Reinventing Myself

As I'm sure most 20-somethings reading this (and those who've been 20-something) know -- it's a weird, awkward, tough and altogether fantastically enviable age. Fantastic because you have the freedom to design your life, tough because that luxury comes with a rather sizable and often enigmatic caveat, figuring out the elusive question that plagues us...wait, what do I want to DO with my life??? 

Prior to China literally falling into my lap (or standing in front of me in a bar line, rather) I was approximately 3 years out of college, smack dab in the middle of my quarter-life, and pretty much clueless as to what I wanted to really do, be, become, etc, etc, etc. Like the bulk of my peers I had been a part of corporate America since graduation and was just kind of... floating, biding my time, doing the expected, responsible thing until what I should be doing, what I'm passionate about, showed itself. Sure, I felt lucky enough to have a job (or that's how my parents told me I should feel) but I was constantly searching for something, whatever it was, whatever came next. 

I'm no psychologist but I could write a book on my generation. Subject being, why we are the way we are. I know where this feeling of always wanting the best, never being fully content comes from. And here it is, brace yourself. We've been told since before we could even comprehend what it meant that we were the smartest, the most talented and the best looking to boot, children that ever existed... basically we (babies of the eighties) could do no wrong. In my case, you can't fault my parents and grandparents for that because, well, it's TRUE (right Mom, Dad, Grammy???) but we were never told "no", never told "you can't do that" or "that's not possible." Quite the opposite actually, we were told we could do and be WHATEVER we wanted, the world was our oyster, nothing short of the moon was out of reach, and heck not even that, because we were all well beyond gifted enough to become astronauts, right?

Thus here we are, 25 year-old, self-entitled, never fully satisfied, perfection-seeking "adults." Not that this is entirely a bad a thing, we've got elevated self-confidence for days, so don't feel too bad for us :)

This leads me to the point of my post. After a month and a half in Shanghai and not quite ready (or dare I say, even close to ready) to jump back into full-time work what with language lessons, cooking classes, volunteering and traveling, I still needed to do something to feel... normal. To have responsibilities outside of becoming a premature lady of leisure ("thai thai" as they've been coined here in China). Thus, I've started to think of China as my own little land of opportunity, minus the stop in Ellis Island. Since I've been ready for more than awhile to explore alternative career paths, why not here? Why not now? Why not reinvent myself in China? I can do anything here. So...

Over the past two weeks I've been a princess at a 2 year-olds birthday party, (only in China, pictures to come), a clothing fit-model (5 foot almost 8 inch blondes are a dime a dozen in America, in China we're hot commodities), participated in a photo shoot for a Netherlands based clothing company (eat your heart out Gisele) and explored the idea of preschool teaching. Yes, all.over.the.map. Oh, and I've made moves to position myself to get back into my former career in a few months if I so choose (or until Anthony forces me too, whichever comes first). 

Like this, only BETTER

And yes, I got paid for what follows...

Whatever happens, whichever path I end up choosing, whenever my perfect job presents itself, I'll know. For now I'm enjoying my new found freedom, embracing my ability to try out anything and, of course, always searching for the next best thing :)

Until next time,
xoxo,
Jess

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

The Year of the Dragon

We are BACK. It's official. I'm a Shanghai resident, well for 90 days at a time, legally, that is. My month long escapade of living out of a suitcase and jumping between West Palm, Wilmington and NYC has come to a close and 398 Da Gu Road has become home, just like that. After arriving Monday evening and sleeping through most of Tuesday, by Wednesday I was ready to hop back on the proverbial Chinese horse... er, dragon (it's almost CNY, Chinese New Year, folks, and coincidentally the year of the aforementioned creature). With a few comforts of home in tow, most notably Essa bagels -- thanks Mr. & Mrs. H...which I just remembered there's a few still preserved in the freezer, nom nom, 2012 high-glitter sunglass swag (see below, very popular with the locals, made in China, go fig but no where to be found here) and Christmas loot a-plenty, we were ready to ease back into our eastern lives.

...And may I say HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Yes about three weeks late in America, but hey, I'm about one week early in China, so it evens out). As I mentioned above, 2012 is the year of the dragon. Roar. This creature is supposed to bring 365 days of happiness, luck and fertility... mmk. Spare me the latter (for now) China! This got me thinking about what animal I supposedly embody...

1986: TIGER: You are sensitive, emotional, and capable of great love. However, you have a tendency to get carried away and be stubborn about what you think is right; often seen as a "Hothead" or rebel. Your sign shows you would be excellent as a boss, explorer, race car driver, or matador. 

Some of my closest friends have always said if I were an animal I'd be a lion (Anna and Erin, I'm talking to you), the hair, or more appropriately the mane, I can see it. And lion/tiger, eh, close enough. Not to mention I'd be excellent as a matador? Done and done. I've been looking for a new career path... 


And Anthony's while I'm at it...
1984: Rat (sorry babe, the Chinese said it, not me): You are imaginative, charming, and truly generous to the person you love. However, you have a tendency to be quick-tempered and overly critical. You are also inclined to be somewhat of an opportunist. Born under this sign, you should be happy in sales or as a writer, critic, or publicist.

AH's animal sign is so accurate it's uncanny. Really. Those wise little Chinese got it so right again.


Check what animal you are (it's fun, I promise):
http://www.chinatoday.com/culture/zodiac/zodiac.htm


I'll leave you with some sights I've captured around China over the past two weeks with my new Canon Rebel T3i (Christmas gift from the Rat! I'm obsessed). We're off to try Bella Napoli http://www.bellanapoli-sh.com/?c=3 (with a couple from Detriot, MI, what up America!) and hopefully force ourselves into a carbohydrate coma.

CNY stalls (and Papa John's in the background)

Just fish for sale... on the street

CNY explodes

No trumpets in China?

Animal furs all around

Until next time

xoxo,

J

I'll be home for (errands) Christmas...

I know I've been blog neglectful now that I've migrated west for December (FDApp, I've missed you). My own personal to-do list (plus my mom's I've inherited) trumps any real work schedule I had prior to my month-long unemployment (sorry worker bees). But seriously, organizing a life in order to up and move to China resembles a full-time job. I'll love it when my belongings and I inhabit the same continent and I can stop wondering whether that shirt I'm looking for (or my digi cam for that matter) is in NYC, FL, or China. And knowing there's a heaping pile of clothes looming on the bed in our guest room for me when I get back nags at me daily (hangers are few and far between in China, no $5, 20-packs at Target type deals to be found). 

Before I left Shanghai we cultured ourselves (and drank our way through) an afternoon full of art galleries, antique furniture shops and electric cello (who knew?) performances. It was a chilly but gorgeous Shanghai afternoon at M50, http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/play/m50-329005, and we found plenty to keep us busy (read: entertained)...

Anthony and an ear

Live long and prosper

Newest project: Photographing doors throughout China for later framing/display

 

Cut to days filled with holiday decorating, Target runs (so excite!), stringing lights on bushes and trees (I can do this), moving MLS (my little sister) out of her dorm, dinners with my mom and my girlhood second mom (also the mother of my best friend and blogess extraordinaire, Venessa, http://www.everything-pretty.com/) and nursing an eye-injured, cone-headed shitzu back to health. 

Yes, they have matching readers

Zoe's been better

Usually we head to North Carolina for Christmas...

Our other back yard

But I'm more than ok with a fireplace-blazing 75-degree Christmas this year. 

xoxo,

Jess

The last hoorah

This was my last weekend in Shanghai for the rest of the month. I'm doing a bit of a U.S. east coast final tour prior to the OFFICIAL official move which commences 1/1/12 when Anthony and I fly back over together… for good good. I land in NYC Sunday night (currently writing on the plane) and will be there through Tuesday afternoon when I fly to WPB. There will be a lot of family bonding time (and helping to get the house in tip-top Christmas shape) until December 21st when I fly back up to meet Anthony for our 3 day stint in Delaware by way of Newark. We fly back to WPB Christmas Eve so we can be thoroughly disected and inspected TOGETHER, as a couple, by my family (they've only ever met Anthony sans me, brave soul that one). Then we're back up to NYC for NYE2K11 (my second annual NYE in the city) and on the first day of the new year (or the year of the Dragon) it's off to Shanghai we go. That's 6 flights in the next 27 days folks, in case you lost count. Anthony accompanied me to the airport by way of the Maglev. The Maglev is a train that uses magnetic levitation (aka no tracks/wheels) to suspend the train basically a few inches in the air. The train gets you to the airport in 7 minutes flat, at a speed of 268/mph. It was pretty cool, I must say (just don't tell Anthony, I wasn't in the mood to help, more like watch him lug 40+ pound bags around a train station thus wouldn't concede this point at the time).

I'm excited to get to spend the rest of this month surrounded by familiar faces, places, smells and sounds. Anthony says to wear myself out on all the things I love, like to the point I'm sick of them, the things I can't get in Shanghai. Of course my mind goes immediately to… food. Yes, food. This means I'll be hitting Chick-fil-a for breakfast, lunch and dinner, downing 12 glorious inches of Publix subs like they're going out of style (all you Floridians can understand this) and ordering American Chinese food by the quart-fulls. I'm sure this last want sounds a bit ludicrous, but alas that greasy, addictive, amazingly satisfying (and great hangover cure) known as General Tso's chicken (and egg rolls, egg drop soup and fortune cookies) are about as authentically Chinese as I am. Tough break…

I'll be stocking up on products galore over the next few weeks (get ready CVS and Sephora). You know, the essentials - 55 cans of Pssst dry shampoo, 28 bottles of Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and Morrocan Oil by the gallons are all on my short list of items that will take up the better part of a second checked bag. I've had to become creative as of late with how to come up with suitable substitutions for things I just can't physically get it Shanghai (see my prior post re: faux Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Lattes). As luck would have it, about a month before the soft move a Pure Barre studio, http://purebarre.com, opened up in Columbus Circle and I.was.obsessed. Understatement. If you aren't familiar, get familiar. Any free time I had, I wanted to be there. Let me make it clear, this is NOT usually my style. I go in waves with my workouts, waves where I'm all in and will get myself out of bed pre-dawn to get to the gym. Then there's the wave where the sight of my tennis shoes makes me nauseous (that was the most recent wave, from about May to November, you're welcome Bally's for the $37/month donation). Since I very well can't bring the studio to Shanghai, and exhaustive Google searches have proved unsuccessful for any workout of this type in my new country (the bar method hasn't caught on in the far east) I'll be turning our living room (or maybe the underutilized office) into my own PB studio, with the help of the DVDs I ordered, a resistance band and a tiny medicine ball. I'm PUMPED. Also pumped to not have to use jars of tomato sauce for bicep curls anymore…

About 4 hours, 1 movie and a lackluster airplane dinner in, I'm ready to pop an Ambien and wake up on the other side of the world. Check bag for my next blog post about our cultural Saturday in Shanghai!

Blog you from America,

Xoxo,

Jess 

My new people

Time to get back to CHINA. The Chinese people deserve a post just to themselves. As a whole, they are some of the nicest people I've ever encountered. I "Ni hao ma" my way through the day and find myself more often then not being gawked at like I was literally just lasered down from some planet where tall, white, light-haired people roam free. One example (of I'm sure many that will follow), on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I get my pinyin Mandarin lessons on at the Coffee Bean near West Nanjing Road or Nanjing Xi Lu if you want to practice your Mandarin with me (about a 10 minute walk from our apartment). Coffee Bean's in China have embraced (thank god) Peppermint Lattes (50% off before 10am, the Chinese don't really get down with breakfast, or early mornings for that matter). Starbucks run amok over here like they do everywhere in America, but their "seasonal" flavors are a little less palatable then the ones I enjoy back stateside. I did however smuggle over a bottle of the Starbucks sugar-free Pepp syrup. To satisfy my craving I order skim Mocha Lattes, add my own syrup and TA-DA it's like I'm back on the corner of 51st and Park, just. like. that.


But I digress... sitting near the window finishing up my lesson Tuesday a gaggle of grandpa-ish age Chinese men walked by, stopped, stared then started waving/smiling (maybe laughing?) at me like I was Britney Spears circa her Oops! I Did it Again era. This behavior I've become accustomed to. My first trip here Anthony and I visited the Pearl Tower, an old TV-tower turned tourist attraction and a pretty famous Shanghai skyline staple. Minding my business and enjoying the view, I feel a tug at my elbow and before I know it I'm being pulled into a picture with a Chinese woman...then her husband... then one with her son.

Why not?

A few more anecdotes for your enjoyment; while haggling for purses and other goodies over the weekend (can't post my loot yet since some of the people getting presents read this blog), Junny, one store owner, proceeded to tell me among other things, "I give you good price, I never give ugly girl this price." Welp, Junny you hook, line and sinkered me. Another one of my favorites "This your boyfriend? (gestures to Anthony) He SO lucky!" I know Junny, I know. Not that I'm a great haggler to begin with, I feel bad, or have a heart says AH (I did once give a bum $10 on a NYC street corner, that's a story for another time/day) but start throwing compliments my way and suddenly I stop my barter where I am. When getting a winter coat type deal made at the fabric market on Saturday (picking up it today, hunter green with pink lining!! will post pics later) the shop owner commented (after Anthony got her down to half her initial asking price) "Your boyfriend good bargain!" No, she didn't mean I paid a good price for him (which I in fact did), just that he haggles like a champ. Salesmen, go fig.

South Bund Fabric Market

One other thing, the Chinese have no qualms about being (brutally, at times) honest. While I appreciate this no-nonsense attitude and chalk it up to them having no time to waste, check your ego at the door (or at Customs) if visiting Asia. For example, this morning at language lessons Jing sits down, takes me in in one quick glance and blurts out "You no make-up today?" (It's 8:30am people). Me: "...haha, nope." Jing: (quizzical) "... WHY not?" Me: (in my head -- I'm flipping tired, you can't do my lessons any later than this, I have no where to be when we're done here, instead I went with) "I'm uhh... going to the gym later..." That seemed to satisfy her, for the time being (I wasn't going to the gym, but felt an excuse of sorts was necessary). To further drive home my point, walking through one fake market, I gestured to a pair of wool-ish cropped pants, to which I was met with "those won't fit you" by the shop owner... alright, nvm, didn't really want to try them anyway.

Until next time (I'm going to go do some sit-ups, maybe a lap around the sofa)
Zaijian,


Jess

Learning to live together (and apart)

I like to think of myself as a neat in my own way kind of girl; clutter makes me anxious, I don't mind doing laundry (esp with having a washer/dryer in the apt again, after NYC, huge luxury!) and once I get started organizing OCD-type tendencies will surely soon follow. That being said you'll probably find my clean clothes sprawled out all over the bed until I find the time/will/desire (I now find myself wanting to blog more-so than any other chores on my internal to-do list) to hang them up (in color coded fashion). For all my dear (and fit) friends who trekked the 5 floors up to see my NYC home/cubby-hole, you know when I say my room was the size of a walk-in closet, I'm not exaggerating. I mean, you saw the picture from my first post, I had to sit on my bed to get to my closet. But I loved it - it was mine, it was cozy and it was coordinated in earth tones, all things that make me truly happy.

Now that I have a large, built-in shelved closet (and 2 IKEA wardrobes to work with) I find myself dreaming up ways to store my clothes, scarves, belts, shoes and jewels, because let's face it, not having to crouch down into child's pose and finagle your favorite tank top out of a plastic storage bin shoved under your bed makes getting dressed a totally different experience. Now, I move onto to the point of this post...

I think we all hope the partner we choose is one that makes us better in every way, right? Well, the one I chose makes (read: guilts) me into wanting to be the tidiest I've ever been. Not only have I never lived with a boy, I've never lived with a boy who has to hang all his shirts, hangers facing the same direction, with the top three buttons buttoned (alternating every other one), a boy who has to fold the reusable bags we get from the grocery downstairs into perfect symmetrical squares for storage or a boy has to line up our shoes outside the door smallest to biggest, in a perfect row (just to name a few quirks) before he feels at ease. I could see him die inside a little when my make-up and toiletries were scattered all over the bathroom sink, cringe even more when my mascara, not fully removed after washing my face, rubbed off on the previously perfectly stark white bath towels and have to take 5-10 deep breaths when I got into bed and cocooned the sheets around me, creasing them and causing them to not lay perfectly straight/flat.

All that being said, we're learning, we're growing and we're making space for each other in our previously unattached lives and him in his previously solely-inhabited apartment. AH jokes "you signed up for this...for the rest of your life" when I shake my head or roll my eyes after witnessing the types of behaviors described above. But that's just part of him, and I love it. And (hopefully) he's learning to love me... and all my stuff (that now fills more than my 50% share of the apartment).

Sprucing up the living room

Girl-ifying the bathroom

First home-cooked meal in the apt and the first meal I made Anthony, Chicken Parm (he claims he liked it)

AH got back from a business trip in Hong Kong a few hours ago (will probably kill me for this post once he sees it) and was impressed with meal #2 as well. Good night for me and good Wednesday morning to you all!

xoxo,

Jess