See ya, 2012!

My mom's Christmas Rum Balls! I wish I could share the recipe but it stays in the family ;)
2012 was not the best year for me; I actually can’t wait to move on and start 2013!
Ever since I came back from China, I’ve been wondering what I could do with this blog - no more fun little trips to narrate here! My little DIY challenge was a fun idea, but these past few months I’ve had trouble finding the time to research & do crafts... Anyways, I came up with a little plan for the new year to bring some life back into this blog!

As a little roundup, here are my “top” 12 tracks of 2012 - some of my most played songs of the year (although, they were not necessarily released this year)!



++ Almost forgot to share this cool link: The Atlantic's Year in Photos!

Enjoy and Happy New Year, of course!

Christmas Cheer

Let me stretch my fingers and dust out this place a little, ahem...
I took a quick trip to NYC last Sunday to check out some Christmas decorations (christmas trees, store windows, all that!). Unfortunately we didn't see anything too amazing... maybe they're putting them up late? maybe everyone decided to tone it down? who knows.

But we made a stop at Dylan's Candy Bar and filled up on all kinds of chocolate
(NOT the bacon flavored one though)!

Rockefeller Center delivered as always.
And we even caught the little light show on the facade of Sack's Fifth Avenue!



Alright, off to my chocolate bars now -- Caramel, Red Velvet, Dark Chocolate & Raspberry, and S'Mores!

Year of the Dragon

(image source)

The firecrackers are a-firing and the skies are a-smoking! Happy Year of the Dragon!

Last year I experienced CNY from a skyscraper, so I wanted this year to be different. Tonight's plan is to walk around the nieghborhood to see what the locals are up to and to fire up the firecrackers we bought ourselves. I haven't seen this year's New Year's decorations at Yuyuan Garden yet, but I'm definitely going to drop by this week!

Since the international team and I already had vacations for Christmas/NYE, we'll be alone in the office this week while our Chinese colleagues will be back home with their families. Anyways, I'm excited to experience Shanghai all empty again!

End of Twenty-Eleven

So many things happened in 2011 and I just can't seem to remember it all. I just wanted to a little recap' of the highlights of the past 12 months.

*Seoul, South Korea (February)
*Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China (April)
*Hong Kong, HK (August)
*Melbourne, Australia (October)
*Nanxun, Zhejiang, China (daytrip I went on this week:)

*Worked at 3 different jobs
*Lived in 3 different apartments (1 too many, if you ask me...)
*Took 2 levels of the HSK - passed HSK 4 and waiting on the results of HSK 5
*1 semester of Mandarin Chinese

*Went to South Korea - something I had in mind the minute I arrived on this side of the Pacific!
*Experienced Chinese New Year 2011 (fireworks, decorations, etc.) - a must if you're living in China for a long time.
*Saw a lunar eclispe
*Classic rush to HK for a working visa
*Overnight trip by Chinese train
*Biked in Shanghai and survived
*Learning how to knit (ok, I just got started this week.. still counts, right?)
*Getting back to speaking & writing French everyday

I'm a little sad I didn't get to swim at all this year, yet again. It's been over 2 years since the last time I swam!

I'm still working on some goals and things I'd like to do/accomplish in 2012.. but I'm not very good with New Year Resolutions. I think "Learning how to knit" has been on my list for 2 years now and I've only bought yarn and knitting needles last Monday! Anyways, if anyone is still looking into making a good list of resolutions for 2012, I think these 5 tips by Emma are a great help!

And since this post is being published fashionably late,
I wish you all a great and happy new year 2012!

We wish you...

The Santa from my office lobby and I wish you a very
Merry Christmas! On this side of the world, I've been seeing Christmas decorations everywhere for the past month. I tried to take pictures of them (like last year, only much better) but I lost track of time again. Yesterday, I was suprised to find many salespeople wishing me a Merry Christmas instead of the usual 欢迎光临 (welcome greetings in stores). Something maybe not all foreigners would enjoy, though.
My roommate and I hosted a Christmas dinner for our friends with lots of food: chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, spaghetti bolognese, spinach, mushrooms, hot wine, eggnog, and apple pie to finish it off.
I'm heading to another Christmas feast at a friend's place today. The eating never stops! :)

For more Christmas spirit, take a look at the Holiday lights across the globe (via BBC.com)!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving,
my dear American friends!

Last year, I was feeling a bit homesick on this day since I didn't have any American buddies around to share some turkey and yams with. So I thought I'd watch the Friends Thanksgiving episodes and it made it better. I did the same last night (Thursday) after work and I'll probably do it again next year!

By far, my favorites are:
- The One With The Football (Season 3)
- The One With All the Thanksgivings (Season 5)
- The One Where Ross Got High (Season 6)
- The One With The Rumor (Season 8)

I didn't do anything special for the festival besides going to work today! It was by choice though - I'm trying to save up my holidays for later ;)

Some articles about today's festivities:
→ Mid-Autumn Festival, its origins and traditions
→ Chinese Communities Worldwide Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival
→ Mooncake becomes the fruitcake of China
→ Parents and teachers face gift dilemmas as festivals near

Year of the Rabbit

Wednesday night for Chinese New Year's eve, a group of us went to Le Royal Méridien's 66th floor Bar & Lounge on People's Square and enjoyed an amazing view of the park and the city. There were no big official fireworks organized (most likely because of the huge fire that happened months ago and the fire security concerns that came after), but there were many "small" fireworks all over the city set off by Shanghainese people themselves (how is this safe, hmm?). The fireworks that night lasted at least an hour. Taking a decent picture of that was difficult, sorry :) It's well known that Chinese people celebrate the New Year for at least a week, and I can assure you that every evening I can here the rumbling of fireworks being shot off nearby.

Edit: few minutes after I first published this entry, I realized that tonight's fireworks were getting bigger and louder by the minute. So I decided to shoot this short video for you!


This is the first time I use Flickr to host a video. If there are any problems, please let me know!


Thursday evening, I went downtown to Yu Yuan Garden's Market to see the New Year decorations, including a huge rabbit. I loved it!

Getting ready for Chinese New Year 2011

Chinese New Year is right around the corner and Carrefour has become a red and gold mad house! I took these pictures a while ago before all of Shanghai needed to do their New Year shopping which includes the rabbits, fish, 福 (blessing, good fortune), lanterns, red envelops, nuts, etc. I, myself, bought a rabbit & 福 sign (2 in 1!) for my door AND resisted in buying the pool of cute stuffed rabbits. To be honest though, I wish the rabbit signs didn't look so Disney/Looney Tunes-ish. Oh, well!

Happy New Year!

There were lots of events planned last night in Shanghai including a concert in Xintiandi and fireworks in different corners of the city. However, I've been sicky all week and standing outside in the cold wind didn't sound like a great idea. So instead, I went out with some friends to a restaurant-slash-bar offering a special NYE menu and Ladies' Night offer for drinks. It was a great time, thanks to good friends and a good atmosphere. I hope you spent a great New Year's Eve, too. Best wishes for 2011!

Christmas Time Is Here~

Chinese people may not celebrate Christmas but that hasn't stop Shanghai from being sprinkled with Holiday Spirit this December! I didn't get to see the big, big decorations in the shopping malls yet... maybe I'll make the trip this weekend if I'm not too stuffed. Merry Christmas!