Around the World in 330 Days: Brian's Fulbright Journey in China and Elsewhere: Days 293-294: Food and Acrobats!

So this was a weekend of food and acrobats.

Saturday, I spent the afternoon cooking everything we had that needed to be cooked, because Enrico was coming to get our cooking supplies on Sunday. I cooked a lot: burgers, pork chops, salad, scrambled eggs, potatoes, and chicken breasts. It was a bit exhuasting. Around 4:30 pm, we headed out the door to Blue Frog, near Circus World, where the acrobat show was. We waited a bit for Kate and her family--we showed up early, around 5 pm. It's a good thing we did because we couldn't even get a table for six...we had to have two separate tables. This didn't surprise me because space is at such a premium in Shanghai. We had a chicken appetizer, and then we all had burgers for dinner: I had the four-cheese one--so good! This was our third time at Blue Frog: we went to one in Nanjing, one at Disney, and this one. They don't disappoint with their burgers.

After the food, we went to Circus World for the show. It started right on time. It was pretty amazing: acrobats, bike tricks, tumbling, motorcycle mania, swinging in the air, juggling--just amazing stuff. There were some mistakes--one act dropped his bowls a couple times--but most of it was quite incredible. I can't say it's the best acrobat show I've seen, but it was fun. Afterwards, we tried to find the Circus World subway station--it was very hard to find, and we walked past it. Kate had to ask people twice where it was. We parted ways with Kate and her family at the station, and then took Line 1 to Line 3--quite a walk from one station to the other. Once we got to Chifeng Road, it was raining a lot. We weren't sure we could get a 745 so late, but, sure enough, one did show up at 10:53 pm!! Wow. We didn't get home until almost 11:30 pm. But it was a good evening.

Pics from the Circus World trip:

Acrobats!

Tumbling through the air.

The show was called "ERA: Invention of Time."

After 11 pm...and empty 745 bus...a rarity!

Sunday, we made our last visit to the Westin Brunch with Richard. The theme was "Born in the USA." I feasted on their usual wonders: seafood, cheese, hummus, lamb, goose livers, caprese salad etc. There was a bit of controversy over the goose livers: the chef gave some to me, and the woman next to me complained, "I was here first!" I just let her have the last one....I wasn't going to be that petty, even though I wanted one more. So I just got one more later. We celebrated my b-day because it was July, so they announced my name, the orchestra played "Happy Birthday" to me, and they gave me a chocolate mousse cake! Yay! I know, it's an early celebration, but it was still fun. We talked to Richard for quite a bit; it's been so great getting to know him. I'm trying to convince him to apply for a Fulbright; it would be cool if he got it. We all took a taxi home--Richard paid on the way back. The rest of the day, we just rested, packed, and then Enrico came by around 7:20 pm to pick up some stuff. The end is getting near! Just four more days after today.

"Birthday" brunch pics...