I’ve probably said this a million times before, but here I go again. Because I always manage to visit STL around the May/June period of the year, I kind of always get the sensation that I’ve never left. Sure there are a few changes to the house. The living room furniture is usually rearranged differently every time I’m there, but for the most part things, smells and schedules are pretty much the same. Everything is a year older, which isn’t really enough to mark the passing of time. It’s kind of surreal.
Last year, of course, I came into town for my parents’ 35 wedding anniversary. Otherwise know as The Big Family Shindig of 2006. This year the big event was Cameron’s graduation from high school. Oh, my little brother is all grown up. I really can’t believe that he’s going to college soon.
Similar to last year, there was a big family gathering at my parents’ house. The big difference is that this gathering was completely unexpected. Oh, sure, my sister and her husband came into town. This we knew would happen. My grandfather even came into town, which was sort of surprising, but at least we knew about it in advance.
The big surprise came from the local family members of STL. My mom happened to be talking to her sister-in-law one night about how busy we would be throughout the week. She must have made a statement similar to, “Saturday is the only night we’ll be able to eat dinner at home with the family.” Of course by family, she meant the immediate family who had traveled into town (me, my sister, her husband and my grandfather). My aunt took this as an invitation to dinner and quickly called my other aunts to rally the troops. Before we knew it, each of mom’s siblings living in STL had called to confirm that they would be able to come over for dinner Saturday night.
Truly, within minutes, my mom’s only night of leisure was converted into a big family get-together. The difficult part was breaking this to Cameron, who had insisted that he didn’t want a graduation party. Little did he realize that everyone else wanted one.
Other highlights of the trip included the graduation (of course!!); eating tapinaki at Kobe’s steakhouse at Westport (a Cameron staple); hanging out with Grandpa (something I only get to do like every 4 years); shoe shopping with mom (it was her idea!!); and seeing my friend Carrie (for the first time in 5 years).
The rest of my time there was really a blur of activity. Of course there’s always the bit of stocking up. For instance, I cannot find Neutrogena daily sunscreen in Shanghai. My Chinese friends are all about using whitening products on their skin to look fairer, but when it comes to sun protection, the only thing they do is carry around an umbrella. That’s China.
Likewise, as you all know, it’s extremely difficult to find quality shoes in Shanghai. Let’s not talk about how many pairs of shoes I brought back from the states.
Writing it all out like this, it really doesn’t seem like I did that much. Of course I really wasn’t there that long. I hardly got a chance to see any of you, which is really sad. I did get to take Oscar for a lot of walks, which is really nice. However, the whole 2 ½ weeks went by really fast and before I knew it I was on the dreaded long plan back to Shanghai. Of course, this time I was uplifted with the fact that my mom and brother would be arriving the afternoon after me.
Oh, yea, and of course I was excited to see Etienne again. That goes without saying.

Happy Chinese New Year to all!!
And it came it with a bang, I tell you what. Actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Last year was unbelievably loud and I was living on the 25th floor. This year I’m on the 5th floor of a much more local neighborhood. I considered staying with a friend, but then I thought, the whole reason for me to move to Puxi was to be more involved in local life. What is more local than fireworks!!
As I said, it really wasn’t that bad. There was a big to do at midnight, of course, but after that I was able to fall peacefully to sleep. Then today I found out from a friend that the actual big celebration will be Wednesday. Why??
Saturday really was Chinese New Year’s Eve, but apparently Wednesday is some sort of good fortune day. In order to get all the good fortune, you have to set off fireworks. So it should be quite a party. We’ll see.
Another thing my friend told me is that fireworks are really expensive. She said they could be as much as 500 – 800 RMB, which is like 60 – 100 USD. Are fireworks that expensive in the states?? I have no idea.
Well it’s officially the year of the pig. I’m not sure what that means besides it being a good year to have a baby (congratulations, Liz). Don’t expect any big announcements from me this year!!
Life is good. Work is busy. I certainly didn’t know what I was getting into when I took a job with a florist, until Valentine’s Day came along. Yes, we do celebrate Valentine’s Day in Shanghai. It’s was nuts. I had about 3 outside catering events to supply, in addition to all of the Food and Beverage outlets in the hotel. Our rose supplier ran out of red roses three times in two days. We got our last delivery at 5:00pm on Valentine’s Day. It was a close call, but we made it happen!!
That’s about it for the excitement in my life. Most of Shanghai is on vacation this week, to celebrate the New Year. It makes things pretty quiet out on the streets in the morning. Most of my friends are out of town, celebrating with their families in their hometowns. So I’m just relaxing and working. Thought I’d take advantage of this down-time to get some work done!!
Wishing everyone a very fortunate year!!
Love,
Monica

Oh, by the way... I've been hearing stories from many friends about not being able to access my blog. This is interesting because I have troubles accessing my friends' blogs. Is this just part of the blog phenomenon??
Who knows. However, Monica here to save the day. I've recently discovered that you can access my blog if you google me. Yes, it's true, I'm that popular.
It's a tried and tested fact, so feel free to google your hearts out. And let me know if it doesn't work for you.