July 3, 2008 Shanghai

We slept, relaxed, read, watched TV, and movies. Doing nothing and staying in our room never felt so good.

At 5:30pm we got a phone call… Margaret. We met the girls for dinner at the same tourist spot where it all started 2 weeks earlier, in Old Towne. We caught up on our stories. Marguerite had a wonderful bd on the Great Wall… BUT it was a cloudy day and couldn’t see a single thing. Their shopping at Hongquiao Market was everything they heard about and more. Marguerite said she thought she was a great shopper, but never in her life has she met someone that shops like Margaret. They went to the Olympic store and bought official souvenirs, visited the Forbidden City, and more shopping and site seeing.

Amy told us a new fact about her fiancé Jeff. He is American, born of a Korean mother and American father who grew up in Tyler Texas. Jeff is a graduate of computer science from UT. So when she showed up with her UT baseball cap and UT T shirt we gave her 2 weeks ago, he knew we were special guests. It was a very hard decision for Amy to accept his marriage proposal, as it will require her to move to Atlanta where Jeff’s company, Cox Communication is located. She is the only daughter and very close to her parents. Her desire is to find a job in Atlanta that will take advantage of her communication skills. I am confident she will succeed. We all became so happy to find out she will be closer as we have become very good friends in such very short time. She will have 2 wedding: traditional Chinese and one in the US.

After our dinner with M & M, Amy helped us get a cab to our hotel, while Margaret got her final shopping to find a tea pot. We had our first rude experience. As Amy climbed into a cab, some Germans slipped in the back seat. An argument began, as it took us over 15 minutes to flag a cab. The Germans refused to get out of the cab, Amy said: this is my country, get out! The German women said the F word to Jim, I opened the back door and asked them to be good tourist and get out… and Amy strongly continued to argue while Jim’s temperature began to rise. As I edged my way into the cab, they got out and said “Oh so you are going to be a good tourist and get in?” “Yes, thank you”, I replied. While verbal exchanges escalated between Jim and the Germans, Amy shoved Jim into the cab and off we went.

Jim and I agreed that Amy displayed great qualities during this exchange:
1. Firm but polite
2. Confident
3. Stood up for what she believed
4. Didn’t get push around

As Jim and I recounted the scenario in the cab to the girls and ourselves, we used Amy’s command of the situation as an excellent learning opportunity for the girls.
I have been hand washing our clothes throughout the trip, as laundry service is expensive in the hotels. Most of our clothes dry over night because they are so lightweight. I feel like the Chinese village women who we see doing laundry in the rivers and streams. The water here in Shanghai has not been as clean as the other cities. The light brown water is not a result of dirty clothes. I haven’t told my family this. If they read this blog, they’ll find out.

Ali and I had 2 internet conversations via Google Talk. One with Anna and Isaac, (we have set up 2 play dates next week) and the other with Tracey my niece. I love the internet.