in two and a half hours we will be ringing in the new year via our nice comfy beds.
to start this post off i want to share something pretty funny with you. i love chinlish (chinese-english) these are the directions on how to use the internet in our rooms...enjoy and i hope it makes you smile.
Dear guest, welcome use network:
1. Need use network please direct pull up net line, conjunction good empress can normal usage.
2. Network can't normal use please auto obtain IP adress.
3. Detection network break down please with HSKP contact.
Telephone "5"
Wish you delectation.
today was still rainy and even a little chilly, but of course that didn't stop us from roaming all the streets and hunting down the tilled soil and best bargain (which a lot of times came together at the same place) and put our skills into practice.
i love shopping, even more so in china. i love finding amazing deals and i love all the unique things. i met a girl tonight in one of the stores, she just came up and started showing off her limited english and we hit it off. she and i were looking at pearl rings and we ended up buying matching rings. she asked if i was russian, she said because i am so very white and beautiful i must be russian. we both had our matching rings on and she looked at my hand and then at hers and she rubbed the top of my hand and said it was white and beautiful and then touched the top of her hand and said it was yellow and not beautiful. i put my hand on hers and told her that her skin was very beautiful, and she smiled a big beautiful smile and told me she was happy. now whenever i see my pearl ring i will think of my friend here in china, i would love it if i could see her again, but only Dad knows how to arrange a meeting like that.
today for lunch we went to a place to get dim sun and oh boy was it amazing! we ordered so many different foods, we could not even finish it all. one thing we had to try is a cold sweet soy bean drink (similar to soy milk, but it had chunks in it and was waaaaay too sweet) with what is translated as "grease stick" in it. it was what i like to call "fatty goodness" i am sure that one drink had about 15,000 calories in it. :-)
before lunch today i went black to the place i went to yesterday and i gave the little girl who seemed sad a necklace i made her. when i told her i made it for her, her eyes lit up and she made eye contact with me for the first time. she was very sweet and i am planning on going to see her tomorrow. i have been thinking about her a lot lately, i am wishing right now i had remembered to pack some tootsie pops to give her.
for dinner we went out without a translator to a pretty nice place, we looked through the 45 page menu book and put our fingers on the pictures of the dishes we wanted to eat, it was pretty funny. our server was pretty proud of the crab that is their speciality and kept pointing to it and when we would say "no thank you" she would respond pretty loudly "YES!". she even brought a basket by with 3 live crabs in them and we were supposed to pick which one we wanted to eat, instead we asked if she could let them run around one our table, but she just nodded and said "YES!" and walked away. we knew she could not understand a word we said, so we had a little fun with it. finally we settled on chicken gizzards with chilies, garlic and ginger, long beans with garlic, some sort of dumpling (we had no way of telling what they were stuffed with, so we just pointed to the picture and the server picked for us), steamed buns with milk and green tea with "lam", but i think "lam" really means "lime". we though about getting this soup that was a type of milk with a whole turtle (shell, head, arms, legs and all) floating in it, but we are saving that until next time (the boys were too chicken, so we brave girls are going back to try it).
well as this year draws to a close, i am pondering the whole new years resolution thing and i am going to revise my life statement and now include the words "as you go sow" in it. i am starting to see the bigger picture, not only in china, but in our own backyard as well. i challenge each of you to think of your life statement and see what you live and breath for, what is your passion, drive and your desire?
i love each of you very much and i thank you for the impact you have made on my life this year.
its bedtime, goodnight and happy new year. bring it on 2009.
