Dragon Boat Festival

Chinese Holidays are very different from those in the US and really throw off the typical work week!  This past week, we had to work the weekend - 7 days in a row - to get an 'extra' day off for the holiday.  Government mandated.  This is how they do it!  Let me explain.....  we worked June 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and the weekend 8 & 9 so that we would have 10, 11, & 12 off during the week.  So we really only got one  true day off because the 10th and 11th were really the weekend.....different.  We have another odd one in a couple of months but then in October, we get almost a week and a half off - it's China's version of July 4th, celebrated with mandated time off.

On Monday we explored the French Concession area and on Tuesday we went to the Power Station of Art to see the largest traveling exhibit of Andy Warhol's work in Asia!  Pretty great!  Unfortunately, the government wouldn't allow his work of Mao to be displayed - rumor has it they said they didn't like that it looked as if he was wearing makeup - but they did allow photos of Andy's visit to Beijing and the Great Wall, pretty great stuff!

Monday Shenanigans:

trees with 'iv'....

look familiar?

DELICIOUS cinnamon mojito we had during a break from our walk!

B taking a quick break on some tiny chairs....

and playing some pool at an expat bar :)

then headed back to the apartment.....

remember when in the "Things of Notice" posts I talked about the not understanding the arcade games in the metro......well, this one is good!  B has been so close to getting one of these cats!  ha ha

We are one metro line 2 - when you get off on our stop (Lujiazui) one exits dumps you into the fancy IFC mall which is great because this is how I get to the train for work and never have to be in the rain or extreme weather!  It dumps you out on the bottom floor where there is more or less a food court, market, and a really yummy gelato shop!

And as you head up toward the Residences where we live, things get FANCY:

I got yelled at for taking the picture of Louis!  You are welcome!

IFC Residence Doors:

always GORGEOUS flowers in the building!

we always stop at this fridge - they stock different cokes and snacks for residents :)

Tuesday with Warhol:

and artist's take on the 'Terracotta Soldiers' outside of Beijing:

The building really used to be a power station and was re-vamped for the China Expo in 2011 - they left some of the equipment behind which was fun to see:

ANDY!  My favorite Warhol screen print!  COW!

Photography was not allowed in the exhibit - though it didn't stop the Chinese!  UH!

I didn't take any photos on principle!

Elsewhere in the museum, they had some modern pieces.  This piece with all the mirrors was fun and interesting!

And gotta love aqua!

Had a fun roof deck with some views - smoggy day but this is what it typically looks like here when the sun can get through....

And this funky totem pole of ordinary objects, I thought it super fun but of course I did!

Our Wednesday activity was grocery shopping and cleaning.  It really was a holiday and they really do race Dragon Boats somewhere but we didn't venture to find them, at least this year.  It was actually pretty smoggy and rainy the whole time off - sunny just in time to return to work on Thursday!