Shanghai, lately.

Lately:

night strolls through beautifully lit streets

food and decor that makes our studio feel like home

doggie sightings

sunlight streaming through the streets of the Former French Concession

yoga in Fu Xing Park

October holiday shopping, sightseeing and tasting

presidential debates and homemade pumpkin spice lattes

Happy Fall! xoxo.

October.

"When an experience is new or challenging, and we must absorb more information, time seems to pass more slowly; when one day blurs indistinguishably from the last, the months evaporate. So I could slow time by making a radical change in my life: move to a new city, or even better, a new country, or switch careers, or have a baby." -Gretchen Rubin, Happier at Home

This couldn't be truer for us. It's hard to believe that we have lived in China for over/only a month. September felt like it would never end, and it feels like it's been ages since we lived in California. Some days, I've been relieved just to make it through.

Since we've lived here, we've found our favorite local fruit stand, spent the day at a police station filing a report for a stolen purse (thankfully, not mine), taken the metro all over town and the bullet train out of it, discovered in the middle of cooking dinner that certain pans do not work on an inductive burner, learned that sometimes the router needs to be reset seven times in one day, sat in our apartment with the walls vibrating from the jackhammering taking place next door, and made new friends at shanghai community fellowship. Dave has been to the U.S. and back to obtain his work visa, and I've survived the first of ten months of teaching while in grad school.

There's still a lot to be learned and a lot to be accomplished in the next months. So much to be documented and shared (I'm already behind). And as temporary as this adventure may be, we've done our best to adjust and come to terms with Shanghai as where we're supposed to be right now. The pastor at the church that we've been attending mentioned this verse the other Sunday, and it just resonated with me:

God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live. God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though is not far away from any of us.

-Acts 17: 26-27, NCV

This October, we'll be without the apple orchards and pumpkin patches and halloween parties. Which I hope will give us the opportunity to look deeper and work harder. I've hit some lows, but I couldn't be more excited about this place, literally and figuratively, in our lives. Exactly when and where we must live? Shanghai, now.

Lao Di Fang.

Now that we're Shanghai residents, we're on the hunt to find the city's best noodles and xiao long bao (soup dumplings). After some googling, I am across

this site

operated by a company that offers walking food tours of Shanghai. One stop on their noodle tour, Lao Di Fang, turned out to be a short walking distance away. There are plenty of hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Shanghai, but the good ones have lines out the door and menu items in Chinese characters only. This was no exception. We waited our turn to sit at one of the two dining tables in the restaurant, only to realize that webpage that I had loaded before I left listing the Chinese characters of the best dishes wouldn't open. After some pointing and a few helpful suggestions from the owner, we settled on a scallion and pork noodle dish, one with celery and eel, and a side of baby bok choy. I savored every flavorful bite, and the best part? Our entire meal was less than the cost of a latte at the local Starbucks, just over $4.

Shanghai, lately.

Lately...

one of my 12th graders asked me if I could be their cheerleading coach (what??).
we've discovered the expat's paradise known as Shanghai Brewery.
i've tried jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and all sorts of strangely-textured foods at the teachers' banquet.
this week has been on the upswing, thankfully.
we're settling into this city more and more as the weeks go by.
making some new friends, finding the best local coffee shops, reading books on the metro.
i'm appreciating the cool, fall weather,
the super clean, easy, and safe metro system,
the simplicity of our lives right now --
not thinking about clothes, shopping, stuff,
just focused on making the most out of our time here.
tonight, i'm feeling blessed and relieved to have one not-so-stressful night this week,
and I think that's the best I can ask for.

Date night, shanghai.

after a long week at work (and by long, I mean 12-hour days teaching and lesson planning),

i needed a break.

 so husband and i spent this past Friday night having drinks (their mojitos are 

good) 

and giant nachos on our fave neighborhood patio at the Shanghai Brewery. 

we strolled around Hengshan Lu and stumbled across an organic shop/restaurant/bakery that reminded me of two of my LA favorites, Farmshop and Joan's on Third.

after a slice of some yummy chocolate cake, we headed back to watch Revenge,

a show that I'm now addicted to.

we plan on spending our Friday nights and weekends exploring the city,

but sometimes, it's just really nice spending time in your own neighborhood.