2006-02-17 - 9:15 p.m.

I know I have told you before, and if you read this blog, then you know all about my battles with the construction workers (the dozers), but sometimes I see things that remind me- We live in one HUGE construction site. You cannot escape the jackhammer. Or the regular hammer. Or big piles of rubble- like this mess that lives a few blocks from us. By the time you see this, though, it will be gone and a pretty new building will be in its place. I figured out how they work so fast- the workers really do live there! This poorly constructed bright blue apartment building houses all the workers. For every construction site in Shanghai there is housing on the same grounds. This is one of the nicer places I've seen.Some are just little huts. Why this interests me so much I have no idea.I will lose interest in it soon enough, I suppose, just like I did with the public toilet situation we've got going on in this great nation. (Although my initial fascination with the toilets has waned, they still hold a special place in my heart. Eeww.)

I just returned from the States, and once again, I see Shanghai from fresh eyes. I forgot about, well, just about everything-especially those little bitty differences that makes cultures so different. Like how bicycles rule the streets. They use bicycles to transport just about everything you can imagine. I've seen run of the mill 2 wheel bicycles packed with things-from styrofoam boxes to those huge bottles of drinking water- a good 5 feet over the driver's head. How they balance themselves and maneuver through all the traffic is one of life's great mysteries. It's something to see- they should include it as a sport in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Chinese would have the upper hand in that event. Of course, I've never had a camera with me when I pass one of the gargantuan bicycle transporter spectacles, but here's a bicycle piled high with boxes.

Yes, the roadways in Shanghai can be quite frightening. I know I've told you all about the scary buses, motorcycles and bicycles that tear up and down the streets...Here's a little guy I found in a shoe store. They start the driving training quite early here. He drove all the way from home...

Another common site that is definitely NOT common anywhere I've ever lived is this..

I suppose the managers of restaurants all over Shanghai (and all of China?) deem it necessary to line their workers up outside at the start of the shift and make them do things- some do exercises, some sing songs, and I am sure that they are given the day's assignment somewhere in the process. It again is a sight to see. I worked in the food service industry for several years. If someone made me do this, two things would have happened-I would have peed in my pants from laughing so hard, and then I would have gotten fired. I have video of a troop from the restaurant next door to us jogging down the street and chanting, all military-style. At first I though it WAS the military, but then I looked closer. I wonder what they chant as they jog down the street- and then I wonder if they are allowed to freshen up before they start working- especially the servers. I'm not sure how I would feel if the person who served my food looked like they just ran around the block several times-that's never happened to me here so they must get time to freshen up.

On to grocery stores and Chinglish- this is the message that greets us as we obtain our itty bitty shopping cart at the western grocery store...

Huh????????

And to round out this entry of random happenings in Shanghai- here's some views of this wonderful city-

This is our neighborhood- Xujiahui...a billion malls in one city block...

This is Pudong. I think I've showed yall this before, but it's just so darn pretty...That tower on the left is Pearl Tower.

This is Tomorrow Square, in just about the middle of Shanghai. Or maybe not. This town in so huge and I am not a geographY whiz.

These pictures were taken from the top of the Pearl Tower. Shanghai looks like a cartoon city, like Gotham City or something- there are so many buildings!

And here's yours truly and handsome Mike at dinner on Valentine's Day.

Have a very nice day, and remember, life is short, so live it well. I really wish I could be with my family right now.

?lt;/P>

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