Waka Waka

Congrats to Spain for winning the World Cup! I wasn't able to watch the game, but I was very happy to wake up to seeing pictures of a sea of red celebrating and holding up the WC trophy. This is history in the making and they definitely deserve it! Came upon the article:

"Spanish set for 36-hour, $2 million party"

How I would love to join that party...anyone want to fly out to Spain for some festivities? I bet no one has to go to work for a week and just celebrate :).

My weekend was pretty great. Though my stomache had its moments of pain, I still went out. I had dim sum TWICE this weekend. Though I love dim sum, it was too much since each time I ate until it was painful. I don't think I have eaten a vegtable in a while...that is not good.

After I got out of food coma, I went to xintiandi. I went with my dad before, but I wanted to go again and walk around in the daytime, get a drink and a bite to eat. It was great to see all the buildings and architecture in the day light. They call xintiandi where "Yesterday Meets Tomorrow" because of the modern twist on historical architecture. I personally love it because I love being engulfed in both worlds. I don't know what the locals really think of it since it is a hotspot for tourists, foreigners and the wealthy, but I am a big fan. It is very expensive though. All the boutiques and restaurants are pretty pricey so I was there to window shop and find something affordable to snack on. After much deliberation I stopped to eat at Luna's. There are so many cute restaurants to chose from but I finally made a decision and took a seat outside to enjoy the pleasures of people watching. I got a drink (kind of like a berry mojito) and ordered a mini pizza they have as appetizers. This came out to be 110RMB which is pretty expensive for just a snack and drink, but hey it comes with enjoying the xintiandi environment! And I've been craving non-Chinese food non-stop. I'm still on a quest for burgers and fries...

Since it was so hot I indulged myself in some Haagen Dazs. It was so delicious since it was so humid out. I got a scoop of green tea and also a scoop of summerberry ice cream. Yup I went all out and got TWO scoops. Sue me. But wow I guess I've really been missing ice cream because it was so good. Green tea is classic, but I was drooling over summerberry ice cream. This is also a big sit down restaurant where people can order decadent and fancy looking ice cream statue-like things. I wish I could post a picture because they are too pretty to eat! Xintiandi get prettier and more crowded by night. Since there's a lot of swanky bars and clubs around, very skinny and long legged girls in skimpy outfits started emerging. And I thought some of my dresses were short...

Then I went to the Shikumen Open House which is a mini-museum that showcases what the Shikumen homes were like around the 1930s. The Shikumen homes are what xitiandi is today, but instead are restaurants, boutiques and cafes, not houses. It was great to see what this area looked like in more than 50 years ago. I think many of the items on display were really from that era and it was kind of spooky thinking that the books, eyeglasses, suitcases, pictures, etc once belonged to actual people. It put shivers down my spine! I was amazed to see that the area I was standing in was once flooded with homes and families living their lives. It is hard to put it in words, but I just love reading about Shanghai history and actually standing there. Though it has transformed, the area is still enriched with history.

I ended the night meeting up with Marcus, a guy I was introduced to. He goes to UC Berkley and is also here for a summer internship and lives close by. He's a very nice kid and we went to the "Big Thumb." I hadn't been there yet and though most of it was closing, we just went to a bar and had a drink. This is a small area for foreigners to come and enjoy some western atmosphere. We also rode in one of those bike-pulling a wagon-type transportation and I thought I was going to die, but luckily we are still alive. It was an experience...that I'll never do again.

Yesterday my bargaining skills were put to use. Marcus and I went back to fake items heaven. He hadn't been there yet I wanted to pick up a Spain jersey. We were a good team since he can speak more Chinese than I can, it's harder to get taken advantage of when you don't seem like too much of a foreigner. So we fought with some guy and I got a jersey and shorts for 45RMB. It's worse quality than I thought, but hey it was only like $7 US. Then I got a Hello Kitty iphone cover for fun and that was 30 RMB, which is not even $5 US. The trick is to tell them another store said they'll sell it to me for 30 RMB and that you'll go back over there if they don't sell it to you for that price. Some of the sellers get angry, but then they give in. It's quite fun, but there wasn't anything else worth buying. It was crowded there yesterday and I heard some lady telling a foreigner that they had to hide their Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel and Prada bags because there are more police around during the Expo so they are in a "secret room." I had a little giggle.

Yet another weekend in Shanghai has gone by and back to work. Thinking about what I should do Wednesday to liven up my week...