Ever since this cold front moved in and took up permanent residence in Fuyang, my brain just hasn’t come up with anything good to write about. In truth it isn’t that cold. It isn’t any colder than a winter back home, but I need to blame my lack of creativity on something, don’t I? I keep looking through my pictures and I can’t seem to find one that I think is worthy, strange, or important enough to put on here. I do have the pictures of our trip to the zoo and a food festival laying around my computer some where. Every time I look at them my thoughts and words freeze and fall out of my mouth like a giant iceberg. I feel all dried up. I need some inspiration. Got any ideas, or want to hear about anything in particular? If you ask; I’ll tell.

So what do I do when I am not trying to get a blog up and running? I do what every other bored soul does when they have nothing else better to do. I surf the Webby.

And when I surf, I come across things that make me smile and laugh like the kitty cartoon up top. I sure do miss my little kitty back home though. It is so hard to convince a cat here to come any where near me. Most of the time they just jump in a bush and hiss at me. I don’t know why they are so timid. China eats dogs in the winter, but I haven’t heard anything about cat dishes yet. Speaking of dog though, I’ve started to see pictures of dogs in the windows of restaurants. Last night, I saw a poor dog chopped to bits in the kitchen of the restaurant we went to eat at when I looked to see what they had in the back. I pray that none of that ended up on my plate.

But onto brighter and happier things. When I went searching the Webby for some inspirational pictures to put on this particular blog, I came across a funny little cartoon site. If you get bored, want a good laugh, and foul language doesn’t bother you – you need to go here.

And for now that is all I have. I guess I will go back to surfing the Webby because I don’t have anything else better to do than stare at my computer screen.

New, interesting material promised soon.

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When Phil and I get our lovely 3 week PAID vacation for the Chinese New Year in late January and early February, Xi’an will probably be one of our destinations of choice. We are trying to organize a trip that takes us in a slow, northen direction until we reach the artic cold of Harbin to see the annual Ice festival. We haven’t mapped out everything yet, and can’t until we know where we will be next semester. I will post about that problem soon, but I first want to show you something funny that made the news not too long ago.

For those of you who don’t know, Xi’an is a very popular tourist destination because of the Terra Cotta Warriors you can find there. Apparently, each warrior is an individual(so far as I have heard) and none of their faces are repeated. For the longest time, I thought the Terra-Cotta Warrior were the size of She-Ra action figures or maybe as tall as a Barbie doll. I don’t think I ever thought they were life size. Maybe I thought this because every picture I have ever seen has been an aerial view of the pit they all stand in or a super up close one like the picture above. So, I was quiet surprised to come across this article a few weeks ago. When I started reading it, I thought maybe it was a joke. I kept thinking, “How in the world could someone not see this guy? He could step on one for crying out loud!” Slowly I understood it, and felt really, really dumb. I can’t help that I am slow! But at least now I won’t show up in Xi’an looking for Terra Cotta Warriors who’s heads might have come up to my ankle. I can imagine what my face would have looked like when I actually got there and saw 5 feet tall creatures. Pablo(Ma Lin) must have been authentic looking as hell to blend in the way he did. I’m quiet surprised he got off only with a stern talking to and didn’t get carted off to a Chinese prison.

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I don’t know how permanent it is, or if a Chinese official hit the wrong button on his computer, but after several weeks of my blog residing on what seemed to be a Forbidden Planet, the days of reading phrases like “The connection has been reset” and “The page cannot be displayed” are NO more. Please sing with me and do a little jig – China ain’t blocking me no more – do da do da!!!

I know this doesn’t really matter for me so much because I was able to access my blog despite China’s attempt to sensor me, but now anyone in China who might stumble upon my blog CAN. I guess the investigation of Blogger has come to an end(for the time being) and they don’t find me or my fellow Bloggers all that troublesome after all. Of course, tomorrow is a new day, and the Chinese might change their minds. And they probably will.

As for Thanksgiving, I haven’t seen a turkey anywhere. There are plenty of chickens and ducks to be had(with their heads and necks still attached) – and we might actually have to buy one if we want to have any sort of American Thanksgiving here in China. Without the simple existence of an oven though, it makes it a bit more difficult to make a variety of foods other than boiled or fried. The one thing I really want and know I won’t find is a Honey Baked Ham. My tongue wants to roll out of my mouth like a cartoon character just thinking about one. Hmm Mmm good. Eat some for me will you? Or better yet – send me one. I’d love you forever and ever! If any part of your soul wishes do such a thing and you really want to make my day – contact me and I will pass on my mailing address. Heh. Hey, it could happen.

So, Happy Thanksgiving to all. And thank you China for taking me off that awful planet. It was a dull and musty place. And if you could avoid sending me there in the future, I would be a very happy expat in your lovely country. And even happier if you could put some Honey Baked Ham in the Da Ran Fa by 5:00pm tonight. Thanks!

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