong; the Chinese know how to spread Christmas cheer (in an extremely secular way).

One way the Chinese celebrate the holiday season is by housing European style Christmas markets.  Once I spotted these markets on Smart Shanghai, I needed to check it out!

The first market Chris and I visited was the Christkindlmarkt on Fenyang Rd.  

Welcome to German expat heaven.

According to Chris, this market was extremely similar to the German Christmas markets in Stuttgart.  I think every German living in Shanghai came out to experience a bit of home.  For a couple of hours we got lost in the land of Christmas trinkets, brats, and gluhvein.

Many of the vendors had all sorts of Christmas goodies!

Nutcrackers were very popular at the market.

I suddenly feel eating like a slice of pizza...

Gluhwein is warm, spiced, red wine. It is like Christmas in a cup!

The potato dumplings and kraut were tasty!

This was my lunch.  The brat was AWESOME!

This little guy was loving his hot dog!

We picked up a couple of these ornaments for 6RMB (about $1).

While we had a great time at Christkindlmarkt, we didn’t find the decorations we wanted.  So the following weekend we headed to Yu Gardens to check out their loot.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Yu Gardens looked like the North Pole had bombed it.  Garland and ornaments were everywhere. 

After taking our first lap around the market, I took Chris to the restaurant where I had my first Yum Cha date.  There was a little more talking than my first time dining here.

He's much cuter than my first date.

After lunch, it was back to shopping.

There were boxes of garland everywhere.  I was amazed that none of it got tangled.

Some of the reindeer lost their antlers, bless their hearts.  

Luckily we were able to pick up some decorations for our door.

It's not the Grizwalds, but it will do. 

While Yu Gardens was nice, there was one more market we wanted to visit, the Shanghai Christmas Market at Xintandi. 

The lights were very pretty.

The carousel at Xintandi park was dressed up for the occasion.

This was the first market where Santa Claus made a visit.  Apparently visiting Santa is a very American custom.  Notice the kids don't sit on Santa's lap, and there is no line to see Santa.  The kids just mob around him.

Chris poses with one of the creepy candy mascots.  He wasn't happy that I made him  wear his new (free) Santa hat.

Chris picked up a couple of champagne flutes from a vendor that was selling candles and slippers that you can heat in the microwave.  

While the lights were nice, many of the vendors were not exactly festive.

Ice Cream at an outdoor Christmas market?  That made no sense to me.  At least it wouldn't melt in the cold weather.

One of the high points of my night was when Chris bought me measuring spoons.  These are VERY difficult to find!

Yes, I am sure people were Gangman Styling it at the birth of Christ.

Overall, we had a good time at the markets.  They put us very much in the holiday spirit.