Toasting an exciting announcement!

Well it's been a week since I last posted something, so it's about time I get back to this. In my defense, Rebecca has needed her computer and we have been busy, so I jot down notes and plan to write later. I've got lots to catch up on. So I last wrote Friday,the 31st in the early morning. Later that morning I traipsed over to one of the former residences of Sun Yat Sen. It took a couple of subway changes, but I got to the station closest to it and then walked about a half mile to the house. It was exceedingly hot and I tried to stay in the shade of the tree lined streets as I made my way. I grabbed a pastry of sorts from a bakery on the way...it was very different sort of croissant dough wrapped around a hot dog looking sausage and it had mustard and corn kernels in the pastry as well. I reached the house/museum and it was a relief to get inside to the a/c. I rested once inside sitting on a bench next to an older Chinese tourist munching on the Chinese version of a Little Debbie snack cake. I guess everyone likes junk food. The museum is informative and has tons of artifacts and mementos from when he lived there including household articles and such. Sun Yat Sen lived there with his 2nd wife ( not sure what happened to wife # 1). Originally trained as a doctor, he gave up medicine for politics to fight the injustices that he saw. He was considered the father of modern China bringing the country under one rule and not one of imperialism or the monarchy. While he was a powerful individual, he and his wife lived very simply for one so influential. The house is well preserved, 2 stories and has a small but lovely garden. He lived from 1866 to 1925. He became the leader of the Nationalist party, lived all over the world, and became the leader of the Tongmenghui (the Alliance Society) He assisted in forcing the abdication of the emperor in 1912 and developed his doctrine, the Three Principles of the People, nationalism, democracy and people's livelihood. Also Chiang Kai Shek was a protoge of his. Sun Yat Sen was also responsible for the ordering of the cutting of men's braids trying to get away from the concept of indentured servitude into the modern age. I spent several hours browsing before making my way back to the subway. On the way I stopped at one of the lovely parks that Shanghai has in abundance to rest. This one is called Fuxing Park. As usual there were card games and mah jong, people strolling and resting and reading and drinking the endless "cha" (tea) out of their plastic or glass containers ( much like we cart around our reusable water bottles). I actually fell asleep on the park bench, but was awakened by a policeman, quite gently letting me know in halting Engish that I couldn't sleep there. I lazily watched people go by, that's great fun for me. Chinese women's styles of dress are from one extreme to the other. Some are wearing boyish haircuts and shapeless clothing to others sporting diaphanous dresses seemingly floating by clicking on their high heels. Men too vary from the pajama attire to what appears to be long boxers and sleeveless undershirts frequently pulled up to expose their hairless bellies to business suits. They love their uniforms too. Employees at stores all wear matching uniforms from grocery stores to pharmacies. Eventually I make my way back to the apartment and finish my nap before Rebecca wakes me up to head to Chabbad for services. We meet friends walking in (Ayelet from New York, Shachar and Yitzik from Israel) and realize that once again we have missed the service. Tonight is a bit different because there is a large group from Yemen and so we wait upstairs for the room to be reset from service mode to dinner mode. Other friends of Rebecca's are there and the place is humming. We find a seat at the Rabbi's table and 2 others are there, Lubavitchers. Once we sit, they immediately relocate. Was it something that we said?!!! We enjoy another lovely Shabbat meal and I notice that the hot pepper condiment that I have enjoyed here weekly is much hotter, so much so that my mouth is burning. As usual the crowd is lively and there are introductions made. I tell the Rabbi about Matthew's engagement and he and I toast the good news with a hearty L'Chaim and a shot of vodka. Especially noteworthy was a story that the Rabbi told about a woman who visited him this past week. She had been the last person to have been married in the Ohel synagogue before the Jews had to leave Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution. It was pretty amazing. When dinner is over I go upstairs to use the bathroom while Rebecca says her goodbyes. On the way up I begin to feel nauseous and I am really sweating. I think that during dinner I had experienced some sharp pains under my rib cage but paid no attention. Now I am paying attention. I need fresh air and go outside and sit waiting for Rebecca on the steps. I am having a hard time even walking and as we head towards the subway, I tell her that she is going to have to call a cab. I am on my hands and knees unable to get up, sweating profusely and writhing because I am so uncomfortable. Several people ask me if I need help as they leave, but I wave them away telling them that my daughter is bringing a cab. Finally Rebecca returns and I drag myself into the car, but I cannot get comfortable. I feel so ill and I know that I am going to be sick. Fortunately we come to a stop light and I tell Rebecca to roll down the windows. Let's just say that i gave it up right then and there for Shanghai...ALL UP...several times. Fortunately it was out of the cab not in it!!! I beg Rebecca to apologize for me, but the driver is so nice and kind. He tells her that foreigners get sick because of the food quite often. I don't know if it was too many hot peppers, the vodka, or the pastry today...but afterwards I feel 1000 percent better. Back at the apartment I am able to fall asleep easily...it' been a long day!
Saturday comes I keep it rather low key. Rebecca has lessons to give and I spend the day at the apartment relaxing. I feel surprisingly fine with no trace of tummy trouble, but I take it easy just in case. When Rebecca returns, she makes us dinner, a stir fry of veggies and fresh, homemade noodles that she has gotten at the market. We make plans to meet some of her Chabbad friends at a KTV (karaoke bar) at 11:30 p.m. down near Peoples' Square. We take the subway down there as this line runs later than the others. I see a woman with two small children on the platform and comment on them. Rebecca says that they are probably beggars as the woman is wearing traditional clothing and has facial characteristics of someone from the country. She is right because when we get going on the subway, she and the 2 kids get down on their knees to beg. It's always hard to watch people begging, especially when you wonder where they will spend the money...on a hot meal? or perhaps drugs?...it's impossible for me to not feel compassion for them...but looking into the eyes of a 4 year old staring at you...?! I slip some coins into her little fist and think of how chance plays into all of our lives. How fortunate I am to have the blessings that I do and how unfair that others do not. I need to remember and appreciate how lucky I have been...and then I get off the subway with my daughter as we make our way to the most frivolous of Chinese recreational activities. Hmmm...I fee incredibly guilty right now. It takes us a while to find this place. It's several floors up of a building housing Madame Tussaud's Shanghai. Of course there is a life sized model of Yao Ming outside. I have only been to a Karaoke Bar once in New Orleans and this is nothing like that. We are on a floor of a high rise building and there are hundreds of rooms of all sizes for rent, all equipped with multiple microphones and large screen tvs, couches etc. Rebecca's friend Shachar is pulled into room filled with a rowdy bunch and we follow her in, not sure of what is happening. We join in singing along to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girls" before some guy wises up and kicks us out. We find the registration desk and book a room for about 100 kwai (15.00). We can use it for several hours. You can bring in your own refreshments, or buy them. It takes us a while to figure out the selection (of songs) process on the computer, but once we get rolling we sing, dance and jump around to everything from the Beatles to Disney songs to "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix A Lot to pathetic attempts at singing Chines and Korean Songs (but also quite funny). We all act silly and find our inner rock star. I keep up with the youngsters and even outlast my daughter ( of course she did work today) until 3:30. We get home around 4 am. Yup I am feeling great...no residual from the night before...thank goodness.
Sunday, after our late night, we sleep in, but make plans to meet Ayelet at Longhua Temple later that afternoon. We get a bit delayed because roommate Pierre has decided to cook and we stay to share his lunch. Also unbeknownst to us, Kevin had been awakened at 5 am and had to go to the hospital because his girlfriend's grandmother had had a stroke. They were both pretty upset about it. We finally leave and make our way through the throngs on the subway to the temple. This is a working temple and is the oldest and largest in Shanghai, first constructed in 242 of the common era. It's not in a touristy part of town, so it was wonderfully peaceful and not overrun with either Chinese or Lao Wai tourists snapping photo. On the contrary, most of the visitors are there to pay homage, burn incense and/or the paper origami models representing household items so that their departed loved ones will have the proper accoutrements for the afterlife. In one courtyard which housed one of the many large covered incense burners ( about 5 ft. x 5 ft x 3 ft) there was a group of women surrounding another woman. They were all dressed in white ( the color of mourning). The one in the center was spinning around eyes-closed weeping while self-flagellating with some thin reeds. She was obviously mourning a recent loss, but i could only guess. As we entered the monastery, we first went in to get any information that they might have and were treated royally by the staff, given handouts in English and water all free of charge. (It was a nominal fee to get in maybe 1 or 2 dollars.) The monastery, according to legend was built by Sun Quan the head of the Wu state for his mother who was ailing after the death of her husband. She traveled to this spot and was able to recuperate there. Because she was a pious Buddhist, her son built a temple to express his thanks for her recovery. The temple has been built and destroyed many times. In 1875 during the reign of Emperor Gangxu in the Quing dynasty, it was renovated to the state in which we see it today. It includes a pagoda (taa in Chinese)...a little background on pagodas...they originated in India. (Buddhism spread to China in the 1st century.) Pagodas were built to house the remains of high priest and senior monks. They are also known as monks' graves. They come in several forms. This one is a tower with 7 stories and is 131 feet tall. We couldn't go in this one, but there are others that you can. The "campus" is large. We spent over 2 hours there meandering from hall to hall marveling at the architectural details and the contents of the buildings. Each hall housed a central figure or 2, at least 18-20 feet in hight with intricately detailed painting including gold leaf. Some halls housed larger than life figure after figure who represent heavenly gods from ancient Indian legends and representing different concepts and ideals. The vibrant colors and intricate carvings on such grand scale are proof of a commitment to honor these symbols of faith. Followers entered the halls from time to time and knelt before each altar, bowed, prayed and then dropped coins or paper money into the offering boxes (Chinese Tzedkah boxes). Another kind of funny similarity to Jewish ritual is when they wave their sticks of incense, it's much like when we wave the lulav and etrog at Sukkot. We saw several monks coming out of their sparse living quarters and tried to eat at the vegetarian restaurant there, but it was closed. We meandered in and around and got to a garden area. A small man inside an office adjacent to the garden beckoned us inside to cool off and gave us water to drink. He was a resident artist and was painting watercolors and making fans. The girls chatted with him in Chinese and Rebecca was admiring one of his paintings...a little out of our price ranges though. We thanked him and went on our way, but got a real feeling about how kind these folks had been here. Later we stopped at a tea house/restaurant nearby for a light lunch which consisted of fried pumpkin cakes (Rebecca's favorite) sort of a sweet pumpkin paste the consistency of Nigerian pounded yam on the inside with a crisp outside, jasmine flower tea served in the most delicate clear teapot with tiny clear cups, and a wonderful tofu and vegetable stir-fry with rice...delicious. The Chinese have elevated tofu to high art and it comes in so many flavors, styles, and textures...I really want to learn how to cook with it. Rebecca left for an appointment and Ayelet and I finished lunch before heading out. I stopped to get ingredients to make an attempt at red beans and rice. It will have to be close because I'm not really sure about this sausage, but we'll try it and see.