Whatever Sarah is thinking, Sarah writes

Current Listening: Doctor Cockroach. I am hoping the doctor's fame will spread to the greater Nanchong area and Tian Shan will start playing it. If only I had a cd burner! This will maybe be on my shopping list during the conference next week. Chengdu comes to the rescue again!

The puddles outside are so deep that my pants are getting soaked the moment I step out the door. This has lead to some slight changes in my lifestyle. One: I'm not stepping out the door as much, following the Dan Tersack method of huddling close to the space heater and watching movies. Two: When I am pulled out of the house, I'm wearing my high heels, which not only keep me above the water and make my legs look nice, but again push me a little bit closer to being completely Chinese. Tang Juan is happy.

I saw a woman today jumping up and down on a pile of rusty metal rods by the side of an active construction site. The problem? She was holding a baby. This woman sucks. I don't like babies anymore than the next person, but that's why I don't have any.

I was woken up this morning (well, this noon) by a knock at the door. It was the missing Jessica!! She is no longer missing, but still very mysterious as to where she has been and why no one could find her. She's leaving again in the morning and I won't see her again, but at least I know she's alive and I have my movies back, including my favorite Bette Midler movie. (yes, there is a little gay man inside of me.)

Ashley and Phil claim Durf and I are always late. Not true! (even though I am looking at the clock and I am supposed to be on the other side of the park in 6 mins, yikes!)

Winter Break Fun

I must take a moment to thank Durf for the new mix of music he gave me the other day. It has gotten me through grading my finals with my sanity and happiness intact. It’s very chill ‘Sarah music’ and even though it was originally intended for a student, I’m very pleased it ended up with me instead. Sometimes life is nothing but a happy, wonderful, beautiful accident. And now I’m completely done with the semester!

Life has not all been happiness and light though. Almost everyone in our little group is feeling a little under the weather. What I thought of as the chest cold that wouldn’t go away apparently was something a little worse. I have been diagnosed as having walking phenomena. But I’m taking the medicine and spending lots of time sleeping and watching movies (actually, not so hard for me). All the laying around and not doing much lead me to feeling much better than I have in several weeks and I was even able to go out a little last night.

Sadly, though, I did cancel my Nanjing/Shanghai trip which I really didn’t have the money for anyway. Travel plans are still on for Yunnan in February and hopefully I can still get to Shanghai somehow after my conference next week. If not though, I think things will be fine in Nanchong. Dora is only going home for four days and Tang Juan says I can come to her house for Spring Festival if I want. Actually, with travel being such a pain in the ass this time of year, I really wouldn’t mind just staying home if it wasn’t for the fact that I NEED to go someplace not-Chengdu, just to save my own sanity.

Happy 2008!

New Year's was fun this year at Durf's first offical show in China. We ended up at this small little party put on by Chengdoo magazine, and since we were 'with the talent' we were able to get in without paying the cover. Actually maybe a third of the people were PCVs or our friends, it actually felt more like our party then some event we were attending. It was a cool show, with some pretty arty musicians. Of course Durf's set was the most fun, with the best Baby Night Soil tracks out on display.

Besides the party, some other fun highlights of the New Year's celebrations:

- laughing hysterically through a pedicab ride with Ashley while making poop jokes.. (yes, mature I know)
- adding good movies to the 'old library'
- telling stories in the car on the way home to Nanchong.
-weird, weird cat cards
-Finally figuring out silence is golden (with a little help from Phil and his enormous clues)
- failed bush jumping
- successfully flirting in Chinese
-rocking the 'skittle' look

Now back in Nanchong, I still have a full week before any real work needs to be done. I'm giving a final on the 10th, then I'm off to Nanjing and Shanghai to spend time with Holly and her friends who may or may not be able to help me with my job search. We'll see. Until then though, I'm predicting a fun week of movies and dancing with my Nanchongren.