another word from the blogging machine.

I must say this: blogging twice in one week may be some sort of personal record. For those of you who wait daily in eager anticipation for the next words of wisdom and humor from China, don't get your hopes up. This will most likely never happen again. It's not even that I have much to say...it's that I just had a large mug of liquid energy (coffee), and am ready to conquer the world. In about 20 minutes, I will be able to do nothing other than lay around like a big lazy mess, so I must take advantage while I can. Also, there are a few dear people to whom I owe e-mails...trust me, I WILL get there. Soon.

But for now...more tales from China. On Tuesday of this week, my laoshi (laoshi is Chinese for teacher) invited my classmate Heidi and I to her parent's apartment to make jiaozi (a famous Chinese dumpling). It is times like this that I LOVE living in China. After class, the three of us made the trek from our school to ShangDi (one subway stop away). We arrived at her parent's place to a warm greeting from her mom, friend, and about 3 other people (maybe they were cousins? friends?). Anyway, I loooove Chinese hospitality. We were urged to sit down and relax in the cool airconditioning while her mom and company got everything ready to make jiaozi. We were served drinks, a barrage of yummy treats, and basically treated like royalty. AND THEN...the jiaozi was ready to make. Hopefully my laoshi will send me pictures soon so I can post them, and you can see. Making jiaozi is involves the use of small flour-based pancake-like things, of which you put in your hand and then put in the stuffing of your choosing (we had pork and celery). THEN, using special care and a lot of skill, you gently pinch the outsides together to make a dumpling. Once you put the jiaozi together, it must then be boiled to cook the meat inside. All in all, we probably made about 200 jiaozi (enough to feed a small army...or Heidi at least :). We were jiaozi machines. Most people choose to dump their jiaozi in either vinegar or soy sauce. Regardless of your sauce choice, the jiaozi is delish, and maybe one of my favorite chinese foods. Mmm, hen hao chi. (very delicious).
After the jiaozi, we sat around and chatted (meaning I sat there and smiled and nodded while everyone around me spoke Chinese, and tried to ask me questions that I couldn't answer). And then, our laoshi's friend/cousin/relation played us a beautiful song on this Chinese instrument (and, of course, I can't remember what its called...but you would most likely recognize it). It was great. I love being around Chinese people (hence, the reason I live here).

In other exciting and much anticipated news...WE FOUND AN APARTMENT. If you can't tell my the capital letters, I feel very happy about this. Yesterday we did a lot of looking; some places were OK, some were about the caliber of my last apartment (for those of you who visited, you know this means it was practically unlivable). SO, after much searching, deliberating, number crunching, and fighting with potential landlords...we landed a place. Pip and I are excited, and feel blessed to have found a relatively good space. In comparison with most Chinese apartments, it is great; no cracked floor tiles, the bathroom sink and shower drain into a DRAIN (no icky water floating on the floor). The living room is spacious, the place is clean, there is good light. It even came with a big, jolly buddha (unfortunately, he doesn't quite fit the look we're going for, so he'll have to go...) I will post pictures once we settle in.
Now that we found a place, I feel that I can officially offer you a place to stay. If you are even considering an Asian visit...consider it more seriously, because you now have a place to stay in a great location! We have an extra mattress, and truly hope that our place will be welcoming to all who wish to visit.

Ok, as promised...I'm crashing fast. I think my afternoon nap is calling my name (eat your heart out full-time employees, I can sleep during the day!).

much love and misses,
k