Chinese New Year is so loud.  The fireworks are always great though I suffer in lack of sleep because of them.  We spent the night of New Year's Eve on the 46th floor of a hotel  for maximum viewing pleasure of Shanghai all lit up with fireworks.  It was really amazing!  Over the next few days of vacation, Doug the gadget guy came to visit from Beijing, we went to KTV with our small group (a huge hit!), and we watched alot of "The Office". 

Doritos have finally come to the mainland.  The Chinese version does taste different that the U.S. version but it is still highly acceptable. Because they are not so mainstream yet, when I do find them in a convenience store, I often buy all of them.  I don't see this as obssessive rather I'm just trying to increase sales which will reflect a high demand and therefore manufacturers will increase production. 

Jared is in South Africa for business and I'll start travelling soon too for work.  Okay so my travel is not THAT far but I'll be going to Pudong (near the airport) every other week until August when I'll transfer there permanently.  Pudong does seem like another world sometimes. 

www.weddingwire.com/jaredandmaria: a work in progress

Currently Listening Illinoise By Sufjan Stevens Chicago see related

We Moved

 Since returning to China after Christmas, Maria and I have been involved in renovating an apartment and moving in. We are exhausted from it. We are thankful for our friends who helped us move in 10 days ago. We are located nearby 3 subway lines and a large mall. A view from our apartment is below.

Here we are enjoying a meal:

Personalized Bobbleheads

 I have recently started selling personalized bobbleheads. I am partnering with a factory in China to produce the customized creations and have sold several already. Below are two of the four bobbleheads we have done. If you are inspired to order a bobblehead yourself, plan on ordering at least 100.

Due to several underwater cables being severed in late December as a result of an earthquake, the internet has been dreadfully slow here. Downloading emails has gone from a few minutes to several hours. Several websites are slow as well.

Have It Your Way

Then only positive aspect about Jared's business trips is that I get to patron Burger King when he is gone.  Burger King is relatively new to China and there are a few branches in Shanghai.  It is the only fast food that serves twist cones and Diet Coke out of the fountain so far.   Jared has blacklisted Burger King ever since he saw a mouse in Burger King during his grad school days.  I, on the othe hand, very much enjoy a flame broiled whopper (Jared calls it a mouse burger) every now and then.  However, since Jared is adamantly against it, my only chance to eat there is when he leaves town. 

The only restaurant that I have partially blacklisted is the dim sum restaurant in the Holiday Inn Lido Hotel in Beijing.  I suffered from the worst case of food poisoning ever after a meal there.  However, if someone were to invite me there to eat, I probably would go...I just wouldn't choose to go on my own. 

Are there any restaurants you have blacklisted?

Jared is going out of town again late February....you know where to find me.