Yesterday the day passed in a sort of orange glow, with thundershowers popping up here and there all day long.  It was the strangest sandstorm I've ever seen, mainly due to the fact that it was coupled with off-and-on thunderstorms.  When I left my house this morning, I noticed that yesterday's "orange glow" was all over the ground, surfaces of cars and plants, and anything else that sat outside throughout the day yesterday.  Unfortunately, my windows were open in my apartment yesterday, and so I too now have a nice orange glow coating most of the surfaces in my house. 

Here are a few pictures of what a sandstorm does to cars.

There have been lots of great things happening in the last few weeks, one of the most exciting of which being that I bought a couch!  My apartment has had a couch-like item of furniture from the time I moved in (belonging to the landlord), but since it's really more like a bench masquerading as a couch, I began pondering the possibilities of moving up a step or two in comfort.  After a couple trips to a local store, lots of interactions with the most hyper salesperson in all of China, and a stressful 45 minutes watching three guys trying to get the thing through the living room door, I now have my very own comfy couch!  Check it out...

In other news, spring has finally come to the northeast, although not without one parting shot from winter.  The shot below was taken on the morning of April 21.

In other, other news, I had a visitor last weekend from Beijing!  Alice is a good friend from my days in Yinchuan, Ningxia who now lives in a city not too far away.  We had a great time, especially enjoying spring in Nanhu Park, my favorite place in Changchun.  (Here we are with another friend of mine...)

On the way back from the park I saw something funny (and kinda strange) in the window of an apartment.  Who knows, maybe they run a bust-selling-business right there out of the fourth floor.  I just never knew the demand for busts of ancient Greeks was so high here in China.  :)

Well, that's about all for now...

At 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall, I'm pretty much a giant around here (especially among women).  At times it can be a great advantage, as I have the ability to see over the heads of huge crowds of people (of which there are a lot in China, incidentally).  Other times, most notably when I'm in the kitchen, it can be a great disadvantage.  Counter-tops hit about mid-thigh range, which translates into low-back pain after any significant amount of time chopping or washing.  The vent-hood over the stove can also be problematic.  See for yourself.  I can't tell you how many times I've hit my head on this thing... 

It's been snowing and/or sleeting for two days straight now.  Despite being a bit cold, it's actually been really fun.  I'm trying to take it all in and enjoy it, as it will probably be our last snow of the season.

Just for fun, I thought I'd post a picture of a recent homework assignment.  This particular piece happens to be a little story about how my dog got slapped in the face by a cat once when we took her to the vet.  Try not to be too astounded by the depth and profundity of my work. 

It's good to be back in not-too-awfully-cold Changchun after about a month spent in Thailand and southern China.  It was great re-connecting with friends at our annual conference and great spending time in the mountains of Yunnan Province.  In the end though, I am glad to be home. 

The weather right now in Changchun is holding with highs in the upper 20's and low 30's, which is a world of difference from the -4 to -22 temperatures we were experiencing when I left.  The days are clear and sunny, and actually look quite warm when you're staring from a window.  What I'm enjoying most, though, is sleeping in my own bed and having a vast array of clothing to choose from every morning.  Ok, "vast array" might be pushing it a bit, and what's more, I just realized I'm wearing the same thing I wore yesterday.  Oh well.

The point I'm really trying to make is that I'm thankful to be back in Changchun, and I'm even more thankful that I'm thankful to be back.  This place is becoming more and more like home to me, and it's been good to stop and consider the many things I really do enjoy about this city.  So, here's to a month of safe and successful travel, and to returning to clear-skied, friendly Changchun and calling it home.

P.S.  Classes start in a week or so, if you're keeping track. 

Here are a few shots from the trip.  To see more, click here:  Yunnan 2008 Trip

Starting tomorrow morning very early, I will be heading from this...

...to this...

...and after that, to this...

It's time again to make the annual trek to Thailand, where I get to meet up with all kinds of friends and do all kinds of fun things, not the least of which includes eating great food!  After our conference is over, I'll be heading back to Lijiang, in southern China, to get my mountain fix for the year.  (Not that that's really possible... a mountain fix for an entire year, but it's all I've got so I'm workin with it.)

At this point, I'm unsure as to whether I'll be able to update the blog while I'm gone, but there will be plenty of good stuff to post when I return, I'm sure!

At the beginning of December two friends and I had the opportunity to take long-weekend trip down to Beijing.  Our main purpose was just to relax, but we also had the opportunity to take in an international gymnastics meet held at the site for the upcoming Olympics.  From now until the start of the Games, Beijing is holding a series test events at the various competition venues in order to make sure they are ready to handle the real thing in August. 

The gymnastics meet was held at the National Indoor Stadium, on what will eventually be the Olympic Green, and consisted of male and female athletes from all over the world.  The U.S. sent a handful of athletes, some of whom have a good chance to be on the Olympic team this coming summer.  We cheered our heads off for them, and drew lots of attention, as it seemed we were the only Americans in the crowd.  For being my first live gymnastics meet, I thought it was really interesting.  It was perhaps a little less glamorous in person than on TV, but it certainly gave me more of an appreciation for just how difficult the sport is.  It's truly amazing what those athletes can do!

                                   The "Bird's Nest" stadium, where opening and closing ceremonies will be held (as well as Track and Field events).

                                     A friend who lives in Beijing joined us for the second day of competition. 

                               Lunch at Annie's Italian restaurant.  Truly amazing.

                               Think it's all styrofoam?  Hope so...

For more pictures of the Beijing trip, click here:  Playing in Beijing

Check out the new "Chinglish" photo album on the right!  I've been meaning to get around to posting these photos for a while now.  Enjoy!

Actually, this might be a good time to mention the differences in Chinese and English writing styles.  In general, when writing in Chinese it is acceptable to use beautiful, flowery language in many circumstances where it is simply not acceptable in English.  Hence, the myriad of awkward English translations that exist on signage throughout the entire country.  Makes for great pictures, though.  :)

Now that I'm on break I can spend my free time catching the blog up to my life, as my life seems to have been flying by at a speed unrecognizable by my blogging software.  To give the most accurate picture possible, I'm afraid I'll have to back all the way up to Thanksgiving. 

From what I can remember, it was a great day!  We did what everybody is supposed to do on Thanksgiving: we cooked, ate, and spent time with loved ones.  Ok, I realize I'm missing the football requirement, but to make up for our inability actually watch a football game, we actually played football in below-freezing weather and snow!  It was a ton of fun!  (Sorry, no pictures of the game.)

 The buffet line.  That's my tasty salad right up front.  :)

Thanksgiving dinner in our language program offices. 

Dinner with friends.

 In addition to the food, the highlight of my night was Ben falling asleep on me.  So so cute.

As mentioned in a previous post, I find that one of the most interesting things about living in China can be the signs you run into.  Whether it's bad English or just plain weird (see the "Do Chihuahuas Come from Eggs" post), these signs can make life much more entertaining on the whole.  Sometimes it's just a matter of looking up and paying attention to your surroundings that does the trick.

Here's a perfect example.  Not two steps out of my doorway, in my apartment building stairwell, is this fine advertisement for a hospital in Changchun.

I mean, who doesn't need a good skeleton check-up from time to time? 

Next is my favorite hotel in town.  Not that I've actually stayed there, I just like the name!

And this must be Mr. Bobo himself:

Last but not least, and more in the "label" category than the "sign" category, here's China's version of "banana chips."

It just doesn't get any cuter than that, now does it.  This is one of my best buddies here at language school, even though we've only known each other for about four months.  He's the son of one of my classmates, and has been known to tell his mom from time to time that I'm his favorite aunt.  :)

It's 10:45 in the morning, on October 20th, and it's barely above freezing.  Last night the overnight low was 22 F.  Did I mention the heat has not come on yet?  That's right, the heat is controlled by the city and will not be turned on until this coming week sometime.  Oh yeah, and yesterday I saw snowflakes. 

The winters here in northeast China are cold, that's for sure.  But, the thing that's much harder than the cold is the sheer length of it all.  If this year's winter is anything like last year's, we will be this cold or colder until mid-April.  Crazy. 

Lest you think I'm all complaints, though, I've decided to introduce you to something that I absolutely love about this place:  Nanhu Park.  About a five minute walk from my apartment, it is a massive oasis of water and trees in the middle of this city of 5 million.  (See picture below.)

Last week when the weather was still somewhat mild I took a walk there just to get some pictures of the fall colors.  Here's a teaser:

The rest of the pictures can be found here:  Nanhu Fall Pictures

Beautiful, isn't it? 

One of my favorite things about China is the abundance of amusing signs that can be found just about anywhere.  I've recently begun taking pictures of some of these, and hope to post them as I go. 

The first one needs no explanation... mainly because there IS NO possible explanation.  See for yourself.

Chinese friends who read my blog... help me out!  Do those characters say "good pet"??  There must be some significance to the golden eggs... Or, then again... maybe not. 

Check out the recently posted pictures from my birthday.  It was a great day, thanks to all my wonderful friends.

I've been encouraged to take more pictures of the food I eat here on a daily basis, so here's a very random sampling of foods that are now normal to me. 

The Chinese cucumber.  Long, skinny, prickly and much more tasty than its American cousin, if you ask me. 

It's not that American cereal isn't available, it's just expensive ($5-6/box).  This turns out to be a Korean version of Honey Smacks.  Not bad, and much cheaper.  (Plus, it's called Jolly Pong.)

 The most exciting thing about this box of milk is that it's lowfat!  The days of gulping down whole milk are gone... for now anyway.  The strange thing is that I've never had a box of milk go bad on me in China.  Makes you wonder...

This is it.  My favorite Chinese dish.  Unfortunately there's no suitable English translation.  The very rough direct translation would come out to be something like "water-boiled meat pieces."  Here's what it really is:  Pork and cabbage stewed together with onions, garlic, ginger, and a whole host of other very hot spices (including one that actually numbs your mouth). 

This is me getting ready to eat the tasty dish.  It actually comes from Sichuan Province in the southwest, but Sichuan food is popular everywhere in China, so you can pretty much find it anywhere.  My friend and I have determined that this particular restaurant's 水煮肉片 is the best around, so we frequent the place, ignoring the poor service and ordering the same thing every time. 

Tasty side-kick.  The above mentioned dish is so incredibly hot that it's nice to have something cold and vinegar-y to eat with it.  Enter our favorite spinach cold dish: Old Vinegar Spinach (老醋菠菜).  It's basically spinach, peanuts, MSG and vinegar (Chinese dark, strong vinegar), and not at all spicy in it's own right (if you order it without the mouth-numbing spice, which can be harder than it seems.  See story below).  These two dishes plus a bowl of rice (and some sort of milk-based drink to coat the stomach) may just be my favorite meal in Changchun.

Remember I said something about poor service?  Here's an amusing look at customer service, Chinese-style:  (At the above mentioned restaurant, ordering our "regular.")

Me: We'd like the **** (pork thing) and the **** (spinach thing).  Oh, and in the spinach thing could you please not add the ** (mouth-numbing spice)?

Waitress: (no response.... just writing)

Me:  Um, sorry, did you hear me?  Can you understand my Chinese?

Waitress:  So, you'd like the **** (pork thing) and the **** (spinach thing).

Me: Yes, but did you hear what I said about the spinach thing?

Waitress:  (no response)

Me:  We'd like the spinach thing without the mouth-numbing spice.

Waitress:  Can't.

Me:  What?

Waitress:  Spinach thing without the mouth-numbing spice?  Can't.

Me:  We've ordered it like that before.

Waitress:  Can't.  Doesn't taste good like that.

Me:  Well, even though it doesn't taste good, we'd still like to eat it like that.  So, can you leave it out?

Waitress: (grunt, as she turns and heads for the kitchen)

So, did I mention that there is no tipping of waiters and waitresses in China?  It's a good thing...

By the way, the **** (spinach thing) did come out without the ** (mouth-numbing spice), and it was good. 

In case you're wondering, I am actually still alive and living in China.  Things have been insanely busy this past month, mainly due to starting a new semester of school.  There's a break coming up next week, though, and I hope to post all sorts of fun things then!  So, check back in a week or so!

Wow.  So, obviously, the blog wasn't a huge priority for me this summer.  *sheepish smile*  That was probably because I was having too much fun hanging out with family and friends to keep up with it.  Oh, or it could also have been that at several points this summer I wanted to throw every computer I touched out a 10 story window (mmm... that would've felt so good). 

Time with family and friends was great.  What can I say?  What can go wrong with two adorable nephews, caring parents, an awesome sister, and so many wonderful friends who love to hear what's going on in my life? 

Well, ok, technology can go wrong.  Without going into details, I'll just say that it was a difficult summer as far as computers and devices that can be hooked up to computers go.  The ultimate result is that I'm typing this entry on my new computer, which I've almost gotten used to.  Hopefully I've seen the last of the Murphy's Law incidents that seemed to pop up almost every time my hands touched a keyboard.

I now have about a week until classes start, and the rampant cramming of Chinese characters into my head begins.  Actually, I've already done some pre-cramming in the effort to make the start of this semester as smooth as possible.  This year I'll be in a class that is a bit different from what I've been in before, with more emphasis on reading and writing characters, so it should be a good challenge for me.

Lastly, I should mention here how Changchun has grown on me since returning a few days ago.  I think most of it had something to do with coming straight from a few days in Beijing, where the weather was sweltering and the pollution was terrible.  And true, the traffic is still horrendous here in Changchun, but the weather's great, the people are nice, and I just bought a box of Frosted Flakes at Wal-mart.  Not too bad!

 The nephews

One of the nice things about living here in China is having the opportunity to hire someone at a low cost to help with cleaning and/or cooking, saving yourself time (and effort, of course) and in turn helping that person earn a living.   This year I've had a wonderful woman whom I call the Chinese equivalent of "Aunt Zhao" come to my apartment once a week and clean.  She's incredibly sweet and does a wonderful job every time she comes. 

This past week she really gave me a big laugh.  I came home from class to find that she had already left, and so went straight to the kitchen to fix myself some lunch.  When I walked in the kitchen and looked at the dishes she had washed I burst out laughing!  There, right in the middle of the plates and bowls was my Frisbee, clean as a whistle!  Now, Frisbee isn't really a sport that the average Chinese person is familiar with, so it makes sense that she found the thing laying around somewhere and just assumed it belonged in the kitchen with the rest of the dishes!  I guess in the end, it's only fitting, since the actual Chinese word for Frisbee is 飞盘 (fēipán), which literally means "flying plate."