Flipping through my Chinese videos, I found a few that I had never shared before and decided to upload them for your viewing pleasure.  The first video is of the freak snow storm that hit us when we were in Beijing waiting to go to Shenyang.  You can read all about that special story here, here, and here if you have no idea what I am talking about.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFZg-JinN5Y[/youtube]

This morning I was treated to a wonderful breakfast that consisted of three scrambled eggs and a dozen mini corn bread muffins, compliments of Chef Phil.  It may be a strange combination to some, but I must say, it was mighty tasty.  I thought about putting some syrup on the corn bread muffins, as my dad has suggested before, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I stuck with the old fashion butter. On the pack of the Jiffy box, though, I did notice that the mix could be used to make corn pancakes, so I imagine my dad isn’t the only one who likes some syrup on his corn bread.  Maybe one of these days I’ll try it.  Heck, maybe I’ll even like it.  🙂  Oh, and for those of you who don’t know.  Jiffy makes the best corn bread ever!

Every now and again, I type random words into You Tube’s search engine hoping to come across an interesting video.  I stumbled across this one not too long ago, and thought I would share it.  The little girl is just too precious.

The video was filmed in the most beautiful part of China that I visited – Yangshuo.  It’s one of those places that you have to see to truly appreciate.  No picture or video do the landscape justice.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqiXw7nqw6k[/youtube]

I thought of a hundred different ways to make an eloquent and interesting post about what I could actually do with a B.A. in English, but I’m pretty sure the following video sums it up rather well.

The only thing I really have to say is this: My adviser failed me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH6PTamLIlE[/youtube]

Here is a video of Quantum chasing after what I can only assume he thinks is a bird.  Make sure to turn up your volume, so that you can hear the adorable sounds he makes.

In other Sugar Glider news, Countess is expecting some babies!  I think she is having twins.  I tried to get a picture of them the other night, but Countess wanted nothing of it!  Phil and I have no idea what we are going to do with them or if we are going to neuter Quantum.  As cute as babies are, I don’t think we can handle a farm of Sugar Gliders in Phil’s 1200 sq foot apartment.  🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrbU94rzFU[/youtube]

I decided to check the in-box of my old Yahoo Mail account the other day.  I check it every now and again to see if anyone may have sent an email there instead of to my new Gmail account.  Apparently, it had been a long while since I last checked it because I had 1126 messages waiting for me when I signed in.  Of the 1126 messages that I sifted through, 1125 of them were spam.  The one email that wasn’t spam had been sent accidentally by Phil many months ago.   Of the remaining 1125 messages that had infiltrated by in-box, one in particular caught my eye.  The title of the message is what made me click on it.  I just couldn’t turn down a part time job in helping eradicate the Native Ninjas.  🙂

Here is the first part of the message.  The rest of it was your normal boring spam message and I won’t bore you with it.  I wish all of my spam emails were as amusing as this one!

HUNGYAN HAOLONG AGRO ALLIED PLASTICS & MOULD CO. LTD
JINGQI ROAD WEST INDUSTRY ZONE HUNGYAN CHINA 31802

Forgive me for intruding on your personal space and microwaving your hamster, especially as we have never met before. Please be aware that I do not want to offer this position to the native ninja’s that are running amok in your country.

The image below wasn’t included in the email, of course, but I wanted to post it anyway. I found it by randomly searching for ninja images.  It made me laugh.

Quantum is a very inquisitive, destructive beast.  You have to watch him very carefully when he’s out if his cage.  If it can be chewed, he chews it.  He has more or less destroyed each and every one of our books on our bookshelf, especially if it has anything to do with China. You should see what he has done to my purple folder that contains a lot miscellaneous paperwork from when we were teachers in China.  It doesn’t even look like a folder anymore.  I don’t know why he likes to chew so much.  I don’t think Countess chews like he does.  Maybe it is a guy thing or something.

He also likes to grab things and take off with them, too.  I constantly find things that he has hidden in the couch.  One day, I found a USB device that he had taken.  Sometimes he really reminds me of a monkey, especially when he throws his food around.  He is such a silly guy.

The following video is of craptastic quality, but what can you expect of any camera in a dim room?  Because Quantum and Countess are nocturnal, we have to keep the lights turned down low.  We don’t want to hurt their eyes.  Also, a portion of the video is upside down.  I didn’t know it was filming like that when I first picked up the iPhone.  And lastly, sorry for the expletive that Phil uses.  You would probably yell too if a Sugar Glider clamped down on your finger.  They may have little teeth, but it hurts like the dickens!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmqmwKX3-CA[/youtube]

As much as I liked the big ole’ black Cormorant sitting on my arm and the sweat dripping down my face in my last About Me photo, I am very glad that it has finally been replaced.  I’ve wanted a new one for the longest time, but I just couldn’t find a picture that I liked.  Since I am usually behind the camera, there are rarely any pictures with me as the soul subject.  So, this past weekend, I had Phil play photographer.  He took a handful of pictures and was able to take one that I approved of.  Of course, the one that I liked the most had a bunch of cars in the background, so I had to have his brother, Steve, photoshop the eyesores away.  He tried to give me red laser eyes, but I wouldn’t let him.  🙂  That is what happens when you let an artist have free reign.

And if you didn’t notice, there are some new additions to the header, too.  Phil changed up the title a little bit and added in some cute silhouettes of faeries and witches.  I think they are pretty cool.  What else should Phil work on?  Any comments or ideas?

Not long after we arrived and started teaching English in Fuyang, we got to experience the holiday known as Teacher’s Day.  This is a day when students thank their teachers for all of their hard work and sometimes present them with little gifts.  I knew of the holiday before coming to China, but I didn’t expect the students to give either Phil or I anything, for like I said, we had just started teaching.  I didn’t think it was possible for them to like us enough to by anything for us, given the amount of time they had known us.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I came home from work and found a carved watermelon wishing Phil a Happy Teacher’s Day sitting on the kitchen table.  I’m sure I imagined several gifts that the students might give us, but I don’t think that a carved watermelon was one of them.  I was quite impressed.  The student put a lot of work into it.

During our six months there, Phil got all sorts of gifts from his students – ranging from greeting cards to Final Fantasy posters to Hello Kitty stuffed toys.  Phil’s students were loads nicer than mine ever were.

And just in case you don’t know what a carved watermelon looks like – here you go!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRPim03J8cc[/youtube]

Fireworks were a common occurrence in China, both during the day and at night, and even more so during holidays like Chinese New Year.  I felt all of the fireworks shot of during the day were wasted, though, because you couldn’t really enjoy the bright, exploding colors.  You could never escape the big booms, though, which always made me think I was in the middle of a war zone.

The following video is of some fireworks being set off right outside of my apartment in Fuyang during the middle of the day.  I have no idea what they were celebrating – perhaps a marriage or something like it.  It went on for sometime.  I wish it had been at night, for at least then there would have been something to see.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8n7THA1sGs[/youtube]