My friend gave me the gift of a trip to Shanghai to attend a conference.\u00a0 (What a friend!)\u00a0 I went on a Thursday, came back the following Monday.\u00a0 The conference was Friday evening, and most of the day Saturday.\u00a0 On Thursday evening several of us went out to dinner, and what a dinner it was.\u00a0 The hostess remarked that she enjoyed watching me enjoying the food so much.\u00a0 She could barely grasp that we do not have such food where we live.\u00a0 The restaurant was Mexican and all the food was prepared to order.\u00a0 So, I had beef fajitas with NO HOT PEPPERS, NO SPICE.\u00a0 In our “real” life situation, we can order with NO HOT PEPPERS, but the cooks CANNOT BELIEVE that people really DO NOT WANT HOT PEPPERS!\u00a0 So, here at “home” my choices are limited.\u00a0 In my “real” home in the USA, I would have thought it was enough beef for 3 meals, but on that Thursday, I ate it all.\u00a0 I also enjoyed a salad of fresh lettuces and other vegetables.\u00a0 In our training for China we have been instructed NEVER EAT UNCOOKED FOOD IN CHINA.\u00a0 However, I have found that the food in Shanghai Western Style Restaurants is generally safe. So I ate with delight that which the Shanghai western women take for granted.<\/p>\n
After the restaurant our group of girlfriends proceeded to the home of one of the organizers of the conference, where we enjoyed conversation in the warm and welcome atmosphere, and where we met the conference speaker, Ellie Lofaro, and the singer, Kathy Troccoli.\u00a0 Both these women were unknown to me–I haven’t been following the music business lately–but I know them now.\u00a0 As if this feast of the mind and heart were not enough, we also enjoyed home made desserts elegantly served on fine China.<\/p>\n
On Friday, we went shopping in a special district where the old housing has been made into shops.\u00a0 I tried on a cloth hat, new, with an applique of old embroidery.\u00a0 I liked the hat and was tempted to buy it, but it was too expensive for me.\u00a0 The seller was willing to bargain, but I was not.\u00a0 We also went up in a high building, more than 85 floors, and looked out over the city while we ate lunch—another elegant, fabulous meal.\u00a0 What did I order here?\u00a0 A tuna sandwich, with lettuce and\u00a0 avocado–comfort food of the highest order.<\/p>\n
On to the hotel where we would all stay for the conference.\u00a0 My friend and I went swimming in the pool.\u00a0 I have never seen such an artistic pool.\u00a0 The shades of blue mosaic tile floor in the pool showed fish and waves.\u00a0 The whole pool was shallow, suitable for lap swimming, but not for diving, about four feet.\u00a0 It was about half again as long as the pool at our YMCA at home.\u00a0 The water was the best temperature, not too warm for serious swimmers, such as my friend, but not too cool for me. We sat in the hot tub for a few minutes after swimming. At first I thought there were two hot tubs, then I realized that a whole wall was mirrored.\u00a0 The showers supplied shampoo and soap. The locker room was carpeted, and had little baskets with hand lotion and other niceties. There were also hand held hair dryers, and the towels were huge and thick, the sort called “bath sheets” in the fancy catalogs.\u00a0 Everything was so clean, so luxurious.<\/p>\n
My room faced the river, and the whole wall was a window. I couldn’t figure out the curtains at first, but later I found a button on the wall by the bed which when pushed, sent a light blocking screen down from above.\u00a0 In the bathroom, I couldn’t find the toilet at first, because it was enclosed by its own glass door.\u00a0 I didn’t use the bathtub, since I had just been in the pool.\u00a0 It’s a pity, as our students say, because it too was luxurious.<\/p>\n
Friday evening we went to the opening meeting of our conference. First we did some singing together led by a small band, bass guitar, guitar, keyboard, vocalists.\u00a0 There were about 180 women in attendance.\u00a0 Our speaker asked all who had been born in Europe to stand.\u00a0 Several women did and told which country they were from.\u00a0 Then the speaker proceeded through the continents, and we learned that there were women from every continent, except Antarctica.\u00a0 We laughed, we cried, we considered the main purpose of life.\u00a0 We listened to Kathy sing. Then we enjoyed dessert and small group sharing of our impressions of the evening’s theme.<\/p>\n
Saturday both breakfast and lunch in the hotel lobby restaurant were unimaginable feasts served buffet style.\u00a0 I ate fresh salmon and so much fruit.\u00a0 Just for meat, the choices were beef, roast or broiled, chicken, duck, pork (of course, this is China) or lamb. Another table held fish and sushi.\u00a0 For noodles, Chinese noodles, Italian noodles, Thai noodles, Vietnamese noodles.\u00a0 I did not eat any noodles, because we live on these daily. Vegetables of every kind were available.\u00a0 The dessert table contained many French pastry delights.\u00a0 Saturday’s agenda included the “mini concert” by Kathy.\u00a0 On her electronic device she had her musicians and back up singers.\u00a0 The modern world is amazing!\u00a0 The conference theme, Taste and See, was certainly carried out:\u00a0 it was a feast for heart and soul, mind and spirit, body and life.<\/p>\n
I stayed with my friend in her elegant home until Monday morning. On Sunday morning we met with other friends, and in the evening we had massage at a place walking distance from her home.\u00a0 My trip to Shanghai lifted me to a place of beauty and joy. I am grateful for the conference committee and all who made this meeting possible.\u00a0 I stand in awe of their capabilities.\u00a0 I am forever grateful for the friend who provided my every need in this gift.<\/p>\n
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My friend gave me the gift of a trip to Shanghai to attend a conference.\u00a0 (What a friend!)\u00a0 I went on a Thursday, came back the following Monday.\u00a0 The conference was Friday evening, and most of the day Saturday.\u00a0 On Thursday evening several of us went out to dinner, and what a dinner it was.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178,"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talkingwithjulia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}