Plants!!

Yesterday, Heidi and I visited the "Plant Market!"   I purchased three wonderful new additions to my apartment!  In Shanghai, there is a "market" for everything...  Fabric market, wet (seafood) market, fruit market, copy market - all those knock off items have to come from somewhere!  etc..etc..

At the plant market, we came to a quick realization that we needed to purchase from someone who spoke English!  (Picture a Lowes-type green room, except there are 50 different shopkeepers all competing for your business.)  I wasn't about to pay for a big plant that was going to die because I didn't know how often to water it or even whether to put in indoors or out!  Of course, we did try to use our Chinese speaking skills... but I haven't learned how to say inside/outside or "is this an annual/perennial?"   One of the shopkeepers looked at me with a blank stare as I told her (in Chinese) that "I did not want a plant with many flowers" because (with hand motions) the bees and wasps... (in Chinese) "I do not like!"  Ok, moving on to the next stall..  we enter and a girl walks up asking, "Do you want to buy an outdoor plant?"  YES, yes I do!

After much deliberation, I ended up purchasing three tree/plants (the pics are above in the new slide show).. and they were delivered today!  The two delivery guys weren't so happy when I asked them to carry two of them to the back porch, but they look great out there!  Now I just need to find a small table and chairs.. and a mosquito tent!!