A rare moment of serenity on the streets of Shanghai

These are the market streets pretty much across the street from where John and Debbie are living. You've never seen anything like this. Makes Canal on a crowded day feel like a giant meadow in New England.

OBAMA WINS!!

I can say for the first time now that I truly miss being home. On a historical day like today I do wish I could be in Harlem or Times Square with my New Yorkers, but I guess it adds to the memory. I'll always remember where I was when Barack Obama won the Presidential election. I am in good company however, and am enjoying this moment just like you are. What a great day!

OBAMA

I hope everyone got out there and voted! (for Obama!) . I'm currently at an election party here in Shanghai following every move of the Presidential race. Let's cross our fingers everyone. I'm having trouble uploading photos again. It's hit or miss. The internet connection is not strong in Debbie and John's house. I have some great photos that I'm going to try to get up this week. We'll see how that goes. Ok, back to the race. Is that an Obama chant I hear? haha

Take me to a place I'd like to go somedayyy

I hope you guys like the pictures. It has been very cloudy and rainy here, but nevertheless I think the pictures still came out well. Oh man, can I tell you about my brunch today? Let me paint the entire picture for you before I jump into the food situation. John and Debbie have a great social network here. They know a lot of great people. Great isn't even the word that I should use. You know the type of person I'm talking about right? John and Debbie are like ths themselves as well. They know the type of people that are refreshing to talk to. Highly intelligent, motivated and confident. The people that put you at ease while challenging you. It's a person that hears you when you talk and doesn't take you for granted. So it's around noon and we are going to brunch in Shanghai. This place has an all you can eat brunch for a very reasonable fixed price. We must have ordered everything on the menu. Literally. Think about the type of Chinese restaurant you have in midtown, or for my flushing people, think about the nice ones. The sit down, waiters are in uniform restaurants. Pork, duck, chicken and noodles. Shrimp dumplings, beef dumplings, meatballs,soup dumplings (shanghai joes in the city are very good I can't lie - but there's nothing like eating soup dumplings and being IN shanghai) - the food never stopped coming out. I was a happy little boy. I felt as if after eating I could frolic in a patch of wild flowers and watch the humming birds hum. I'm sorry, there are no pictures of the brunch. Some pleasures will have to be for my eyes and taste buds only! After the brunch we all said our goodbyes and John and Debbie kindly showed me around the neighborhood. They both have a wealth of knowledge about the area. It was really like having a personal tour guide. We all came back to the apt, and chilled out for a while. Debbie made another great meal (brownies for dessert ! ) and then we watched some DVDs and hung loose. I'm not exactly roughing it at the moment. I know John and Debbie have a cleaning lady already, but if they ever want to get rid of her and hire me in exchange for room and a little food, I'll be waiting.

OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty as a postcard

Another day another skyline. . .

There I am with Debbie. Shanghai Mom!

Shanghai streets

This is the building John and Debbie live in. It's an incredible building. It's over a hundred years old. The place has so much character, I can only imagine the stories this building has.

First flicks of Shanghai

Can you see it? Off in the distance...

Are you ready for this?

Shanghai!

So many flavors. So much happiness.

Shanghai

So..I made it. It's only a three hour flight from Tokyo to Shanghai and the flight was smooth. Debbie and John have their own driver and he met me at the airport and drove me over to their apartment. (For those who don't know, Debbie and John are my sister's inlaws. They live and work in Shanghai).The outside of the apartment building looks crazy. The hallways have paint chipping from the walls and single lightbulbs light the corridors. There are exposed wires and elevators that seem to pop out of the shadows. Debbie and John's apartment is pretty amazing however. You could easily shoot a pottery barn/j crew magazine special in here. Debbie and John's hospitality has been amazing. Today we went out for a vegitarian feast that consisted of pumpkin soup, eggplant and green pepper dishes and to-fu just to name a few. It was a huge amount of food and the bill only ran about 20 dollars. I'm having trouble uploading photos which I know are the goodies everyone is waiting for, but today was super overcast and I couldn't get many good shots anyway. My friend Paris is going to swing by the apartment later. It's the birthday of one of his friends and we are going to hit the town. Debbie made chicken stew---gotta run.