Day Six: Gift of Life

One of the Shanghai Rotary’s many charitable programs is the Gift of Life where they sponsor open heart surgeries for children who cannot afford them. We visited one hospital in another ‘small town’ (3 – 4 million people) called Wuxi. The hospital was cleverly named Wuxi No. 1 Children’s Hospital. There we met a 2 year old boy from rural China. He had had a life saving open heart surgery, thanks to Rotary, just 3 days before and was recovering there together with his mother and grandmother. It was both heart-breaking and inspiring to hear their stories.

The heart surgeon who heads up the program took us to lunch and gave us chopstick lessons. Nothing like a highly-trained cardio surgeon to teach you the fine art of controlling your fingers around these slippery, yet critical, eating utensils.

After returning to Shanghai, we headed back down to the Bund where we strolled along both the river and the causeway. We got to see this famous area in the daylight and it was equally as fantastic. Ryan made friends with a local artist who talked him into a beautiful watercolor of an area he had visited previously. The rest of us invested our yuan in ice cream.

Then our little adventure took a twist when we looked for a taxi to take us to dinner. All of us being seasoned international travelers, we were certain we could get ourselves to the restaurant without the benefit of our driver. But it didn’t go quite as planned. We later learned that because of the upcoming national work holiday – The Golden Week – the subways were closed and taxis were in great demand. We put our teamwork to the test, in a very ‘The Amazing Race’ kind of way, attempted to chase down a taxi, asked a hotel concierge for help, raced through several blocks to land at a well-organized taxi line at the Westin. Then off to a wonderful Singaporian restaurant selected by Edwin, the team leader from the China delegation to Denver. Many of us enjoyed the curry influences from this region.

A little Shanghai nightlife, and then back to the penthouse to get ready for the next day! We’ve been traveling for one week now, and somehow have a month’s worth of experiences. Thank you Shanghai Rotary for a memorable group study exchange thus far. Xie xie!

Day Five: Let it rain

Sunday began and ended with rain, but that was okay. Us typically drought-minded Coloradoans considered it an experience in itself to be in the middle of a downpour. It didn’t keep us from touring the Lingyin Temple with 3 zillion other wet tourists. Lingyin Temple (or Peak Flying from Afar) is an ancient Buddist temple at Hangzhou’s West Lake. The 24.8 meter (75 feet), gold-covered Buddha is the largest woodcarving of a sitting Buddha in China. We experienced some sort of ceremony performed by the monks, ‘met’ hundreds of Buddhas who had done some sort of good deed and were therefore given a statue in their honor, smelled lots on incense, and learned a lot of about ancient Chinese traditions and superstitions.

After the temple, we visited a tea plantation/museum and then a silk factory. We saw the actual process of spinning silk worms into silk and then how it is made into material like bedding.

After a long ride home, where we all got very close to one another -- literally, we enjoyed a nice ‘hot pot’ meal where we tossed a variety of meats, vegetables, noodles and dumplings into a boiling pot and cooked our own dinners.

Another long, wonderful, well-fed day.

Day Four…. Hangzhou

Where do we begin. Today was a day filled with all so many things from the smells of the lake, trees, flowers, the sights beautiful lake and mountains, pagodas, people, the tastes of all the different foods we have tasted and so much more.

It is hard to believe that we have only been here for four days with as much as we have done so far.

This morning everyone packed a bag for the night and we all headed to Hangzhou, about a two hour drive from the city of Shanghai. Hangzhou was one of the seven ancient capitals in China. Today, with historical remains of the Imperial City, Royal Temple and Guanyao Kiln of the Southern Song Dynast, it extends before us a panorama of the city’s prosperity in the history.

It has also been great to escape from the sky scrapers for a few days and appreciate the beauty of the this wonderful national scenic area. It is difficult to explain everything we did and keep this as short as possible, so we will do our best.

Frank Yih has been a wonderful host for us today as we arrived in Hangzhou just in time for lunch; A wonderful buffet of a wide variety of food. Ryan tried the baby swordfish, Patricia and Melanie chewed on an octopus for a while, and so so many other choices from dumplings, fish, pork, duck, soups, sushi. Not to mention the desserts; tiramisu (looks like tiramisu, tastes like tiramisu, must be tiramisu) to gummy worms, mousse, ice cream, fondue.

After lunch, we headed over to the West Lake for an afternoon stroll. This lake is surrounded by mountains and has wonderful views. The people are amazing as well. Today was the first time we all walked around together like this and were the stars of the show. Frank has been a wonderful photographer throughout our time here, but the local people were taking photos of us, following us, etc. As Frank would say we are creating Chinese American friendship. The children who knew how to say hello would and even ask to take a photo with us, when we said yes they would get SOOOOOoo excited. A few of them fell in love with Megan and Ryan.

We certainly had a lot of laughs throughout the day!

Dinner is an entirely different story. I think the photos may have to explain the sights we saw, however, the most visual was the sight of a 50 pound fish right out of the water, flung to the floor, knocked out, and cut into 10 different pieces within only minutes.

We all trusted Frank in his decision making while choosing what we would be eating this evening. The choices ranged anything from well, um most types of fish, sea cucumber, ducks with their heads still there, chicken feet, enough to really put your stomach in knocks. Not going to lie, we were seriously nervous about what would be served, however, Frank did a wonderful job with anything from vegetables, clams, giant prawns, local fish from the lake, duck soup (with the entire duck in one piece in the bowl), etc. Turned out to be a lovely meal, as always.

An end to another wonderful day!

Day Three: Shanghai Stroll

After a leisurely morning of smog-filled runs, walks and strolls by various team members determined to get some sort of exercise, Rotarian Volker took over the agenda. The strolling continued as Volker and his wife Sondra, our gracious hosts for most of the day, showed us some of Shanghai's finer points as seen on two feet.

We started at Mogan Shan Art Galleries, an outdoor village of small art galleries. http://www.m50.com.cn/en/

Then strolled through:

• the fabric district as Megan and Melanie picked up dresses that were mere concepts just 24 hours before.
• the antique market that seemed like old Shanghai dropped into the middle of new Shanghai.
  parks and ponds -- yes they do have have them nestled in the middle of all the madness.
• Xintiandi (means new heaven - old earth). This area is a perfect example of how foreign architects are engaged in important projects changing the face of Shanghai. This architect happened to be American Ben Wood whose last project was a renovation project in the hip art deco district in South Miami Beach. http://www.shuion.com/eng/SOL/pptdev/xin.asp

All team members moved into Frank and Nancy's penthouse since we are leaving early for a drive into the 'country' tomorrow. We're headed to Hangzhou (only 5 million people) for a peek outside the city. Stay tuned!

Day Two: In Motion

Our first full day of vocational visits, cultural opportunities, and of course, more meals. Here are the highlights from the team:

If you ask Amy, she'll tell you that the young people at Chinesepod, www.chinesepod.com, our first vocational visit, were most noteworthy. This start up online learning company is revolutionizing how people around the world learn Chinese. The people were interesting -- both the locals and the language learners -- and the atmosphere inspiring. What looked like a broken down old building from the outside turned out to be a place of innovation and forward thinking relative to language and culture.

Then there is our man of many words -- Ryan -- who simply said, "O Canada" when asked about highlights. You'll have to investigate further if you want details.

We squeezed in a fabulous Shanghainese lunch hosted by our Denver-based friends, the Yips.

Watermelon juice; the tasting of an entire fish, including the scales; sticky rice were just some of the highlights.

Patricia, our leader and retired advertising executive, was fascinated by the insight GSE inbound (to Denver) team member Yvonne gave into the wide world of Chinese media. Her media company, www.try2u.com, owns dozens of Chinese TV channels so she, and her media industry colleagues, were quite helpful in exposing us to this part of Chinese marketing culture. For example, ratings and measurement are just starting to become critical for advertisers. No surprise that online and mobile marketing are taking off.

Speaking of marketing, team member and marketer Kecia, enjoyed the bombardment of every type of media. Everywhere you turned, you found some new, creative way of advertising. 80+ story moving broadcast billboards on skyscrapers, huge neon signs, billboards on tugboats moving through the Huangpu River, big ads on the Bund, arches over major shopping streets, etc. It was like Times Square, Piccadily Circus and Las Vegas rolled into one.

Sticking with the Bund you'll find Melanie and Megan's favorites. 360 degree views, dining at 'M on the Bund's' outdoor patio, walking along the river, sights that even the best photography simply cannot capture. Across the river from the restuarant is the world famous Pudong skyline, China's commercial and financial district. A special thank you to Joerg, our fabulous Rotary host for the evening. It was spectacular.


Last but certainly not least, we all appreciated hearing about Frank's (Rotarian and host) many service projects. It was an appropriate interlude in our GSE day. After all, Rotary's mission is service above self. Frank and team clearly reinforce that mission in their daily activities here in China.

As you can see, another memorable, high speed day.

Day One: Recovery, Rest and Get Ready

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.

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

We've Arrived!

We are enjoying our 1st full day here in Shanghai. We arrived at about 5pm last night (Tues night) after a 12 1/2 hour flight from San Francisco to Shanahai. Kecia and Patricia are staying with Frank for a few nights. Melanie, Ryan and I are staying with Elmer, who is out of town, so we have the place to ourselves with his maid and dog. Amy is staying with Helmut and his family. Both Elmer and Helmut are German. Ryan, Melanie & I went to bed early and woke up fairly early on Wed morning. Ryan took a jog around the neighborhood, and we all had a breakfast of fried eggs, toast, meats, cheeses and coffee. Then, Lillian came to pick us up and we went to the textile market and Melanie and I picked out fabric for some outfits. I am getting a dress made, and Melanie is getting a dress and coat made. We get to pick them up tomorrow. Then, we went to the Raquet Club, where Lillian works, and had lunch and got to check our email. We are on our way now to get massages and then a welcome dinner with the Shanghai Rotarians.

We have a full schedule coming up, and will post some pictures and more details once we get better settled.

Megan

Meet Our Members

Kecia, Melanie, Patricia, Megan, Amy, Ryan

凯夏, 郑美, 帕特丽夏, 美根, 艾米, 赖安

Patricia Fiske, Team Leader

帕特丽夏• 菲斯凯
patricia@fiskes.us

It is a privilege to return to China leading this fine team of young professionals. As President/CEO of Worldwide Partners, Inc. a global marketing communications company, Shanghai was my destination four times - always experienced with renewed awe at its energy and growth. I joined Rotary in 1989, was named District 5450 Rotarian of the Year in 2006, and currently serve as a member at large of the District 5450 Executive Committee, co-chair of the District Literacy and Education Task Force, member of the Rocky Mountain RYLA Board of Directors and president-elect of The Rotary Club of Denver Mile High. Rotary has a special place in my heart as an outstanding opportunity for service and as the place I met my husband, Terry Fiske. The full membership of Denver Mile High attended our wedding ceremony in 1993, the year Terry was president. Together we have four sons and eleven grandchildren. We enjoy hiking, music, reading, good long conversations and our volunteer work with youth.


Megan Phares

美根• 菲尔斯
maphares@hotmail.com

I was born in Boulder, Colorado and still call this beautiful place my home! I am a Business Analyst for Ball Aerospace, where I work on costing new proposals in addition to budgeting and forecasting. Ball is a mid-sized aerospace company specializing for 50 years in remote sensing, scientific instruments, spacecraft and other flight hardware. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and a Master’s Degree in Business, both from Colorado State University. I enjoy spending time with friends and family, and live with my dog, Buddy. When I’m not working, I am usually training for running races, triathlons, hiking, cooking or planning my next trip!


Ryan McGilvery

赖安• 麦克吉弗瑞
ryan.mcgilvery@encana.com

I live in downtown Denver and work as a petroleum engineer for a large independent oil and gas company called EnCana. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas where my parents and sister still live today. I received a degree in petroleum and geological engineering from The University of
Texas at Austin and began my career working in Houston for ExxonMobil. I moved to Denver in 2005 and have loved it ever since. In my spare time I enjoy heading for the mountains to go skiing, mountain biking, and whitewater kayaking. I love to travel and have spent time in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.


Amy Hebert

艾米• 希伯特
heberta@dailycamera.com

I am a city editor at a daily newspaper called the Boulder Daily Camera, where I work with a staff of 11 reporters to develop local news stories with an emphasis on government, the University of Colorado, courts, crime, schools, science and environment. A 1999 graduate of CU, with degrees in journalism and geography, I started my career as a reporter in South Carolina and have covered beats including police, courts, general assignment and politics. I am married to a wonderful and eccentric Frenchman, who grew up in Indonesia and Australia before making his way to Colorado, where he is a chef. Pete and I live in downtown Denver, and enjoy “street-hiking” through the city, checking out architecture, new restaurants, cafes and our favorite book store on earth, the Tattered Cover. We mostly consider ourselves city people, but do get to the mountains for occasional camping and snowboarding trips. We also travel as often as possible, and love to hang out with our families.


Kecia Roberg

凯夏• 罗伯革
roberg_kecia@hotmail.com

I work as a marketing and public relations consultant for small to midsized global companies based in Denver, Colorado. I have worked in the marketing field for more than 15 years. Some of my most noteworthy international assignments have been working as a global marketing manager for Ericsson and as a media relations consultant for the Lillehammer and Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. I am originally from Minnesota, however moved to Denver, Colorado in 1993. I am an avid skier, hiker, biker, not to mention a lover of opera and musicals. I speak fluent Norwegian and enjoy all aspects of Scandinavian business and culture. It is also my heritage. I am active in the community as a volunteer working with literacy programs with the Denver Public Library and community/theater programs with the Center for American Theatre.


Melanie Gentz

郑美
melanie_gentz@yahoo.com

I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and moved to Denver, Colorado April of 2005 to work for i-to-i Volunteer Travel (www.i-to-i.com). I am a work and travel advisor for a company that has volunteer projects in 30 different countries that range from Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Community Development, Building, Conservation, etc. as well as Paid Teaching Placements, and TEFL certification. I have been involved with Rotaract, a program of Rotary for the last eight years, as well as studied in the Gold Coast of Australia as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in 2001-2002, and graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Marketing and a certificate in International Business in 2003. I enjoy hiking, skiing, running, photography, traveling and always learning about people and cultures.