State of the Union

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