Acclimating

Hey y'all.  Let's see... What's new?

Honestly, I think we are starting to get used to living here.  It's taken me longer than Ben to accept the fact that we really are living in China for a year and, no, there's no way to jump ship and head home tomorrow or the next day.  So that's probably why we haven't posted lately.  We're getting used to kids pooping in the streets and not knowing exactly what is in our mouths at any given moment.  I'm even almost used to all the incessant honking.  The only thing I think I will never get used to is how the students answer your questions like trained monkeys.  Seriously, I have asked hundreds of students where they would like to travel, and anytime someone answers that they would like to see France they say this to me:  "I would like to go France...I think it is, um, romantic."  No variation ever.  And, honest to Spandex, I'm not sure they even know about the Eiffel Tower.  Okay, they probably do, but I wouldn't be shocked.

Some more Aussies have shown up, and with them they have brought along a mother and daughter from the States, named Sybil and Margeaux.  They are as interesting as their names.  Sybil lived in Istanbul and majored in Modern Dance.  Margeaux has been all over the continental U.S. as well as spending a year in Gap before the age 28.  It's been a huge relief to me to have her here.  We have a lot in common, I think.  She studied English and has her Master's in Rhetoric and Composition.  Last night, Ben and I went to dinner with some of her organization, who are all middle-aged women except for her and a 24-year-old guy named Tim.  After, Tim and Margeaux came back to our place for a couple of hours, and we all had fun talking and sharing music and such.  We also butchered a wine cork trying to get it out of the bottle.  I swear, nothing here works the way it should.  So, that's a little of what's new.

Oh, did we tell you that our flatscreen has a USB port?  Yeah, we may not have a DVD player, but we can load movies and TV episodes onto my flash drive and watch it on the TV.  That's cool.  I'll take it.  Because you really never know what's going to be on the English movie channel.  (Tangent:  I'm pretty sure they have 1 Italian, 1 French, and 1 Russian movie also that they mix in with the English ones.  And they call everything from Mulan to Ocean's 11 a "Classic Blockbuster."  Sheesh.)


So a tally:  Yay for China, USB ports on the TV.  Yay for the US, pretty much everything else.  :)