Stupid fashion

I've just had it with today's fashion. Nearly everything that is out there I dislike. I am sick of the baggy sack shapeless dresses that fall from the armpit to the hem. I am sick of empire-lines that make you look pregnant when you're not. I'm sick of strapless, I'm sick of plunging v-necks which I think are way too revealing and unflattering for both small and big-breasted women. I'm sick of tops or dresses that are baggy in some areas and lycra skin tight in others. Did I also say that I've hated hipster jeans/pants ever since they came out, and I'm so glad that that fashion trend is slowly dying... ARGH!

Why is today's fashion so damn hideous and ugly and uncomfortable? I'm not fat or pregnant and I don't want to look fat or pregnant! At this rate I may as well join the rest of the Shanghai locals and wear pajamas out in public!

On another semi-related note - what happened to Camper shoes? They used to be known for their cute, quirky and whimsical designs and comfort. Now they are neither that comfortable or cute and whimsical. Well I had a quick look at their website and hardly any of their designs are that interesting. They look like normal shoes you'd find anywhere! and with a high price tag, too!

The custom of taking off ones shoes when entering a home

I am going to have a whole heap of posts all in one go because I have written them offline whilst getting annoyed that half the time I can't get onto this blog site :(


The custom of taking off ones shoes when entering a home

I was reading a Japanese travel forum when I came across an interesting post. (here it is here) and here is another one.

It was discussing the custom of taking off shoes in people's homes.

I find it interesting that most Asian and European cultures remove their shoes when entering their own home or someone else's home but it doesn't seem so common in English-speaking countries, of course I could be wrong.

Since I have a Chinese background I've been brought up to take off shoes in our own home as well as other people's houses. However, if I go to someone else's house and everybody else has shoes on then I'll leave it on. But it depends. It depends if I think the floor is dirty or cold, in which case I'll just keep them on.

Personally I find it very weird not to take shoes off inside because:

1. Your house will get dirty a lot quicker, particularly if it's been raining or you have been walking in God-knows-what.
2. After wearing shoes all day and your feet sweating and feeling cramped, it feels so much more relaxing to just walk about barefoot, or in socks or slippers.

I also can't understand why people put their disgusting shoes with dirty soles in their wardrobe with their clean, freshly washed clothes. Very very strange! Then again I guess some people think having a shoe cabinet by the front or back door is strange ;)

That's my opinion anyway!

Our sixth month wedding anniversary...

Last night we celebrated our 6th month anniversary. We were to-ing and fro-ing about which restaurant to go to. It is always so hard to choose because they are just SO many here! We were going to go to a fancy one but it was raining and a bit horrible so we decided just to go to a cheapish one, more like a cafe, serving Western-style dishes. We already have their menu in a home delivery booklet so we knew the types of dishes they had and it seemed to have good reviews online.

We decided to go to Wagas on Huaihai Rd (not the one in the picture)

As soon as we walked in I was really happy because 1) it did not reek of smoke (in fact the whole place was non-smoking, a rarity and a treasure in China!) 2) there were lots of people on laptops (free wireless?) and it just reminded me so much of home. The only thing that gave it away that we were in China was the bilingual menu and all Chinese staff.

There were 4 people with laptops and 2 of them had macs (a fairly high ratio I would say!) that made me feel like it was even more like 'home' haha.

I was very impressed and humbled when a guy sitting next to us, typing on his Mac laptop, was speaking to the waitress in fluent Mandarin. But not only was it fluent, it was quite complicated business-like jargon. I actually didn't even really know what he was saying as it was far beyond my level of comprehension. In that precise moment I felt ashamed and embarrassed that I, with my Chinese background, and him with his American or wherever (Western country) background could speak such great Mandarin! (and not to mention read and type it too).

What better way to console myself than going across the road to the Pacific department store (gotta love the 10pm closing time every night) and going shoe shopping! It was packed as usual and the sales are so great. Eg 50% off then another 20% off. And beautiful soft leather, both inner and upper. My size is also right in the middle of the range and very common (whereas in Australia I can hardly ever buy anything because they just don't make my size or have sold out of it). They were 890 RMB (AU$140) down to 350 RMB ($55) which is freakin' expensive for China but the quality is so good, and leather so soft, like Italian shoes.

Oh btw the food was absolutely scrumptious and now I have read more from the site I just posted, I had a good reason why it felt so much like 'home'. Because the manager is Chinese Australian and there is definitely the Australian connection there... :)