Christmas...in China.


You are probably wondering if China celebrates Christmas and if so, what could it possibly be like!? China is a relatively a-religious nation and anything relating to Christianity or any other religious identity is extremely rare. Christmas has become iconic of the holiday season transcending (for many) beyond the original religious affiliation. I have a secret, I absolutely love Christmas (expect for the whole jesus thing), the big tree (in my home we called it the 'Hanukah bush' and decorated our already-part-of-the-decor fake ginko tree with eggplants and cucumbers because our living room was purple and olive), colorful presents, blinking lights, milestone, the smell of pine, and the feeling that a blanket of 'world peace' has wrapped our earth and snuggled it within the folds of happiness. Its a time of beauty and love that stretches across the globe and so, yes, even China is affected. Shenzhen is in the tropics so our Christmas time resembles what you would find in Florida. Trees (all synthetic), no snow, people wearing sweaters instead of jackets and the general displacement of the stray plastic reindeer. Since Shenzhen is almost completely apartments and condos you will not find a single home adorned with icicles and the cheesy blow-up lawn ornaments, instead, housing complexes 'decorate' their lobbies with trees and lights. One thing that is interesting is that if you are foreigner, everyone thinks you celebrate Christmas. I must have told my coworkers at least 5 times that I was Jewish, celebrated a different holiday, and that this day held no significance....no matter what, I still got the 'are you taking the day off?' and a startled reaction to my negative response. Either way, I tried to replicate the holiday spirit by buying christmas music and going, with friends, to a buffet at an expat hang-out. Although my time was pleasant, I failed to capture the Christmas joy I typically experience back in the states...and for dinner, I did what all Jews do, ordered Chinese food and watched a movie ('Crash' is amazing. Everyone should watch it).

All in all, Shenzhen tried to bring Christmas to the city, but it reminded me of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'-an out of place holiday trying to be incorporated in an environment that didn't know how to embrace it.

However, maybe its not Shenzhen at all, maybe its the fact that the holidays are about being around the people that you love-and I'm the one displaced (I think this may be the first holiday season ever that I didn't see my family). I may sound depressed or sad, but I'm not. I would prefer to be home, surrounded by my family and friends, but I am making the most of it here and creating my own Christmas even if its only a shadow of what I'm used to.

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very Happy New Year!!

Movie~
I watched a movie for the first time in weeks. 'Babel' was excellent. I hardly get riveted by movies but this was incredible. I highly recommend it.

I then ordered nasty take-out and had my house cleaned.

Tomorrow I'm buying my tickets to Thailand and planning our trip...

11 days in paradise sounds like a good idea to me.

And to the Jewish mothers (who are now thinking, oy vay, my child is going to Thailand!?) I am planning it out fully, lavish resorts, tourist hot spots and clean restaurants :)

NY Times
I love it that so many of you forwarded me the NY Time's piece on Shenzhen. Thanks guys.

xoxo
M

Weekend~

The weekend did not turn out as exciting as I had expected, but it was nice none the less.

Saturday, after work, I leisurely returned to my apartment, donned my warm fuzzy robe and walked around my apartment for a while listening to music. For those of you who don't know me, one of the things I find most relaxing is having nothing else to do but walk back and forth around my house. I used to do it in my apartment in Long Island before I moved in Manhattan (and walked in circles in Jeff's room). However, my relaxation ended after attending yoga, when I scrambled to get myself together (dressed, fed, and to the port within one hour). Wearing cute, but most painful heels EVER, I ended walking around Hong Kong grimacing in pain. Had I had I done it all over again, I would have opted for the less-cute-but-more-comfortable heels. However, I did learn how cool Hong Kong is as a walking city. First, this is this elevated outdoor walkway that winds throughout the city, connecting all the major building with one covered pathway. Second, HK has the longest outdoor escalator in the world. Underneath a long sheltered staircase, runs an escalator that just keeps going up and up and up. The higher you go, the better part of town you are in. As you ride it, you can see hidden shops and restaurants peaking out in the narrow, winding streets below. The neon signs flashed Chinese characters lighting up the hustle and bustle of the people, carts and cars navigating through the avenues. The sea of activity moving beneath my feet as I floated up served was thrilling reminder that Hong Kong is truly a unique city-a blend of traditional Chinese culture and vintage European influence.
We (my friend Mark-a Russian Jew residing in Shenzhen) made our way to Central and then to the China Club library. We met up with a few other Jews from Shenzhen and walked up the wooden steps to the library were the Hanukah gathering was taking place. The winding staircase was lined with works of art forcing me to realize that Shenzhen truly lacks to culture I was blessed to grow up with-good art is hard find in my contemporary, mainland town. We made it up and the party started. It was your standard mingling, noshing, kibitzing, stuffing left over food in your purse (in this case, yummy packets of gelt) and moving on to dinner. The club did have an excellent view of the city which was well worth the painful climb in my stacked heels. The night ended as we, Mark, Jen and I made our way back to our lovable hometown via bus. The annoying this about this method of re-entry is that you have to get out of the bus, run through the HK customs, get back on the bus and then get off five minutes later to go through the mainland customs. Normally this would not be an issue, but by this point in the evening I could hardly walk (never again-those heels will stay on my shelf for a LONG time). I made my way home and crawled into bed more for my feet's sake than my own exhaustion.

Yesterday was also a great day. I stirred at about 8.45am (late for me) and went to yoga with my boss. I finally bought groceries and met with my new Chinese tutor. Yes, I decided although my Chinese is good, it could be a lot better-so I hired a tutor. She rocks!! She came prepared with a business Chinese book and started kicking my tones in to shape. I have decided to hire 2X a week for 2 hours at a time. With this chick on my team, my Chinese is going to be killer in no time. I then made it to a local wholesale market because in my effort to save money, I have not bought the things I needed (i.e. a jacket and sweaters). Since its the middle of December, I decided now was a pretty good time to buy these things. After walking around the market with nothing more than a zip up hooded, I decided I had to BUY A F-ING JACKET. So I looped again and finally settled on an awesome Miss Sixty bomber jacket-I didn't really know what I wanted, but I finally decided I need a bomber jacket and aviator glasses. The glasses are next, but I have the jacket and it kicks so much ass. I then cabbed it home and put my new prizes on and off in front of the mirror until Aaron came by to drop off my treats from the states (Vogue, W, and coffee). We then met some people for dinner and ice cream (which I didn't eat, of course) and had an evening filled with great conversation and fun company. I made it home around 10.30 and began planning our trip to Thailand.

Not a bad weekend.

Oh yeah,

HAPPY HANNUKAH (or cchhhhhhannukah as Dr. Novich and his son say).

Update~

Fam, friends, random readers:

all is well in the land of Maddy:

1) have recovered (mostly) from food poisoning. Always a plus.
2) had an awesome week at work (boss recently informed that I was doing a great job and that they were very pleased with my performance)
3) found out my that my boss in the China office loves me. I'm so charming:)
4) saw my friend sarah last night. we went out for some wine and to listen to music. Very relaxing and fun.
5) scored 2 VIP tickets to something called the 'Top Show' for tomorrow. Not entirely sure what that means-but the flyer has diamonds, cars, mansions, and guitars-bling, speed, phat pads and rock-n-roll. SOOOO Gotta check it out. Have convinced my friend Ranajit that he must write a story on Shenzhen's Top Show. Dress code: Formal. Will def have pics and stories.
6) am going to Hong Kong tonight for a Hanukkah celebration. Should be fun. Will have more pics and stories.

Only problems I currently face:
1) I dont have time to get my nails done.
2) I have no food in my house (seriously)..luckily i have the means to remedy that.

Life is good.

Shout out to mom and dad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS (EVEN IF IT IS A LITTLE LATE).

Shanghai~

Thursday night I hightailed it out of work, frantically flailed around for a taxi and jumped in the first car that would take me to Baoan (come ‘shift-change’ you will get turned down no matter how much money you offer) and met my friends at the hotel. We booked it to the airport and flew to Shanghai. The hotel situation was slightly sketchy as I found out we were all sleeping in one room (what!?). Eric had planned for us to have some master suite in the Weston that house us all comfortably. Although the intention was nice, the room turned out to be slightly smaller than expected so we were somewhat like sardines packed on top of each other. However, to soften the shock of the size of the room, two bottles of Moet champagne were waiting for us. Weee! We cheered to being in Shanghai, finished the two bottles (I nursed one glass) and headed out for to meet up with some of Lanny’s friends. We danced to some refreshingly good music and I made my way back to the hotel around 3am with Long and Aaron. Lanny and Eric went out for a late night snack. The sleeping situation was pretty funny-Lanny and I had the bed (of course) and the boys had to figure out the floor-The first night, there weren’t enough blanks so long had the genius idea of using 1) a bathrobe and 2) the curtains which ended up letting in a draft.

Friday, around noon, we made our way out of the hotel and went to a ‘hot’ shopping area. We basically wandered in and out of bad fashion for a greater part of the afternoon. Around 5pm we headed to a mall because Eric insisted on buying a dress shirt. Despite the disappointment of not finding cute clothes, we headed to an all you can eat and all you can drink buffet. This place was AMAZAING (even more so because it had a REAL ginger bread house outside) and made all-you-can-eat-sushi night look like a can of tuna. This restaurant had rows upon rows of tasty treats ranging from sushi to steak to Chinese dim sum to Japanese veggies to American salads to teriyaki chicken to fresh seafood and more! The dessert ranged from chocolate brownie fudge cheese cake to mochi (I ate two covered with black sesame seeds in honor of my Jeffrey). The wine was endless and Eric and Aaron proceeded to smashed on a neon green drink ( I repeatedly stated, “Anything THAT neon, can’t be good.”). The best treat of all was my friend from Beloit Language program met me at dinner to say hello. I haven’t seen this girl in 3 years and she was my tutor in Mandarin. We finished our food and headed back to our hotel-Eric, Lanny, and Aaron crashed for a nap and I dragged my tired ass downstairs to try and read. At this point, I already had a cold and was beginning to feel a little cranky from my lack of sleep. About 11pm, I made my way back upstairs and Lanny, Eric, Long, and I wandered to the Jacuzzi. I love hot water and bubbles. Around 1 am, my friends went out and I went to sleep-The crazy-late nights really aren’t my thing.

Saturday, again around noon, we made it out of the hotel and went to the French concession area. I saw Haiyin (my friend from Beloit) and my friends went to TGIF. But before they left, all of a sudden 5 million german santas rode up from out of nowhere! They were passing out chocolate (I almost shouted out, “GELT!! I LOVE GELT” but changed my mind when I heard the accents.) Haiyin and I walked around and chit-chatted for a while and then ended up at this glass museum called the Liuli Museum (www.liuli.com). The exhibit was incredible and it felt so good to get some culture. (Lindsay, you would have loved it!) I honestly can’t begin to explain the elegance of this museum. It was rows up rows of beautifully sculpted glass with ornate images (often reflecting Buddhism). The pieces were set up to resemble a sea of art floating around you as you walked…it was breathtaking. Afterwards, Haiyin had to go buy a car and I headed to TGIF to find the gang. We ate and went to YuYuan (yu gardens) which was basically a tourist trap of little shops in ‘antique’ buildings. It was fun even though I only bought some prizes for mom, sis and the Novich Clan. After spending the day shopping in the cold, we all went back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. Long and I went for a glass of wine and then we bundled up and went back to the French concession area for dinner. It was at Simply Thai were I got deathly ill-but I’ll get back to that later. Dinner was delicious and then we went to the Bund (river view) and hit up a club. We listened to music until about 3.30 and again I headed home while everyone else went out for a late night meal. About 7 am, my stomach began to hurt…and then I realized…I had either food poisoning or I ate something that f-ed my system up big time.

Sunday-I spent the entire day, pasty, sick and bundled up in front of my computer because I was in too much pain to walk. At noon we had to check out and while the group hit up a last minute site, I half-coherently sat propped up in a chair talking to Jeff and watching Scrubs. Sunday fucking sucked because I had to sit up, take a taxi, fly, and take another taxi before I could make it safely into bed. Sunday night, I sat curled up in bed with white bread and 7-up…gross.

All in all shanghai was fun despite the bumps in the road but I’m glad to be back (for once, I was not sad to return to work-I guess that def says something about my day job). I’m just taking my time to recover from the trauma to my system!

oh yeah..and CC-you rock! thanks for reading!!!

For all of you who don't know, CC is my fav queenie in the whole wide world (and LONG time friend).

you wear that fuzzy, sparkly crown baby!!!

Growl

To my beloved readers.
I am not neglecting you, I promise. I have been busy busy busy (which is good) and I have no new stories. However, at 10.30pm tonight, my plane will depart from Shenzhen airport and delivery me into the cold, refreshing, comfortable city of Shanghai (the mainland Chinese version of New York).

A friend has rented the deluxe suite in a famous hotel (i can't think of the name right now-its so famous i forgot!) -full out bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and 2 bottles of moet waiting for us upon arrival. All 5 members of our mod squad will be crashing this pad for the weekend.

I swear to take lots of pictures and come back with a wealth of stories.

Scrubs~

I just bought the first two seasons of Scrubs and its hilarious. Every time I watch it, I think, thats my sister! hahaha Shout out to my fab sis, Gabe~ Hell Yeah sister! You wear those orthopedic shoes and fix people.

Book-

Ok, my loyal readers, friends, and family, I have started composing a memoir of my journey-which I hope will develop into a book. It is because of your positive feedback about my writing (and I need a hobby) that I have the courage to transcribe my experiences. In order to best guide the path of this literary challenge, please email me with the topics you found most interesting and which blog entries you liked the best.
Thanks guys!

Ok all~
Not much new to report. Work, yoga, and friends.

I met this girl from France and she is awesome. Though we have only hung out a few times, we basically feel like old friends...not to mention that she lives in the next building over from me (total 1 minute walk away). Anyway, yesterday afternoon we spent the day shopping (though neither of us like spending money, so we didn't get anything) and then we came back to change and went down to Shekou for dinner and out to the bars.

While eating dinner we met a few local 'stars'. The first was the guy who created shenzhenparty.com. Second were two guys who owned the only middle eastern restaurant and finally was the guy who partially owned the Terrace (one of the coolest bars in Sea World). There were three other people there, one guy and two girls who were also cool though not 'famous'. Sara knew the guy from Shenzhenparty.com and thats how we met everyone else. We ate dinner together and then went to the Terrace after. Sara and I met up with my friends from La France and the night was spent going back and forth between the two groups of people.

Also, this Thursday night, I am going to Shanghai with my friends from La France. Its Lanny's birthday and she wanted to celebrate by hanging out in a new city. Lanny, Aaron, Eric, Long and I are leaving after work and will arrive in Shanghai 2 hours later. I will also see a friend of mine from Beloit where I did an intensive Chinese language course. She was my tutor and cool as hell. It will be a well needed mini-break!

Picture and stories to follow.