Walk with Yvette

Greetings!

Last Friday, CeCe, Denice, Ellen, Jane and I went on a walk with Yvette. She was born and bred in Shanghai and moved to Chicago when she was 16 to complete school there. She went to college there and met her husband and when he was working on his PhD at U of Illinois, she got her Masters in International Studies. She's a fascinating woman and I'm sorry to say, she'll be leaving Shanghai in July for Boston. She is presently final edits on a book she is writing to be published in June. I will make sure to pick up a copy before she leaves.

When she moved back her 3 years ago with her husband and 3 children, she decided she would learn everything she could about Shanghai because back when she lived here, people didn't talk about history much.

So she has accomplished what she set out to do and she took us on a walk in the Jing An District and we had a great time.

We went to Haushan Hospital and toured their beautiful Garden. I am adding some beautiful photos from there. The turtles were sunning themselves on some sort of pad and another turtle came along - his "friends" didn't even help him get up on the pad - he did it all by himself.

She told us a little bit about healthcare here as her mother is a retired internist. Her father was an attorney.

The wisteria, the urns and the sidewalk was paved in the shape of bats which denote good luck.

We stopped by a Shanghai theatre academy where they train up and coming actors and actresses. Yvette told us it was a huge opportunity to be accepted into this school. There were many students out front of the school dressed to the nines pretending to welcome some delegates. We assumed they were practicing for when the World Expo 2010 comes to Shanghai next year.

She told us a sad story about a well-known actress who lived across the street from the academy. She pointed out the villa where "The White Countess" was filmed with Natasha Richardson. I need to pick up that video next week before I leave Shanghai.

We went by her old house and the high school where she went before she left for Chicago.

I hope you enjoy these photos.