Times, They Are A'Changin'!

When I first came on internship in 2002, there was very little evidence to be found anywhere of Christmas. No decorations, no music, no Christmas lights or Christmas section in the store. No stockings. We had to go to the material market, find something red (not hard) or green (not easy) that could be used for a stocking. Corduroy and silk were our favored materials. Then we had to draw a stocking pattern to scale so they could attempt to make it. We had a lot of failed attempts before settling on some slightly-off-kilter stockings.

When I moved here in 2006, there was a little bit of Christmas cheer. Every once in a while you'd see a cardboard Santa face hanging in a restaurant window or on a door with "Merry Christmas" underneath. Some were left up year round. There were a few stalls in a local market that sold Christmas decorations. But the decorations were...different...than what we have in the states. Knitted parachuting Santas with enormous blue eyes. Stockings with witches on them. Think weird and tacky and multiply it by about 20 and that's what could be found in those few Christmas stalls at the market, the only place to buy Christmas things.

Fast forward to 2009. There are Christmas decorations in many big stores. Some of the markets have handfuls of stalls dedicated to selling Christmas decorations. The weird and the tacky can still be found, but even those are improving. And there are a few places where really nice, classy Christmas stuff can be found. More and more businesses decorate for Christmas, shopping centers are decorated, big hotels have Christmas tree lighting ceremonies.

Some of the Christmas trees that have been decorated outside businesses and shopping centers look ridiculous... to a westerner. But until you live in a country that has NO Christmas, you don't realize how much we come to value the music on the radio and in every public place, the decorations, the movies on TV, the night drives to see Christmas lights. And even those ridiculous looking Christmas trees can bring a little Christmas cheer on a cold, dusty, gloomy brown day. Yeah, I know it's not about presents and commercialism.

Yesterday I walked into a grocery store here (one of the biggest ones around) and couldn't keep from smiling. They were playing Christmas music. Commercialism may be the driving force behind the growth of decorating for Christmas, but the truth of Christmas is also being introduced.

Times, they are a'changin'!

Time to MOVE!!!

I'm not a picky person. But when I was house hunting last year, I felt like it. But really, I had only 1 absolute condition that an apartment had to meet: NO CRITTERS.

I wanted a place that would be a comfortable place for guests to be, but was surrounded by a local community.

I didn't need conveniences nearby- any local shop and hole-in-the-wall restaurant is fine with me.

I didn't even need a toilet! My first apartment (in the south) as well as the second half of my internship in 2002-2003 I had only squatty potties. I can deal with that, no problem. Although I realize that lack of a real toilet may mean lack of comfort for guests.

Well, I was blessed to find the most amazing apartment in the world last year (ok, I saw a LOT of unpleasant places, so I'm a bit biased) and I have enjoyed living here FULLY since then. The building is new, and the owner has similar taste to me and I actually LIKED the way she decorated it.

I've had many guests come and stay with me, and I think they've all felt comfortable.

But a very unfortunate thing has happened. Some VERY unwanted guests have recently shown up unannounced. One each week for the last three weeks. Cockroaches.

Now, for those of you who know me, you know I don't do bugs. At all. The very second I see a bug I'm fighting to keep my lunch down and running (screaming) away as fast as I can.

My very first reaction to seeing the first one was "AHHHHHH!!! I'M MOVING OUT!" I've managed to conquer all three of these ugly critters without "incident." But all three have been in different rooms of my apartment, making it difficult to figure out where, exactly, they're coming from...and where to put killer-trap-poison-thingies.

I'm thankful that I have heat in my oh-so-amazing apartment, but...yeah...critters like warm places. I don't know how many more I can handle. I know-I'm a baby.

Priceless

Remember the commercials where you see a few different items and their prices? Then you see something special (like "decorating the Christmas tree as a family") and the price is "priceless"? Well, I had a priceless experience last week.

I was sitting at Starbucks (that, in itself, is priceless). I was looking outside watching all the people coming and going. Then I saw a bunch of workers walk by, each carrying an armload of beautiful, but fake, fall-colored leaves.

Now, I know "the powers that be" control the weather... and I can't even count how many times I've walked outside in the morning and wondered how all the vegetation changed overnight... or if I was just more unobservant than I thought. (one day this spring I saw workers finishing the overnight tranformation work of replacing all the bushes in my compound with fully bloomed bushes)

Back to Starbucks: In the hour and a half that followed, I watched the workers as they twist-tied those fake leaves to the already barren bushes outside. I think I should start checking closely when I see beautiful flowers or plants, to see if they're real.

Fake leaves: $10.
Adding fall color to the boring grayness of winter: PRICELESS.

FREE!!!

It has been so long since I've been able to access my blog. Occasionally I was able to get to my blog, but never able to actually DO anything here...except look. But, for now, a "hole" has been made in the wall that has kept me away. So I'm going to try to remember to get back on here every once in a while to post stories and updates.

Some friends of mine

I know, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I've been trying to think of something interesting to blog about, and finally found something to share!

I was on cnn.com this morning, just reading some headlines (I rarely ever get past the headlines), and I noticed a picture of some Chinese kids and two kids that looked almost western. The first thought that came to my mind was "who are those kids?" Then I noticed, in the corner of the photo, it said the name of the person who took the picture. Immediately I realized who the kids were-that person's kids...kids I see every Sunday. I clicked on the photo to read the rest of the story and (although I haven't finished reading the article yet) was surprised to see that the story was about people I know!

So, I wanted to share:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/10/quake.orphans/index.html

It's a small world!

新年快乐！Happy New Year!

Well, it's New Year's Eve here (Jan 25). We're about to usher in a new year-the year 4707! :)

So, to honor the occasion, I thought I'd give you a taste of Spring Festival (New Year's is during the Spring Festival)

Lanterns are everywhere. They can be found hanging along the street, in doorways, along sidewalks, in homes, restaurants, stores.

This is what I see at night from my living room window. In the city there are a lot of rules and regulations regarding fireworks, so they aren't nearly as frequent or numerous as in other cities I have lived in, but I still enjoy having a glittering skyline.

This is the year of the Ox...so, I thought I'd show you a few New Year's greetings as well:

I'll be celebrating with some American friends who live outside the city. We'll eat dumplings and other goodies, stay up til midnight, when we'll go out and watch fireworks!

My Ghost Town

So. It's almost Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). It's like a ghost town around my place. Everyone has gone back to their hometowns for the holidays. The shops are all closed up...metal sliding doors cover the normal glass doors. The street that's usually packed with cars, bikes, and people is empty...except for me. the lonely foreigner. And the few others who haven't left (or can't).

I feel like I'm living in a movie-one of those old westerns where the bandit comes to town and everyone disappears, holes up inside with boards over the windows...and the creepy music plays and a tumbleweed blows by. No tumbleweeds here, just dust swirls. Yesterday I was thinking "wow, this street is so big today..." Then I realized that there were no cars driving, no bikes and people and the usual rows and rows of parked "bread vans" are all gone. So for the first time, I can actually SEE the road.

The people who own my new favorite eating place have gone back to their hometown... fortunately I got in for one last meal there before they took off. The bus that I take everyday, which is usually packed and busting at the seams (literally...they open the door and people fall out. Then those people get back on and 15 new people squeeze on too)...is now nearly empty. Not only do I have room to breathe on the bus, I could even sit if I wanted to!

I've been watching more tv lately. Finding good tv shows and variety shows on tv. This morning I realized that the things I see have become normal. I don't think it strange at all to see the hosts come on in sequence and sparkly outfits and do things Americans would only do when they're completely drunk off their rocker.



Somehow the crazy antics don't seem out of place to me anymore. These are normal, everyday variety show scenes. And yet when I try to think about what a "normal" american would think when watching these shows, my first thought is "why isn't this normal? why don't we do funny things like this on tv?" I don't understand everything, but I understand enough that when I laugh, I'm laughing for the same reason as the audience...I'm not really an outsider...yet I still am. It's a strange feeling.

'Tis the Season

Oh how I love packages...the suspense of finding out what kind of goodies are hidden inside! And I've been fortunate enough to receive 3 packages this holiday season (the holiday season for me starts with Thanksgiving and ends with my bday on Jan. 4).

Check out my goodies!

Pictures of my birthday cake (compliments of my Chinese little sister's parents) are to come (I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to get them off of someone else's).