11.10.09
Black boogers in Beijing (I couldn’t resist the alliteration)
I woke up to more snow this morning – this time about 5″. I don’t think I’m the only one who’s wondering if Beijing made it snow for the POTUS visit this week. Check out these pictures from the China Digital Times of the nasty air from over the weekend: Beijing Blanketed In Smog. Seeing these pictures only reaffirmed my suspicions of the high pollution levels after I blew my nose on Sunday and what came out was distinctly dark grey. If you’re a Twittering kind of person, check out the Twitterstream and Beijing Air.
11.07.09
If you read this on Facebook
Just a reminder if you usually read these updates through Facebook, they are actually imported from my blog, which is http://juliekirsten.wordpress.com/.
Have a great weekend!
11.06.09
Update on that ravioli
The ravioli was actually Tex-mex. Andrew and Andrew treated Anna and I to a fun dinner of fajitas with fresh salsa and real sour cream, which is a real treat that I don’t think I’ve tasted all year. The best surprise of the night – salt-rimmed margaritas! We ate by candlelight and then we finished the evening with whipped cream-topped coffees with biscotti. If you’re in Beijing, we highly recommend Andre’s La Restauraunte!!
11.05.09
How did the Chinese create snow?
We had an early snowstorm this past weekend, with an accumulation of about 3″ after 11 hours. It doesn’t snow much around here and November 1 seemed a little early for temps to be in the 20’s during the day, so I decided to look for some information online. Time says that it was the earliest snowfall in 22 years and the most snow Beijing has seen in a decade.
You can read the full article here.
Now serving donkey meat and ravioli from scratch
Today is rather ordinary in a sort of unordinary sort of way. I’ve been on a grading blitz since 7:30 this morning, plugging away to get my grade books squared away to turn in midterm grades next week. This time of year I usually only report students who are in danger of failing, but this year the school is requiring us to turn in midterm grade reports for each student. In true China fashion they just told us about this and all of my classes took exams and turned in homework last week. I’m off of work this week, so I’ve been able to divide the work up over each day, interspersed with some pleasure reading.
So today I’m hoping to finish grading everything except for four classes of essays. I’m having leftovers for lunch today, but I suspect you’ve never eaten leftovers such as these. Vegetable beef soup and donkey meat. Yes, donkey. There’s a restaurant around the corner that specializes in all things donkey and Andrew D. brought me some donkey leg and heart last night from his dinner and I plan on trying it pretty soon. Then it’s back to grading, but another unordinary event awaits Anna and I later tonight:
Rumor has it Andrew and Andrew (not only do the roommates share the same name, they also have the same middle name) are serving homemade ravioli and we are looking forward to the food and fellowship. Then I am leaving tomorrow with two other teachers to go away this weekend. We’ll be running the childcare program during a retreat for a group of young parents in Beijing who do similar work to us.
