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Shanghaista Expat Blog Shanghai
China Daily life Expat Former French Concession Photography ShanghaiDecember 7, 2016August 10, 2019

December in the French Concession

Wow, I’ve been terrible with the blog lately. No excuses, just haven’t managed to prioritize writing (although I’m totally blaming school!). I’ll try to get back to it very soon, but in the mean time I just wanted to post a few snaps from my awesome neighborhood, the Former French Concession. It’s crazy that these green,…

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Beauty China Daily life Expat Shanghai WellnessNovember 14, 2016August 10, 2019

Beauty talk

Let’s start this new week with something a little more light-hearted, shall we? I think we all need that after the miserable political events of the last few days… So coming up today – Shanghai beauty tips! This city is packed with stores that sell beauty products from all over the world, and local salons offer every face/body/hair treatment…

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The best apps for Shanghai
Apps China Daily life Expat ShanghaiSeptember 28, 2016August 10, 2019

My best apps for Shanghai

1. Pleco  Pleco is probably the most famous and downloaded Chinese dictionary and learning tool there is. And for a good reason – it’s just awesome! This is also by far the app that I use most both in daily life running around Shanghai, and when studying Mandarin. The dictionary is obviously extremely useful (and…

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Shanghai expat blog
Daily life Former French Concession ShanghaiSeptember 20, 2016August 10, 2019

Apartment hunting in Shanghai

Robert and I have finally moved and settled in to our new apartment, woohoo! It feels pretty damn good to hang out in our own home after 3 months of hotel living. But believe me, the road getting here was not easy. Turns out that apartment hunting in Shanghai is a pretty huge pain in…

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Shanghai Expat Blog Photography class workshop
Daily life Photography Shanghai WorkshopsAugust 23, 2016August 10, 2019

Photography workshop with Thierry and Amey

Do you have an awesome camera but not sure how to get the most out of it? Well, I do. I’ve been getting more and more interested in photography in the past year, but using more complex camera settings is still pretty foreign to me. So when I heard about a photography workshop taught by Thierry Coulon, a…

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flair rooftop shanghai expat blog
Daily life in Shanghai Restaurants Rooftops Shanghai Social WellnessAugust 15, 2016August 10, 2019

The perfect weekend

Wow, what a weekend! Blue skies and beautiful summer in Shanghai. Plus it was my birthday, wohoo! Robert scored points big time and organized a bunch of b-day surprises for me, which rounded up to be one of the best weekends in town so far. In need of tips for a good night out? Keep…

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Shanghaista Photography Landscape Shanghai
China Daily life in Shanghai Shanghai TravelAugust 8, 2016August 10, 2019

My China Bucket List

I might totally be in the honeymoon phase of moving to a new place, but I have to say I absolutely love living in Shanghai! I feel so at home here. That makes me think about the fact that Robert and I won’t stay here forever (for now the plan is about 3 years), which in…

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Daily life in Shanghai Restaurants Shanghai The BundJune 19, 2016August 10, 2019

First Day Shanghai Vibes

We made it! After a long day and night of traveling Robert and I finally arrived in Shanghai, our new home. The trip went really well and all of our 8 suitcases made it all the way, yay! Our flight was from Copenhagen via Helsinki with Finnair, which is the fastest and best way to…

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Shanghaista

Shanghaista

Hi! I’m Jenna, a Finnish expat going on 8+ years in China. 💪🇨🇳 

I write about life in Shanghai and travel throughout Asia and the world. Besides being a China watcher and loving all things digital, I'm passionate about photography, marketing and creating beautiful, engaging content.

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This time last year 🔙🏕 Camping and trekking on the wild section of the Great Wall. I miss nature! Can’t wait for travel to be safe again and for my foot to heal so I can go hiking (or just for a long walk 😅). #greatwall #greatwallofchina #hikingadventures #missingnature #hikingvibes #beijing #beijinglife
Travelback Tuesday to the Gobi Desert 🐪🐪🐪 :: Road tripping on the Silk Road in Gansu Province is one of the coolest things I’ve done during my 8 years in China. This shot is from Dunhuang, a small city that looks like it’s about to be swallowed by the massive dunes of the Gobi Desert. :: Domestic travel seems to be picking up a bit now. I think most of us are still putting plans on hold until it’s a 100% safe, but when it’s time, you should definitely add a Silk Road trip to your China bucket list. For more inspiration, check out my blog post from last year with my best tips on where to go, what to see, and how to arrange! :: What’s the most memorable place you’ve been to in China? :: #travelback #travelbacktuesday #gobidesert #dunhuang #gansuchina #silkroad
Annual summer kickoff picnic at the West Bund! As usual, food and wine (unofficially) sponsored by Alimentari 🍾🧀🥖🍇🍓👌 :: #summertime #shanghaisummer #westbund #summerkickoff #shanghai #zaishanghai
Who else loves editing photos? 🙋 :: I’m definitely a Lightroom girl and mainly use the software to perfect my images on desktop. But thanks to being home *a lot* in the past 3 months, I’ve had plenty of time to improve my Photoshop skills too.
:: I love this picture from Finland last summer, but never bothered using it because of the photobombed original (swipe to see). It’s not a perfect Photoshop edit, but I’m surprised at how easy it was to get rid of objects within an image. :: What are your best editing tricks?
::
#shanghaiphotographer #photoshopedit #photoshopped #photoshopcc #imageediting #helsinkiofficial #helsinkicathedral
Things are looking up in Shanghai. In the past two weeks I’ve felt safe enough to... 🙏 go out for dinner for the first time since the beginning of the year. 🙏 meet friends face to face for the first time since January 24th (but we didn’t hug 😭). 🙏 meet with clients and do a half-day photo shoot (but no hand-shaking). 🙏 take a Didi (Chinese Uber) to Ningguo Road Ferry station and do my favorite Sunday walk on the North Bund. ☀️ I was supposed to travel to New Zealand this week, but obviously I gave up on those plans a long time ago. If there’s anything good that might come out of this crisis, it’s most likely a massive appreciation for the simple, everyday things. I can’t wait for us all to be at a point where we can actually reschedule travel plans, but that feels so far down the list of priorities, and right now I’m just over the moon excited about going to the coffee shop around the corner to have a delicious flat white in the sun. ☀️ While much of the world is at a scary stage in this battle, ironically, Shanghai and China feels relatively safe and stable. For all of you living with the surreal, scary uncertainty, just focus on doing everything you personally can to prevent any further spreading of the virus, and remember that this, too, will pass. ☀️ #shanghai #covid19 #coronavirus #wegotthis #stayhome #staysafe #加油中国
Update from Shanghai . I see more cars & bikes on the street. Most delivery companies seem to be back in business, definitely at lower capacity, but the pile of packages at the gate of our compound is rapidly growing. . I still don’t see too many people walking around, but I’d say there’s a slight increase from last week. . Many cafés & restaurants that opened in the past 1-2 weeks have been forced to close again. It’s part of the city enforcing even stricter preventative measures as more Shanghai residents are returning from other parts of China. . Most compounds are not allowing outside people in, only residents. That means no ayis, pet sitters, deliveries or guests. Those returning to Shanghai from the holidays are looking at a 14 day self-quarantine period. I’m a bit unclear on if this applies to everyone or only people who have traveled domestically. (Pls leave a comment if you know!) . There seems to be a second wave of slight food shortage with so many people returning this week, especially when it comes to shopping online. We’ve still been able to get most of the food supplies that we want and need. Grocery stores remain open. Yesterday we went to City Super in IAPM, the Swiss Butchery and Laura’s on Wulumuqi, all open and well stocked! . Public services like banks are open. Temperature checks are pretty much everywhere, and many places require you to leave your name, number & body temp when entereing. . The amount of corona cases in Shanghai is still very, very low, so these measures are PREVENTATIVE! This is so so important to keep in mind, because just seeing the new stricter measures go into place can feel pretty scary. We’re at about 325 cases total (of which almost a third has recovered) in a city of 25 mil people. I feel safe. . Once again, the people and communities of Shanghai have impressed me beyond words with the warmth and support for riding out this challenge together. So many volunteer led initiatives are popping up to make sure people stay physically & mentally healthy, encouraging each other to stay positive, turning all this time into something productive, and helping feed stranded pets.💛💪
We’ve been back in Shanghai for a week now. For the first couple of days I was feeling anxious and second guessing if we really made the right decision in returning. There was (and still is) so much panic and fear being spread around, it was impossible not to be affected. Then I stopped watching and reading the majority of news and comments on WeChat, TV and online. . Now I feel optimistic. I feel calm. I stay focused on facts from solid reliable sources and keep a close eye on statements and recommendations from the Nordic region and my own government, which I find to have a very rational approach to the situation. . I also see more and more people returning to Shanghai. More people are out in the streets (altho it’s still very quiet compared to normal). More businesses, shops and restaurants are reopening. Many grocery stores have been open all along, and @epermarket deserves a medal for battling through this entire period with incredible service and communication. 🏅 . The extended Chinese New Year holiday has now ended, but schools remain closed and most companies are urging employees to work from home for another week or two, so it will take some time before life here looks normal again. Temperature checks have been implemented everywhere, and everyone is going to extreme lengths to stay safe. . Remains to be seen what happens next, but I feel positive and hopeful. We got this, #加油中国 💪 . #coronavirus #shanghai #cny2020
Four days ago our holiday came to an abrupt end when the Vietnamese government closed its borders and cancelled all flights to China in fear of the coronavirus. Within 3 hours of getting word of the new drastic measures, we went from blissfully enjoying Peppercorn’s afternoon cocktail hour, to departing for the airport in nearly full on panic mode trying to find a way home. Luckily, we were able to fly through Korea without additional surprises or closed borders, and now we’re back in Shanghai waiting for things to calm down and return to normal. . We chose to come back because we have our beloved cats to take care of. We don’t have the paperwork in place to take them out of the country, so for now, leaving with them is not an option. . Also, I’m not terribly worried about contracting the virus. I fully respect and recognize the seriousness of the situation and the need for being careful and taking extra precaution, but I also focus on what the WHO is saying, which, at the press conference on Jan 31st, very clearly stated that there is no reason to limit international trade or travel to China. I’m relieved to see more and more people out in the streets of Shanghai with more businesses, restaurants and shops reopening. Hopefully things will be better soon and there will be a bigger sense of normalcy in a few days when the extended CNY holiday is over. . Stay safe and 加油中国! 💪💛 . #chinesenewyear2020 #phuquoc #phuquocvietnam #visitvietnam #phuquocisland #peppercornbeach #coronavirus #加油中国

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