Now back to good part

Aaron says that I must be getting bored with the blog because I haven't posted in a long time.  In actuality I put this pressure on myself to have something interesting to post about and most days I think, "that wasn't that interesting."  OR we travel as much as we have in the last two weeks and then it makes posting a blog the last thing on my to do list, because i play catch up on other areas of my life when we get back home (like studying for that Chinese exam we had on Wednesday this week).


The last couple of weeks have been really good - despite the busyness of travel.  Aaron and I feel like we're learning a lot in this stage of life and the trips that we've taken have helped spur on some of that growth.  A few weeks ago we went and visited some friends who live in a small city in southern Sichuan province.  We stayed up late eating shao kao one night (shao kao is grilled meat or vegetables on a stick.  it's a low cost, favorite late night snack of locals), went to some hot springs (read: natural hot springs that had been diverted to be the source of what looked like normal hotel pools), spent some time in the sunshine by a lake, and were encouraged by the conversations we had with friends over the weekend.

Pretty much straight from there we spent a week in Hong Kong and got some time of rest, refreshment, and got to hang out with our friends James and Laura!

Next stop: Kunming to say goodbye to Daniel as he heads home to get married!!  Also - I'm going to learn a bit about video editing :)

week in review

Really it's the last week+.


Asian Kate took me to Haagen Dazs.  It was unbelievable.  It was my first time actually ever eating Haagen Dazs, and I think it is just as good here as it is in America.  Maybe even better, because it's been quite a while since I had ice cream.

I got some curtains in the mail from my mom & stepdad for aaron and my anniversary!  I have been wanting these curtains for so long (or at least it feels like so long).   and i love them.

Cute babies actually posing for a picture.  That's right, she put her arm around him just for the picture.

We hung out with some friends who are moving out of town soon.  Waah.

We went out for hot pot (cook your own meats and vegetables in boiling water at your table), where Aaron and I ate the intestines of the pig, the cow, and the chicken.  It surprisingly wasn't as disgusting as I thought it was going to be, since intestines are not the kinda things I choose to make at home.

2 different broths to cook the food in - 2 non spicy, two super spicy

one of my teaching assistants and her husband

me & phyllis

And to end the week, tip off weekend started on ESPN with Carolina playing Michigan State in the Carrier Classic.  My husband was literally jumping up and down saying, "it's Carolina and it's America!  This is AMAZING!"

He puts on as much Carolina stuff as he can find

How to learn a new city

Aaron and I have recently realized that at this point in our moving in/learning a new city we have a choice. We don't start class until the end of February, and we don't leave for travel until January 13th. So that meant this week, we had a choice each morning to either not venture out into the cold, gray weather and staying warm and cozy at home, OR we could venture out, wearing layers and layers of clothes (I'm wearing long johns for the first time in my life) and learn our city, our new home.

But, how do you learn a new city? We are doing it by getting on every and any bus that comes by our house and ride it until it ends.

Our first bus ride was a 45 minute ride to the southwest of our city. We quickly went off of the map Aaron and I were using to track our route, and ended up here:

It's kind of hard to tell from this picture what exactly is out here, but let me tell you - it was nothing. This was it. This is where all the buses stop, and the bus drivers take their nap before their next bus route. On the way out here, we watched as our surroundings got dustier and dustier and the industrial parks increased. This is where the hard workers live. If I ever need to buy construction equipment, I now know which bus to ride.

Our second bus trip was a much more successful bus ride in my eyes, as this is where we ended up:

We ended up within walking distance to H&M, Sephora, Starbucks, Subway, Ikea, and a European sports store called Decathalon. Much better ending I would say. On this bus trip we stayed on the map, and discovered where to go in our city if we ever need anything computer related, or if we need to buy a new bike.

I'm sure the other buses have pretty good stops, but I think we've already hit the jackpot. Especially considering taxis to this area cost us at least $20 USD roundtrip, and just over $1 USD roundtrip on the bus.

Week in Review

It's been a busy week for us, moving into our new apartment. Here is a quick review of all that has happened:

1) We painted the walls in our apartment...or rather we paid someone to paint the walls in our apartment. He was really good at painting - he painted the walls, the trim, the floors, etc. Then he got a mop and made sure that the paint was spread out really well over all the floors. It took a couple of days to chip off the paint afterwards, but it's looking good now. I tried to capture the mess here:

2) We finally got internet in the apartment, so Aaron was excited to be able to watch Carolina games again.....

3).....The power went out in our apartment Sunday morning really early - at the exact moment that Aaron got up to watch the UNC v. Texas game - 4:50am. Uncanny! (turns out we needed to pay our bill).

4) It snowed here! Not enough to have snowball fights or build snowmen. But we could see a strong amount of snowflakes, and there was a light dusting on the trees.

5) We bought all the furniture we needed that didn't come in our furnished apartment. And this is how Aaron was able to make sure it got to the right address:

The week in numbers:

3 - trips to Ikea

3 - meals composed purely of steamed dumplings

3 - trips to American fastfood chains (hey, I can't make food at home yet, and McDonald's is so good in other countries...)

3 - nights spent in our new home

2 - adults, 3 children spotted peeing or worse on the sidewalk

2 - plane tickets booked to spend Christmas with the Shelleys and the Jungs!

2 - days spent cleaning up our newly painted floors

1 - disappointed husband after no power to watch the Carolina game, and finding out we lost by 2

1 - Christmas movie watched (Home Alone!)

1 - new best friend (oh - and Aaron's new best friend, the full sized clothes dryer we just bought!)