Ahh... such is the life.

Today I had quite an enjoyable and interesting day.

Started off by getting up early and leaving the house at 8am, then coming back and getting ready to go to the gym at 10am for a pilates class. Meanwhile, got an email from my sister saying she needed an invitation for a birthday party she is having. She wanted it by 11:30am. Umm.. it was now 9am and I had to get ready for the class. Not long later, I get my expat wife friend chatting to me through gmail and asked if I was free to meet up for lunch. I had planned on going to Carrefour and some other shops but I hadn't seen her in maybe a month so I said, OK, sure.

So I frantically designed this invite, emailed it off to my sister, went to the gym class (was a bit late), did an hour of pilates (and boy does my neck and back hurt now, not to mention I realised my stomach muscles suck, and my hamstrings are totally inflexible!) Got chatting to a middle-aged lady that I met before, 2 weeks ago when I turnee up for a Chinese dance class which unfortunately was the last class. It was such a funny class I was trying so hard not to laugh at the movements and then when hubby got home I performed them for him, then he mimicked ME and we were both laughing hysterically! :D

Then I did 10 mins on the treadmill, walked back home and got ready to leave. Also was frantically tidying the house for my guest!

She picked me up and we drove to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch. It was kind of Buddhist style in that everything was made to look like meat, and in some cases even tasted like meat. The restaurant was surprisingly busy and crowded. We both also loved that it was non-smoking (a rarity in China!) and everything was organic, fresh, and clean.

Afterwards she was going to take me to the fake market (after I asked where she got her nice handbag from) but instead decided to go to the hairdresser instead. I was glad I had not washed my hair (no time) so I followed her and got my hair washed and blow dried too. We were there for over an hour! In that time I also got an extensive head, shoulder, neck and upper back massage. All for 23 RMB. The other day hubby got a haircut for 10 RMB and was raving about how good it was so it goes to show you that price doesn't always dictate quality in China!

The guy washing my hair wanted to sell me some really expensive Kerastase vials of some 'anti hair loss' liquid. He started getting me all paranoid about my hairloss but it was so ridiculously expensive of course I didn't buy any! He also asked whether I was from overseas and why I had 'returned' to China. I said I am not returning because I never lived here! haha. Anyway we left and I felt very relaxed. I got professional blow dry and my hair had never looked better. It looks so straight and shiny.

I forgot to mention that whilst driving from the restaurant to the hairdresser the strangest thing happened. I started telling my friend about the day I took a bus to Huaihai Lu (and the trip took an hour <_< ) and walked for 6 hours straight in the boiling hot sun. I was crazy. Now I can barely do 10 minutes! I walked from Maison Mode / Times Square, onto Changle Lu, then Maoming Lu and then back onto Huaihai Lu and Parksons. On the way I passed so many places I wanted to go to it just wasn't feasible to keep getting on and off a taxi, train or bus so I just walked the whole way.

I meant to do a post about that mammoth day that night or the day after but I was sooooo exhausted that even 24 hours later after I arrived home I could still barely move!

On Monday I went to Carrefour after going to the Chinese herbal doctor (TCM) (which is my Monday morning routine), and was basically killing time wandering around the upper floor (which sells non-food items). I saw a bargain desk and I had to have it! I have been killing my back sitting on a hard wooden dining chair and wanted a desk chair but instead I found the perfect desk, for a bargain 159 RMB so I got both the desk and a desk chair. The computer desk has a slide out drawer (good ergonomics and all that) and is the exact same honey wood colour as all our other furniture so it matches. The chair is padded with armrests and castors. It is super comfy and has good lower back support. I asked a sales assistant if they had any in stock (not seeing any on the floor) and how I would get it delivered to me. He said that there would be more coming in and when they came he would deliver AND assemble for me. I said I didn't need it assembled (since hubby loves putting things together like all guys do) and he said it was only 10 RMB extra so I thought why not. So right now, the man is here busy screwing in all the parts together. He is super fast too. In the time I have typed up the last 4 paragraphs (and I'm a very fast typer) he has almost finished putting the desk together. It cost us a whopping 50 RMB to have the desk and chair delivered and assembled.

I love China! ;) :)

Breadtalk AnpanMan

I was going to write about this before but I'm glad I've left it till now because I just discovered something new.

It all started when we had been in Shanghai for a few days and were still staying in our hotel (JinJiang on Maoming S. Road). My mother came and met us and the three of us walked to Huaihai Road. We went to the underground supermarket at the basement of Parkson's department store. At the front of the supermarket there was a Breadtalk store (A Singaporean bakery chain I believe).. Mike got an Anpan Man red bean bun because he was attracted to the smiley face.

Many days passed and Mike was on a quest to find every Breadtalk in Shanghai. I found the list of stores but then he made a discovery. If you don't get there before 3 or 4pm, then all the Anpanman buns are gone! And they don't make anymore after that.

So we are always on a quest for the Anpanman.

Just then I found out that it is actually based on a Japanese cartoon character.

According to wikipedia, Anpanman (アンパンマン) has a head of a bun made by Jam Ojisan. His name comes from the fact that he is a man with a head made of bread (Japanese: pan, a loanword from the Portuguese word meaning "bread") that is filled with bean jam (Japanese: an) called an anpan. His weakness is water or anything that makes his head dirty. He regains his health and strength when Jam Ojisan bakes him a new head and is placed on his shoulders. Anpanman's damaged head, with Xs in his eyes, flies off his shoulders once a new baked head lands. He was created when a shooting star landed in Jam Ojisan's oven while he was baking. He has two special attacks called: An-punch and An-kick. When Anpanman comes across a starving creature or person, he lets the unfortunate creature or person eat part of his head.

Here is more about how Anpanman was born:
http://mboogiedown-japan.blogspot.com

Here is someone else who likes to eat him:
http://www.joelwesleyrose.com/2006_07_01_archive.html

And there is even a flickr group dedicated to him!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/anpanmanland/