Tire Hinge

Construction here in China is interesting......

I could use a whole blog post on what I see at work and how you wouldn't believe me.  Seriously, sometimes I feel like I'm watching construction techniques back in the stone ages.  I'm still surprised (even though 2 years later I shouldn't be) and tend to shutter daily of how unsafe some things are on the site.  We do stop as much as we can when something is unsafe but sometimes you just stare for a bit trying to figure out why in the world the workers do what they do!

One of my favorite things I've found on the construction site is the photo below....

A tire hinge!

You would think this would be a Disney themed item!  But no!

It goes to a door on a storage shed.....the time they took to cut a tire, bend nails, instead of just putting on a hinge.....oh, China....

Husband Day Care

As seen at one of our favorite restaurants, Captain Rooster!

2nd Home Leave

We headed back to LA and ATL for our 2nd home leave of our Shanghai adventure!

Home leave is a time to check on the apartment, see friends and family, stock up on meds, and make an appointment to any and every doctor possible!  We had dentist appointments, I saw my dermatologist, and unfortunately had to make an emergency visit to my primary care physician due to a case of bronchitis I brought with me!  Yuck!  My cough was so bad I ended up with the codeine cough syrup which meant a foggy trip in the end :)  But it made me feel better!

We spent one week in LA - got a new couch! - and one week in ATL visiting and eating great BBQ!

Can't wait until we have our repatriation date and get to move back to the states!

Brew Cruise

Shanghai is developing a reputation for having some pretty good beer festivals in the city.  This year B got tickets to the famous Shanghai Beer Week Brew Cruise!  It's a beer cruise that goes up and down the river.  We'd been wanting to go since moving here but unable to attend the last two do to work or travel.  Knowing this would be our last opportunity, we jumped on it!  It seemed like half the boat was filled with Disney people - there's a bunch of us over here!

It was a super hot and humid evening but that didn't stop the fun!

We also ran into Todd on the boat and had some fun with him on the way home :)

Garden Sun

Beautiful warm, smog-less day today!

We enjoyed sun and cocktails on the 5th floor garden roof :)

Cheers!

Prohibited Climbing

Prohibited Climbing.

Shanghai History Museum

As our Chinese lessons are coming to an end, our teacher Xandy, wanted to take us to the Shanghai History Museum inside the Pearl Tower.  She met us at our place and then we walked over to the Pearl Tower together.  Weekends are usually VERY crowded at the tower but most people wait in the long lines to go to the top for the view.  We bought a 35RMB ticket which gave us access to the museum only.

Unlike a lot of museums or exhibits in China, this one was pretty well thought out and themed.  Lots of models, dioramas, wax figures, and themed 'streets' to walk thru.  My favorite was a street of vendors back in the day; one vendor was selling dried goods.  Real meat, shrimp, flowers, etc were used for this area - not fake!  And it smelled real too!

After we toured the museum, we walked around a lower level area of the Pear Tower for some neat views :)