Day 35

September 24, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

The last day of Mid-Autumn Festival. Only a few more episodes of Fringe left.

The weather has not improved. Nor has the week. Oh, well, it's done. There's always next week, I guess.

I was supposed to go on a class trip to some local temples today, but the trip filled up before I was able to sign up. It is a small consultation, however, that the weather is horrible.

Friday Favorites:

If you've read the rest of this week's posts, you can imagine that there wasn't really much to "favorite." The Indian restaurant on my birthday was good, and Fringe is entertaining, but my favorite this week is...


Birthday Greetings. My inbox on my birthday.

My Gmail inbox was flooded with birthday greetings on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday (the time change makes it a little difficult to work out). Thank you. Your messages really made my week better.

Hayden

Day 34

September 23, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Day two of my lock-down. It's raining outside, and cold. I think it might be colder than yesterday, actually.

Today consisted of:
Watching Fringe
Running to the market
Eating at KFC
Watching Fringe
Napping
Watching Fringe

That's about it. I wish the weather were better. I dunno, not a very exciting day to live. Or to read about, I guess.

Incidentally, at KFC I tried a menu item they only offer in China:


Tender Beef Pentagon. A beef option at the Chinese KFC. Photo stolen from http://shanghaiscrap.com/.

The packaging claims that the flavor of the beef is "Sichuan," which in Chinese terms seems to mean "Sichuan pepper." Honestly, it's in EVERYthing here. It is amusing, however, that KFC in China essentially sells Crunch Wrap Supremes, and that they're made of beef instead of chicken. Maybe the first Chinese Taco Bell isn't far off. Who knows.

Hayden

Day 33

September 22, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

This week isn't really going so well. I mean, not really. Today is the beginning of the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节）. This is the celebration of the Chinese Moon Goddess who makes medicine for the other gods and lives on the moon with a jade rabbit. Or something. It involves eating moon cakes, mostly, in my estimation, although everyone I know is tired of them already.

In any case, there were some loose plans to go SOMEwhere for this three day break. Those plans have not panned out, however. The weather, for one, is terrible. On Monday, it was still summer. Today? It's winter, inexplicably. The temperature dropped from nearly 35°C (95°F) to about 15°C (59°F). It's very strange, indeed.

In any case, it looks like this little break ours will be spent in my hotel room. Sigh.


Xmas. The mall seems to think its Christmas already. Well, actually, I don't think they ever take the decorations down.

Hayden