Today is a special day for me. It marks the anniversary of my move to China. Yet once more do I look back to all the things I’ve been able to learn from these people since I first arrived here. And I’m thankful for how this experience has enriched my life!
Have I ever told you about batteries? Of course, we don’t need to discuss their usefulness here, as everyone knows that life is hardly possible without them in this day and age. That, however, doesn’t mean that that makes their life possibly lasting longer. Not at all. And surely not here where I live. In fact, the life expectancy of batteries are just as unreliable as you could imagine. Let me give you a recent example: I was buying an appliance that works with the help of batteries. And on the box of that appliance it tells you clearly that with proper use, a battery will last two years before it needs to be switched out. Well, did I think when I bought that appliance, make that a couple of months instead, and then we’re getting closer to reality. Little did I know that I was wrong. Dead wrong. For it didn’t take two years; neither did it take a couple of months. Within one month after I’d bought the appliance, it stopped working because …
Many of my colleagues dread the winter break, because it seems that this town turns into a ghost town, especially right around Spring Festival. As soon as they can, they flee this campus and our town, touring through Asia, and trying to get as far away from here as they can. I actually don’t mind a deserted campus, because it seems to me that this is the only time of the year, when this place isn’t actually overcrowded. You see, our school is growing in terms of people, but hardly growing in terms of space, which means that every year, the campus gets more populated and quiet corners more rare. Except for the winter break. Now quiet corners are everywhere, and to me that’s a rather pleasant sight!
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~ Anne Bradstreet ~
Remember the Christmas tree in the lobby, which I showed you a couple of weeks ago in this post? Well, someone made a sad discovery the other day, and pointed out to me that if you look closely enough you’ll find that the decoration at the bottom of the tree (within the range of what people can reach) has pretty much gone! Can you imagine that? We finally have the prettiest tree in the history of our lobby, and then people go and steal the ornaments off the tree! (Which is actually not like very expensive, or exclusive decoration. It’s just the kind of decoration you can get in any store around here!) Unfortunately, when I took my camera with me earlier today, for the sole purpose of providing you some proof of this outrageous crime, I had to realize that the tree was gone. No, no, not what you may think now. No one stole the whole tree. It being mid-January, it was – after all – about time to take it down again. …
It’s official yet once more: the winter break is starting. Over the next couple of days pretty much all students are going to leave campus, and that means it’s going to get real quiet around campus yet again.
Remember that blog facelift I was telling you about a couple of weeks ago? Well, it’s coming along. These days little sister and I have been working on my test site again, and it’s coming together just nicely. There are a couple of construction zones that still need a bit of thinking and tweaking, but before long, I think we’ll be ready to launch a new, and vastly improved version of mistyhilltops.com with a fresh look to it. So stay tuned …
Something dreadful has happened to me! My friend, Little Heater, who used to be indispensable for me during winter in the last couple of years has abandoned me. Just like that! No, it didn’t give up its spirits, or just quit its services. It just flat out abandoned me! First, it went off to serve one of my friends in his bathroom – quitting its social sphere of the heater community and turning into a dryer – can you imagine that degradation? (And yes, our building still has issues and needs constant maintenance. My friend’s apartment, for example, had gotten flooded right before he wanted to move in, and after months it still needs help drying up.) And now, Little Heater has gone off to be with one of my other friends who complained about having to give exams in freezing classrooms the other day. So Little Heater decided to take up heating business again and stay with my friend for a while! Well, maybe I shouldn’t be too upset with Little Heater. Maybe it’s …
When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels. ~ Unknown ~
Guess what? I fear the very worst has happened. Do you remember how I sent a bunch of Christmas to my friends and family early in December? I did it really early this time, really wanting to make sure they’d arrive in time. But as I’m sure you’re able to guess now – the very worst has happened. They haven’t arrived at all yet. And I don’t need to tell you that we’re way past Christmas! Maybe the ribbons and all that were too much of a threat!
