putting the knit in shizknitz

I believe people by nature are resilient (I believe this even more so after seeing certain places in Argentina and China). Of course, I’m an optimist, but I’ve seen it in myself as days have passed since hearing the news, and each day becomes a little easier to deal with. Moments and fits of tears still remain, but I’m able to go outside, enjoy the sunshine, etc. Earlier last week during one of my painful spells I found something on my desk upside down. I was a little perplexed, but was shocked to find a magnet that I had placed on my Ikea desk pillars months ago. It was a cartoon magnet I had received at work a few years ago that said “When no one else cares, my dog still loves me”.

Other than my legal research, I’ve also had to pack for a 3 month temporary move to Northern California. The East Bay is absolutely beautiful. My commute will only be 1.5 miles to work. The streets are wide, lots of trees and the median household income is $96K. Kinda reminds me of Orange County (Costa Mesa/Dana/Laguna area) suburbia, since I can’t seem to find a gas station (hidden behind all those trees!), there are horse trails, protected left hand turn lanes and parks. After visitng the local shopping center to buy random stuff at Whole Foods, a latte at Peets, I can see why people elect to live out of the city. There’s parking, for one - and I can actually leave the parking lot without much difficulty to boot.

For those who know my crazy mother, she came to help me move (bless her heart. She swore 3 moves ago never again to help me move). My fridge was packed before we went to Safeway for more groceries this morning. Because its only for 3 months, I traveled light (T is probably laughing as he reads this). My apartment/condo seems huge due to the open space. I now have the joy of figuring out where everything is, and the joy of being so close to my sister

Housewarming gift, delivered 30 min after moving in, courtesy of T remotely

I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, but I guess you knew that. Most recently your daddy and I were laughing about what you would be doing if you were here with us as we were wrapping things on the floor last night. You would of course walk right into the middle of what we were doing, sit (in your lazy style with one leg sticking out), start breathing through your mouth with your tongue slightly sticking out of your mouth. It always made you look like you were smiling. Then you would close your mouth and begin to start trying to lick our hands, something you so love to do. You might even try to sit on our laps, although you were always a little too big to be a lap dog.

You were my baby for almost 5 years. I’ve gone through so much - good, fun, sad, pain, frustration, smiles, love - and you’ve always been there for me. You greet me when I come home from a long day at the office or school and lately you began to give me these “hugs” with your two front paws on me and licking my neck. Sometimes you get so overly excited that you would jump on your hind legs and quickly move your two front paws, almost as to catch an invisible fly. You would chew up the strangest things - my shorts, my underwear, the pine needles from the christmas tree and lick my Dr Scholl’s sandals. It was a challenge to get you to “sit” for a walk, a crackup to see you twist your head when we said “ooooouuuuut???” and all other words that sounded like it (pout, shout, tout, etc). I loved how you would visit me upstairs as I sat at my desk, for a quick hug or to eat popcorn off the floor, and I will miss seeing you at bedtime get your running start, jumping into your bed and pushing all of the blankets about.

You were so gentle, and sweet - the brown fuzzy pomeranian that was love at first sight when I first saw you at that shelter. You’ve taught me more about life - how to love unconditionally, how to care for regularly, how to be patient, and how to walk at all hours of the day. I am desperately trying to remember my last vision of you, I remember I left for Argentina without taking a good long last look at you. That day was after weeks of pure craziness with school, and I only hope that I gave you the love and time that you so deserved.

If only I could have one more walk with you.
If only I could have one more hug with you.
If only I could have one more …. see you’ve taught me another life lesson.

I miss you Chia Mia. Mommy’s heart aches for you.

This will be my last post under the category “The Pet”.

Actually went to the movies last night!! Saw MI:3 which was pretty good, but the big chunk of the ending was shot in Shanghai and another water village around it. You get a good look at Pudong (the east side where we stayed) which has the funky, bulbous tower building with lots of lights and then the next second you’re in Puxi (the west side) when Cruise touches ground from his parachute, and the scene ends in them pulling off the fwy onto the Bund.

Alright. Going to pack now for a weekend in Vegas.

I know that this is a frequent question brought up by knitters, here is the official TSA Announcement, but from my experience using those nice metal circular Addi Turbos:

LAX (Los Angeles): International or Domestic, no problems
Pudong (Shanghai, China): International, no problems
Incheon (South Korea): International, no problems
Buenos Aires (or anywhere in Argentina): Not allowed

10. You are bored of shopping and you become wary of your tour operator and paranoid that their niceness is just to get you to buy something at the next “manufacturing center”.
9. You are okay with the selection of clothes in your suitcase (and my selection of 7 pairs of shoes).
8. You want to hug, pet and steal every cute dog on the street. Withdrawal from your pet is not a good thing.
7. You have no idea which celebrity is pregnant or had their baby. You desperately miss US Weekly in the mailbox.
6. You miss checking your mailbox.
5. You have no idea how much groceries cost, since restaurants have become the kitchen.
4. You automatically convert prices in your head to USD, then you realize its in USD and wonder why its so damn expensive.
3. You wonder why its as expensive as in the US.
2. You go off on people in English even though they don’t understand you.
1. You refer to your hotel as “home” and you don’t clarify it by adding “you know what I mean”

There’s an old Chinese saying “In heaven there is paradise, on earth Suzhou and Hangzhou“. Apparently Marco Polo agreed as he touted Hangzhou as one of the most beautiful cities back in the 13th century. I would agree, but only partly, because as most cities in the area, its been modernized to house high rises and more modern buildings. There are sections of the city that has been left green, and buildings rebuilt (most of which were crushed during the Taiping Rebellion and the Cultural Revolution) which has left the beauty of the area that once lead on for miles on end. The previously rainy weather cleared up for a perfect day - not too hot, little humidity and sunshine most of the day.

Views from the Lin Ying Temple. The place was packed full of people, even though it was a Thursday. You saw many Buddhist traditions here, including the rubbing of one Buddhist statue’s foot which was supposed to help bring you a son. There were about 4 levels of temples, all with statues of Buddha. Even with the crowd, it was a very serene place to be, I wish we could have spent more time there.

Lunch was a little dissapointing, I suppose since I was on the “English speaking tour” they decided to feed us a more “Americanized” version of Chinese food. I peered over at the Korean tour and they seemed to have some pretty good food being served. After lunch was the West Lake Cruise and fish park. Another gorgeous, gorgeous area. We saw a few people getting married - its been a trip, everywhere we go, there seems to be someone getting married, everyday.

Of course to every tour, there is an experience that is associated with trying to get you to buy something. We visited the Longjing Tea Plantation, the makers of the Dragon Well Tea. They explained the differences in tea quality and the reasons why. Their premium blend is picked in March, their second quality is in April and the least quality is in the summer time when the leaves grow faster than they can pick them. The leaves are picked in the morning by women, then hand dried by men which takes about 5 hours to dry properly. We did some tea tasting, and it really was amazing tea. The drive each way was almost 2.5 hours, which was quite bumpy freeways - every bridge had a bump (the bridge seemed to be a little higher than the freeway) and because I was sitting in the very back of the van, got the full shock of each and every one.

Last but not least, dinnertime found us at another dumpling place. People in Los Angeles know that you can find Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, but I wanted to try it right here in the homeland (well, that’s Taiwan, but at least we’re close). One big difference is that they use the bamboo steamers here - in Los Angeles, the health dept keeps them from using them and instead use a stainless steel version. It was just as good, if not better than in Arcadia. If you think I’m on a dumpling kick, you’re right. I believe we have one more place that we were told not to miss!!

While in Argentina, we had visited the Evian Spa in Buenos Aires. I had an hour Swedish Massage for $100 pesos, incl tip. That calculates down to ~$33 U$D which I thought was a pretty good deal. That was, until I visited the Dragonfly in Shanghai.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, since at Evian Spa the gal who was my masseuse didn’t speak any English and she stripped my robe off of me (I’m no prude but it was a first having a woman undress me like that). The Dragonfly is probably a happy medium between price and offering, since there is no separate changing room/shower. It’s a small place (the one in Pudong anyway, which was a 3 min walk from my hotel), dark, red and lots of candles. It had a nice fragrance, not too much lavender which most massage places tend to overdo. They spoke English and led me into my own small room. They had an outfit that resembled hospital scrubs (very very comfy) and I wore that during the duration of my Chinese Massage. I had this short little girl who was my masseuse but she packed on some serious power. She worked my back better than the best massages I’ve had during my haircuts at Hiroshi’s. She worked my shoulders, back, my legs, my thighs, then my head which at one point I thought was leading into my foot massage… but then she asked me to get dressed and then took me into another room.

This other room had about 4 recliners, dark with sensual music, a wall that was a entirely rocks with running water. A tall man brought a bucket of warm water and my feet massage started. Ooooooohhhh it was amazing. Utterly amazing. He massaged my feet in the water, then wiped it down carefully, then it all started. When I thought it couldn’t get any better, the girl returned, to massage my shoulders, my head and my arms/hands again. In Tandem. It was all really too good to be true.

Two hours of pure heaven. Price? 320 Yuan ($40 USD). I would have paid double for it, it was so damn good. The best part? They don’t expect a tip, so when you give them a good one, they trip out. You better bet I’ll be going back again before I leave Shanghai.

I found a Coffee Bean AND a BK in one place!

… “you don’t have an American name?” I’m still not sure what the Chinese obsession is over having an American name. This is true back home with my international colleagues from parts of China, they all have American names. T’s officemates here all have American names, and were surprised to find out that I don’t have one too. This came after the surprise that I’m not Chinese. I must have that stereotypical E. Asian look since people mistake me for Korean, Chinese, but not Japanese.

Duck tongue, snails and suppon (turtle) soup. Check out the paw in my bowl.

Although prevalent in most large and growing cities around the world, the struggle between old and the new seem to be even more rampant here in Shanghai. They are building at unhuman speeds, with skyscrapers and high-rise apartments/condos towering the skyline. The older buildings are being torn down to make room for more. During my city tour today, the tour operator mentioned the government regulating the tear down of older buildings (well, this is a communist country, after all) which seemed to be a shame - certain historical areas such as the Russian, Japanese concession will be replaced by modern high rises. One thing I’ve realized is that although the cost of living seems inexpensive here, these high rises aren’t cheap - on the Pudong side, a 1300 sq ft condo can cost you an easy $400K USD which is pretty close to prices in the westside in Los Angeles.

Stark differences between the old and the new.

One of the things I love about the old is the hole in the wall food places. We went to the most amazing dumpling house yesterday (there were two next to each other) with lines down the street. You pay (about 1 USD for 8 huge pan fried dumplings), then get in line to get your food. You can take it to go, or eat there - but you gotta be quick, people have no qualms over cutting in front of you in line (if there even is one) or grab a table fast (there is no such thing as being nice, hesitation or looking tacky). We walked up 3 flights of these tiny, tiny stairs (I have small feet and still had problems) and each floor had a small room with tables. I have to say that my experience from eating at Titos had trained me well for this particular task. There is a tea pot at each table filled with vinegar that you drench over your dumplings - then you eat. Caveat, the juices inside these delicious little suckers can get all over you if you’re not careful.

I visited the Shanghai Aquarium the other day, which was perfect for a rainy afternoon. It was a multi-level adventure which was quite interesting because I went during feeding time (3:30 PM). The beginning of the exhibit features many smaller tanks of animals, similar to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, but once you take the tunnel like escalator down, you’re surrounded by tanks of various fish, sharks, corrals, etc. It’s all quite beautiful.

This could have been dinner.

A trip to the Chinese National Museum was also well worth the trip, especially the travelling exhibit on gemstones. I got to see a 600K carat rudelized quartz as well as many other pretties that were purely amazing (unfortunately, no photos in that exhibit).

First off, I need to mention that I haven’t been able to access my blog since setting foot here. We have a fantastic internet connection here at the hotel (I’ve been using Skype to call home), but my blog has been blocked, probably due to China’s censorship project (T hooked me up with a VPN home so I can blog). Secondly, its really HUMID here, and I don’t do well with humidity (add spicy hot pot soup, and the rain, and I look like I’ve been hit by a truck).

I’ve been playing the role of “stay at home gf”. It’s quite nice, I’ve never lived like this before and future opportunities are slim, so I’m enjoying it as much as I can. I get up in the morning, work out at the gym, go eat breakfast with T at the restaurant downstairs, he goes to work, I go shopping, meet for lunch, and I do more shopping or walking around. He comes home, we go to dinner, bed. If I thought things in Argentina were cheap, I was wrong. Try 1 USD = 8 RMB, a calculation along with the haggling which makes me wish I brought a calculator. Another difficulty is that I speak/write less Mandarin than Spanish. My vocabulary is basically “neehow” (hello) and “sheshe” (thank you). To take the cab, I have the front desk write in chinese characters where I want to go, and I hand it to the driver (which starts at 10 RMB, with an average of 15 RMB a ride so far). Most street signs and wall signs have english written underneath, but for desperate measure, I can try to guess what it says by looking at the characters (they are mostly the same as in Japanese). At the stores I point and say “how much” and they plug it into a calculator. If I feel like haggling, I plug in a lower amount and hand it back to them, going back and forth until we agree.

This place is construction, 24/7. I had heard that steel prices in the US were rising because a lot of it is being exported to China, and I believe it. Especially in this Pudong area there is more construction going on than on a UC campus!!!! People work day and night, and in fact I saw them finish repaving this major road (Pudong Road, S) in less than 24 hrs. Compare that to repaving little Jasmine Avenue back home in Los Angeles… took them almost a month! The efficiency is amazing. I think that is one big difference between China and Japan is the efficiency of everything which leads to the difference in customer service. We’re staying at a really nice place and have eaten at some nice places but overall its about getting it done - whether it be eating, purchasing, payment, etc… which is a vast contrast to the neverending formalities bowing and thanking of the Japanese.

I have horrible jet lag all of a sudden, which is why I’m still awake (its 1:20 AM Wed here)….

We currently are on a 4 hour layover here in S. Korea. What a gorgeous airport! Lots of glass, lots of sunlight and bathrooms with automatic toilet seat covers (I was going to take a photo but a stream of people came in). The stores here sell kimchee and kochuujan (I’m misspelling that). We stopped for a bite to eat, and there was a dizzying array of food options, all of which I wanted to try.

Look who I ran into! Bae Yong Jun from Fuyu no Sonata!
Just kidding, it was a cut out posterboard of him…When we first arrived, we passed a couple who was dressed alike. I made a smart-alek comment to Tienshiao about how we didn’t dress alike… then we kept seeing couple after couple who are dressed alike… is this a fad we’ve missed? Dress the same for vacation?

I have to comment about my flight - although I was in the very middle of the 5 seats in the middle section (this 777 was a 2,5,2 configuration), I sitll had a decent flight (other than the spastic colombian man next to me who kept jabbing me with his elbow). The plane seemed pretty new, or at least was quite clean (keep in mind I’ve been flying Delta and Aerolineas Argentinas for the last few weeks). The service was fantastic (what is it about Asian airlines that know how to work the customer service) and the food.. we got bibimbop for dinner… with real silverware in real ceramic bowls. That sure beats the plastic crap and crackers we got with Delta. The plane was relatively quiet too - you could hear the clank-ing of the utensils to the bowls as everyone stirred their veggies, rice and kochuujan together

Yes, when the flight is supposed to depart at 11:55 and the time is currently 11:45 it is definitely the final boarding announcement. There are still people streaming down walking casually as if they don’t have a flight to catch. I’ve been at LAX when its been crazy - the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Memorial Day weekend, but I have yet to ever see Tom Bradley (international terminal) this bad before. Apparently its popular to have late evening flights to asian countries since it would get you there in the morning… less jet lag if you sleep on the flight. Apparently most other countries other than the US had this week off - may day, golden week, whatever its called but they’re all going home. The security line was insane - it weaved in and out like Disneyland, almost all the way back to the entrance of the terminal. Our flight apparently no longer has window or aisle seats and thus we will be stuck in the middle of the middle section of a 777. This will be a wonderful 13 hour flight to Seoul. Quick, get me another glass of wine.

Pattern: Streakers Shrug, Design by Pam Allen from Interweave Knits Spring 2006
Yarn: Joann Exclusive Bellezza Collection Cosetta, Wool Blend in Cosetta Red, 6 skeins
Revisions to the Pattern: None other than the substitution of yarn.

I found this pattern one day at Joann’s but didn’t want to waste time looking for the yarn listed in the mag. I perused their yarn section to come across huge lots of this Joann Exclusive stuff. Now I’m kind of a snob when it comes to yarn (I always buy the GGH stuff for Rebecca patterns) but it was close to finals, I had limited time and the creative bug had set in. I purchased this red verigated color and started working on it on my spare time. What a great pattern! Its simple, simple, simple. Its one big piece that you sew up together and I’m really not a fan of shrugs (these half of a sweater things) since you can’t pull it to hide your tummy after a good meal. However, this was so much fun to make, and really goes with anything (I wore it over tank tops in Argentina since its fall there) and the sleeves look elegant (its a lace pattern) enough that you could wear it to dinner. I had finished this the night before I had left on my trip and it certainly paid off!

I’m in the photo with a Llama, but this is more to give you an idea of where Cafayatte, Argentina is… the NE region of the country (within the Andes Mts) and very indigeonous. At the first store we ducked into, I was thrilled to find a mountain of yarn (which the sign I think translates to Sheep and Silk) and couldn’t help but to purchase about 600 g of this beautiful green color. At $5,90 per 100 g, this totalled $35,40 pesos, or $11.80 U$D. Had this been purchased anywhere in the US, it would have rung up closer to $200 U$D. Now its a matter of figuring out what to make!

Side Note: Our tour guide that day (from Salta) commented, oh you knit? Your husband must be very lucky (pointing at Tienshiao)! I started laughing, and said, no not lucky because I buy lots of yarn! I think Tienshiao prefers me not to make him things anyhow

We arrived home a few hours ago from an approx 17 hour trip (incl layovers etc) from Buenos Aires. I’m going through my 1300+ photos and will be posting highlights soon during my 60 hours at home before leaving for my next trip.