Mommy Mania

On Thursday, our moms landed in Shanghai for their 10 day visit. We were able to leave straight from class to take the 1 hour subway ride to their hotel and meet them for dinner. They were exhausted from the long flight but excited to see us and catch up after 2 and a half months without seeing us. On Friday, we took them to the fabric market to get Joe some suits made custom for him, and the rest of us ended up getting clothes too - a coat for me and Joe's mom and a dress shirt for my mom! All made in whatever fabric and style we wanted which is awesome! Then we headed over to the fake market which was an overwhelming experience for their first day in China as people just yell at you and try and get you into their store. Though overwhelming, they seemed to really enjoy it and definitely needed a rest afterwards. Later that night, we did the walk down the night market street to the Bund area where you can see the skyline lit up along the river.

The next day when the moms were more rested, we went to the Yu Gardens and the shopping area. It ended up being around 80 degrees out which was unexpected and we were all half loving the weather and half over heating! The gardens were really nice since the flowers have started blooming and we were able to take some time to sit and chat by one of the lakes. We ate some Chinese snack type foods - potstickers, spring rolls etc.- for lunch and then did some shopping in the area for souvenirs. We ended up being too hot and heading back for a rest, but it was a great day. That night, we headed to Tianzifang which is a night time shopping and eating area where we found a huge DVD store for my mom to go nuts in and some other specialty stores that our moms loved. Since it was so nice out, we got to eat outside for a change which was a good difference for the moms who came from snow in the states. 

On Sunday, we went out to one of our favorite lunch restaurants and then had to head back to campus for class on Monday. We left the moms to fend for themselves for a couple of days until we go back to get our clothes from the fabric market. This weekend, we will all head to Beijing to see the Great Wall and other historic landmarks before the moms head back on Monday!