Learning new things about life!

I just wanted to share with you an insight that I have very recently gained here about food. If you were, say, to put things to eat like tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt, beans, beef, water, and a bit of sugar into a pot, you could then apply heat to it, and it would, over a period of time, become food. You know, the kind of food that you eat!

China part III

I had a smashing good time in the states. I'll admit that I haven't even processed leaving China 3 weeks ago, so I am a little bit overwhelmed at the prospect of being rocketed back to China so soon. I learned a lot at school, and for the first time in quite a while, I can say that I am excited to teach this year. I have a feeling that this year is going to be very rich with lots of deepening relationships and tasty baked goods.

I miss 混沌

He was so sad when I left. I hope he is still alive. I hope my fish are still alive. I'm a little bit afraid of America. So much English! So much personal space! So much organized traffic! So many cereal types from which to choose.But now i'm on facebook and blogger at the same time! Maybe i should just open up youtube while i'm at it! Oh the possibilities.
It's strange. I'm starting to wonder where home is....

If I had a blog

If I had a blog, I would be diligent in my posting schedule. Good thing I don't have a blog. Here are some things we eat for lunch some Time. Thanks to Holly's brilliance, we (meaning Holly) but together a scrumptious lunch of white-bean hummus and pepper/mystery herb ''Green Goo". Another day we
used the left-over hummus and made taco/flautas/quesadillas. Karen brought over oranges and salad. Look mom, I'm eating a tomato! And i'm eating salad with Chopsticks. Oh, we also made nachos the other day (sorry, no pix) and we proceeded to eat them with chopsticks. Holly and Karen barely noticed, but I guess i'm still just a China toddler, so I made a point of writing this anomaly in my blog post. Look at me ...rambling away...ramble ramble ramble. Maybe one of these days i'll tell you something interesting. For example about the furniture store in town that has gone all-out to advertise for some grand-opening/re-opening. Don't let me forget! Now I need to do some homework.

Remember that time it was 90 degrees every day?

I'm finally home. To welcome me home, my cat stole the loaf of bread that I had just purchased and scattered it around my living room. And Sichuan, well....it's cold...I'm back to the land of blocked blogger, so bear with me if my captions seem jumbled. Upon arrival in Chengdu I hung out with two of my former students. Hungry for some Sichuan food we finally settled on KFC. Did you know that there's a thatched cottage memorial for Colonel Sanders in Chengdu. Ok, no not really...that's Du Fu.

After our meal we went to play with fire as per Chinese New Year tradition.

Derry's mom, Derry, and I made 饺子(jiao zi)-dumplings-for lunch the next day (another Chinese New Year tradition).

That night we went to the 42nd annual light festival in Chengdu. Here is money pouring forth from the money deity.

After 2 nights in Chengdu, I made it to my friend 晓丹's house for more Spring Festival festivities. It was COLD--hence the face. Her brother is standing to my right with family members (from her dad's side) looking on. I didn't stop eating the whole time I was with her. I felt like a whale--swimming through the day with my mouth open. Maybe I'll grow into the coat (borrowed from friends in Chengdu).

I finally made it back to Nanchong, and Holly is Sooo happy!!!

What's warm, sunny, and has a name that starts with 'Th' and rhymes with 'ailand?'

I'm finally going to leave Thailand on Sunday. It has been an incredible month filled with stress, joy, relaxation, good food, and wonderful friends. I will be sad to go, but I am feeling surprisingly good about going back to China. My trip here has been everything I needed to feel recommitted and positive about my work in China. Here are a few pictures of the highlights (sociolinguistics class, Doi Suthep [a temple], beetles, gardens, a bridge).

January

If I post in the next 65minutes I may have a January post! I've been wondering around SE Asia for the past month. I found Vietnam and Thailand. Here are some pictures of Vietnam!



A tree




A man and some boats




Me




A street