Random, Quite Random

If you know me very well, you probably know that I can be kind of random. So here’s a bunch of random, completely unrelated thoughts and observations...

- Should I be disturbed that I am starting to feel at home in a country in which I don’t even know how to say the colors?

- Sometimes old Chinese men wear big, dark glasses and when they stare at you they look just like the Godfather. Scary, I know.

- A group of my students got 2nd place at a school-wide English short-play competition. I feel like a proud parent.

- Yesterday Christina and I made this amazing pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Admittedly, it was good. And it was southern: BBQ chicken, sweet potatoes, peas, angel biscuits, pumpkin pie, and sweet tea. The biscuits were a little weird (no shortening in China), but the sweet potatoes were almost as good as when my aunt Kay makes them.

- The best part of Thanksgiving is after the meal and the hour of washing dishes when you settle back with coffee and another piece of pumpkin pie. I’ll miss that.

- I think living in China has made me more confident. For one thing, when almost every person who walks by you gives you the stare-down, you have to learn to just stare back.

- I think I’m more self-conscious and less self-conscious at the same time. I realize that people are watching me every where I go. I also realize that I can do pretty much whatever I want and it gets chalked off to being a crazy foreigner.

- Tip of the day: Bubble-wrap works great for sealing holes in walls.

- Whereas I think, “it would be sweet to have a dryer,” my students are awed and amazed that I have a washing machine. They wish they didn’t have to wash clothes by hand.

- I think that when I go back to America I’ll be really confused about being in a country where you can drink water from the sink and flush toilet paper and wear shoes inside.

- I’m going to Xian (think terra-cotta warriors) this week, and I’m not sure who is more excited: me, or my students when I told them about it!