We flowed out to a taxi's waiting place, on the the way I saw a woman on a backstreet who looked like an oriental Olive Oyl (Popeye's girlfriend) who smiled at me and whisperd to her young child who spoke to me and grinned. I could not help but grin back. We rode back to the apartment building (never did find Margaret's dad) and Mom took a nap, while I went down with Michael and Margaret to a hair salon. I wanted to get my hair re-dyed (a few missed spots on the last minute dye job before I left the states), but found out it would cost me about $70.00. Anything imported is expensive because of duties paid. So I settled for a shampoo and trim. Never had so much attention in a salon in my life. The shampoo included a head massage, rinse and conditioner by an intent lovely young lady. Then a boyish fellow spent nearly 45 minutes blow-drying my hair straight and then cutting about 2 1/2 inches off, doing some layering... It looks great! It cost about $8.50, but I could not even tip them, it is against custom here. When I came back up I collapsed and slept for 3 1/2 hours.

I woke to a dinner fixed by my brother. Spaghetti! Well, Michael and Maragaret are pointing out it is 11:30 PM, and pretty soon it will take me a day to write about a day. Busy we have been! On Monday, we left the house with Margaret and traveled by taxi across town to the Shanghai Museum. Margaret made sure we had tickets to get in and visited with us for a few minutes before walking the few additional blocks to work.

During that visit, an old man wearing a military green colored suit coat with coarse white and brown (mostly white) hair started to talk to us in English, asking where we were from and telling us about himself. He had an excellent command of English, except for an accent I had to sort through to understand. He was a major in the military at one point and was an interpreter for American soldiers. He said he loved American soldiers, that they were so strong and brave. To underscore his exclamation he stood taller and straighter for a moment. He also said how lucky Mom was to have two such beautiful daughters, and I said to him "and we too have such a beautiful mother!" About then, the line of high school age students started to file away, and the museum was open. Mom and I wandered the four levels of this marble and stone enormous building for 4 and 1/2 hours, using portable tour guide players that were programed with exhibit descriptions.

On a map of the exhibits were numbers at key points. Punch in the numbers on the player and a tape recorded voice tells you what you are looking at. In this way we learned about seals (called chops, these are signature stones that were used to sign documents). Chops were originally only used by high officials, and as prosperity became more common the practice was passed on to the common man. They also went from being name only representations to personal statements and/or poems the individual signed with. The handles became quite ornate over several centuries and were largely carved from soap stone, but could also be made from jade, marble, wood or metal. I am going to figure out a Chinese name for myself and find a chop in a store downstairs to sign my work.

Next we walked through the minority art exhibit. These were regional folk art representations. China is actually made up of many different tribes from the short almond toned folks that come to mind when some Westerner says Chinese, to the dark East Indian looking folks of Tibet, to the tall very slender people of the Southern provinces. The various tribes each have their own customs, religions and styles of dress. This exhibit showed mostly the rich and varied "women's work" (my quote), of these tribes. There was a salmon skin suit with sinew embroidery, many different kinds of colorful embroidery, weavings, batiking, bead and silver work. There was also some "men's work" represented in hand constructed boats painted with red, white and black decorations, showing ancestor figures to bring good luck in the boat's voyages. There were jute and hair masks made by monks for ceremonies to scare away demons, and wooden masks worn by actors in plays and other productions. This area was my favorite part of the museum. There were three other rooms we walked through. The jade , the paintings and the bronze work rooms. Each had pieces spanning the centuries, beautifully presented. I learned that jade is not actually carved, it is abraded using water and garnet sand (do not ask me how). One piece only 5" by 7" took 700 man hours for the artisan to complete. The painting exhibits showed the movement of Song painting from simple black ink washes to later intricate portraits and landscapes incorporating color. One crane appeared to be moving, as it landed on a pond. The bronze work had many stories worked into water and wine vessels, as well as bells and other musical instruments. There was so much we were unable to finish in time to meet Margaret for lunch.

We went to a food court, located in a mall next to the museum, literally underground. Above, there was a manicured garden with expensive lawns, with signs in Chinese asking people not to step on the grass. The court was busy with late lunchers, (we got there at around 1pm). I am constantly astounded at the amount of food people eat here and there are not any weight problems I have seen. Even Michael has lost a lot of weight, probably fifty pounds from the look of him, since November. Anyway, Mom and I selected combination plates with rice, egg, greens and Mom had a pork chop, while I had a fish stew.

It was tasty, but very boney. Margaret got some year cakes in sauce, rice dumplings that are chewy and soak up whatever flavor they're put with, and a pork chop also. We washed it all down with plum soda, yum. Next we went to a silk shop with jersey silk tops and flowy silk skirts. I picked out two tops at around $4.00 each, and Mom picked about three. Margaret filled up a bag with I do not know how many. Michael later joked, "she's got more clothes then I know what to do with!" Margaret's brother, George, came by with his van and gave us a ride home. In the evening we went out to O'Malleys, an Irish pub with live music, an authentic atmosphere and a few guys walking around brandishing Irish brogues. I had a piece of the best apple pie I have ever tasted and a pint of Kilkarneys beer.

Yesterday we were escorted in the afternoon to the Yu Gardens, a palatial place originally built in 1549, (the morning had been filled up with house work and personal chores like laundry and the like). George knew and explained the meaning of many of the mythic creatures carved in the limestone. And, (miracle), I found out the meaning of the table I bought just before we came here!

There were many carved dragons with fish tales instead of bodies, and we came to a gate where there were two fish carved just like on my table, under two dragons. George told us the story of how the two fish each try to jump over the wall, and the one who makes it will become a dragon! What I thought were gargoyle faces on the corner of the frame of my table are dragon heads! Later, we walked by a little shop with miniature furniture, and guess what I saw. Tiny rose wood pieces with mother of pearl inlay, with exactly the patterns that my table has. Funny thing, just a couple of weeks ago I asked God to let me know where the table came from and intended to research the story behind the inlay and the carving. I came to right place for that indeed!

Today was a lazy day. We got our tickets for Beijing, and hung around most of the morning. I told the story of The Weaver to Margaret, Michael and Mom, (folks, am I ever ready to write that work down!) I worked out in the gym here and took a sauna, and then Mom and I went for a walk around town for 45 minutes. On the way back we stopped at the convenience store downstairs and tried to visit with people who did not speak any English. The whole store ended up laughing out loud when I said "My Ma" and pointed to mom, confused, I pointed to me and said "her daughter" Turns out "ma" is the word for horse, so I was calling mom a horse. We laughed all the way upstairs.

Michael and I went to the same shopping center we had visited our first night here and did some shopping. It was a huge place with a lot of variety, very well laid out. I would have had no trouble finding things, except most of the signs were in Chinese :-) I learned a little bit about patience when a woman stepped in front of me when I was standing in line to get some fruit weighed. Michael taught me to say, "there's a line please," which is a way to assert oneself and allow the other to save face. We filled up a shopping cart, including a nice lamp and some organizational bins for Michael's cupboards, and it only came to the equivalent to US$50.00. I am sure I would have paid $200.00 or more in the USA. Tomorrow, we fly to Beijing.