Day 56

October 15, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Another school week down. This week, we were subjected to student-teachers. My school offers a degree in teaching Chinese as a foreign language, and it requires students in that major to teach a class as component of the degree. That means, we are guinea pigs. I mean no disrespect to the student teachers, but I have to say that I'd come to understand the rhythm of my classes, and this change has just shot that. I'm not sure how long this is going to go on...

Well, as you might guess, that is not my favorite thing this week. Well, what is? You might ask. In all honesty, it's been a slow news week. So...

Friday Favorite:


Excitement! The mascot for the Xi'an Horticulture Expo 2011.

This thing made me smile. I mean, have you ever seen anything that looked happier than this? AND it has a rose for a belly button. Double win.

Hayden

Day 38

September 27, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Monday. Yep. But, really Wednesday, right? Since I had class Saturday and Sunday. But I have class until Thursday, which would now be considered Friday, and that's 6 days instead of 7. So, my school week isn't half-way done yet. So, is this Wednesday 1.0? Or do I need to make up a new day? Smarchday? Fjordsday? In Chinese, today is 星期一 , and I tell ya, I don't want to think of today as "Week Day 1."

If you haven't guessed just yet, I went to class today, and then...yeah. It's still raining, what can I do? Making plans for my week-long break. More on that later, if the plans work out.

In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of Mister Mogu (蘑菰先生, "Mister Mushroom"）：


Mister Mogu. Not just a tissue holder, also the closest thing I have to a roommate in China.

Happy Fjordsday, everyone.

Hayden

Day 24

September 13, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Monday, Monday. What can I say? Back to school again.

If you know me well, you know I'm not a fan of waking up, so its no surprise that I wake up JUST in time to run to class everyday. Well, run to the dining hall and grab my favorite breakfast, a sort of fried bread dipped in egg that has bits of green onion and ham in it, then run to class.

This is the routine, this is how it will be.

So. Yeah. Here's a picture of a bunny:


Overtime Rabbit. That's really his name, and I think he's adorable.

Hayden

Day 22

September 11, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence - China

I had planned to go to the city wall today, but that didn't pan out. So, I slept in nice and late.

I've been having a little problem. You see, I have money in China. I took out my spending cash so I'd have it if I needed it. But, I don't have much money in America right now. This problem seemed to be fixed by the announcement that my tuition disbursement was happening this week, a whole month early. That excitement was tempered when I received an email saying that an error had messed up the Cashier's Office and refunds would not be going out. This was, of course, after I received the receipt for my refund in a previous email. Blah. They said they've fixed the problem, and things should be OK by Monday.

Nothing too adventurous today. A little trip to the market, lunch at KFC. Not totally exciting. My lunch today did come with...


Egg Pie. Courtesy of KFC.

...an egg pie. It's sort of a sweet custard in a flaky crust. Pretty good.

Also, my birthday is soon. I'm not sure how that's going to be here in China. Jordan said he'd buy me dinner for my birthday if I buy him dinner for his. His birthday is on the 19th of September, incidentally. In any case, I bought myself a present today:


Bread Head. I have no idea, either.

He was only about $2. And he's a bank! I'm not sure why this cube man has bread on his head. I'm also not sure why his butt has "It's So Delicious!" printed on it.

Hayden