If you read my weblog on the wubi site, you've been seeing pictures show up in a brand new (smaller) size and resolution. This is because the cellphone I picked up a couple weeks ago at the Cyber Digital Mall in downtown Shanghai is equipped with a camera. The cool thing about this is that I can send pictures in an MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, to any e-mail address I choose. Through a little procmail trickery, I was able to create a new e-mail address and store in a certain directory all pictures that come as attachments to e-mails sent to that address. That way, I can take picture, instantly e-mail them to myself, and have them automatically appear on the main page of my weblog just a few minutes later. For example, here's a few comments about pictures I took recently:

Now Hiring signs around Shanghai tend to have a few more requirements listed than they do in the United States. For example, a sign from a new commercial center near the school I teach at now is advertising several positions, and asks for applicants to meet certain age requirements (usually between 18-30), height requirements (1.60 meters for women, 1.80 meters for men (phew, I just make it!)), and language requirements (must understand Shanghai dialect, must speak standard Mandarin Chinese).

The picture of my balcony shows some of the plants that my landlady forgot to take out of the house before I moved in. The balcony is probably my favorite place in the house, because the view of the surrounding apartments is fantastic, especially at night when lights of myriad colors appear. I often fix my dinner in the kitchen, then move to a stool on the balcony to enjoy the night-time breeze and enchanting panorama.

On my way to work a few days ago, I took a picture of several employees of the Formula 1 race track getting off the light rail train at the Caoxi Road exit. Somehow I imagined them speeding down the road in sports cars to get to work; I guess reality is more mundane. I like their grey jumpsuits.

Finally, a couple of food pictures. I had sweet cured pork ramen for dinner a couple nights ago, it was pretty good. I found Trix at the grocery store behind my apartments; it's one of three Western breakfast cereals available. I actually bought a different kind of breakfast cereal: I saw some flakes that looked like fruity pebbles being sold by weight, so I bought a small bag; it was labelled ba bao something or other, but I figured maybe that was the Chinese name for Fruity Pebbles; when I got home, I tasted it and found it to be very hard, and to taste like Eight Treasures Tea—just a little sweet—exactly as it was labelled. I figure it's supposed to be boiled to make it soft, and it will probably turn into some sort of mush. Yum?