Our first full day in Shanghai was a day of rest and recovery. Most of us started the day at the home of our respective host family. Patricia and I were at Frank and Nancy's lovely 
penthouse on the western side of downtown. We are on the 13th floor and have a wonderful view. From their home, we can see amazing skylines, and some old factories that have been converted into apartments. Most of us seemed to have a good night of sleep. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. well rested, and again at 6:30 for good. After a nice, almost American breakfast in Frank and Nancy's apartment, we headed out to the fabric district. Nancy, the master negotiator, and Patricia, fashion advisor, were a huge help to me as I set out to have 2 dream ballgowns hand tailored. It was quite an experience, and in a few days, I hope to have the 'results'. As you may know, it is quite cost effective, and certainly unique, to have clothes tailor made. Some of Nancy's friends fly in from all parts of China/the World, just for the experience.
We had a driver for most of the day. They don't typically encourage non-Chinese speaking people to drive. Not only are all of the signs in Chinese characters, but we would be unable to work through a discussion should we be in an accident -- which is likely considering how people drive!
Our driver took us to a nice, typical Chinese lunch, and then on to Dragonfly Spa, a wonderful retreat. The art of massage is very important here and we were happy to oblige. One hour of massage and one hour of foot massage. They are taking good care of us as you can see. The 'hard work' starts tomorrow you see.
penthouse on the western side of downtown. We are on the 13th floor and have a wonderful view. From their home, we can see amazing skylines, and some old factories that have been converted into apartments. Most of us seemed to have a good night of sleep. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. well rested, and again at 6:30 for good. After a nice, almost American breakfast in Frank and Nancy's apartment, we headed out to the fabric district. Nancy, the master negotiator, and Patricia, fashion advisor, were a huge help to me as I set out to have 2 dream ballgowns hand tailored. It was quite an experience, and in a few days, I hope to have the 'results'. As you may know, it is quite cost effective, and certainly unique, to have clothes tailor made. Some of Nancy's friends fly in from all parts of China/the World, just for the experience.We had a driver for most of the day. They don't typically encourage non-Chinese speaking people to drive. Not only are all of the signs in Chinese characters, but we would be unable to work through a discussion should we be in an accident -- which is likely considering how people drive!
Our driver took us to a nice, typical Chinese lunch, and then on to Dragonfly Spa, a wonderful retreat. The art of massage is very important here and we were happy to oblige. One hour of massage and one hour of foot massage. They are taking good care of us as you can see. The 'hard work' starts tomorrow you see.
The runners in our group met with an American marathoner living in China. 
Us 'fans' went back to the penthouse to meet and greet some young international students, Rotarians, etc. And then off to a wonderful dinner at a typical Shanghainese restaurant in the pearl shopping district called Xiao Nan Guo. Our meal was a series of tapas-like food that kept coming and coming and coming. They started with cold foods uniquely matched for sweet, sour, salt, etc. Most of which I wasn't 100% sure about but were wonderful. And then came the warm foods, soups, ribs of all sorts, fish with head and tail intact, etc. And then a famous Shanghai dumpling that if not handled perfectly with the chopsticks, could easily slip from our grasps....as it did in my case.
Now our wonderful Shanghai hosts have returned us safely to our respective homes until tomorrow when we are greeted again by our drivers and taken to a Chinese Language Recording Centre.
On behalf of my fellow team members -- Amy, Melanie, Megan, Ryan and our fearless leader Patricia, thank you to our gracious hosts for an unforgettable first day in Shanghai.
-Kecia
1 comment:
What an incredible experience. I will be eagerly awaiting each new blog installment like it's a new episode of the Sopranos! Thanks for the updates and best of luck to you all.
Brian (Megan's friend)
(Meg - It sounds like it takes almost as long to get to China as it does to get to Ft. Collins!)
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