Valentines and Karaoke: a winning combination

I am now going on my third week in Shanghai. At this point, I have figured out my way around the city and have become at least marginally proficient. I have some new photos and video to post but a quick comment on the previous post. Did everyone hear about the hotel fire in Beijing? Fireworks related. I have no idea how that doesnt happen more often. The funny thing is that the office next to the hotel organized the fireworks show but forgot to ask permission from the hotel. Their statement to the hotel...Sorry. Pretty amusing.

Ok so on to current events. I am in the swing of things with work and found out last week I will be traveling to Singapore for a week which Im pretty stoked about. Im trying to plan a weekend with a friend that lives there to head to the Phillipines for a beach vaca but we will see what happens. Also, last week, we attended this amazing dinner which featured a performance of the famous Chinese mask changing magic. I have loaded video.

Pretty cool stuff. This weekend I spent all of yesterday shopping. The cost of everything is amazing. I bought 2 suits custom for 950RMB which is $140 total. I also picked up a backpack and sweaters for dirt cheap. Lets just hope they dont turn to dirt in the wash.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day which is surprisingly a huge holiday here too. Restaurants, flowers, and bars all increase prices for the holiday. As we are all in Shanghai working, what better way to celebrate than with Karaoke. A block from our apts is a place called party city. It only caters to Karaoke and was a converted hotel. Needless to say, it was very nice. My voice is quite hoarse today and some of these photos may explain it. Im still working out how to video tape my commute without looking like a scary tourist but as soon as I get it figured out, it will be posted here. In the meantime, here are some misc photos thus far.



I will be traveling back to Chicago for the first weekend in March and will be back from Thurs night to Tues morning so hopefully I can catch up with folks then. Hope all is well.

Futch

Herro from Shanghai

Hey all-

I will be posting updates from time to time on the happenings and goings-on in Shanghai. I have been here now for over a week and much of that time has been spent working. (Big surprise there.) The most interesting item of interest so far has been the Chinese New Year. It began over 14 days ago and will end this weekend. The most common theme: 24 / 7 fireworks. Literally. Its pretty amazing. And they just set them off on the street corners and streets. People walk and drive by as if huge explosives were not being set off. The sparks commonly hit our building.

The context is that the fireworks scare off the bad spirits and gain the attention of the god of fortune. This will bring them fortune for the next year which is pretty cool. Makes me want to go out and find fireworks considering the uncertainty of this year. We have also done some site-seeing. We visited the World Financial Tower which is now the tallest occupied building in the world with over 108 stories. Of course in true Futch fashion, I didnt charge my camera battery and it died after the first photo I took of starbucks in China.

It was a pretty amazing view of the city at night. I could see the whole Bund lit up. Ill try and locate some photos and post them as well. Im currently planning my trips to Beijing, Tokyo, Thailand, and perhaps Korea. Also, the college app process is almost done and I have interviews coming up which is why I probably need the god of fortune. Anyways, I will continue to post and blog when I have time and will post pictures and videos as soon as I figure out how.

Hope all is well.