Swedish Valborg Day with my hallfriends

Really now, she's not a golddigger

Let’s clear some things up right away. Most guys in China think they come in contact with golddiggers, they think all Shanghai girls are after their money/passport/inheritance etc. They are wrong, dreamers, attention seekers and boring. For the most part it’s not true at all. At least not in the sense that they are coming in contact with real golddiggers, skilled, hot, sexy, articulate, exciting and well educated women who can use their bodies, minds, hearts and emotions to fulfill all their monetary and life goals.

They are coming in contact with women from a different culture, who love, respect and care about their man just like any other women. Now, you need to know, everything your mother told you about what women really want is a lie; kind, caring, supportive, honest and really sweet romantic guy blah blah blah, that was just mom being nice and making your think she didn’t have sex before she got married.

What women are attracted to, and I mean all women be they white, black, latino, asian…humanoid, what they all naturally crave is a man with power, success, money, good looks, charm, sense of humour and control, because it gives them something they crave since the dawn of man(woman) and that’s…security.

Get over it. Men crave sex, Women crave security.
So unless the girl you are dating has gotten some of the following out of her man, I wouldn’t classify her as a golddigger:
1, A living quarters, house, apartment, villa, revenue property as a gift.
2, A business, either genuine or used to funnel money from his company into her "business" for them to share later.
3, A car, computer, luxury clothing, luxury accessories
4, Trips overseas
5, Art, wine collection, or a book deal.

Then get over it. You aren’t dating a real golddigger. You are dating a normal girl who craves what every other normal girl craves and will happily accept less if your kind, caring, supportive, alright looking, secure and fun. Just be smart about it. Oh, and nice to your mother despite the lies she told you.

By Cedric Iglesias

Another good blog

No, it's not the bitch Xiaxue's. But Chinadirt, written by some anonymous western girl. She basically writes about how hard it is for her to find a guy who DOESN'T have yellow fever in Shanghai.
Well, I don't really know if it's true, my Western friends in Shanghai don't really have a problem to find guys. Most expats in Shanghai are players anyway, so really, it's hard for everyone to find someone that you can stick to. It doesn't just refer to Western girls but also to locals, overseas chinese, etc who are dealing with male expats in Shanghai.

However, the blog is quite entertaining, you guys can read it when you're bored with mine.

Shanghai street style

1, ABSOLUTELY LOVE this style, including her hellokitty bag. I need to get one this summer!

2, A cool style, think she got some influences from Balenciaga, I like her sunglasses and legs. Short shorts or skirts are really in this season.

3, Such a cute girl, and her style fits her, China punk. But if she changed her shoes to yellow ballerinas, ahhhh, then she would look even more adorable.

4, How boring! I also see that she has shopped something from Madonna's H&M collection.

Why didn't I see those cool girls in Shanghai?

Pictures are from Creative Research Workshop

Walpurgis Night

On the evening of April 30, bonfires are lit all over Sweden to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People gather by the light and heat of the fire to listen to choirs performing a number of traditional spring songs, and of course on this day we drink A LOT!

This evening we are welcoming spring! I remember when I was 12, 13 years old, my friends and I would go to the local grocery store and steal beer/cider and then go to downtown drinking, we thought we were soo cool. Old times, old times. This is the day when there are lots of polices out there to take care of young girls and boys who are too drunk.

What am I doing on April 30? I'm going to Uppsala, Sweden's biggest student town where there are parties going on twentyfour seven. Students from all over Sweden go to Uppsala just to celebrate that spring/summer is here. I persuaded my chinese hall friend to come with us, and she finally said yes. I told her to go to Systembolaget and get some stuff, and she didn't know what it was (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) She has stayed in Sweden for 6 months and doesn't know what Systembolaget is!!!!!!!!! In Sweden, we have monopoly on alcohol, so Systembolaget it's the only place to go in order for you to buy it. She laughed and said that she was going to bring food instead. She's such a nice, cute and traditional Chinese girl. Let's see if I can corrupt her...

I just hope that she doesn't get scared when she sees thousands of scandinavians getting really really drunk.

The new H&M Store

I'm really late with this news, but now almost 2 weeks has gone after it opened. And according to the people in Shanghai it's still PACKED and you have to line in order to get in (truly sick)!!!

What makes me really happy is that the prices are exactly the same as here in Sweden. I saw from this youtube video that they also have the exact same collection. The black and white satin tunic (3:43 in the video) I just bought the other day, apparently it also exists in the H&M store on Huaihai Road/Sinan Road. Hope not many people buy it.

I love the prints from Kylie Minogue's bath collection for H&M, I'm definitely getting something from her while M for Madonna sucks!!!!!! Her clothes are boring as hell, thought Madonna's collection would be at least a bit avantgarde but it's just sooo plain! Here in Sweden there are LOTS of M clothes left on the hangers.

Right now I'm waiting for the Kate Moss' collection for TOPSHOP, it's going to be a good one.

Who's this bitch?

<----- This famous blogger Xiaxue has apparently been on my blog!!!!!! She has totally copied the way I'm smiling on my photos. I thought I had patent on the way I do with my eyes while smiling.However, I can always comfort myself with that I don't have a plastic nose.

bitch...

edit: (I'm just very jealous.....)

Street vendors banned on Huaihai Road

This is disappointing news! I remember after work I loved to walk on Huai hai Road because of the street lights and look at couples walking hands in hands. I also loved the part of the street where they have lots of street vendors selling socks, dvds, accessories and such. I also secretly liked the sellers screaming WATCH, BAGS, DVDs, they didn't say that to me as I'm chinese looking, but they always said "mei nu, lai kan bao" (beautiful girl, come and take a look at my bags). The only time I didn't enjoy them screaming at me was when a guy actually grabbed my hand for 20 seconds not letting me go. Freaky! Once, I saw this big foreign guy pushing one of those sellers and I find that extremely rude! Come on, they are just doing their jobs!!!

I personally find those street vendors to be part of the charm on those street.

This rule is starting from 1st May, so people in Shanghai, go to Huaihai and enjoy the last glorious days together with the street vendors. I will truly miss them.

More info: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200704/20070425/article_313981.htm

Photo from nataliebehring

Media princess!!!!

Not that I am one........yet!!!

Besides all other blogs/webpages that have included me in their link lists I'm also on Kinaportalen (a Swedish website about China), they had a small interview with me which you can read here if you understand Swedish.

Also, Orla Barry (an Irish radio host) had chosen me as one of the best blogs on the internet, check here.

I'm also on the Top of the Blogs for Shanghai - list and among best blogs in Asia (misohoni)

A Swedish travel website also put me on their favourite link list.

So everyone's reading it! ;)

What do you think?

Another reason to why I like Shanghai so much is that there are no silly moral duties there.

Here in Sweden "GB Glass" has launched a new pink icecream, shaped like a star. The name of this icecream is Girlie.

What's wrong with that you might think?

(Actually there is NOTHING wrong with it!!!)

But according to Sweden which HAS TO BE soooooooooooooo political correct 100% of the time they are now discussing if they should ban this pink icecream with glitter in it.

According to GB, the 'Girlie' icecream signals a "sense of summer", "star status" and "a disco feeling". The Swedish Consumers Association however uses an entirely different word: "gender-profiling". "Girlie, GB's new icecream, is pink and has make-up inside the stick. It says a lot about what GB thinks about girls and how they should be," said the association in a statement.

First of all, why shouldn't girls like make up and the colour pink?

Boys and girls have different chromosomes, they SHOULD be different (Imagine dating a boy who likes to collect hellokitty stickers)!!!!!!!!

Unisex is boring unless we talk about girls wearing trendy big manly shirts.

THIS IS RUBBISH, I WANT TO EAT THIS RASPBERRY ICECREAM!

(PS. I should also say that two years back, GB also tried to launch a liquorice icecream called Nogger Black. I think I can still get it in the grocery store, very tasty in fact.)

My weekend in Jönköping

We are fabulous! Malin and her curls are coming to Shanghai summer 2008!

Shopgirl's trip

Won't be able to update my blog until Sunday as I'm going to Jönköping, a Swedish city rather close to Gothenburg. Am going to visit my friends there in college.

We are going to party, party and party!!! I will take lots of pictures ;)

Some news, l might go to Paris and celebrate New Year!!! This will be my forth time going to that lovely city. My friend is going to study in Rennes, so why not take a trip there? Ryan Air offer 2 dollars air tickets, so it's dirt cheap!

Note: Do you use MSN Messenger version 8.1? Add a *unicef after your display name. Everytime you chat with someone, UNICEF will be bringing in money from ad revenues. I wrote *help so I can supporting stopglobalwarming.org

More info: http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=MSNTDLINK

Topshop has mid season sale.YAY!!! I also get 10% off at H&M :) [Stockholm is not that bad after all]

One Night in Shanghai

If you only have 24 hours in Shanghai, I think you should visit those places

06.00 Go to The Bund and watch the early old birds practicing Tai Chi, it's a BEAUTIFUL sight! You see the shiny skylines behind and the old people "dancing".

06.30 Walk over to Peace Hotel (Shanghai's most famous hotel) and have some breakfast and an early drink at Rose Garden, you'll get a nice view of the Bund up from there. You better do this soon, because Peace Hotel is going through renovation and won't open until 2010!!! Also you could take the tunnel to Pudong and walk on Binjiang Boulevard and see The Bund from there.

08.00 Walk along the Bund and wait for the stores to open

09.00 Usually all Shanghai's shops open somewhere between 9.00 - 10.00, so go shopping on Shanghai's main shopping street Nanjing Walking Street, then walk over to Nanjing Xi Road for some upscale shopping

14.00 Why eat lunch at some fancy place when you can get really delicious food on Wujiang Road close to Nanjing Xi Road. You'll get very stuffed for just 10-20 kuai. (Also, be quick on this because I heard Wujiang Road is going to change from a food street to a luxury shopping area)

15.00 Grab a taxi or walk to People's Square, I think Shanghai Museum is a must see. I personally love Raffles City Mall, it's a department store just by People's Square. Also if you feel like you have time, go to the underground beneath People's Square where you can find cheap trendy clothes and accessories.

18.00 Grab a taxi to Shanghai's other famous shopping street Huai Hai Road, from there you can walk to Fuxing Road and have dinner. A very cosy street with lots of good coffee shops and restaurants. The street feels somewhat European, as it's part of the French Concession.

20.00 Go to Face Bar for an early drink, Face Bar is in a colonial villa, and the interior is awesome, they have big opium beds where you can lie down at and sip your drink. (Face Bar is a great dating spot, because their lightning makes people betterlooking than they already are, it's TRUE).

22.00 Start the night at bonbon (my favourite club in SH), they have Open Bar so drink as much as you like.

02.00 I think new people to Shanghai definitely should check out Attica, so grab a taxi and head towards The Bund where Attica is. They have a great terrace where you can see Shanghai's skyline at night. Absolutely gorgeous sight!

04.00 Walk over to Bar Rouge on The Bund, a lot of French and Swedish people there as I've experienced. The interior is all red (rouge) and they also have a terrace where you see Shanghai's skyline.

05.00 Hungry? Grab a cab to City Diner on Tongren Road for breakfast, they are open 24 hours.

What girls should do in SH on Wednesdays

First they should start their evening with going to the french Des Lys Resturant on Xin Le Road 178 (close to Xiang Yang Road), they have this awesome promotion only for ladies on Wednesdays, I hope it will still be on when I'm in Shanghai this summer.

For 78 RMB you'll get a main course, a coctail and a dessert! 78 RMB!!! In Sweden, only the coctail would've cost 78 RMB!! I worked close to Des Lys in Shanghai and have walked past the place, it looks so cosy and nice in there. Perfect lunch or dinner spot I can assure.

After the dinner the girls should go to Mint where they have no man's land event on Wednesdays, it means that only girls are allowed in there between 9pm to 10.30pm. There you'll not only get free food and drinks as well but also free give-aways and manicures, etc. As you know Mint has the best house music in town.

Or you could also head to Zapatas where ladies can drink as much free margarithas as they want until midnight(I personally don't like them, they are just too sweet).

Isn't Shanghai the paradise or what?

Stores launching in Shanghai

H&M has finally opened up in Shanghai and I've heard the lines there are incredible, people lining for hours and hours! Will enjoy shopping here in Stockholm instead.

Next store that is going to launch in Shanghai is GUESS (on 20th April). So far, you can only buy accessories from GUESS and their underline GUESS jeans, but now you'll be able to find clothes from GUESS (by Marciano). It is not one of my favourite brands, I only own a pair of ripped off jeans from there.

Motorola has already opened a flagship store in Shanghai, I want their gold mobile phone designed by Dolce & Gabbana! But I'm a cheapskate so I bought this one instead (a 3G phone).

The Swedish based make-up brand Oriflame is as well going to invest on the Chinese market.

Do you know any more cool brands that is coming to Shanghai?

Shanghai street style

As a whole impression I likethe style, but her shoes look cheap.

I like the fact that they are red, but I would rather prefer wood heels than those she has.

I like her LV necklace. Her bag looks a bit trashy, would be better if it was in soft leather.

New domain name

Do you also need a domain name, contact skyline5k@msn.com
He offers really cheap domain addresses!

Airport magazines!

Every single time when I'm in an airport I will go to a store where they sell pocket books and magazines. I always stock up on the UK edition of Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Marie claire. While I'm there browsing through the magazines I ALWAYS see old business men browse through porn magazines with no shame, once I stood right next to him and studied him, he was looking at the pictures like it was a news article about terrorism.

When I, who is much more innocent, browse through those sex & relationships pages in Cosmo I always try to put the magazine close to my eyes so that people next to me can't see what I'm reading!!! But those business men, they don't care that everyone else can see what they are looking at!

I got a request from T who wanted me to buy Men's health (check sex & relationships column on the website) for him, so I visited their webpage. It's awesome! That website seriously proves how equally frustrated men are as women when it comes to relationships. I will enjoy reading it on the plane.

Hot people in Shanghai

Those pictures are taken from www.smartshanghai.com from the De La Coast opening party.

All the guys in the photos I've met and have been introduced to in real life, so I can guarantee that they are all überhot. They are from France, fyi.

Third picture with the two guys, they are both not available, so you can put your hands down!

Shanghai street style

I love this girl's style!!!

She was cute as well.

Is it only me who has recognized that asian girls fit really well in darkbrown hair? I'm considering to dye my hair, I've had black hair all my life, so it would be fun to change it.

At the dinner table

Mum: Siyan, isn't it time for you to get a boyfriend?
Me: mmmmhmmmmm
Mum: Try to catch a guy from Stockholm who has a good background
Me: mmmmhmmmmm
Mum: Or maybe a rich Taiwanese, see who fits you best.
Me (starting to get irritated): Shengjing bin (You have a screw loose)
Stepdad (who's from Germany): No, it doesn't matter if he's rich, as long as they like each other, but don't bring a nerdy Chinese boy home. (he's joking about that Chinese boy thingy)
Mum: No, if he's rich he can be nerdy.
Me: WHATEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't care less but it's just funny to see the difference in thoughts between my mum and my stepdad who is from totally different cultures. It's not like my mum wants me to be a golddigger, but it's just in her culture that a girl tries to find someone who can take care of her including financial support. I think my mum has always been somewhat bitter because of her disappointed marriage with my father and knowing that she could've find someone better but at that time (after the cultural revolution) restricted her from doing so. I do agree, my mum and my father really don't fit. My mum was VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL in her 30's, while my dad's appearance was/is LAUGHABLE!!! I think the only reason to why my mum chose my dad is because my dad had published some books and won some prestigious prizes, but who am I to judge?

Beijing Olympic Volunteers Program

I just applied for being a Volunteer in Beijing 2008 for the Olympic Games. I hope they choose me and that the competition won't be too hard. Having been a volunteer is really good for my resume, especially when it's Olympic Games we're talking about. Sweden's queen Silvia met Carl Gustav XVI at the Olympic Games while she was working for it. Now, I don't expect that I will marry Prince Williams (as he's with Kate Middleton), but I do expect that I can ask Liu Xiang for an autograph.

I hope they will choose me, if they don't. I will still get tickets for the games from my dad as he knows people (yes, I'm bragging right now). I hope a lot of people from all over the world will visit Beijing and realize how cool China really is! But most important, I hope Beijing will earn money from this event, Athens didn't.

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

My experiences in Shanghai part1

I have told you before how much I hated to study Chinese together with my mum, how much we fought because of her forcing me to learn this stupid language (I don't think so now). I remember when all my neighbours found out that my mum was going to send me to China as a ten years old girl to study, they all thought she was a very bad mother. I hated my own mum, I even think I refused to speak to her or even look at her for 3 days.

When I finally had reached Shanghai my mum left me after 3 weeks. I lived with my grandparents in a lane of ChangShu Road (it's still there, but it has changed a lot, for an example there is a place where you can make your own pottery, teahouse, etc. Lane 188 by the way).

First I was so unused to everything. First I went to a Changshu Elementary School together with my cousin, but then after one semester I had to leave as I couldn't keep up with the language nor the other subjects. As we were starting to learn algebra already in China whilst in Sweden we were still at that stage of learning how to multiply and divide.
My relatives had to fawn (give gifts) to Anfu Elementary school in order for them to accept me. At Anfu the students were really mean, they all disliked me for some reason except for a few people. Some of them even thought I was lying when I said that I grew up in Sweden, some were jealous, some just didn't care. At Anfu I still had a really hard time to keep up with the rest of the students, but still managed to pass most of my tests. I can still remember clearly those days when we had so much homework that I cried and cried, and begged my cousin, my aunts to do them for me, as I would never have the time to finish them for the next day.

After one year, after Spring Festival I FINALLY could get back to Sweden, I was speechless when I met my mum at the airport, it felt like I didn't know this woman at first, I didn't know if I should have thanked her or hated her. I had also completely lost my Swedish, when we arrived at home, my Swedish friends had a surprise party for me, and I couldn't even speak to them, I had to write English on papers so I could communicate with them. I think it had to pass one week for me in order to speak the language fluently again.
To this day, my mum keeps telling me how much my Chinese improved, my Chinese accent finally got fluent, and my writing and reading skills improved dramatically. It also turns out that I didn't have to repeat my school year in Sweden, that I could still continue to go the same grade as my old classmates. So what can I say? That year in China was like heaven sent.

Lassi

I love Indian Food, and I've heard from friends that lassi (a drink) is really good. As my corridor friend is from India I asked him how to make a good Lassi. He told me that the secret is that you have to blend it for a long time so it gets really smooth.

I made this Lassi yesterday, if you have a big and strong blender, make sure to put some ice in it as well.

It's really really good.

3dl natural yoghurt (no flavour)

1dl water

1 tsp cardamom (kardemumma)
3 spoons of brown sugar

2 mashed bananas

blend it for at least 5 minutes straight!

No 1 Beauty in Shanghai

Shanghaiist had a very interesting blog entry today.

She has been voted as the No.1 Beauty in Shanghai.

Her English name is Angel (of course!!!). My cousin also call herself Angel, this June I will brainwash her to change name.

She is marrying a billionaire (how surprising). Note, there are no guys in her age that is a billionaire.

First of all? She's not beautiful, (she is cute and pretty)although I have seen much more prettier girls in Shanghai than her.

Maybe she has a special talent or something, but judging from her looks, ppffttt. She doesn't deserve the title.

<---- "Look at me! I'm soooo pretty!!!"

Before you comment, at least I don't do those kind of face expressions.

A kiss

I just read an article and it says that you lose 24 calories each minute you kiss! Is it really true? I doubt it, I run in a speed of 8.5 km/h and I only lose 9 calories each minute, and kissing doesn't even make me sweat like I am when I'm running.

You also use 34 of your face muscles when you kiss someone, in addition to that, is when you kiss often your body is protecting you against getting sick.

My best and worst kiss experience happened both in Shanghai.

I don't think a kiss has to be really really good and compatible in order to be wonderful but that you have to feel something for the person you are kissing, and if the kiss is really compatible at the same time as you have feelings for the person, then the kiss is just simply marvelous.

The worst kiss I've ever had was in bonbon with a Norwegian guy (hey, scandinavian people are supposed to be good!!!). Thinking of it I start to shiver (not of excitement, more of ew-shivering......).

I have grown up

I found a very old notebook I had in my drawer the other day. I saw my "To Do List in Shanghai" that I wrote on the 12th July 2006.

Apart from those regular things like go to the fabric market (which I never ended up going) and visit Windows by Jingan District I had really silly things like "Touch a Fendi B bag or Spy Bag in Plaza66" or "wear my pyjamas to Zhongshan Park".

I was past 18 years old when I wrote that which is extremely embarassing!

Thank god I had forgotten this notebook at home so I didn't have it in Shanghai.

Although from this silly "to do list" I would have never thought that me and french people would become really good friends (I always thought french people were stuck up people), that I would pass out in bonbon twice or that I would have a stalker.

Shanghai is simply unpredictable!

Shopgirl loves summer SHOES

My hands are shaking. I soooo want to buy shoes. As you know from earlier posts I have told you my addiction for shoes. Now Shanghai residents, please tell me if I can find similar shoes in Shanghai? Should I waste 800 rmb for a pair of shoes here in Sweden or should I wait for the cheaper shoes in Shanghai? Here are some shoes that I'm looking for!