Took It Long Enough

After four months of being here, I've seen it rain about five or six times, and it hasn't snowed properly at all. I've been told that this is the driest it's been in over a decade.

I woke up at about 7:30, and was about to sleep in another 30 minutes or so when I got an sms from one of my Chinese friends.

Hi. Get up. Look out the window. It's snowing!

I'm fairly certain she spammed the message to everyone in her contact list, because a couple minutes later I got a similar message from one of the other teachers who probably wouldn't be awake for another hour or so under normal conditions.

I glanced out my bedroom/balcony window and caught a glimpse of snow. I rushed out of my room and looked out the living room window to get a better look. It was beautiful. It's changed to sleet by now, but it was a wonderful morning. Large wet flakes were falling from the sky, and although they melted when they hit solid ground, there was a thick white covering on all the plants and cars. Perfect snowball snow too.

Like my dad, I'm not a fan of the snow, but I was beginning to fear that for the first time in 21 years I'd go a Winter without a sheet of white on the ground.

Little Villages

I wandered around a new part of the city with a Chinese friend today. We spent bit of the time wandering through one of the "little villages". I'm still not sure if that's a Chinese term for them or a foreign one that got picked up by the English speakers around here, but the description really fits. Little villages are these mazes of back-alley markets. They're filled with everything that makes a stereotypical Chinese market street a stereotypical Chinese market street.

On one side of the street is a China Mobile next to a sock shop and a noodle place, and on the other side is a net bar a cheap restaurant, and a fresh fruit stand. You can't see it, but somewhere down the street someone is selling stinky tofu and none of the Chinese people seem to pay attention to the smell. At one corner, a guy is shaving the outer layer off a piece of sugar cane that's as tall as he is. He's talking to his friend who's pealing a pineapple with a special knife so it gets a nice spiral pattern. A woman on the other side is making caramel candy popsicles in the shape of the zodiac animals. Some people walk by you eating some dumplings, but you don't know where they got them. There are probably at least three places in the area that sell them. You have to dodge out of the way of people riding bikes or electric scooters. A car might drive by on one of the bigger parts, how they have room to push through is a miracle to say the least. The roads are dirty, and there's a small pile of garbage on fire in the corner, but the smell of food is stronger so it's not that noticeable. Every once in a while you pass some guys playing cards or a group of people crowded around two old men playing a kind of Chinese chess. The rest of the street is filled with people shopping or just heading home. Girls in high heeled boots and skirts (and stockings since it's cold out.) will walk past men wearing suits and nobody seems feel out of place at all.

I love the little villages. They're easy to find. In some areas, you can't go more than three or four blocks without going past one. I live in the Gaoxin, high tech, part of Xi'an, so I'm mostly surrounded by tall buildings and offices, but even here is a little village.  And I love it.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday I turned 21! Hooray, huzzah, and jubilation!

My birthday is on the 15th. the day after Valentines day. Because of the way the scheduling worked out, this whole weekend has been one big off and on party for me.

Saturday, most everyone came over and we had a big dinner at the Hunan restaurant down the street. For Chinese birthdays, typically person takes his friends out and treats them, where in America it's (not quite, but mostly) the other way around. I expected to pay more for dinner, but we were able to feed nine people for 120 kuai. That's less than 20 USD. I love China.

After dinner we came back to the apartment to party for most of the night. More friends showed up as the night progressed. I was gifted with such things as scented lanterns, wine, and balloons. Then there was the cake. Saffron bought me a wonderful cake, which so eloquently reads: Happy Birthday Minge. (I guess it's more of an English English word.) She's such a good friend. :P

Sunday night most people were either tired from the previous day, or busy, but Saffron and I managed to get a couple friends over and out to a club. Then we fed Saffrons addiction and went to KTV. Great weekend, and a great way to have a birthday.

Then came Monday morning. For most of this weekend I was under the impression that I did not have work on Monday. So when we got back from KTV, it was about 6:30~ in the morning. Somehow I was still wide awake and got to checking things on my computer. This was probably a good thing, because it meant I was awake when I got a phone call at about 6:50. They needed me to come in to work today.

I have no idea how I managed to do it, but I did the full day with nothing but a nap during the big gap in between my classes. It was a great day at work, actually. One of the teachers there had a birthday too, so we each gave each other a piece of chocolate. All of the classes sang Happy Birthday to me, and I got to teach them some of the silly alternative verses to the song.

I can only hope that next year goes half this well.