Bad, bad girl!

I should probably be punished, but I'm grateful that I won't be. What's the infraction, you ask? Twice, in as many days, I forgot my camera. I can see my dad wagging his finger at me from here! It seems impossibly hard to remember essential things these days. I think a scan of my brain would reveal severely reduced function in all areas and perhaps a few lost toys would show up as well. I'd get a scan but getting pre-approval from my health insurance is just not worth the hassle (I know, their evil plan works!). Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah, the camera that I forgot on my walks. I walk the dog every day (the baby gets a walk too, but I'm not sure she cares). There are plenty of days that I don't see anything particularly spectacular or even moderately photo-worthy. Yesterday and today I was caught off guard and, of course, sans camera.

Yesterday, I walked down a road that didn't exist a few hours earlier (no, that is not an exaggeration, the blacktop still smelled fresh as we walked over it--less than a year ago it was a walled-in overgrown migrant worker toilet zone and I have pictures to prove it). I saw some workers wearing bright orange vests but no hardhats, no goggles, no masks. This isn't uncommon in China. In fact, I was actually surprised to see that they appeared to have flame retardant gloves. Now, you might wonder, how on Earth would she know if they were flame retardant? See, the workers were laying down pipes, pretty big ones, and one of them was apparently too long. So, what do you do with a pipe that's too long? You cut it! The thing is, when it's an insulated pipe, that gets a bit tricky. As soon as the saw began to screech and spark against the metal, the insulation burst into flames. So, while worker number 1 managed the saw, sparks flying scarily close to his unprotected face, worker number 2 (or maybe just a really good friend) continued to beat out the flames with his gloves. When worker number 1 successfully cut through the pipe, he joined number 2 in beating the flames. Finally, after what I can only assume was the substantial inhalation of toxic fumes, the fire was out and the men retreated. It's visions like these where all I can say is "This is China."

This morning was a different story. Nothing crazy, no lives or body parts were in danger. I simply woke up at 4 a.m. (and yes, I know it's an ungodly hour), did some yoga, and went for an early walk when Olivia woke up. There was almost nobody out yet, and the weather was perfect. It was actually a bit strange because it smelled more like spring than fall. Maybe it will get warm again before it gets cold. The courtyard is lush and green right now, which is beautiful in and of itself, but the moon was absolutely stunning! It was oddly high in the sky and super bright. It was so clear and bright that I could see the texture caused by the craters. It's hard to explain actually. A very blue sky, orange at the eastern horizon and this bright moon looming overhead. I will bring my camera tomorrow, but I can pretty much guarantee that I will never see anything like that again. In spite of my attempts to show her, I'm not sure Olivia truly appreciated the moment. I'm pretty sure, actually, that all she wanted was for me to continue moving.

Tomorrow, I WILL bring my camera. (And, of course, I won't need it.)

And So This Is China...

Being back in China is bitter sweet. I'm far from family and back to work, but I'm also back to my dog, my house, and my routines. Walking a dog probably gives you a different feel for any place, but here it has exposed me to so much! I see so many strange and funny things. And, with a dog and a cute baby, I'm guaranteed that at least three people will talk to me in the course of an hour walk. I get a lot of Chinese practice that way. Granted, it also means that I've become particularly adept at speaking about dogs and babies, but I learn the occasional new word too. And, I have to say... I really missed the Chinglish.


I'm glad to be getting my weekly organic veggie delivery too! I realized on Saturday, that I hadn't had a single Chinese meal until then (compliments to my friend Jin Bo and her awesome jiao zi making skills), but I sure have been enjoying a good deal more plant-based food than I was in the States. When Dan gets back, we'll probably get out for Chinese food a little more often. I've just been too tired and lazy to go with Olivia. She started walking a week ago and I have been busy ever since! It's so hard for me to believe she'll be a year on Friday!



I feel so tired, but so lucky to have the life I do. Dan gets back tomorrow, and then it will really feel like we're home :-)

Woo Hoo!

So my Chinese New Year's resolution lasted about as long as most things made in China. Almost six months have flown by! Oh well! Maybe next year ;-)

Today has been an awesome day! I handed in the last paper and gave the last presentation for my master's degree. It's been about three years since I started the program, and I only recently realized how much it was hanging over me. I can't get it into my head that it's actually over, that there are no more classes to take, and that I'll get a nice raise with my next contract! I feel so free!

The day only got sweeter when I came home after our celebration and got to see Olivia take her first step! It's amazing how quickly she's changing. I can barely keep up with her now. She moves so fast and is constantly getting into things. And whether or not she's getting into trouble, she is almost always jabbering away in her own little language. I love her little personality-she's got such presence!

Unfortunately for me, that presence is evident from about 5:30 in the morning, so I really ought to get some sleep. I may be done with school for a while, but there's no rest for the weary. Tomorrow, we've got plans for brunch and maybe Olivia's first trip to the zoo.

Since I can't upload any of my photo's from this summer, yet, here's a recent one I took with my computer when my dad was visiting...

About time...

It has been ONE FULL YEAR since I last posted, so if you're still following this, wow! That little fetus in the previous post went from that to this...

to this...

to this...

to this...

I could keep going, but I will spare you my infinite photo collection... for now. It has been an amazing year! I can't believe how lucky I am to have Dan and now Olivia in my life. So much has changed for me that it seems a silly proposition to try to recount it all, instead I will leave you drooling over the cutest baby in the world with the promise that I will write again... soon.

So, here it is, my Chinese New Year's Resolution: I will blog at least once a week! (You may now start taking bets on how long this will last.)

Xin nian kuai le! Happy Year of the Tiger!

Three Months

It's been almost exactly three months since my last post. As it turns out, three months is a pretty significant number. I began getting sick over the Christmas holiday and went to the doctor not long after to confirm the expected, that Dan and I are expecting! Knowing that I was pregnant was exciting, but it didn't totally outweigh the fact that I felt weak and sick all the time. I felt so bad at times that I considered canceling my trip to Spain (planned before Christmas). I'm glad I didn't. In spite of it being short, Madrid, some old friends, fried calamari and Spanish ham were exactly what I needed! I had quite a bit of all of them, and I am grateful for that. It was wonderful to walk in warmer weather, go rowing in Retiro (O.K., so it was Dan that did the rowing, but I thoroughly enjoyed the sun and water), and speak a language that I know! But, now I'm back, and back to work and school. This past week marked my 12th week of pregnancy and, thank God, what appears to be the beginning of the end of being sick. Today was my second visit to the doctor and second ultrasound.

It was amazing to see last time because I could see the heartbeat. This time, I couldn't see that, but the fetus was moving all over the place. The doctor laughed and said it was getting some exercise. There was a lot of arm flailing and back arching. Little signs of just what we've got ourselves into :-)

Any Given Sunday

This has been my shortest, most painful weekend in recent memory. Last week was equally painful, but long. The muscles in my back reached a level of cramping that became unbearable by Monday. So, Tuesday evening I went for a Chinese full body massage. I don't know what it's called in Chinese, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was called something like "expensive pain."

Face-down on the massage table, I wanted to scream, but the pain was so strong that I could only gasp for air as the woman pushed, prodded and smacked my body. The height of pain came when she began to work on my back. Using my own body against me, she rolled the tensed muscles over my shoulder blade. She must have done this a million or so times to each side and I felt like I was going to pass out from holding my breath, waiting for it to end. When it did end, I felt fine. If I had the memory of a fish, I wouldn't have known that some small Chinese lady had just beat the crap out of me.

The next day it felt like someone had punched me in about a dozen different places in my back. As I went about my day, though, it seemed to get better, so I had another brilliant idea, YOGA! It felt good to get a little exercise, but my back still felt tight. Massage, ibuprofen, yoga, it all helped, but didn't solve the problem, so I had to go with the last resort. I went to the doctor.

Friday morning I headed off to the hospital where the doctor took a whopping 10 minutes to talk to me and inform me that I had twisted my vertebrae. My guess is that I did it about three weeks ago in yoga. Why did I wait so long to go to the doctor? Because I thought my discomfort was related to stress, not an injury. As it turns out, I was wrong. So, she prescribed me some medicine, including a muscle relaxant that I insisted I didn't need, and sent me downstairs to a Chinese physiotherapist. She looked at me far longer than the other doctor, poking and prodding to find out exactly where it hurt, and boy did it hurt! Then, she gave me an adjustment.

Saturday, my back was feeling a lot better, but I woke up with a nasty sore throat and runny nose, the exact symptoms Dan had a week ago!! It was downhill from there, in part because I had to go to work. We had a professional development day, and I was miserable. I left early because I started to have a fever. At home, I couldn't get comfortable or warm. My nose ran and my throat was hard and dry, making it difficult to swallow and breath.

Today I am not feeling much better. I was well enough to get some work done, but I still feel like crap. I'm hanging on to the highlights of my week, Korean food and a haircut on Friday with Marty. Originally, Dan was going to come out as well, but he was still sick with his cold, so just the two of us went. When we got back, we decided to get our hair cut. We tried the "new" place by our apartments.

Ushered in by our hair washers we sat down and they began our half hour head massage. It felt wonderful, but it was clear that my hair washer had never washed hair like mine before. Twisting, pulling, and rubbing long hair into a ball may not be problematic for the smooth straight hair that most Chinese people have, but I was expecting my hair to be one big nest. It was. After rinsing, it took three people to comb my hair, a half an hour to cut it straight across, and another 45 minutes for a moisturizing treatment. The last part was the best. They literally beat the conditioner into my hair, rolled perfect ringlets and attached me to a steam machine that looked like a shower cap attached to a vacuum hose. The steam came out from two little holes on the top, making me look like an angry cartoon character, think Yosemite Sam. Two and a half hours after stepping into the shop, I stepped out with some fabulous hair.

Another Relaxing Weekend (for me)

Today marks the end of yet another somewhat relaxing weekend where I didn't get much of anything done. The weekend before last was the end of my week-long holiday and I spent it recovering from a pretty nasty cold. This weekend, I was healthy, but not very focused on what I needed to do. I spent a lot of time snuggling with Dan and Da Mi. We watched some movies and played outside a bit, but nothing very far from home. The farthest I went was actually to the vets to get Da Mi her first round of vaccinations. I was a little disappointed to find out that I still won't be able to take her outside for another three weeks! Apparently canine distemper and parvovirus are really common in Beijing because few people vaccinate their dogs. I can understand not vaccinating if you live in the middle of nowhere and your dog isn't exposed to much of anything, but in the city that just seems irresponsible and mean. Anyway, one shot down, three to go. Da Mi didn't like the vet. She peed on him twice and wouldn't go near him unless he pulled her close. I can't say I blame her. If the first thing someone did was to stick a cold piece of metal in my bum, I might not be very happy either!

I missed my Sunday posting!

I thought for sure if I picked one day a week to blog I would definitely do it. I failed. Fortunately, I feel it was totally justifiable because of what happened yesterday. It started off with a lazy morning, then coffee and work in the early afternoon. I wanted to get as much work done as possible on my paper that's due Thursday and I wanted to do my regular classwork as well. My goal is to have at least two days this week where I have absolutely nothing that needs to be done. It doesn't look particularly likely, but I'm still working for it.

After a couple of hours spent working on my paper, I headed home to let the puppy out. I didn't want to leave her alone for too long because she has had some trouble digesting some of the food I gave her (to put it lightly). Everywhere I read said it would happen, and she doesn't look like she's suffering, but I still feel bad sometimes. I went home, let her out. She peed and pooped on the newspaper and then everywhere else as well. I basically followed her around with toilet paper and a mop. Sometimes I think she just likes to watch me mop. I am so close to hiring a full-time ayi it's not funny. I don't really need a full time ayi to help care for my dog, but cleaning my house three times a week for about 10 dollars is certainly worth it!

Anyway, I did some work and played with the dog and Dan came back from yoga around 5:30. He sat down on the chair, put the dog on his lap and proceeded to let the dog fall off his lap, and not in any gentle sort of way. I usually get really pissy when I feel like he's not being gentle enough with Da Mi, but this time I was hysterical, because she was actually hurt. She was screaming and refused to walk on her right, hind foot. She wasn't very good at walking on three feet either, so she just kind of scooted to the washing machine (where she often goes to hide or sleep). I freaked out and was in tears, yelling at Dan, that I couldn't believe he just let her fall off his lap like that, and so on. He was being very patient and probably feeling more than a little guilty.

We basically rushed her out to the vet across the street, where they looked at her, but couldn't really help us because their x-ray machine was broken. They sent us to a different hospital where we paid 80 kuai (about 12 U.S. Dollars) for a visit with a doctor and x-rays. On the way there and the whole time in the hospital, Da Mi was so calm it freaked me out even more. She just wanted to snuggle and sleep. I had a massive headache, thought I was going to puke, and came really close to punching some people out. I slowly forgave Dan, and had a lot easier time of it when the x-rays came back and there was nothing wrong. Her bones looked strong and she had probably just bruised her foot. The doctors did ask what the heck she was eating, though, since her poop showed up in the x-ray. Turns out Chinese people don't think dogs should eat whole eggs or bones. Maybe they're right, but they also shouldn't eat toxic chemicals, so I'll pass on the dog food, thanks. When we got her home last night, she was already starting to walk on the foot a little (and continued to poop and pee everywhere). So, maybe I overreacted just a little...

This morning Da Mi has been fine, though clearly still hurting a little. She chewed her nice smelly chicken neck on some of our clothes to thank us for last night (they were dirty, but still). We even left her alone for a little while to go out to lunch. We had really delicious meal at an Indian place. We each had about 5 small dishes, plus bread and dessert for about 10 dollars. The food was well-prepared and the service was amazing! Now we're at the bookworm having some coffee. I was going to try to finish writing more of my paper, but I am too full and sleepy. It just isn't going to happen until I have a nap, and a snuggle with Da Mi!

Starbucks Rocks the Milk Scandal!

I came to Starbucks to work, because I know I will want to sleep if I stay home. It's a wonderfully rainy day. Since there is less pollution in Beijing still, there continues to be evidence of real weather (i.e. rain, sunshine, and clouds) as opposed to the usual monotone grey sky and dust storms. But I digress. Starbucks no longer offers milk here, period. They don't even let you choose if you mind dying a painful death or not. Instead, it is soy milk for everything, and they've got advertising telling you how wonderful it tastes too! There is a sign that says "Try our new vanilla soy latte!" as if you have a choice! In spite of myself, I actually like the soy latte. In different times, I would not order it, but times are tough, and I guess I should be grateful that some companies still believe in somewhat ethical conduct.

In other news... there is no other news. I continue to be swamped with work and school, but I can't complain. My life is wonderful. My boyfriend still loves me in spite of me and my puppy is growing big, though maybe not as tall as Dan would hope. I only wish I was closer to my family.

A Walk in the Park

The only thing easy in my life right now was brunch and the walk in Chaoyang Park that we took today. It was a beautiful day and Dan and I just sat on the edge of the lake for an hour and a half. In spite of the fact that school has only been going for two weeks now, I really needed this three day weekend. I have been working hard to teach, working hard to study for two grad classes, and spending a lot of time with my new puppy. I am exhausted and trying not to get sick!

Last night we said goodbye to our friend Matt, who is heading home to coach swimming before taking a job in Germany. We went to Hatsune for some really delicious Japanese food and tried to make plans to see each other again soon. Soon, I've found, seems to get further and further away as I get older. Soon used to mean a couple days from now, or next week. Then I went to college and it meant in a couple months. When I left the States, soon started to mean in 6 months to a year. Now, it often means two years, maybe more! I'm not sure where the time goes.

Today we had brunch with Filipa and Stan before our escapade in the park. Delicious food and good company makes me smile. I ate bread, which I haven't done in about two weeks, but it was totally worth it. As long as I'm going to eat something with wheat in it, I might as well binge. So, binge I did! I haven't been good about keeping the corn out lately anyway, so bad skin is to be expected. I'll just have to be extra careful this week!

It's far easier to control my diet than it is to control stress. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I am constantly preoccupied with my puppy. Something about actually managing to save her, with a LOT of help from my friends has made me worry even more. She's about three and a half weeks old now and appears to be really healthy, so there's not much to worry about. Oddly enough, I find things. Maybe she's a little sleepier or not gaining as much weight or fell off the bed, and I worry about every little thing. It's stupid, I know, but I can't help myself. I feel like it's my duty to protect her! I've also been struggling with the fact that she's looking like a big dog. At three and a half weeks, she's about four pounds. Beijing doesn't allow dogs over 35 centimeters or 14 inches, so unless she's just going to stop growing up and start growing out, I might have a problem. I'd be willing to pay the 5,000 RMB fine if that means that I can register and keep her, but I'm not sure that's the case and I don't want them to take her away and kill her. And they would. They are pure evil!

A long, long time ago...

I can still remember how... I used to blog here now and then. And I can't be sure what my excuse is this time, but I'll bet it's the same old thing. Life happens and I haven't been organized or dedicated enough to keep going with this regularly.

Tonight is my last night in the D.C. area for this year. I have spent five very short weeks here, and I'm just a touch reluctant to leave. Classes, and with them all the stress, just ended Friday. I finally have time and mental energy to do what I want, but it's time to move on.

In spite of the work, there were some highlights. I saw friends that I haven't seen in years, lots of them, though not all of them. I met a lot of great people that I hope to keep in touch with. Most astonishingly, perhaps, I ran without suffocating! I'm a fresh air addict and it's near impossible to get a fix in Beijing! To offer a small glimpse into the reality of Beijing pollution, I will tell you that I can run for about 10 minutes there before I feel like my lungs are crusting over. Here I can run for half an hour. Yes I break a sweat, but no I don't feel like my chest is imploding. It's funny because I was starting to think I was just getting old, but this break from bad air has been reassuring!

The good stuff just kept on coming this summer, so I have a lot to be thankful for. I know a list doesn't quite cut it, but it's what I've got. In no particular order, I'm utterly grateful for...

...my friends from former lives who still make me feel like I belong, even though I keep abandoning you to go on my fantastic voyages.

...my awesome roommates who made me laugh and kept me sane.

...all the cool people in the program (FAST TRAIN, not AA) that shared stories and ideas.

...Screen on the Green.

...Dan, who has an uncanny ability to just appear places.

...crab.

...sun, blue skies, greenery, and the smell of fresh air.

...crickets.

...and, why not, vegetables.

My summer isn't over, though. Tomorrow I head to Kentucky to visit family, before going back to New York, and visiting more family, for a couple of weeks. I'll get to spend time with people I care about and do a lot less work than I have been. Life is good!

Spring in the City

It's the time of year where I feel like I could be in any major city in any part of the world. It smells like spring, it looks like spring, and the big buildings and hustle and bustle aren't particularly distinctive. There are moments where I could be anywhere and then I am reminded that I am definitely in Beijing. The following things help bring me back to reality:

1. I see a bank guard. He doesn't have a gun, but instead he has a long stainless steel baton with spikes on it that make it look like an instrument of medieval torture. As an aside I was going to take a picture of it, but I didn't want to tempt him into using it.

2. I'm walking along one of those could-be-anywhere streets when all of the sudden I run into a wall of sewage smell with an unidentifiable origin.

3. More and more people are out and about after hibernating through the winter, but I don't look like any of them.

4. The smell of paint thinner is in the air in all major shopping areas. I still haven't figured out where this smell is coming from or, frankly, what it is, but it seems to be everywhere. Maybe people are doing all of their toxic renovations now that the weather is nicer and they can open the windows and doors and poison us all.

5. CNN has blacked out twice in the same news sequence. I had to look online to find out why, and I had to use a proxy server to see the pictures. I don't know how they managed to block only the pictures on a site. It's pretty amazing and mildly disturbing!

6. Our taxi driver stops en route to our destination and asks us to wait in the car while he goes to the bathroom. I let him know I wasn't inclined to do so, so he punished us by driving as slowly as possible the rest of the way.

7. Two police officers showed up at our hutong trying to tell us that we needed to re-register after going home for Christmas holiday, when it is not the case. They insisted, however, that we would not be able to stay there the next night if we didn't do this. It turns out they were probably looking for a bribe. I'm sure you're shocked.

8. The police officer waits for me to tell her if I will tutor her child in English before beginning to do the paperwork I need from her. Of course I told her yes, but I may not answer my phone for the next few weeks!

9. Blue skies and real clouds are not the norm.

10. There's so much dust that spring cleaning is a weekly event!

Chinese Lantern Festival

Today I ate boiled sticky rice dumplings with a sweet filling in honor of the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and as a consolation to myself as I will most likely find it difficult to sleep tonight. There are, by far, more fireworks today than there were on the first or any other day of the celebrations. The amount of gunpowder dispensed could easily put the American Military to shame! As much as I hate the noise, it is, at least, prettier than what our people do with similar resources, and it might mean that China has sold fewer munitions to Sudan in the past few weeks. I am grateful that I don't live in a place where all of this noise would signify people dying. And on that happy note, a video of fireworks for your viewing pleasure.

http://american.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=528204047765 (I had trouble uploading it and since the error message is in Chinese, I'm out of luck for now)

Oh, and just for the heck of it, here's a great picture of the metro the day I couldn't bear to take it!

One too many excuses.

I think it's been about two months since I last posted, but I'm afraid to look. I decided, about two weeks ago, that I was going to do a "highlights" posting to avoid feeling overwhelmed with the task. Unfortunately, there are quite a few highlights considering that the two months of blog neglect include almost a month and a half of vacation! So, maybe you understand why it took me two weeks to psych myself up enough to do the abbreviated version.

I'm not sure where I left off, but I'll start with my Christmas holiday which started on December 14, because, quite frankly, I don't remember anything in the two weeks before that. I'm sure the vague memory has something to do with working too much, but I have no details to give on that front. Back to the point, Christmas was a godsend.

I flew back to the states on the 18th. Dan decided on the 17th that he would join me, and managed to get a direct flight, round trip for about 900 dollars. My flight, on the other hand had a layover in San Francisco. Needless to say, my flight was delayed and my time in SFO was an absolute nightmare. While going from the international to the domestic terminal I was harassed by the guy who shuffles people into various security check lines. He claimed I had too many carry-ons. I was annoyed because I had just found out about the delay and knew I would have to take my shoes off in about three minutes and I almost started crying. "Well, I have already checked my bags. What do you expect me to do?" He made me go talk to the 'managers', a group of women chatting in a corner. They suggested that I shove everything from one bag into the bigger one. Thinking this was stupid, because this didn't actually reduce the size of the stuff I was carrying I said, "Why?" "Just do it and trust me." And that was it. I was just dumb enough to have small bags instead of the enormous ones that some people take as carry-ons. Oh, wait, this is supposed to be a highlights post, isn't it? Sorry.

Highlight number one, Dad, Katie and Ezra waiting for me at the airport. Ezra was rolling around on the floor because he was so tired, but I was glad to see him, even if he didn't have a clue who I was. I got to see my grandparents and enjoyed every bit of it. And what better than a picture of the motley crew to prove it!

Getting back to Bath was great! It was nice to be home, and even nicer knowing I was going to be there for Christmas. Time flew, though I did spend exorbitant amounts of time lounging around and eating. Dan was with us through Christmas, so we did some last minute shopping and the like. I also took my turn dirtying mom's brand new kitchen, but I left staining the brand new sofa to my brother and stepfather ;-)

Christmas Eve with dad was yummy as usual. We had yogurt curry chicken and lentils. It was awesome, but a LOT of food. Christmas morning was busy, like always, though our guests seem to arrive for brunch a bit later than they used to. Not having small children who wake them up at 5:30 a.m. probably helps.

Aside from Christmas and general quality time with my family, I would qualify my two highlights as my night out with Kate (See scary picture below), and sledding with Ezra in the backyard. We actually went sledding a second time because he went poopy in the potty. I was cold long before he was, both times, but he was so much fun I didn't really mind!


I also finally finished the masterpiece I started a year ago. Yeah, I know, it's been done before, but gosh darn it I'm proud I finished!


I got to bake a cake (dirtying the kitchen one last time) and sing "Happy Birthday" to my mom before I skipped town. And having had about 3 hours of sleep between Thursday and Saturday, I started my journey back to Beijing. Dad drove Philip and I to the airport in the morning and Phil had been kind enough to get the earliest flight possible meaning we had to leave at about 4 a.m. You will not live that down, brother!


Back to Beijing and back to work. The downside of three weeks of vacation is that eventually it is over :-( The upside of going back to work was that it would only be four weeks until my next week and a half of vacation. Unfortunately, that vacation is now over to, but I digress.

Back in Beijing I focused my attention on trying out my new pasta roller (thanks mom!) and learning the fine art of making bagels that taste and feel like bagels. I made pasta once and rolling it was harder than I imagined, since I had the machine and everything, but the end result was wonderful! It was the fluffiest pasta I've had in a long time, if ever. It was delicious and easy on the stomach. The half of the batch that I dried was not as good, but it was still far better than what you get in a store. The bagels were another story. Recipes for bagels are deceptively easy and the first one was absolute crap! They were the breadiest bagels ever! Not to be discouraged, I tried the recipe for Bronx worthy bagels and it turns out they are worthy. The first time I made them, they weren't spectacular, but they were a bunch better than the first recipe. The second time, I can honestly say I almost did it. I guess the third time's the charm. I'll post pictures of that when it happens.

So after four weeks of suffering, my Chinese New Year holiday started off (and continued) with a bang. For those of you who are unaware, Chinese New Year is a week and a half of non-stop fireworks in Beijing. Everybody and their mother gets the urge to blow stuff up this started around the 6th and it is still going on today (albeit slightly toned down). Some people were kind enough to set off some bombs, er, I mean fireworks, right outside the window of our hutong. Dan and I have learned what it must be like to live in a war zone, and we are glad it's almost over. I can stop shielding my eyes and running for cover, now. We did really enjoy the holiday though, especially since we finally got heating in our hutong. We did discover that the pipes were frozen, but our landlady kindly came and helped us fix the situation. So, we spent the majority of our time in the center of the city. Ignoring the fact that we were both suffering from nasty colds (lovely timing), Dan and I made the most of our week. We went to a different set lunch (read cheap food at expensive restaurants) every day and to two different places for brunch on Saturday and Sunday. The food was awesome in general, but the overall winner had to have been Assagi. It's an Italian place that normally costs an arm and a leg, but they have a great lunch menu. For 100 kuai each we got a starter, an entre, dessert, and coffee. The food was delicious and the service was amazing. I will never go there for dinner because I can't afford it, but I will be back for lunch! The second best was easily Alameda, which was also a great deal. It didn't end up being as cheap as the Italian place, but the food was equally delicious. We will, most definitely, go back.

In retrospect, I wish I had taken pictures of each of the meals. On the other hand, I wouldn't want you drooling all over your keyboard, so I suppose it's for the better.

Stuck...

I should have known better. The first half of my flight was too good to be true. I had two seats to myself and no crying babies. The second leg is more than making up for that comfort already.

I hate United Airlines. Their service on board isn't great, but what's worse is that they are always running late! Today, my flight is a ridiculous 2.5 hours late (if it arrives at the predicted time). I tried to change my flight to an earlier one, but since I had already rechecked my baggage, they refused to help.

I'm jet lagged and I am getting pissed off really easily. It doesn't help that people go out of their way to make traveling difficult. The guy routing people into various lines for the security check insisted that I had too many bags, but as long as I held some of my stuff in my hands without a bag, THAT was o.k. WHAT?! IT'S THE SAME AMOUNT OF CRAP YOU MORON! Needless to say, it only gets better when you have to practically strip naked for the security check. Take off all of your coats and sweaters (in winter this is a feat in itself), take off your shoes, take your laptop out of the bag and your toiletries too. And, don't forget that you have 15 seconds to get it all back in order before the next person's crap will slam into yours. I don't know anybody that can get their shoes on that fast!

I have been awake for 24 hours now, and I still have at least 7 hours to go before I can sleep well.

35/60

35 out of 60. It looks like a barely passing test grade, but it is way better than that! 35 out of 60 is how many channels on my cable that show the same 7 o'clock news! Dan and I noticed this before, but tonight was the first time we counted, 35! This new information adds to my love of Chinese Cable Television. Is it not just a little ironic that CCTV also stands for Closed Circuit Television?

A little too much holiday cheer...

Or perhaps just a little too much wine last night and too much whining this afternoon. Last night was the staff Christmas party. Though I'm not usually a big drinker, I did have a tad too much. I blame the waitresses who refilled my glass when I wasn't looking. In all honesty, I would be talking to somebody and poof my wine glass was full again. I'm not good at staying sober if I can't count. In spite of my excesses, I had a good time. I danced like it was going out of style, and my legs haven't stopped thanking me for that. I did eventually figure out that the food was downstairs, but it was a little too late to balance out what I had already drunk.

When I got home from the party, I discovered the true disadvantage of not being able to drink water out of the tap. If you're thirsty and have about 10 ounces of water per person to last till morning, you either have to be thirsty or boil water. I was too drunk to be hanging out by the gas stove, so I went thirsty.

Dan and I slept away most of the morning, and at 1:30 I headed over to school. I had the priveledge, yet again, of working on a Sunday. Granted, I enjoy coaching, but I don't enjoy the hour and a half of down time when the kids aren't playing. I don't generally mind hanging out with the kids because I really don't feel that much older than them. I can joke and play around with them and they don't treat me like an old lady. Yet, there are times when all they do is winge. Today was one of them. They complained that one of their friends wasn't allowed to play, they complained about the refs and the scores, they complained about each other, and on and on. I am a complainer, but come on, it's soccer! Have fun, play the game and don't worry about whether or not the refs made a bad call. I'm not sure how some of the kids even knew what a bad call was since they haven't played a whole lot of soccer. The bus ride back to school was also trying as kids insisted on spilling things, yelling and cursing at each other and, you guessed it, complaining! Andrew asked me if I was planning on having kids. I told him I wasn't really sure how anyone could reasonably say yes to that after spending an afternoon with the kids on our teams. A father of one of the boys piped in and said, "Two is manageable, it's just that you have too many." Perhaps.

Why Chinese People Love Hitler: A very long post.

It's been exactly a month and four days since my last post. I am ashamed. At this point, I'm going to have to personally notify people that I've blogged again because they may have assumed me dead. I'm baaaaaaack! I've been seriously overworked, but the semester is almost over and three lovely weeks of rest and relaxation will soon be mine. O.K. so there might not be much rest or relaxation for that matter, but I will get to spend massive amounts of time with friends and family, and that makes me happy. Needless to say, my lungs could use the trip out of Beijing. They scream for clean air every time I find myself running to work.

Not a whole lot has happened in a month, actually. I started studying Chinese characters and stopped again. I'm sure you're surprised. I worked, coached, worked some more, ate and slept a lot. I haven't had a single work-free weekend since October holiday!

Last weekend we met up with the Aleonards (Dan's parents' friends from Carriers) and their friends for dinner. It was fun. I spoke French till my head was about to explode and then had trouble switching back to Chinese. It's sort of reminiscent of my sophomore year of college when I had trouble keeping Russian, Spanish and French in their proper places. I have also noticed my Spanish waning, but there isn't a whole lot I can do about it at the moment.

This past Wednesday I bussed my butt out to Changping to visit Dan and our village people. It was not an average visit with them! As a matter of fact, I think I got more of a cultural education in two hours than I've had in the past six months. I'm well aware that there is so much about Chinese culture and people that I don't understand, but this was pretty jaw dropping.

To start the night off right, it was just Song Bo and I chatting. For some reason I asked her if she didn't have much time to rest because of her job. Her response was to tell me she was pregnant. Uh, congratulations? I wasn't quite sure it was a good thing since she spent the whole last year telling me how she didn't want kids. But then, maybe that's just what Chinese people say. So she told me exactly how many days pregnant she was, which took me an absurdly long time to figure out. I think I was expecting her to talk about months, but she was telling me 45 days. Since the word for days and money sounds pretty much the same, I was a little confused. She talked about how she felt fine and had lots of energy and that she was planning to work until she was seven or eight months pregnant. I said I thought that was a good thing... at which point Dan arrived.

Thinking our previous conversation was something to be excited about, I blurted it out first thing. "She's pregnant!" Dan turned to her and asked in Chinese and she got all weird and said, "No, no, no..." And I was wondering if I really missed something in our conversation during the last half hour. So, I asked, "You're not?" "Bu hao yi se (It's embarassing)," she said.

Ooops. Apparently, only women can talk to women about that kind of thing and men to men. Yeah. HUGE faux pas. So, in an effort to down play my aweful social skills Dan CONTINUED to talk about it, until I told him to shut up, he didn't know anything. And he told Song Bo that he didn't know anything, but I think it was lost in the cultural translation.

Later in the evening, when Luo Mo Cong came back, we were just sitting around chatting and the news was on. It was something about protests in Taiwan. The conversation that ensued was long, so I'll get to the salient points. Basically, both of them thought China should just go to war with Taiwan. They insisted that it is Chinese and that it cannot exist appart from China. Luo Mo Cong seemed to think the best course of action would be to just bom the crap out of the country. Dan made the point that if you kill all the people and flatten the country, there won't be any Taiwan. "Mei wen ti (No problem)," was his response. It was at about that point in the conversation that our jaws dropped, and we didn't think they would go any lower, but they did.

This led to a conversation about rulers and who were great rulers. His list consisted of Deng Xiao Ping, Napolean, and... HITLER! I don't think I've ever seen Dan look so stupified. See the dramatic recreation below.


Luo Mo Cong talked about those three people for about half an hour. Deng Xiao Ping was great, according to him, because he was a good leader. When Tibet wanted independence he went in and killed them all (this proud nationalistic outpouring was accompanied by gestures in case we weren't sure what he meant by killing). Napolean was great because he killed people and presumably Hitler as well, though to be completely honest both Dan and I were in a fuzzy state of shock. Dan's jaw reached its lowest point when Luo Mo Cong said, "Wo hen xi huan Hi te le (I really like Hitler)." At that point we decided it was probably appropriate to tell him he shouldn't say that to foreigners. He explained that Chinese people didn't care if a few thousand people were killed and we felt he had missed the point. "Yeah, but, you can't say you like Hitler." He still didn't get it. "It's like if we said we really liked the Japanese, they're really great people." "Oh, bu, bu, bu... (no, no, no)." Chinese people dislike the Japanese, to put it lightly, so he understood.

After all of that, I was starving. Dan and I went to a restaurant and I ate a pound and a half of dumplings! What's weird is that I didn't even feel full after that. The next morning I had a stomach ache, but details.

The rest of the week has been far less interesting. I made truffles last night, gave end of semester exams at school and visited my first dentist outside of Bath, convinced I had cavities. I was wrong, according to the dentist, but that doesn't change the fact that my teeth are sensitive. Her advice... don't eat sour, hot, or cold... and pray tell, what shall I eat? Melted ice cream ought to do it... or perhaps room temperature lettuce... mmmm! Anyway, I'm glad there's nothing to be fixed. It had been four years since I'd been to have a cleaning, but she said she couldn't tell. God bless whoever invented those spinning toothbrushes!

Signing out from an absurdly long post, but before I do I'd like to let you in on a little bit of news you might not get in your part of the world. There's a crisis in Thailand. There aren't enough pink polo shirts! Seriously, this made CNN news here. The Thai government actually produced 40,000 pink polo shirts to avoid a price increase. Why pink? Because the king wore a pink vest when he left the hospital a week ago. Wow. I mean, they have good food, but wow.

So much, so little time

Time flies. It's already been about two weeks since my last post. Since then, there have been visits with the village people, parent-teacher conferences, ick, a bike race, some bitterly cold days, a soccer game or two and a halloween party. I just got home from said party.

I have been so busy, and so, so neglectful of my friends and family in other places. I feel like the work never ends, and I guess it never really does! I've been coaching soccer, doing a climbing activity, reading, posting (for my class), trying to figure out wikispaces, trying to get some exercise, trying to stay warm, trying to spend some quality time with Dan, and trying to stay at least a little bit social. Oh, and occasionally I sleep, it just doesn't feel like it's ever enough!


So, there was this bike race. I knew it was mountain biking, but thought, "I can hack it!" Oh, how I have so much to learn. Dan and I went with borrowed bikes, thinking we were going to do one 3.3 km lap. It turned out to be three. I still only did one, in large part because I was scared out of my mind. I had never gone down such steep hills on loose dirt, and the fact that these were followed by 90 degree turns didn't help. So, I sucked big time in that race, not even finishing. Later I picked up a little slack in the team relay, a different, significantly safer route. Our team didn't finish first, but we definitely didn't finish last either. What follows is a great picture of me looking as unathletic as humanly possible. If I look like I'm not really enjoying myself, it's cause I was way behind everybody else. There I am though, sporting a lovely hat my granny made me!


The race was last Saturday, and since then, I can barely remember what happened. I ate, slept, and worked some and on Friday I finally got to spend some time with Dan. Today was beautiful, so of course, I spent it inside!! It wasn't by choice, though. I had signed up for a first aid refresher course a while ago, thinking it would be a morning or an afternoon. Afterall, if it's a refresher, I would imagine it's basically some practice. WRONG! We were there from 9-5, but it was so unnecessarily long! I suppose there's no point in crying over it now though. It's done, and at least I'll have current certification.

Tonight we went to a Halloween party. It was fun, I just dressed up and I made Dan be a candy man (we used double sided tape to make his jacket very sweet). It was a few people I knew, and a lot more I didn't. I had a couple of drinks, some food, and danced my booty off for a few songs. It was the most gay men I've seen in one place since college. Ah, the good 'ole days. For pics, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/RLMohr/Halloween?authkey=wZ3jhgqB81E

And now I'm going to bed. Here's hoping we wake up in time to get some brunch somewhere!

Green what?

Starbucks is proud to announce their new drink, the creamed spinach latte, served up HOT for your drinking pleasure! O.k. so maybe it's a green tea latte, but it looks like creamed spinach and it smells like creamed spinach. It tastes o.k., sort of, but it's hard to get past the sensation that I might be part of a new government initiative to get foreigners to do their part in cleaning up toxic waste. A color that bright (the photo really doesn't do it justice) is most definitely hiding something!

I'm at Starbucks now. It's a nice way to spend a Friday evening out of the house, but not really doing anything. This week has been pretty busy for me. I've been doing testing at school, which means I've spent a lot of time grading. I've also had the typical workload and master's course work on top of that.

On Monday, I did absolutely nothing to celebrate my birthday. I did, however, received a package from my dad (he has impeccable timing), and that was really nice. I got some jewelry from Dan, but we weren't actually able to spend the day together because Mondays and Wednesdays are the nights we spend at respective ends of the city. I also got a little Piglet snow globe from one of my Korean students. It was a typical Monday birthday, not good, not bad.

Tuesday, my girls' soccer team won their first game! It was great, and I was really proud of them. I don't have the winning photo to post at the moment, but I will add it later. They were all really excited to have won as well, especially since they won against girls who were way bigger than them and they played the whole game without substitutes. I really love coaching, I love being able to share that sense of accomplishment with them.

Yesterday, I played in our first two club football games. I'm playing soccer with about 9 or 10 other people from the school and it's really good fun. We got trampled, but I enjoyed every second of it. I actually played fairly well, especially considering it's been so long! We lost the first game 3-1 and the second game was a very high number-1 (I actually did lose count of how many goals they scored, but they were really, really good). My proudest moment was the assist I had in the second game. I would even say it was pretty and it led to a very pretty goal.

And today, today was Friday, thank everything holy. Work was rough and I didn't have much in the way of downtime, but it's over. At the end of the day, I did some line dancing (we're doing it for our school's International Day) and had some pizza. I love the slow moments like these, with Dan and my green tea latte. Life is good!