Day 3... China

*Frank said the pictures aren't working I will try again tomorrow (my time). For now I will stop posting because it won't be that interesting without the pictures.*

So we made it through our first full day... I have decided to split up the posts. This one will be dedicated to some pictures (just a few) that I got around the city and then I will post about DaVinci....which occupied pretty much our whole day.

*Pictures may not be great, because I'm not allowed to insert them...I'm having to copy and paste. The internet is very censored here.

We woke up this morning and it was sunny, which was great! Here's one of the views from our hotel room:

Since I'm with Carole of course we got up and worked out. Then I was a little concerned about what we would eat for breakfast, because as most of you know if I don't eat I'm not sweet. So luckily they had a pretty normal breakfast (I mean there were some weird things but I didn't go near those). Here is a quick picture of my breakfast:

Fried eggs, Belgian waffle and pineapple. The Belgian waffle was delish! Tasted just as good as the ones you get at the street vendors in Belgium! I know it looks like a lot but I know better than to let myself get hungry- wasn't sure what the schedule would be.

Random pictures (through the cab window) around Shanghai...

Entrance to a sculpture park...

There are lots of bikers everywhere....and they will run over you. It's strange because you will see small children on the back of the bikes and you just wonder how they are still holding on...

We are staying in the area known as The French Concession. There are a lot of pretty trees and it's fairly quiet. Below are some pictures.

There are the prettiest flowers here!! Bouquets of flowers everywhere in buildings!

Road where we ate tonight...

Inside the restaurant where we ate tonight called Dakota. You can't tell by the picture but it was very cool and very swanky inside. That's Werner, one of the top guys (at least I believe he is) at Theodore Alexander.

We really worked for most of the day, about 9am-7pm, so we didn't have time for any sight seeing. Hoping we get everything done tomorrow so we have time on Friday! But we met tons of very nice people....

Day 1 or 2, China

So this will be a fairly short post. No pictures with this one. We arrived in Shanghai around 4pm here, and 4am eastern time. To me it seems like it has been one long day... We got up at 5:15am on Monday, flew out of Raleigh to Chicago, then Chicago to Shanghai. However it was always light outside while we were flying so it seems like one long day to me. We had very nice and spacious seats on the plane, we were in a row of three, but we each had our own pod type thing. Next to my mom was a very nice guy named James, he is 23 and comes to Shanghai for work every 6 weeks. We may go out with him on Friday. On the plane I ate, slept and watched 3 movies: Life or Something Like It, Red Riding Hood and Cedar Rapids. I had already seen Life or Something Like It- just wanted something entertaining. I had wanted to see Red Riding Hood, but thought it was pretty stupid. I thought Cedar Rapids was pretty hilarious though...definitely recommend for guys and girls! Anyway the plane ride ended up being a little over 14 hours instead of 18, which was a pleasant surprise.

I was surprised when we got here by how quickly we got through customs AND by the humidity! Seriously they said on the plane it was 80 degrees F. Um it was the hottest 80 degrees I have ever felt- it's SO humid, muggy, sticky, hot, foggy, etc. Granted it was raining today. We literally got to the hotel and I was asleep with in like 2 minutes. Surprising actually because I took an ambien and a xanex (at different points) so I got plenty of sleep. Anyway our hotel room has 2 twin beds, but they are really comfortable. The only channel we can really find that is English on the TV is National Geographic...and it is some show "Falling From the Sky," all about plane crashes. Not particularly comforting considering I have about 4 more plane rides (over 5 hours) before returning to the US.

Anyway I will finish quickly....I was most surprised by how Chinese everything is. Obviously that seems like a very stupid statement, but I really just didn't know what to expect. I mean China is very Chinese. Everyone is extremely nice so far and the food has been good. I had a pretty bland dinner (which I wanted...) I had white rice (it was so good), chicken (it had a yellow'ish tint- which weirded me out, obviously not from Fresh Market- JK), and dumplings (SO delicious!).  I promise if I get to post tomorrow to have pictures and some more exciting news to share!! I am hoping Google will work the whole time I'm here (blog is through google), because China and google have a spotty relationship and apparently it works sometimes, and others it doesn't.

I'm off to bed! Seriously this TV show needs to go off..... We are on the 3rd plane crash story. I would turn it but Carole INSISTS on watching TV before bed.

Shanghai...

So it's official. I will be going to Shanghai, China on June 20th. I am going as my mom's "assistant." (She is going over there for a design job) I have VERY mixed feelings about this trip. I have been going back and forth about whether I wanted to go or not because, honestly, I have never had ANY desire to go to China. We will also be going to Vietnam, which for some reason I'm not nearly as concerned about as China.

Like most people, some of the first things going through my head when I was presented with this trip were:

1) Is Shanghai known for, at risk of, etc. earthquakes, tsunamis, or any other major natural disasters? I mean hello I just watched Hereafter with Matt Damon, Japan just had a huge earthquake/tsunami, etc. And while I am somewhat mentally prepared for a tsunami (I did the research, I have an idea of what to do) I'm NOT emotionally prepared. Anyway this is unnecessary worrying because apparently they aren't too at risk. Honestly, I would like to talk to someone official about this- like on a scale of 1-10 how serious is it. Moving on...

Yes I googled do they have tsunamis in Shanghai, China... This is VERY important information to me.

2) Is China still a communist country? Well I haven't really found a definitive answer. I have found both yes and no. Yes because many communists rule China and no because they don't say they are communist maybe? It's a capitalist country maybe? I'm not sure because I didn't care enough to look into it more, but I did recently watch Mao's Last Dancer, and I'm not going to lie I was a little concerned about communism. Hopefully it shouldn't affect me too much.  Yes I probably sound like an idiot but oh well.

3) What do people wear in China? Do I have the proper clothes?

4) Is there a H&M and Zara in China? did a little googling and yes to both!

5) How long is the plane ride? Oh just 18 hours... What will I do when my Ipad dies after 4 hours? They have power outlets on the plane.

6) What movies will they show on the plane?

7) Will I be too hungover after NYC?

I know that those are the typical questions that would pop into most people's heads....


I also found out some interesting facts:

1) Shanghai literally means "on the sea"-- UM worry #1 Are we positive they aren't at risk for tsunamis!??!

2) June is the rainy season. Of course.

3) Shanghai has the largest bus system on the planet.

4) Shanghai is the largest city in China, the population is around 19 million. HOLY COW!!

5) Shanghai is one of the top shopping centers in Asia. This was somewhat of a deciding factor for me... JK.

So to prepare for my trip today I have been filling out forms for my Visa and had to get a passport picture taken for my visa....

Apparently you can't smile in passport pictures...which is why this is so awkward. I'm like a child...when I'm told not to smile I have to fight back a smile....plus my hair is dirty. UGH. thank goodness its just a one time visa!!

1 of the 17 pages that I had to fill out...

Up close...

I read on one website it was important to learn Mandarin Chinese in order to communicate with the locals....HAHA does anyone know of a program that can teach me in two weeks?

Lastly, I'm also a little skeptical because I saw the Hangover 2 and Bangkok is huge and they kept saying people get lost there...is this a problem in Shanghai? Will I get lost?

I'm going to try and blog while there so we will see......Maybe even on the plane. Also if anyone wants to skype.... I'm a little nervous about the fact that there is like a 12 or 13 hr time difference.  XOXO

Ali MacGraw....

I'm not exactly sure what made her pop into my head today, but it might have had something to do with my black t-shirt I put on. Growing up Love Story was one of my favorite movies. I think Ali MacGraw is just one of the most beautiful women ever and I have always wanted to look like her. There is a scene in Love Story where she's wearing a black t-shirt and white shorts and although she is super casual, she looks so chic. Which is why I bought this black t-shirt in college (thinking I would look like her...HAHA). Anyway here are some pictures of her...she's got such an awesome style. It doesn't hurt that she was married to Steve McQueen for a little bit either... If you haven't seen Love Story I highly recommend you watch it ASAP...but have a box of tissues by your side!!!!

Anne-Reaghan and Taylor Come to Visit....

So it's been a while since I have posted... I promise to be better about it this month!!! It's been crazy every since Rebecca Jane's wedding!! I feel like I haven't had any free time.

One of the highlights of my summer so far is that Anne-Reaghan and Taylor came to visit (without their parents) last week! Basically "Crazy Aunt Kate" as I am referred to got to spend 8 hrs a day in the pool, and when we weren't in the pool I was a "short order" cook. I naively thought I would be able to take my laptop out by the pool and do work while they swam...HA HA HA. Anyway here are some pictures of our time... Don't worry about there being more AR pics then Taylor, he has plenty of video time on the video camera.

Funny Stories from my week:

1) Late one afternoon (in hopes they would take a nap HAHA) we were watching Nick Jr. when an infomercial came on for stretch mark cream... I'm minding my own business when Taylor says "Hey Kate- do you have stretch marks?? Because if you do you can order this cream in the next five minutes for a special price." They really know how to make you feel good about yourself...

2) Taylor pushed Anne-Reaghan under the water one day and obviously AR didn't like that at all. So when she came up she was crying. My mom said "What's wrong?" Expecting her response to be "Taylor pushed me under the water" we were quite surprised when she said "My beautiful hair is wet and it doesn't look beautiful anymore," and then "I need to comb my hair so it's beautiful" all through tears...

3) Anne-Reaghan slept in my bed every night. She was usually asleep by the time she was put in my bed, but one night she was awake and refused to sleep in there. She told me and my mom that my room wasn't beautiful enough. She told my mom she needed to paint my room pink, change my curtains and add more pink. (This all started because I refused to sleep in AR's room bc it doesn't have a TV) Well AR's room has twin beds, it's pink, it has flowers, there are "beautiful pillows", etc. Well Marmi found a pink comforter for my bed, and AR insisted on moving all the pillows from her room to my room in order to make it more beautiful for sleeping.....SASSY!

Here are some of the pics...

Everyday we had to debate why we needed to wear life jackets... It really changes the whole babysitting thing when there is a pool to worry about...

If these faces don't show you how crazy and wild these two are then just take it from me they are CRAZZZYYYY.... kids have so much energy

Taylor didn't ham it up for the camera as much as AR did...

The first couple of days AR was obsessed with "Ducky" but then by the end she didn't think it was cool to use a float...fine by me because I loved using it!

By the end of the week Taylor wasn't using his life jacket to swim! Which isn't a big deal to us in the south but growing up in Canada you are more concerned about ice skating then swimming...

AR probably changed bathing suits 5 times a day...

Jumping in the deep end

AR was mad about something I can't remember exactly what..

For all of you who made fun of me for getting the "See N' Say"- It was a hit!! However they didn't quite understand why it couldn't go in the pool...

At least she was concerned about the See N' Say's safety...

Yes she had me take a picture of her "beautiful" pony tail so she could see how it looked in her hat...love that she posed for the picture

And one from the front... Anne-Reaghan calls everything beautiful....such as "my beautiful dress, my beautiful skin.."

Pretty sure 3 year olds shouldn't drink Diet Coke, but as the kids refer to it they are in "Marmi's world" which would be my mom...

Just relaxing by the pool

Posing again...

I bought AR some hot pink jellie shoes and she thought they were beautiful....they were especially cool because they could be worn in the pool

If you haven't noticed yet...AR is obsessed with pink...which is why she insisted on using the pink raft..

Such a lush at an early age....JK....AR decided to use flower wine glass things for rings...They are now in Canada because she thought Marmi had bought them for her...

On the way to the hot tub...

I made the mistake of taking them to Target...However PJ (my dad) kept stealing their water guns so we had to go buy more. By the end of the week I'm pretty sure we had around 12. Anyway while at Target we had to get new bathing suits...DUH. So Taylor got a shark one and AR got a Disney princess one.

She didn't want any help putting her life jacket on...

Right before AR realizes her water gun is a lot smaller than Taylor's...

Taylor's water gun...

Anne-Reaghan loved hoarding the water guns...Here she is trying to take Taylor's...let's just say that Marmi showed up with the exact same one for AR...

One of the few pics I have with AR... AR is OBSESSED with Lilly Pulitzer dresses....OBSESSED.

Wearing our really cool sunglasses...AR is very into fashion and everyone being beautiful...by the end of the week I had taught her a new word "gorgeous" which I told her means "really, really beautiful"