A white Christmas.

I took off Wednesday after class for Shenyang, Liaoning -- the northeast of China -- where my former Harbin roommate Beth is stationed. Three hours on a plane and one taxi driver who tried to rip me off later, I found myself at Beth's place which just so happens to be located inside of a 5-star hotel. That meant ample space for the guests who descended on her (besides me, there were two other students from CLS last year in Harbin, and three of their friends), and that also meant amenities such as a kitchen with a stove! and a bathroom with a tub! She's truly living the high life in Shenyang.

Cooking had begun before I even arrived, as Beth and her colleagues (one of whom is a Georgetown graduate of '07 who also had the pleasure of having Yu Laoshi as a teacher) have been attending holiday parties. So there was lots of food: delivery pizza on Thursday, peanut butter-m&m-chocolate chip cookies, peanut blossom cookies, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, homemade macaroni and cheese, stuffing, pumpkin pie, sweet potato cheesecake, veggie chives and onion cheese dip, gouda! cheddar! camembert! and Harbin sausages... all for a never ending Christmas banquet of deliciousness.

Christmas dawned bright and white -- marking my first-ever white Christmas (cue Bing Crosby). Of course, thanks to the four smokestacks within view of Beth's windows, the snow quickly turned yellow and black. But I still had time to make a snow angel on the sidewalk while making a run for some groceries; this might have been a mistake given my knowledge of the spitting habits of Chinese citizens. The weather was unbelievably bitterly cold, so cold I was sure my eyelashes would freeze, but that didn't stop eleven of us from making a trek on Boxing Day to get Korean food (bimimbap!) and karaoke. I also enjoyed stories of the random happenings of US Consulate officers in their quests to find fraud among the multitudes of visa-seeking Chinese.

Merry Christmas!

Current craving list.

1. The sun.

2. Spaghetti.

3. Hot chocolate and/or cider. (I don't even like cider).

4. Skim milk.

5. Central heating.

6. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Lots of cheese.

In China, these desires are not easily satiated. I attempt to solve my food cravings with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a method that is surprisingly effective. Yet some linger still longer, however; last summer, for instance, I had a craving for a corndog for two months while in Harbin.

Although, when I made it back to the States, I never ate one, and still have not to this day consumed one -- odd considering the ravings about corndogs I was prone to. So clearly, then, my mind is simply playing tricks on me, and I need be strong and persevere.

Cosmopolitan cities and wordly traveling styles.

Spent the weekend in Chengdu with Kathryn and Phil. Amazing opportunities abounded: sushi, Brazilian barbecue, donuts, and TOAST! Toast is very important, folks. You don't realize what an integral part it plays in your life until you come to a Country Without Toasters.

Anyway, the journey to and fro' this cosmopolitan metropolis was fraught with dangers nothing much. My time spent on train and bus rides throughout the southwest can almost always fit in to one of these categories:

1. Sleeping. This is the best way to pass the time, but 99% of the time it is impossible to attain, not in the least because the man next to you insists on spitting continuously into the aisle.

2. Playing cards.

3. Playing jian.zi. This is very difficult to accomplish in small, confined places (ie, trains, buses and elevators -- trust me) as it is the Chinese equivalent of hackeysack. (Also, I accidentally kicked a dog across the pavement in the courtyard of our hostel when playing it, and had to hold it for about ten minutes to soothe my conscience.)

4. Playing mah jong. This is also very difficult to accomplish, in that I don't actually know the rules.

5. Playing Trivial Pursuit. This is quite entertaining, as Phil carries the cards wherever he goes. Did you know a whale's tongue weighs four tons?

6. Playing "Physical Challenge". This is where someone lays out a challenge for the other person to do, such as kiss a cab driver or sit on that weird staring guy's lap for the rest of the trip or down half a bottle of baijiu. These are almost always declined.

Only in Hechuan...

...can you get in a taxi and declared, "Take me to the dinosaur!"




Because only in Hechuan is there a random fake dinosaur half-buried along the bank of the Jialing River. That is all.