American in Shanghai

Someone else did the work...great thoughts on this city of everything!   http://http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/play/worlds-greatest-city-50-reasons-why-shanghai-no-1-590704  

The kitchen will never be the same...I have made a new discovery...and perhaps will never need to leave China again....(just kidding!!!) Whilst thawing some cooked frozen rice in the micro, I smelled something odd like something burning. I thought to myself, ok fine, these appliances never last very long in China anyway, not a big deal and to be expected, right?  Well...not! Actually this is a special microwave which came with a little metal rack and one of the settings is for "grill."  Never tried it; at least I never meant to; but tonight I accidentally put the setting to grill after I finished using the "thaw" setting...and the thing was doing its grilling!  Really there is a grill in the top of it!  So weird!  I always thought this microwave was a little different and now I realize the inside is a special kind of enameled surface; apparently this can withstand the (small) amounts of fire that the grill produces.  I was so shocked at this feature I

The kitchen will never be the same...I have made a new discovery...and perhaps will never need to leave China again....(just kidding!!!) Whilst thawing some cooked frozen rice in the micro, I smelled something odd like something burning. I thought to myself, ok fine, these appliances never last very long in China anyway, not a big deal and to be expected, right?  Well...not! Actually this is a special microwave which came with a little metal rack and one of the settings is for "grill."  Never tried it; at least I never meant to; but tonight I accidentally put the setting to grill after I finished using the "thaw" setting...and the thing was doing its grilling!  Really there is a grill in the top of it!  So weird!  I always thought this microwave was a little different and now I realize the inside is a special kind of enameled surface; apparently this can withstand the (small) amounts of fire that the grill produces.  I was so shocked at this feature I turned it of

I was so tired from the week (and riding for a couple of hours to dinner and back on Friday night) that I stayed in bed most of Saturday.  But it was also to get my energy up for today; I went and met a gal who's leaving China today and she sold me her viola for a great price - it has a nice sound and looks nice too. Then I had to race back to the hospital to complete my health exam - I still needed the ultrasound test as here it is a routine part of the checkup.  The hospital's clinical areas close at noon.  I did that and then they said everything's fine--whew.  Then went home and had some soup from last night - corn and bean - it's really yummy - and took a rest.  I went out and ordered a dress to be made for $11. It will be a strapless formal that I'm hoping will be fit for playing at the Austrian Pavilion when we play quartets for a special event in a couple of weeks. I have had this beautiful black dragon silk for about 5 years.  I finally decide