FAQ before the new year

When are you coming home?
-Last week of april, haven't bought the ticket yet.

Where are you living now?
-In my second apt on Hami lu, with a roomie named chris from wisconsin

Are you still with that toy company?
-Yes. until Jan 15th

Then what will you do?
-I will continue the freelance work, study mandarin harder, and keeping options open for job opps.

You don't speak mandarin yet??
-no. I can get home and read pin yin, but still have about 2% comprehension(depending on who's talking)

What are you up to now?

I just got home from the mall with my friends; we got these shirts made for New Year's where we each have a word on our shirt(baby blue with white letters). I'm "year". Also talked about reflecting on this past year via reading journal entries, blogs, and how we've changed and such.

It's raining out, and it took a long time to get to my area from breakfast this morning. Two of us fell asleep in the cab, with the terrible traffic. I'm journaling some now, doing laundry, and still thinking of clever things to stick in my package home. In a few minutes Timon will call from hawaii to tell how wonderful life is... haha!

shen ma?

my co-worker: Kristina. How do you say? (motioning to scissors)
K: Scissors!
coworker: Scissors! ok. scissors.
K: How do you say in chinese?
coworker: what?
K: How do you say in chinese? zhe ge zen me shoa?(motioning to scissors)
coworker: bu dong, I dont' know english!

ok. I think we're about at the same level of understand each other, which is maybe 5%.

m y f i l m

I have about 15 minutes on my film!! I've been collecting small sequences 20 seconds or longer of random intriguing things. I've having a lot of fun seeing the year in review, as well as hearing everyone's little commentaries that get trapped in the camera. I'm using iMovie, (I've never done this before) and its all smooshy and disorganized, but I think once I add some chinesey music, it'll tie it together.

If you wish to see it, I'll have to burn you CD and ship it.

i've got clips of:

-riding home in a pedi-cab during a lightning storm and almost getting hit by a car
-olympics track finals
-a man sticking his hand in the fire to bake biscuts
-a newlywed couple going into their apt
-new year's fireworks

c h r i s t m a s

Christmas morning!!! Cole joined jess, chris, and myself for brunch. I made french toast and bacon, and jess made potatoes n eggs!!! it was delicious! Cole even bought us pokemon-kungfu-panda-transformers! ps, i stole this photo from cole, even tho chris took it.


I opened my presents via webcam with my mom and fam back home. This awesome triceratops was knitted by the one and only L-ray!


Our humble little christmas bush.



Gingerbread house chris and jess bought me : )



This is alicia. She's my christmas pal!!! we had dinner together, then baked sugar cookies! And she taught me a new song, "I'm gettin nuttin for christmas...." lol
(I've got it on video) and so then Chris and Jess busted in and he goes, "I want you to meet me new fiancée!!" woot! congrats! He proposed to her right outside our complex, where there's a gazebo covered in vines and decorated with christmas lights!! yay!!!

The new xanga?

Is blogger the new xanga?

I jt recently figured out how to "follow" my friend's blogs and be all connected and the likes. Right now I have everyone's blogs and my fav tech/design/art blogs on google reader, which, for some reason comes out in chinese at work(?) but having another avenue works well too! Usually I can't get in ANY blogs from china, but using google reader or this dealie works, PLUS I can see the photos people post too. rad!

Merry Christmas!

Cheers to learning new things!

more photos!

Timon is from Oregon. He grew up on a blueberry farm. (these aren't his, but we thought it was ironic)




This girl is wearing YELLOW PANTS. unbelievable! (because yellow is such a bright color, not b/c my boss said that yellow means something else in chinese..)


Pocket pants. These were really crazy cargo pants. You know how they make boxy corners on some exterior pockets, so its like a fabric paper bag-ish? well these were huge. And had all these latches and metal buttons and pockets.


Learning to write my name in chinese! Lee yeut ai. Sometimes my co-workers call me by my chinese name, and it takes me a while to figure out their saying my name....



I like this photo, taken at the expat show, this only something consulate building.

photos post!

Pattern. I love patterns- symmetrical, repeating, and so I've been capturing some. This one is from a temple thingy we saw in suzhou one weekend.it's tetrisy, even but not too grid-like.


This is one of the tops that I designed!!! I drew a little sketch(which i should've taken a photo of) and then picked out the colors. Its supposed to become a V-neck if you unbutton the top button, but they put white interfacing on the inside to keep the knit from stretching too weird. It fits perfect and I love it!



My cousin megan came to visit in Nov!!! it was SO much fun. Here we're gettin a snack before venturing into Qipu lu, the crazy shopping street.



And this last photo is of the church on Hengshan rd. Its quite beautiful, and huge, and surprisingly well heated in the winter. A congregation of about 2,000 folks form 60 nations.

Christmas eve

one day til christmas!

We've got our christmas bush, the lights don't work anymore : (
and I've got one package from my mom that i'm saving for christmas morning.

Saturday had a pre christmas day which included watching my beloved "rudolph" stop motion animated feature, which was cute and funny like always, "I'm a misfit... who would want a train and caboose with square wheels?" and Rudolph's nose beeping like a radar.

We handed out bananas with a "merry christmas!" in chinese, some oranges, and cookies to the drycleaners who mend all our clothes. The dry cleaning girl looked at the cookies and asked what they were. Timon said something to the extent of, "Its really sweet, and there's chocolate," in chinese.

and hit Twocities gallery in the evening, where i was disspointed we missed the caroling, not that I could even sing. My throat has been all sore and congested since I got my flu vacinne last saturday!

I have so many pictures i need to post... regarding fashion and the likes...

Planning a de-tox weekend over the lunar new year holiday.

Fashion

How to dress like a local:

a. Wear your pajamas out. I've even seen ladies with their heels + jammies on going to get the morning paper.


b. if your a girl, you have to wear really tight jeans with high heeled boots on the outside, and a semi baggy top that is one size fits all and goes over your hips, and a big chunky belt. If there's buttons anywhere, they are HUGE, and somtimes hot glued on. You have a stuffed animal for a cell phone charm, which is sometimes worn around your neck. You like bright colors and highlights, and sideways ponytails. Oh, and perms!

c. if your a guy, you wear tight jeans too, plus your girlfriend's huge plasticy handbag with matching stuffed animal keychain, and about 10 shopping bags.

d.You wear clothes depicting your trade. (i.e. I sat next to man with a construction helmet and power drill in hand) Or you come onto the train with buckets of things. Things.

The 11th

14 more days until christmas. My roommate and me bought lights for our "tree" today and have it up in our living room. It's a fake tree that came with the apt, with bunches of 1" fuzzy berries scattered throughout. Most of the ornaments here were pretty tacky, but ended up with one little gingerbread "cookie" ornament. When we're done, I'll post pictures. sigh. what a sad little tree! The leaves don't start until about my hip, so you see all this fake trunk mounted in its "pot" which is thin plastic....

And, our washing machine broke, so my clothes are sopping wet, and dripping everywhere.. I cranked up the heater but I'm still so mad at this machine! My hands are tired from trying to wring out the water.

A Christmas present you'll never forget.

My roomate(american) is sending his mom duck tongue for christmas(among other strange chinese snacks).

My heart goes out to her.

addendum:

One of my most memorable gifts was recieving the standard flimsy macy's box, and opening it to find a "Pagemaker 5.0" box inside, and my dad giggling, since it was him, of course, who wrapped my present. I was a little surprised, but not really. My dad is a sneaky man. (Inside the Pagemaker box was the gift(which I can't remember, but I can still picture the Pagemaker box in my mind)

Day 10

Its day of december, I have still yet to get any christmas decor. I have samples of fake grass on my desk at work, that are like patches of fur taken from a christmas tree.

The weather is bright and the breeze is small- perfect weather for a picnic(with a coat!) WE had picnic monday with our 5rmb fried chicken snadwiches we got off a hole in the wall shop, and sat in the nearby park where all the old people and babies hang out. The babies- oh! They bundle them up like the little boy from "A christmas story," so they can't barely move any of their body parts, even if they wanted to. haha, and all you cna see is their little face, and sometimes their behinds(through the squatty pants)

I won't be coming home for christmas, and who knows when I'll head back to the states... when my money runs out, I suppose!

Today is the ninth

Hit Loushanguan for dinner.... and found a new great resturant!

afforadable western food at L. Vannamei bbq and tapas. They had an impressive menu chock full of shrimp dishes, 12 rmb pastas, as well as a long drink menu including milkshakes, and huashan bingsha(peanut shaved ice).

We settled on Lasagna, butterfly fried shrimp, cajun fries, salad, and BONEless chicken in Chocolate sauce!!! it was great, with a peanut smoothie and blueberry for dessert.
Okay, the breaded fried shrimp were really good, but I'll admit the chocolate sauce chicken was... interesting.

The interior of the resturant was bright blue with colorful tiles, the wooden slatted window shutters, and balcony esque dividers.

and if your wondering about the name "L. Vannamei" which doesn't sound super mediterranian, it's the scientific name for white-leg shrimp.

We'll def be visiting vannamei again!

Besides that, I'm hoping to do some christmas decorating tonight. I dunno bout getting a tree- a real one. A wreath would be nice, at least we'd get the smell, but then it'd prolly dry up... well lights will be a lil cheery at least. I miss the moose dolls and prolific snowmen that invade our living room back in oakland. white christmas!

Lights combined.

The elevated highway[freeway] in the evening. lovely glowy. and no photoshopping whatsoever!!

Day 6: really now, toilet cleaner?

When I first moved into the Hami Rd Apt, the toilet had yellow rings in it, so I bought a bottle of toilet cleaner, you know with the squiggly goose neck spout on it. It worked instantly and great. a bit later, we hired an ai yi to come twice a month to do minimal dusting and cleaning. But she picked up another client during our hours, so we really only had her for 2 months. So we're thinking we can handle the minimal cleaning she did for 4 hrs a month. Yet, I can't find the toilet cleaner ANYWHERE!! ANd I don't want to think she's a theif... but well its a pretty empty apt, and I'm pretty Claudie didn't take it when she moved out to go to germany....

but really now. Toilet cleaner? we let her spend whatever needed to buy supplies and she just brought us the reciept. I really hope I find it somewhere.


Weather: COLD COLD COLD, but sunny : )

Day 3

Had dinner with Timon at the cantonese place at Metro town, and then had my mandarin lesson directly following.

When I got there, the waitress asked if I wanted to sit inside or outside. "Outside" is actually inside the mall, on the walkway connecting to the other shops, and overlooking, the lower 2 floors of shops. I pointed inside(thinking this was an obvious choice), and sat down, and then about 5 minutes later Timon shows up and before he even sits down says, "Hey, how about we eat outside today??" and then I rolled my eyes and said, "Fine, I guess. It smells like fried food.... and its not really outdoors..."

Well we ate there anyhow, and it was nice not to be up against all the other resturant goers. And we could see everyone who came up the escalator. We order squash with garlic and egg noodle with cha siu. Timon said, "order in chinese!" and so then I ordered in cantonese and she didn't understand me, haha. We got mango pudding for dessert, and then parted so I could fry my brian learning mandarin.

She talked to me straight in mandarin and had me meagerly attempt to figure out what she was saying. I kinda caught on, but I don't think I'll remember anything in a few days. (mostly b /c I'm an avid note taker, and she wouldn't let me take notes)

My memory is feeble. Taking notes is my crutch.

December Day 1

Monday:

The greatest thing: Dinner party
The worst thing: Sleeping through my snooze alarm.

Work was normal, a bit fuzzy, but beautiful day.

Timon and I hung out with some of our newly wed friends, one being his former roomate (T: "I lost John to...marriage,") we had a delicious homecooked meal of pasta with pumpkin sauce, salad with blue cheese, and bread from carre four that seemed to be a hit. And then we got on to talking about the best places to get what food for what price. What dinner parties are made of! hahaha

It was a great evening talking about mostly everything- from disciplining children, recent films you shouldn't watch, and how the earth is running out of water. . . and dessert was bananas carmelized over vanilla ice cream.... mm..

the 12 days of christmas?

For the month of december, I plan to blog everyday. Its not so much b/c I'm behind, but for advent season and to really sort my brain out.

On sunday, the fridge was still packed with thanksgiving goodies, and we spent most of the day indoors. Normally we do the go out for lunch-in-a-massive group deal, but all the local resturants had met their quota, and I suggested some homemade grilled cheese sandwiches for some soul food.

We listened to christmas tunes, watched Mariah Carey sing "All I want for christmas" on youtube(Gogo boots, and back up dancers!) lol and ate an eclectic yummy lunch together. Timon's roomie, Whit scratched together some delicious french toast, and Timon rippe dopen a some-odd 20 boxes of chocolate milk for hot chocolate. mmmm. We shared our christmas stories and traditions, all the cousins we miss, and how we all wish we were going to Hawaii like Timon. (for Christmas) It was cozy, and definitely a nice change from the hustle and bustle of looking up resturants, flagging a cab, and deliberating over what to order. The music certainly was half of it.

Later on, I tried out some christmas songs on the guitar. I need practice....

Me and Timon made a rule that if we want Dairy Queen Oreo cheesecake blizzards, we have to go running beforehand. So alas, we laced up our shoes and braved the evening breeze for a jog. Dodging cars, dark streets, and very very bad smells. I miss Joaquin Miller park, but it felt really good to get my legs moving! Office work makes me feel so restless sometimes!