Now that it is almost Christmas. . . .

Figure it is about time to post some Halloween, Thanksgiving and other pictures! Yah, we are slacking on the blog posts. For Halloween, we taught some lessons about Halloween the week before the 31st, and spent the week organizing a party for our students to attend -- we ended up having somewhere around 800ish students come to see us dressed as a pirate and witch Halloween night between 6pm and 8pm. For all of them, it was their first Halloween celebration -- very exciting. We handed out candy to everyone who said "trick or treat", and carved 2 jack-o-lanterns (lucked out finding some 南瓜 that were the right size!), and decorated a space outside the foreign teacher's apartments. I also made a Halloween playlist and brought the laptop outside, but had no way to plug the speakers in outside, so the music was drowned out by students pretty quickly.


Here are some pics from Halloween in Jiaozuo!

During Halloween day, we walked around campus and let students take pictures of us in costume

Jack Sparrow ain't got nothing on my fake sword and hanger-hook!

Kim!

We were mobbed pretty hardcore

Kim and I hammed it up for the students

Thanksgiving came quickly after Halloween, so we didn't have a big bash, just a small get-together with other foreign teachers in our school and Henan Polytechnic University. Maybe 15 people total -- Russians (teach mostly Russian language, computer design, and music at our school's old campus, in South Jiaozuo -- Kim has 3 classes there also), 2 other Americans (Bill teaches at JiaoDa, the school attached to ours, and Katie teaches at HPU, a few miles away from us), a teacher from the Philippines (Jenny) who teaches at JiaoDa), and some Chinese students. We had a great time, everyone brought some food. Sasha, one of the Russians, made 3 awesome tasting salads. Kim and I brought some bread w/ blackberry jam.


During the dinner, Bill and Jenny presented Kim and I with a cake to celebrate our 10th anniversary of when we met and started our relationship ;). It was a huge cake, and very thoughtful! We were very surprised and happy. 


Pics from Thanksgiving:

Our Anniversary cake, with Anastasia on left. The Cold War really is over, Russians and Americans feasting together!

Sasha saying his seat cushion is, "For Russian ass only!"

Our time here has been filled with activities -- every Friday night from 6 til 7 we hold English corner, outside the boy's dorm. Anyone who wants to practice English can come -- though sometimes, it feels like a waste of time, since it usually ends up being random students asking the same questions to Kim and I over and over ("Do you like China?", "Can you speak Chinese?", "Where are you from?" and so on...) instead of students speaking English and us helping them. We want to figure out a way to move it from us talking and them listening to them talking and us helping.


Also, Friday nights from 7 - 9 or 10 there is usually a performance by different departments -- one night will be Art department, the next might be Math, etc. It is amazing that all of their departments have talented (well, and some not-so-talented) students who are willing to sing, dance, do plays, cross-talk, or any other kind of performance. I can't imagine U of L's physics department performing a song and dance routine to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face"..... These are held in a huge auditorium that is always full with around 1,500 or more students. This last month, we have participated and gone to many of the shows. I played a game in one of them (I was a little slow on the uptake, since they explained the game in Chinese, of course, but my team still won!), and Kim and I were asked to sing during one of them! She sang "I Will Survive" and I sang "小芳", a Chinese song about love between a sent-down city student and a country girl during the Cultural Revolution. We both thought we performed horribly, but everyone still enjoyed it. Here are some pics from that night:

Backstage before the performance

Kim singing "I Will Survive" -- people rush the stage and give flowers or anything to show they like the song ;)

My performance....I had a cheat sheet with the lyrics, but couldn't see it because too many people gave me things, 哈哈

Kim joined me on stage, during 《小芳》which the audience loved!

Some of my students that performed a fan dance that night!

Also, we spend some of our time with Anastasia (from Russia) and Jenny (from Philippines), two good friends of ours that are also teachers here. We had hotpot together last week, and we usually have coffee together every week and talk (bitch? /grin) about teaching, our countries, culture, language, everything. . .Anastasia is a huge Joss Whedon fan, so Dr. Horrible's has become part of our bonding, and Jenny got Kim and I hooked on "Smallville", which has turned out to be very fun, albeit sometimes predictable and corny.


Anastasia and Jenny:

Anastasia and Jenny having hotpot with us

We also spend a lot of time with our students; going to parks, cooking food, practicing pronunciation, chatting, walking, shopping, and more. Here are some pics of us with students, from one weekend.....

Taking a rowboat out on a lake at People's Park

A group of my students (all roommates, 6 students in one dorm room) taught Kim and I how to cook some Henan and Hunan dishes.

This weekend is also extremely packed. Saturday we have lunch with some students, then I am taking my tourism class to 龙源湖, a park nearby to make up a class I missed when I was sick a few weeks ago. Sunday we are going to buy Christmas decorations, a tree, and anything else that will help us celebrate / teach Christmas. Then, we are going to movie city, a HUGE movie studio in town where most of China's movies are filmed. We are going with a couple young kids that we are tutoring when we have time. After that, we will be whisked to English Play performance, where they have asked us to host the night. We will be given a suit and dress to wear, and Sat. night they will give us our words to memorize. . . .busy! Also, Sunday night I am participating in one of the play's with some students -- I will be Qin Wang, Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. And somewhere in there, we need to plan our lessons for next week (Christmas lessons).


Hope everyone is doing well, and looking forward to a good Christmas this year. Over here, we are hoping for some snow, but the temperatures are holding in the 50's for quite a while now. Send some snow our way if you are getting any!

The Next Generation of English names for Chinese Students

Kim and I have over 1150 students between the two of us.

Yeah, you read that right. Next time you complain about a "large" class of 30, remember our classes are usually 44-50 or more students. So, in addition to the challenge this poses to encouraging participation in practicing spoken English in the classroom, we were presented with the unique quest of giving many, many, many English names. If we didn't give them, we wrote ideas for names down and let them pick. If they chose their own, they pulled from (what little / what common) American pop culture has arrived in China (for most students, that amounts to "Titanic" and Michael Jackson) or pulled from old text book names. Some students created their own names. At least, I think they did. I certainly have never heard or seen some of these "names" before. All said, I really love the names they come up with / are given. And so do they, so it works well!

So, due to Kim's and my geekiness, there is now a fairly large population of Chinese students with names taken from the following:

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation (In one class, Will and Riker are two students, haha)

2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

3. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (Buffy is in one of my English classes, where I also taught them what "vampire" and "slayer" means)

4. My family (I have two Nancy's in one class, and about 5 more in other classes)

5. Kim's family (There are many Susan's, Carol's, a Melissa, and even a Robert)

6. Book and Music Exchange Employees (I am working on trying to get the entire staff from my time working there in one class. But, my average number of guys in each class is ..... 1-2)

7. Kim's high school class.

8. Friends of ours.

Crap, I just realized I could have pulled from the Dragonlance books, and had some Tanis Half-Elvens and Tasselhoffs running around. Bummer.

Some of our favorite names include, but are not limited to:

Pandora, Buffy, Qamra, Soap, America, Apple, China, Basil, Boy (a girl), Egg, CC, Gram, Rainy & Sunny (two deskmates in one of Kim's classes), Coco & Cola (best friends, in one of my classes), Yolanda (the student chose this name on their own), King, Wondering, and Nguib.

Least favorite names:

Sunny, Happy, Smile, Lahasia, Haley, Hailey, Harley, Ann, Anne, Annie, Anna.

So, with so many students, it is very tricky to remember their names. The "Do you remember who I am?" question felt embarrassing the first 20 times. Now, when I see students on campus, if I don't remember their names I open with, "What's your English name?", usually followed by, "What class of mine are you in?" -- and yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition. Blam.

We remember some students immediately, especially those who make themselves known (for good or for bad).

Coffee & Cigarettes

And no, I don't really like Jim Jarmusch's films. "Coffee & Cigarettes" was watchable, mainly because of Rza, Gza, and Bill Murray.


Anyway.


We are busy.


Well, we aren't just busy. We are slammed. Our teaching schedule really began Oct.9th, after the National Holiday break, and since then we have been more active in our work, daily life, and social life than we were in America -- by a large margin.


But, I want to talk about coffee.


Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee. Coffee kicks tea's ass. Don't get me wrong. I like tea. I enjoy a good cup of tea. I probably enjoy bad cups of tea. But I love to drink my coffee. And this city does NOT have coffee. Not even a Starbucks. The closest they come to coffee here is instant coffee in small packets that taste like sugar and hot water with brown food coloring, or ordering a coffee milk tea, which tastes like sugar, hot milk, and brown food coloring.


So, we brought some coffee with us -- maybe about half a pound of beans. We also brought a manual coffee bean grinder, that Kim's Dad gave us. We blew through that half pound in about a week, then had no coffee for around 2 weeks, until our emergency airdrop arrived, bringing us a fresh pound of coffee (thanks to Kim's family -- our second emergency airdrop arrived shortly after, with FIVE more pounds of fresh beans, courtesy of my Mom and Bob. GO GO GOOD GUYS!)


Those two weeks were hellish. We found ourselves wandering aimlessly, zombies in a strange land, searching everywhere for coffee. Then, one day -- SALVATION!! We spotted a sign sporting the words DIO COFFEE, and we raced inside with our bags of household items that we just purchased at the (over-priced) supermarket next door. The second we stepped inside, we knew we had made a vital mistake. We were smack in the middle of a middle-class Chinese coffee-restaurant-place. Their middle-class establishments tend to look more like our upper class, so don't picture a Starbucks-type atmosphere. Picture Jack Fry's-type atmosphere. We looked like ragamuffins, but we were desperate, and figured it couldn't hurt to look at the menu and order a coffee.


It did hurt. It hurt about. . . 78 元 worth. Two coffee drinks, roughly $12. I have never spent that much on 1 regular (about 8 oz) coffee, and a fancy mocha/ice-cream drink (Kim's order). Kim's drink was very good, mine was better than Speedway coffee, but they cost an insane amount of money. Starbucks would be envious. 


However, we could smoke inside the restaurant/coffeehouse/upscale-lounge place. So that was really nice. Smokes here are cheaper than the US, running around 7元 ($1 and a few pennies) for a pack of the brand that Kim and I both enjoy, but it is still essentially throwing money away, since there is no benefit to smoking. For the longest (read: 4 months) time, I was a devout 红双喜 (Double Happiness) smoker, but we tried 红塔山 (Red Pagoda Mountain), and they are a little lighter and smoother, and now they are our brand of choice.


Smoking on this campus makes us both very self-conscious. Nationwide, 54% of Chinese males smoke. So, not a big deal for me to smoke -- smoking doesn't make me stand out more than, say, being extremely white American does. However, this campus is composed of over 90% women. Nationwide, the numbers of female smokers in China hangs down around 2%-3%. So, a little strange for me to be smoking. However, Kim smoking is a entirely different. It really is foreign for her to smoke. China, like America, is doing a great job with anti-smoking campaigns, and young people here seem to have gotten the message, and generally don't smoke.


I ran into on of my students on the way home from eating out one night, and he was eating dinner with his parents. He introduced me to them, and we exchanged some Chinese and English pleasantries. His Dad very smoothly offered me a 红双喜 during our chat, lighting it for me. There was a pregnant pause as I inhaled, and relief as I explained how happy I was to have a 红双喜 cigarette again. Everyone was 很高兴 (happy).


Well, now we have coffee, and smokes. Life is great, we are enjoying a lot of the simple pleasures of teaching along with facing some of the difficulties. For now, I think I need a smoke and cup o' coffee.

You May Snicker, But. . . .

One of the most startling differences between China and the United States lies hidden in an seemingly innocuous little treat: 


the Snickers bar!


Last year, in Beijing, I became convinced that the Snickers in China were superior to Snickers in the US. However, I worried that this belief could be misguided due to several factors:


1. Normally I don't eat candy, and previously had shown no preferential treatment to Snickers vs., say, Butterfinger or Reese's. In fact, I have long been convinced that the perfect Blizzard from DQ is a combo of Butterfinger and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.


2. Change in overall diet: obviously, eating Chinese food constantly instead of American food could lead to a false taste test when biting into a sugar-laden Snickers. It seemed possible that my usual fare of American food, consisting of corn-starchy, sugary goodness could have resulted in a dulling of tastebuds when eating a Snickers in America -- sort of a, "Oh, gee, more sugar..." reaction from my tongue.


3. Possibly the initial novelty of it? Although, that was quickly gone when I started seeing Dove chocolates, Mars brand candy products, and tons of other candies readily available -- both Western and Eastern variety candies and sweets are plentiful.


Of course, I immediately told Kim about the awesomeness-that-couldn't-be-contained from every bite of my Chinese Snickers, and she brought her true creativity and resourcefulness to light on the situation, and suggested we buy American-produced Snickers to bring with us for a taste test! SCIENCE!

Top, Chinese Snickers. Bottom, American Snickers.

It wasn't long before we were able to find Snickers to buy here. By "wasn't long", I mean the day after we arrived, when shopping for stuff to use in the apartment. We were in Dennis, a large supermarket that sells everything from appliances to groceries, when we spotted the Snickers. You couldn't really miss the candy area, there were huge displays for Dove chocolate, various bins for Snickers, M&M's, and other assorted goodies. Imagine my thrill when I saw the price per regular-sized bar: 4 kuai! They were 5 kuai in Beijing! Course, the standard of living is lower in Jiaozuo, as obviously reflected in the price of a Snickers bar.


We immediately grabbed two to buy, and tossed them in our cart with our fuzzy blanket, hangers, sponges, "出入平安" floormat, incense, wastepaper baskets, and travel tea glass for Kim (which is already useless for tea, since it had a strainer that started to rust already -- today, we buy stainless steel innard glass tea cup things).


The first difference is in the packaging. In case it is hard to tell, the top Snickers in the photo above is the Chinese one, and the bottom is American. The Chinese Snickers packaging is definitely more festive, showing nuts exploding out of a Snickers bar, in an obvious taste bonanza. The American Snickers boasts simplicity and a reliance on name to sell the product. (Speaking of advertising, we are caught up on Mad Men now, thank you Chinese internet).


We sat down for the taste test, and unwrapped each Snickers. Notice the difference in the chocolate on top of each bar.

Left, American Snickers. Right, Chinese Snickers.

Next, we cut each in half, to take a peek inside. Notice the difference in coloring of the nougat.

Left, American Snickers. Right, Chinese Snickers.

While the American Snickers displayed precision with the even spread of nougat, placement of nuts, and overall presentation, the Chinese snickers appeared random and hastily thrown together. However, our next step shocked us.


We bit into the American Snickers first, carefully chewing our bites, noted the flavor, aroma, and consistency. We cleared our palettes with some water, preparing ourselves for tasting the Chinese Snickers. But nothing could have fully prepared us for what happened next.


As we bit into the Chinese Snickers, a double rainbow appeared! A unicorn raced through our livingroom! Our ceiling cracked, revealing the heavens above, raining kuai down upon us! Seriously, the Chinese snickers was that good. It kicked the hell out of the American Snickers. Hands down, without a doubt, our taste test has SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN that China can make a damn fine Snickers bar.


We didn't even want to finish the American Snickers, but did so because we are patriots.


Oh, we also have jobs teaching and doing real work, but will save that for another post ;). 

11 Days Later

We finally arrived in Jiaozuo after 2 days of travel. Our flights were fine, except that we had to run to make each connection, because each flight ran more and more behind schedule. Fortunately, we had 20 minutes in Norita to catch a smoke (or two). The worst part of the flight over was the 8 hour layover in Beijing. We arrived in Beijing at 10.30 PM, and our flight to Zhengzhou wasn't until 7.30 the next morning. We stayed in the Beijing airport, found a 24 hour "cafe", where we bought popcorn and coffee while we read to pass the time.

We were met in Zhengzhou by Shirley, who is a recent graduate of Jiaozuo Teachers College. She is our immediate go-to person for our apartment and living needs. She is very friendly and easy to talk to, and we have hung out with her a bit already. The drive from Zhengzhou to Jiaozuo is about 1.5 hours. It isn't especially scenic, mostly flatlands or prairie type landscape, with trees every now and then. There was a lot of corn on the sides of the roads, in the lanes for bikes and peds, since it is the end of the harvest time.

Our apartment is 2 rooms with a door between them, and they are pretty long and narrow, a lot like our living room/computer room back in Louisville. We have a nice huge bed, 2 outdoor enclosed patios for hanging clothes (and smoking when it is cold!), 3 sofas that are semi-decent, a PC w/ printer, coffee table, eating table, fridge, washing machine, bathroom w/ shower, 2 desks, plenty of wardrobes for our clothes, and some shelving units. Also, we have a TV, though we haven't watched much yet. We did watch a hilarious game show type program where the contestants had to run obstacle courses to try and win a cell phone. We learned 失败, or "fail""defeat", from the show.

Our living room. Map of China hung, Kim hanging some clothes to dry.

Free flowers the school was giving away!

 

Jiaozuo has a population of around 4 million, roughly the same size as the state of Kentucky. However, when we got on campus and settled into our apartment in the Foreign Teachers Apartment Building (Building 5), we had a chance to see the campus a little. When we are on campus, it feels like we are in a small city. The campus is located on the east side of the city, about 15 minutes bus ride from downtown. A few days ago, we took the bus to downtown Jiaozuo, and did some shopping -- downtown Jiaozuo was busy, and felt like a much bigger city. However, there is only 1 McDonalds and 2 KFCs, and no Starbucks (that we have seen yet). So, you can clearly see the city is still developing =p. 

There is a ton of construction happening all around and in the city, and lots of large fields undergoing development. The city feels like it is rapidly growing. Hopefully over the course of the year we can see some of that growth.

The public transport here seems great so far. There are a number of different bus lines and stops, and it is 1 kuai to ride the bus. But, we bought a bus card for 40 kuai that you can swipe when you get on the bus that will give you 50 rides, dropping the price to .8 kuai per ride. 

There are several bus stops right outside our campus main gate, along with a little night market every night that sells some snacks, clothes, bags, fruit, and very random assortment of items (for example, we are most likely heading back tonight to nab a cactus we saw there). Just beyond that, across the street, is a block of restaurants and convenience shops and a morning market. The morning market is pretty awesome, selling fresh meat hanging up in stands, vegetables (the carrots here are the size of my forearm, ridiculous!), and other food every morning.

Campus life is pretty active. There are about 20,000 students, and two campuses that are connected to each other; Jiaozuo University and Jiaozuo Teachers College. We are mainly teaching at Jiaozuo Teachers College, but we may have some classes on a third campus, which we can get to via shuttle. Our campus is mainly women, probably 90% -- there are 5 women dorms and half a dorm for men. Each room in the student dorms sleeps 6 people. The freshmen are undergoing military training for the past couple weeks, so it is pretty fun to see thousands of women and a few men dressed in fatigues running around all day.

We were given one schedule for teaching so far, for the sophomore classes, but only the even week schedule. One week is even, the next odd, and so on. The schedule confused the crap out of us, and I think it also confused the head of the English department who was assigning it to us. They let us decide who was teaching the sophomores and who would teach the freshmen, so Kim took the sophomores. She has already taught 3 classes (each class is 2 hours long, 2 segments of 50 minutes each), and she likes her classes, but it will take a lot of prep work to think of fun activities to do each time. Her students have excellent vocabulary, but for most it is their first time hearing a native-English speaker, so she is fielding requests to slow down her speaking. Most of the students are very active and want to participate.

We haven't had to do much actual work yet, with only 3 classes and another break coming up this week (National Holiday, from Oct 1 - 8). We had a break for Mid-Autumn Festival the week we arrived, and we went to Kaifeng for a couple days. After Oct 8, no more breaks until New Years (US) for us. This week is an odd week, and since they don't have our odd week schedules yet, and no Freshman schedule for me (until after Oct 8), we are free until Oct 8. Pretty sweet way to start our time in China!

Chomping on a chicken leg in Kaifeng. It tasted juicy and delicious. So juicy SWEET!

Our trip to Kaifeng was great. We took a bus for 39 kuai each, and stayed in a hotel whose bathroom smelled like a sewer pipe exploded. Right outside our hotel, though, was a lively night market that had plenty of lamb, local specialties, and ice cream that Kim loved. We saw several historical sites and parks in Kaifeng, including Iron Pagoda (铁塔）, Long Ting Park (龙亭公园）, Chief Ministers Building (大相国楼）, and the city wall (which was a little disappointing, especially when compared to Nanjing). Also, we had requests for photos with Kim and me, and I decided to snap one as well. Here is some random Chinese girl with Kim!

Kim has a theory that snapshots of foreigners are traded like baseball cards. It has yet to be disproved.

Yesterday we went to Zhengzhou for our medical examinations, part of securing our residence permits. The whole exam took about 30 minutes, and we were whisked from station to station to do things like ENT tests, ECGs, Xrays, ultrasounds (turns out I am not pregnant, thank god), blood tests, and a urine sample. To get a medical exam, you have to give them a 2x2 inch photo of yourself with your submitted paperwork. They take more pictures as your paperwork is processed, and the whole exam was a little under 300 kuai each. Pretty impressive and painless, overall.

Our favorite part was the plastic shoeguards we had to put on to go into the ultrasound room. Our best guess is that they help keep the cot you lay down on clean....

One Week to Go!

Well, our documents arrived from China, and we sent our visa apps in yesterday. Should receive our visas tomorrow or Friday. Currently looking at leaving next week, Wednesday, though still working out the fine details for the flights.

We spent a very relaxing weekend at a cabin in Tennessee with Mom, Bob, Grandma, my sister Kathy, my sister Marian and her husband, Mike, and their two kids, Sven and Brynja. The stars at night were amazing, could clearly see the Milky Way. Was great to spend time with family before leaving for China.

Documents, Plane Tickets, Books, Colds

It seems like I was sick last year at this exact same time -- I remember dreading getting on the plane to China for a semester at 北京大学 while showing flu symptoms. After we arrived back in Louisville, I started feeling sick again. Feels like an annual cold, but mine are never light -- usually accompanied by swollen glands, clogged ears, and low fevers. Good times! Really irritating, since we are going to a cabin this weekend with Mom, Bob, Marian, Mike, Sven & Brynja. I hope it is gone by Friday, and not worse.

Talked with Zhang Weimin last night, and our documents are in the mail! Should take 4-5 days for them to arrive, and then we can apply for our visa. We are still holding off on purchasing the plane tickets, since we need to make sure the documents are exactly right for the visa. Of course, plane tickets have gone from $650 to $850 (one-way) in the last 2 weeks, but that can't be helped.

I just finished reading Peter Hessler's "Country Driving", a narrative non-fiction about his time in China. I enjoyed the read, but sometimes I felt some like he had some rather narrow, standard-fare views on Chinese policy, culture, etc. Or that possibly he was simply condescending and reducing a nation using silly anecdotes distilled into gross generalizations. The problem with this book (and author) doing this is that he is a distinguished and well-respected journalist, thereby creating the mythos in many readers that a window has been opened, offering a "rare" glimpse behind the "iron grips" of the Party. Most seemed to reinforce the grand narrative that the Western media seems to thrive upon, of Chinese people vs. Chinese government.

I highly recommend anyone who is interested in thinking critically about China, perspectives, and/or ethical/responsible writing to read these comments, posted on a page showing an interview with Hessler. If you scroll down a little, you will see the start of the comments by Jack Cameron -- who I think is very accurate and brings extremely important issues to light in a manner that academia and the media is unaccustomed to exposing. It is a long read, but very worth reading.

That being said, I did enjoy "Country Driving". Kim, meanwhile, has barreled through "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb. Feels like we are re-discovering reading for enjoyment now that school is (for now) over.

I've Got Blisters on My Fingers

Been in Stewartville, a "city" outside of Rochester in Minnesota, for the past couple days. We are staying with Dad and Megan, and having an awesome time. Stewartville has just over 5,000 people, but I think I have seen 3 of them. The airport in Rochester is called the "Rochester International Airport", but I have seen motels that are bigger. There was one baggage carousel, a desk with 3 people "working", and about 6 chairs. Not quite as small as the airport we flew into on an island in Belize (San Pedro), which was just a landing strip (read: gravel thrown over some weeds) and an outdoor sign promising that you were at an airport. At least Rochester has a building.



Dad and Megan's house has a huge wooden deck that overlooks a park and some cornfields. Quite different than what we are used to looking at when we smoke outside.

I did get to play the cello for the first time in many, many years. It was great to play again, but I was only able to practice for about 30 minutes before my fingers and thumb started to blister. Today we are heading in to Minneapolis for the day.

The Art of Packing

Our plane for Rochester, MN, leaves in about 7 hours. We just started packing. Here is the secret to successful packing for any trip:


1. Invite both brother-in-laws over to play Call of Duty.
2. Take lots of cigarette breaks while formulating half-thought out lists of what to pack, i.e. "clothes" and "maybe something to do on the plane".
3. Watch an episode of "The Tick".


Today I helped Zhang Nan, son of our future boss in Jiaozuo, find a place to live in Louisville for a couple months. He is in town visiting his mother's college friend. We had a good time showing him around Louisville last week, and letting him play some Starcraft 2 (which, btw, should have made it onto our "how to succeed at packing" list). Here are a photo of us tearing up Louisville.

VPN

Doing some research on which VPN to use. Used GoTrusted while I was there last semester, but it was slow at times (anyone remember Martin's crazed behavior when it came to our internet access?). So far, Witopia keeps coming up as a good, solid VPN service, and it runs about $40/year, which seems decent.

Any other suggestions from those who have used one?

Heading to Minneapolis

Tomorrow we are heading to Rochester, outside of Minneapolis, to see Dad and Megan. Excited to see their new home, from the pictures it looks like there is a huge porch. We will be heading in to Minneapolis for a day also, and are really looking forward to seeing them and relaxing.

Kim and I in our regalia. Notice my ode to Doctor #10 with the burns.

Also, finished watching "The End of Time: Part 1 & 2" last night -- the last of Season 4 Doctor Who, and the last of David Tennant's role of the Doctor. Kim, Robert and I were impatient to watch season 5, which comes out in the US while we are in China, so I checked a favorite Chinese "youtube" type site, and we found the 5th season, subtitled in Chinese. Hooked up the laptop through HDMI to our TV, and we started the 5th season. Kim may disagree, but atm my favorite Doctor is David Tennant.

Making Preparations

Where am I? In my kitchen making cedar satchels.

We are going to have to put a lot of our belongings in storage including many clothes and my yarn stash! We are going to store these items with cedar satchels to protect them from bugs that may think stored clothes are an awesome place to live.

Lets hope it works!

(For fun, try saying cedar satchels ten times fast.)

Where's Pippin?

Pippin is staying behind with Robert, Kim's brother. Pippin and Robert have a long history, mainly consisting of Pippin eating Robert's shoes. We know that Pippin will be in safe hands with Robert watching over her (and our home!). However, we also know that Robert will never read this blog. Hell, he still doesn't have a cell phone. Let's hope he fixes this while we are gone!

Be sure and take our "Should Robert join the 20th century and get a cell phone?" poll!