Hello one and all,
It's fast approaching the holiday known to China as 圣诞节 (ShengDanJie), which is an Anglicization of 'Santa Holiday'. Christmas is a scant 2 days away, and here I am 6000 km away from my family and friends at home in Canada.
As my first Christmas away from home, this is a bit of a shaky part of the trip. It's going to suck to miss pretty much everything associated with the biggest North American holiday of the year (barring, of course, my birthday). Egg nog, fantastic food, friends, family, drinking and yes even shopping. My plans for Christmas Eve involve the same thing I do every Wednesday (pub quiz).
On that note, my Dad will be pleased to know that he indirectly helped us win first place 2 weeks ago. There was a round on acronyms, and one of the questions (worth 4 points!) was say what all the grades of Cognac were! V.S., X.O., V.S.O.P., I nailed 'em all because Dad knows his cognac. We won the Jack Daniels and then shared it, which might not have been a great idea.
Anyhow, the last week or two has been great by turns and not so great by other turns. Had to say goodbye to a couple really good friends I've made. It's been pointed out by some of the wiser people I've met that this will always be the worst thing about travelling. Meeting amazing people and then leaving them (or them leaving you) soon after. I'm noticing more and more that even though some of these folks are amazing and the sort of people I'd like to have around all the time, most of them I won't even see again once I step foot on a plane home. It's a very, very saddening fact, but sort of makes me want to spend as much time with the friends I've met as I can.
Regardless of all that melancholy, I've got Christmas in 2 days. So far my plans consist of the following: Ice Skating with Sarah because she's never been. It's been fairly damned cold in Beijing of late, with last Sunday getting to -13 in the day (with a ridiculous wind making it worse). I know you folk in Calgary are suffering through worse, and I frequently remind people that Canada is in fact much colder than this. That's why I'm not bundled up like crazy. You should see the Aussie's out here; they're in full length parkas with toques and gloves and scarves. All this because of some wind and a little chill. Cultural differences I tell you.
Anyhow, I'm about to go lay in bed and watch a movie before trying to drift to sleep. I've been having some fairly serious issues with insomnia of late. It's coming and going, mostly involving the tossing and turning until 2:00am before I drift off to sleep. Either way, it's getting a bit better, so that's all well and good.
Thanks for reading folks. I'll post on Christmas night (here), which is the morning for you all.
Hope everyone is all well and good and seasons greetings to all,
Love Nathan
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Another!
Well, like I expected, I’ve been lax in updating this blog. For that, I apologize. Not even really sure who outside my immediate family reads it, but for what it’s worth the apology is sincere.
Really, there hasn’t been much going on that is of too much interest in the last 2 weeks that’s been worth posting.
I really did intend on going out with a motographer and getting a ton of motographs so you all could see me, the mo and Beijing. Unfortunately, a combination of bad weather, extremely itchy facial hair and lack of willing personnel meant that I could only really provide one crappy self-shot of the mo right before it got shaven off. It’s attached below, along with some miscellaneous (bad) photos snapped during the time I had the moustache.
In other body hair news, I did get a haircut. Finally. After going over 2.5 months without trimming or doing anything with my mop-top, I decided that it’s just hair and if it was REALLY bad I would just shave it and wear a toque. 8 kuai later (CAD $1.46 for you at home), I was the proud owner of a half-decent cut from a young man in the barbershop below my classroom.
Laundry side note: If you don’t clean a towel for long enough, it becomes stiff enough to poke someone with it. Ask my roommate. It also starts to smell funky. I’m currently doing laundry and stewing my towel in a cocktail of laundry soap and boiling water. Who knows if it’s going to work. It’s not like towels are a pricey commodity; I paid a whopping 15块 for mine, so I’m not going to be heartbroken if I have to buy a new one.
Other than that, I guess the only really significant updates are having to do with money and sleep. Namely that I’ve got less and less of either.
I’ve been sleeping less and less lately. For some reason, no matter what time I go to bed or what I do before I hit the hay, I just toss and turn for hours before finally nodding off. This usually results in me obliviously sleeping right through my alarm and missing a class or two in the mornings. I don’t really know what’s going on there, but I’m open to suggestions for helping me get to sleep.
Moneywise, I’ve tried my damndest to stick to a budget while in Beijing, and I largely have. Unfortunately, going away parties and a social life have slowly chewed away at my funds. A Canadian dollar worth about 20% less than what it was when I arrived does NOT help (though it means the MASSIVE chunk of money I get back from my dorm payment is more favorably exchanged into Canadian). I have enough left to get me through if I’m REALLY stingy and don’t buy anything big, but like I said it’s getting less and less. I haven’t touched my line of credit or my credit card yet though, so there’s always options. I’m not destitute and it’s not like I’m nickel-and-diming myself out of a good time, so most of it’s just needless obsessing.
Other than that, not much exciting in the land of Me. I DID get to make a bizarre but tasty “Pumpkin Style Dessert” one of my classmates had received from home in America despite her hating pumpkin pie. So Sarah and I made ‘Dorm-Pie’. It was a weird, weird texture but really tasty. It certainly managed to assuage my pumpkin pie cravings, which is something I’m really missing. Then I remembered Egg Nog and almost cried.
Anyways, as you can see it’s going fairly well. I’m going to tell you all now that I will update sooner. Hopefully I will hold to that promise this time!
Off to see how my towel-stew is going. Hopefully more flexible and less odorous.
Hope this finds you all well,
Nathan
Really, there hasn’t been much going on that is of too much interest in the last 2 weeks that’s been worth posting.
I really did intend on going out with a motographer and getting a ton of motographs so you all could see me, the mo and Beijing. Unfortunately, a combination of bad weather, extremely itchy facial hair and lack of willing personnel meant that I could only really provide one crappy self-shot of the mo right before it got shaven off. It’s attached below, along with some miscellaneous (bad) photos snapped during the time I had the moustache.
In other body hair news, I did get a haircut. Finally. After going over 2.5 months without trimming or doing anything with my mop-top, I decided that it’s just hair and if it was REALLY bad I would just shave it and wear a toque. 8 kuai later (CAD $1.46 for you at home), I was the proud owner of a half-decent cut from a young man in the barbershop below my classroom.
Laundry side note: If you don’t clean a towel for long enough, it becomes stiff enough to poke someone with it. Ask my roommate. It also starts to smell funky. I’m currently doing laundry and stewing my towel in a cocktail of laundry soap and boiling water. Who knows if it’s going to work. It’s not like towels are a pricey commodity; I paid a whopping 15块 for mine, so I’m not going to be heartbroken if I have to buy a new one.
Other than that, I guess the only really significant updates are having to do with money and sleep. Namely that I’ve got less and less of either.
I’ve been sleeping less and less lately. For some reason, no matter what time I go to bed or what I do before I hit the hay, I just toss and turn for hours before finally nodding off. This usually results in me obliviously sleeping right through my alarm and missing a class or two in the mornings. I don’t really know what’s going on there, but I’m open to suggestions for helping me get to sleep.
Moneywise, I’ve tried my damndest to stick to a budget while in Beijing, and I largely have. Unfortunately, going away parties and a social life have slowly chewed away at my funds. A Canadian dollar worth about 20% less than what it was when I arrived does NOT help (though it means the MASSIVE chunk of money I get back from my dorm payment is more favorably exchanged into Canadian). I have enough left to get me through if I’m REALLY stingy and don’t buy anything big, but like I said it’s getting less and less. I haven’t touched my line of credit or my credit card yet though, so there’s always options. I’m not destitute and it’s not like I’m nickel-and-diming myself out of a good time, so most of it’s just needless obsessing.
Other than that, not much exciting in the land of Me. I DID get to make a bizarre but tasty “Pumpkin Style Dessert” one of my classmates had received from home in America despite her hating pumpkin pie. So Sarah and I made ‘Dorm-Pie’. It was a weird, weird texture but really tasty. It certainly managed to assuage my pumpkin pie cravings, which is something I’m really missing. Then I remembered Egg Nog and almost cried.
Anyways, as you can see it’s going fairly well. I’m going to tell you all now that I will update sooner. Hopefully I will hold to that promise this time!
Off to see how my towel-stew is going. Hopefully more flexible and less odorous.
Hope this finds you all well,
Nathan
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