Shànghǎi!!

Umm...we've been in Shànghǎi about a week now.  We have been unbelievably fortunate thus far, receiving money from a handful of people before we left; my father paying for a portion of our plane tickets and vaccinations and one of Shawna's uncle giving her money.  Upon arriving a different uncle of Shawna's had a car pick us up from the airport and drive us to the serviced-apartment which he paid for through the 28th of June and just the other day asked us how long we would like him to extend it.

This city is beyond belief, stretching too far to see any hint of its ending.

View from back exit of where we were staying on Hong Mei Lu.

Okay, I wrote this last week and didn't finish it.  So much stuff happened in Shànghǎi; hopefully I can go back through and write more about it.  I will try to be more timely and complete these from now on.

hot pot experience

Last night Shawna and I went over to her grandparent's house for his 83rd birthday.  Admission:  I didn't actually know the gathering was for his birthday, I just went to hang out and try hot pot.  Hot pot is a type of cooking where you have a pot full of simmering water (or stock) in front of you and everybody just drops in the foods they want to cook--veggies, herbs, thinly-sliced meats, seafoods, etc.  The food then cooks in the hot pot.  Pretty straightforward naming system.  After the food is cooked, you take out whatever you threw in the pot and put it or dip it in a bowl with sauces you can mix up to make it spicy or salty.