We were supposed to be on our way to Nanning this morning, but because of the bad weather in the surrounding areas, we can't get there due to road closures.

We're hoping to head out tomorrow, but who knows what's going to happen. The weather here's not too bad. It's still cold and rainy but being in the valley we're missing the brunt of it. But when when we went out for a bike ride yesterday we could see the snow up in the mountains. And we just heard on CCTV-9 that the weather's supposed to get worse, lovely.

Is the crippling weather making the news in the States?? 

Hello!!!! Our little tiny, awesome hotel/hostel room in Yangshuo has Internet which makes me very very happy!!

The trip down south is going well, albeit it's friggin' cold as Dante's seventh level of hell.

Rain was forecast for this whole week but we lucked out and it didn't hit until we arrived in Yangshuo, yesterday afternoon.

We ventured out for a bike ride today and thank goodness for awesome rain slickers because we were covered nicely and didn't get very wet while getting lost in the Chinese countryside. The ride was rough at points because of the rain but let up enough to get some amazing shots of the Li River and mountains. Unfortunately you'll have to wait until I return to see any of those because there ain't no way I'm uploading photos on a hotel computer.

We were less than a mile from where we're staying and two stupid Chinese people cut me off and I fell off my bike. I've a nice scrape and some bruises but am ok. Instead of asking me if I was ok, what did they do? They laughed at me and kept walking. I wanted to beat them up, I probably could have too but I don't want to be deported so I just called 'em f*cking a*sholes instead. I was so mad. But it didn't deter me from biking because we'll be going out again tomorrow for a day long ride.

Until next time, here's a photo of us that our super awesome tour guide took of us while we were on our boat tour two days ago.

 

Niels and I are off for about three weeks for our Spring Festival vacation. You can't buy round trip train tickets so we don't know for sure when we'll be back. The weather forecast is still crappy, much to my chagrin, but it's still warmer than it is in Zhengzhou, where it's 27 but feels like 10.

I'm not sure what kind of posting I'll be able to do while away, little to none is my guess. So I hope you all have a wonderful few weeks, I'll be back sometime in February and I'll see you in the year of the mouse.

Niels and I are going on holiday starting Monday. We decided that instead of working a language camp or sitting around and doing nothing during the Spring Festival holiday, we'd take a real vacation, because we deserve it and if we don't go traveling during the holiday, it won't happen.

It's been quite cold in Zhengzhou, and we've actually had snow the past couple days. Today it's been snowing all day and there's quite a bit on the ground, not by Buffalo standards mind you. And we've been looking forward to getting away from the cold.

So we're going south, touring some cities in Guangxi province, it boarders Vietnam, and is supposed to be nice and warm, a good get away from the cold and snow. But, alas, not for us. It's supposed to snow the whole time we're there.

So much for hanging out on the beach.

Our kitchen doesn't have heat, which isn't so bad during the day, but at night, not so much fun, I'm grateful that we've a kitchen door otherwise our apartment would be a lot colder than it already is. (Our radiators are good for nothing, they're hot, but not hot enough.)

Because of the lack of heat we've a consistent layer of condensation on our windows (that no one else seems to have) that doesn't bode well for our paper-cuttings.



If you look closely enough, the condensation has a pink hue, from where the color has drained out from the paper.

I finally finished B's scarf last week, her belated Christmas present, and completely forgot to take a photo of it. Luckily for me, she stopped over the other night & I was able to snap a photo.



Pattern: Midwest Moonlight, from Scarf Style, knit on size 7s, some random Chinese yarn, 70% wool, 30% acrylic. I liked it so much I almost kept it for myself.

Squid was on sale this week for a ridiculously low price so we picked ourselves up some...



and it was oh so delicious.

In case you haven't heard, or have been living under a rock the past couple years, China's going to be holding the Olympics this August. (note sarcasm). And during the time leading up to the Olympics the CCP has been promoting everything from international meetings to remodeled hutongs (traditional Chinese neighborhoods and housing) to be "harmonious".

I don't think they really understand what the word means.

Because if they did, or understood what compassion means, they wouldn't allow this to continue.  I first head about these "zoos" last year from an acquaintance in Beijing, but it's the first time I saw it in print. Be warned, there are some pretty graphic photos in the article.

I got this from Erin:

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Drama Nerd
Literature Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd

What Be Your Nerd Type?

This should be surprising to no one.

I learned how to play mah jong on New Year's Eve and am itching to go out and buy a set. Of course you need four people to play and we only regularly get together with one of the other foreign teachers. So instead I've taken to playing the solitaire version. It's so addictive.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!