Looking for Love

People's Square - the main city square of Shanghai - was once the site of the city racetrack where foreigners would, in the late 19th and early 20th century, gather to socialize and gamble.  During the Japanese invasion, it was used as a holding camp, and the postwar Kuomingtang government turned it into a sports arena.  By 1952 the Communist government paved over the racetrack and turned much of the area into a parade ground.  Today, People's Square and Park is a beautiful tree-lined area with a lake, rock gardens, and a small amusement park.  It's an oasis in the chaotic city and was a good starting point for an outing with Jeb and Hope.  (Madeline left Sunday morning for a week in Beijing with the 7th grade.)

So on Sunday, a spectacular Fall day, we set out for a walk in People's Park where we rambled along and into an alleyway crowded with men and women and hundreds and hundreds of signs like the ones you see below.  Not able to read any Chinese, we were stumped.  Lost children? Runaways? Job hunters? 

While the kids and I walked ahead to look at the park map, John stopped to take a few photos and quickly came to a funny realization.  This, he learned, was Shanghai's matchmaking alley and we had unknowingly stumbled right into the thick of it.  Various elderly people approached him inquiring eagerly if he was looking for a wife.  It's Sunday afternoon at the Marriage Market, and Shanghai's mothers and fathers, concerned for their children's single status, have posted information concerning their sons or daughters, eagerly looking for a suitable match.  What defines suitable?  Owning an apartment (please include size of the rooms in the apartment), holding a job, having a college degree.....height, weight, salary, education...it's all in there. Photos optional.

For those looking for a little nudge, enter the matchmaker. This man below has set up shop at the marriage market.  Here he is taking notes and consulting with worried mothers and fathers, for a fee of course.

And this is serious business. Apparently parents spend weekend after weekend at the Marriage Market - with or without the consent of their children, in the desperate search for a mate.

Apparently mom and dad really do know best!

Beijing, September 9-12

We spent the Mid-Autumn Festival weekend in Beijing.  The kids had Friday off from school for a professional development day, and Monday was a National Holiday in China. On Thursday night we flew up to Beijing after school to meet John who had been there for a few days of meetings...arriving in rain to what some said was the worst traffic they had ever seen in the city.  In fact, we spent 2 hours on the plane, and 2.5 hours in our car making our way to the hotel!  The reward though, was waking up to sunny, blue skies on Friday morning...a rarity in Beijing. We packed a lot into our 3 1/2 days...waking up early every day..here are some highlights.

Our first morning was spent exploring the South Gate area to the old inner city (Qian Men), followed by lunch in beautiful Behai Park with John once he wrapped up his work.

We did a little clothes shopping....

And finally, Madeline is showing me the respect that I have long deserved.

Saturday we toured the Imperial Summer Palace, located about 30 minutes outside the city.  Behind us is the Temple that was built for worship on the Empress Dowager's birthday. We were able to climb up to the top, where a huge Buddha sits.

A highlight of the weekend was, of course, seeing and walking on the Great Wall.  Sunday morning we left Beijing at about 7am to drive roughly 70km North of the city to a town called Mu Tian Yu.  From there, we took a lift up to the wall itself (other options are a gondola, donkey, horse or a good old fashioned hike) and then walked for a couple of miles, returning down to town via a toboggan ride.  That was pretty cool.  We arrived early and were lucky to beat the crowds.  Being on the Wall was definitely a life thrill for all of us. 

You'll never believe who we ran into on the Wall.  

Yes, that's right.  Girl Baby made the travel team. That girl really gets around. And there she was again when we got to the bottom of the toboggan to be greeted by some Mongol warriors.

Sunday afternoon we explored some of the old Hutongs in the city (typical old allyways that represent the old way of life in Beijing.

Monday was the day reserved for the Forbidden City - though we could have spent easily 2 days in there alone.  We had the slightly odd experience of being introduced by our guide to the nephew of the Last Emperor, who is a famous calligraphy artist and works in a private studio inside the Forbidden City, selling his works to pay for continuous renovations to the buildings and grounds. Not sure if that is really true, but it makes for a great story.  And we're all excited to see THE LAST EMPEROR now that we have a little more history under our belt.

You can get a feel for a more typical Beijing sky in the photo below.  Our sunny day on Friday was pretty unusual.

Beijng is crowded, dirty, chaotic...yet also incredibly awe inspiring.  Thought I'd leave you with two more images of the weekend.....

生日快乐

Happy 13th Birthday, Madeline!

Sitting on the glass walkway 110 floors above Shanghai in the city's tallest building -- the third tallest building in the world.

Gymnastics in China

Gymnastics is a government run sport in China, which means that the Institutions that have gymnastics facilities are supported by the government and meant for training local athletes.  The gymnasts are selected for participation, their training times usually cut into school, and they train 6 days a week.  So this has made tracking down an available gym for foreigners pretty difficult.

But...we found it in the form of a former University of Michigan gymnast (Coach Ted) who arranges gymnastics training for a small group of expats in Shanghai.  The program is still quite young, but seems to be growing and he's a nice guy -- very welcoming. Born in China, he moved to the U.S. as a child, and is now back in Shanghai.  The other coaches speak not one word of English.  Hope was pretty worried as we walked into the gym the first day, but after about 15 minutes she was bouncing off the walls and happy to be back at it.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was our first official day of training.  Our commute does not look like the commute at home, that's for sure.  It's about 20-30 minutes from our house, on the other side of the river in Puxi.  Traffic is an issue everywhere....but we get a great view of the skyline on the way there and back.

(Hope gets some help from Peter.  It drives him crazy that she never ties her shoes. I just think this is a cute picture.)

The gym itself is a very standard looking city building...non descript with a bunch of storefronts and a foot massage place across the street (note to self...). There is no heat in the winter (I am told) and no air conditioning in the summer (I have proof of this). It really does feel like walking onto a movie set for a film about government run gymnastics training in China. I can see 60 minutes doing a segment here.

By our standards at home, it is dingy..the lighting is dim, the air smells (but really, that is not so unusual for a gymnastics place if you ask me). The kids who train here are selected to train for the Shanghai team (not sure how that part works), and work out all day long in this facility, then we are able to use it in the evenings.  Hope will be here about 4 hours each week...2x for 2 hours.  So far my plan is to stay with her for the 2 hours...not sure I can stomach leaving her in there alone.  Now I am a true Tiger mother.  Next week I am planning to arrive a little early so I can catch some of the Chinese training.  This sign at the entrance made Hope a little intimidated, but I love it.

One of the Shanghai team coaches (who I am told is a national team coach) wanders around wearing all black with his hands behind his back during practice just watching the girls....he doesn't say much.  The other coaches are also Shanghai "select" coaches who have agreed to work at the end of the day with our girls. As I mentioned, not one word of English....

The light kind of filters into the gym in the late afternoon, and as it dies down the overhead lights try to do their job, but you get the feeling the maintenance is not a top priority around here.  Everything is very sparse, the windows are covered with dirty film, and I have yet to hear any music playing. The coaching is upbeat but serious...and there's a very heavy emphasis on conditioning....much more so than Hope is used to.  But also they have fun and Hope has one friend from school who also trains with her...so she's loving it and is all smiles.  Here are some shots of her getting warmed up and appeasing me with some poses in front of the the Chinese flag and characters.

It's not easy to convey the feeling of the gym in these photos, but it makes for great stories about Hope's adventure in the world of Chinese gymnastics....makes me think of Rocky IV and training in Siberia.  Gymnastics seems to be a universal language, and we're really happy to have found this location.

Over and out!