Word of Wisdom: Make a Friend
You destroy an enemy when you make a friend of him. Author unkown
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Saturday Feature: Dust & Ashes
Morning fog. I used to live in a part of the world where foggy mornings in October are not that unusual. And what’s great about them: they usually promise the dawn of a fine and sunny day. This morning, I woke up to a similar phenomenon. Except, we need to replace the word “fog” with “smog.” The air had started to fill with smoke like from a wild fire last night, penetrating even the buildings and our apartments; and only this morning did it dawn on me that the farmers are burning their leftover chaff and stuff from the harvest these days. Bad times for fresh air, and my eyes have been burning all day. Day 8: A Bad Habit By the way, I’m on day 8 of the photo challenge, and here’s my contribution for today: So, you’re asking me what the bad habit is? Weeelll, I usually don’t cook at home since I have three warm meals served for free each day. Dirty dishes pile up slowly – maybe a plate or a …
Classes Begin
As of today, the Fall Semester 2011 has finally begun for the freshman students. In order to make up for Thursday’s and Friday’s classes, teachers and students have to attend classes on Saturday and Sunday, a common practice in China.
Fun with Chinglish: Unrecycle
Here is where you can ‘unrecycle’ your rubbish! Note: When posting anything in the Fun with Chinglish section, I don’t mean to show disrespect towards anything or anyone in any way. I’m simply sharing the fun we get to have with all those great signs & documents!
Photo Challenge Day 7: Fruit
In the cafeteria, they still haven’t gotten over the water melon season yet (serving water melon almost every single day). Since I don’t particularly like to mess around with water melon, I went into a fruit store on campus yesterday to get myself a happy alternative, and so this one came in handy to pose as my model today! And remember: An apple a day keeps the doctor away! Maybe it’ll help me some!
A 30-Day Photo Challenge
Last month I decided to participate in a 30-day Photo Challenge starting October 1. Every day there will be a new challenge for which to take a picture, and I thought it would help me get out my camera a little more often and capture some of the little moments in life. The bad news is that I spent the entire October Holiday in bed so far, (which is why it’s been so quiet around here these last couple of days), and I missed the first five days of this challenge. BUT: late is better than never, I say – and so, fighting the bouts of sleepiness that still kept creeping up on me all day (just don’t have the patience for another day in bed), I carried my tired body out into a bright and sunny day for a little walk around campus. (It can never harm to allow the sun to warm your nose, right?) Anyways, I’m far behind in the photo challenge project, so today I thought I’d better start with those …
National Day
Today is National Holiday, one of the biggest holidays of the year. Most Chinese don’t have to work on October 1, and students have no classes for almost a week. In China it’s time to travel.
Fun with Chinglish: No Jumping the Queue
Another sign to help organizing people who are standing in line. This one reads: “Be patient. And no jumping the qeue!” Note: When posting anything in the Fun with Chinglish section, I don’t mean to show disrespect towards anything or anyone in any way. I’m simply sharing the fun we get to have with all those great signs & documents!
September Thoughts
This is September. Ok. Granted. The end of it. But still September. And we should be walking around in t-shirt, enjoying blue skies (one of the few times a year we get it blue), and be happy that the summer heat has finally cooled down and reached comfortable, enjoyable temperatures. Instead, it’s been raining almost all September and I’ve already begun pulling out my winter sweaters. And I heard the farmers are worried because it’s been so wet that they can’t bring in their corn crops. So, we all must hope for October, and that with it the better weather will return!
Food Corner: A Piece of Cake
While sweets and treats in China often are quite different from what we are used to in the West, some of the goodies you can get here can make quite some delicacies. There are lots of bakeries here that sell all sorts of little snacks – from cakes and pies to cookies, to various other sweet treats. Today, I allowed myself a special treat and went to a bakery around the corner to get this piece of cake for my afternoon snack, and though it didn’t taste exactly he way I wanted it to (after eating half of it, I felt I had enough), I’m still glad that certain things we do not have to give up when living in China!