A month of Firsts

So far 2012 has been a year of firsts... who am I kidding, the last 6 months of my life have been full of firsts (moving to China for one). As the first month of my first year in China comes to a close, I'm amazed at how fast my anything-but-normal life has become, well, just that... normal. AH and I both share this sentiment. As odd as it sounds it's relatively easy to forget we LIVE in China. If only I could get Bravo and the Bachelor in real-time, even I'd have a hard time telling the difference (only half kidding).


But, back to the "firsts". As I mentioned in my last blog post, Year of the Dragon, China just finished celebrating the Lunar New Year and all it's splendor. While most foreigners skip town and head off to exotic locales like Bali or Thailand for a week, AH and I decided to stick it out in Shanghai. To add some context to this, everyone warned us Shanghai would sound like a war zone with fireworks going off all day, every day. On top of that most Chinese leave town and head back to their home village so most shops and restaurants shut down, basically the city is a ghost town for the better part of a week. Spurred by our recent documentary kick and viewing of "Last Train Home" by Lixin Fan, we followed the largest human migration (130 million migrant workers journey to their home villages for CNY) early in the week and ended up at Hongqiao Railway Station. Sounds a little strange, nerdy, what have you but it really was crazy to see and to think most of these people can only afford go home once a year. 

The human migration

Coolest kid mullet I've ever seen

We made a mini staycation out of it and headed to the Ritz Carlton in Pudong for Sunday night (think our equivalent of NYE in the states for the Chinese). The view of the Pearl Tower from our room was incredible and the fireworks that night were unlike anything I've ever seen. There's no big organized firework show, therefore EVERY Chinaman, woman and kid buys fireworks from their local stand and sets off their own. Not a patch of the sky wasn't covered with color at the turn of the new year. See the video below captured by AH from our hotel room...

Taking pictures of me taking pictures of the PT

Our local firework stand on Dagu Lu

Kids can set off fireworks too

More firsts:

We had our first (very light) snow of Shanghai...

Tony modeling the snow for me

We're more than half-way through the first detox either of us have ever done, 3 days of raw fruits and vegs down, 2 days to go. Inspired by the Everything Pretty Girls, click the link for the how-to.

We've planned our first Asia-Pac travel; Beijing in February (I may freeze there), Hong Kong in March and Vietnam (warmth, finally) in April. 

Great Wall Marathon I'm running/ panting my way through my first 10k (on the Great Wall no less) in May, Anthony is doing the half-marathon (show-off).

And last but not least, I started my first Etsy shop, inspired by beautiful things I've seen in China. Check it out and get yourself one, Esty Shop - Circle Scarves.

Love and miss you all!

xoxo,

J