First off, we have some Irish friends who informed us about Irish week here in Shanghai. Apparently the mayor of Shanghai used to be the Chinese ambassador to Ireland (or something along those lines) so there is a lot of goodwill toward the Irish in this city. We were very excited to go see the St. Patty's day parade last week which turned out to be the shortest parade I've ever seen but it was still fun. The weirdest part was seeing a bunch of Chinese people dressed in green with Irish flags painted on their faces- but hey, everyone is Irish on St. Patricks day right?
Some Irish College Alums from China enjoying the parade.
Audrey and Sev checking out the St. Patty's day dragon- just after I took this photo we were mobbed by photographers shooting pics of Audrey- ARGH!
Probably the most interesting part of my week was dealing with the "satellite issue". It is a well known fact that satellite dishes are illegal in China but this law is commonly ignored. So, as usual, when the notices started to appear in our building that we had to take down our satellite, we ignored it (as did everyone else in our complex). The next notice said if we didn't remove them by mid-March, they (the government) would take them down for us. At this point we decided we could live without TV for a couple days so we took ours down the day before the deadline. Good thing too. The next morning I watched two men literally rappel down the side of each 30 story building and rip out everyone's dish. One of our friends had chosen not to heed the warning and was among the causalities. She promptly dragged her 4 kids to the management office and tried to explain that she only wanted the dish for the cartoons. And here is where it really gets good- the apartment management told her that they video tapped the removal of the satellites so that they could show the government that they had been taken down; however, she was welcome to come back in two days and get her dish back and reinstall it at her leisure. Fine. A week goes by and she keeps asking for it back- they continue to tell her to just another day. Finally, they give her an address and tell her she can go pick it up. Turns out the address is the police station and when you try to pick up your dish, you pay a hefty fine. And this my friends is what it's like to live in China.
Workers taking everyone's satellite. They use the same technique (and lack of safety equipment) to clean the windows here too!
Finally, just wanted to leave you with a little snapshot of Harry Connick Jr in Shanghai. Sev and I recently celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary (I know, I can't believe it either) by going to his concert. It was fantastic- and the funniest thing was that 90% of the audience was caucasian.
1 comment:
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Livros e Revistas, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://livros-e-revistas.blogspot.com. A hug.
Post a Comment