Shanghai Special Olympics

This is my first posting in my first blog. Hope you all enjoy what you read here and that I can actually get this thing to work. I started the blog so I could share my reflections on our recent trip to China and Japan. I'm starting with the Special Olympic Games that started in Shanghai the day after we left for Xi'An.



There are six photos attached to this blog. Two are of signs that are representative of the many signs we saw throughout the city. I really like the one about a more civilized and harmonious society. The banners like this one were worded in equally stilted English.

The photo of the women wearing red pants, white shirts and red sashes with drums was taken in a small community of Shanghai. They were preparing to welcome the Danish delegation with a parade and performance. We were in the neighborhood to meet the community volunteer coordinator (a communist appointment).

Madam Wong was taking us to meet with Madam Yi. Madam Yi is a typical Chinese woman who opens her home to tourists to see how "real" people live in Shanghai. She lives in an old French Concession mansion that has been converted into apartments. The photo of the house is not hers but is very similar to how her apartment looked from the outside. The photo of Jon and I with our traveling companions Mary and Jack Norberg with Madam Yi was taken inside her apartment.

Madam Yi as lived in this apartment for 40 years with her husband and son. Her husband died a few years ago and her son has now started his own family and therefore qualified for his own apartment. The apartment is two rooms, bedroom and living room. The bathroom and kitchen are in one room of a small shack outside with a small courtyard that is all hers. She probably has 200 square feet not including the shack outside that houses her bath and kitchen.



Madam Yi was a lovely lady who spoke no English but welcomed us into her home with hot - and I do mean hot - tea. The custom is to offer tea to guests if they are welcome. The glasses she served the tea in were so hot we could hardly hold them. As soon as we sat down she started another pot of water heating. If she offered us more hot water for our tea it meant that we were welcome to stay longer. She did top off our glasses making them impossible to drink but the interpreter assured us that we didn't really need to drink all the tea just sip it to acknowledge her kindness. When we left she gave us hand made gifts, minature fans like the ones used in some of the Chinese theater and a paper penquin. We only had chocolates to offer but she seemed pleased enough with that.



Back to the Special Olympics for a moment. The night before we left the opening ceremonies were held on the Huangpo River front. Over a million people came into town for the event. Govenor Schwartzenager was on hand and there were fireworks and festivities of all kinds. The roads and tunnels were closed from 4PM to 11PM so we found ourselves stranded on the wrong side of the river from our hotel. But eventually we were able to grab a cab and return to the hotel a full 11 hours after we had left.



The final picture on this posting is of a sign at a cross walk in the city. Not many actually followed the directive unless there was a crossing guard but I thought you'd find it funny.



I'll have additional photos and reflections as the days go by. I hope you'll stop by to check them out.