In the wee hours of Thursday morning, the snow started falling here. We hadn't seen any sign of snow up until now, but, when it fell, it was enough to bother with, not just flurries! Despite my hatred of cold and snow (I like it for Christmas, and that's about it), I must admit that my walk to work that morning was beautiful! Snow removal here is... interesting... to say the least. It doesn't seem that there's much professional snow removal: if you want your area cleared, I guess you do it yourself. Furthermore, there seems to be next-to-no sign of salt or sand. Thursday afternoon was a sunny afternoon, so the snow started to melt. But it's been cold since. So... do the math: uncleared snow + a little sunshine + subsequent cold temperatures - ... read more

Life here tends to be complicated! Here's an example: I've only mailed one letter so far. But, first of all, I took it to the post office in my subdivision. Apparently international mail doesn't go from there - I needed to take it downtown. Fortunately, I knew where the downtown office was. But the post office is the "China Postal Bank." Of course, not reading Chinese or understanding how anything works here, I wandered into the bank side of things rather than the postal side of things. Someone redirected me back outside and into the next door to the postal side of things (which seemed to be a big deal - when they saw I had a letter, they couldn't just point out the door toward the next door - I would have figured that out. ... read more

I had to leave mainland China to get my visa processed. Theoretically, overnight processing is available in Hong Kong. But my story lasted longer than that! Fortunately I had booked an extra day there for sightseeing anyways! I must mention that this was not my first trip to Hong Kong... well, at least not if airports count. My other Hong Kong experience was when I was five. I got motion sick on the flight into Hong Kong when I was little, so I threw up in the middle of the airport! Neither me nor my mother have forgotten that one! I left Urumqi for Hong Kong on Monday morning, August 27. I was in the taxi before realizing that I had forgotten my camera! I quickly checked my phone to make sure that its camera worked, ... read more

The Terracotta Warriors are one of China's top tourists attractions. When I found out I was going to Xi'An and asked what I should see there, I was told that this site was nearby but, although it was one of the main tourist attractions in the country, once you've seen one warrior, you've seen them all, and the pictures are as good as going. I decided to go for myself anyways, and am glad that I did. In a sense, what I was told was correct. What makes being on site special, though, is the massiveness of the site. Seeing thousands of these statues, and knowing that they were not factory produced, but handmade several thousand years ago, was really incredible. The Terracotta Warriors date back to Qin Shi Huang, China's first emporer. He had them ... read more

I arrived in Chengdu on Saturday night, July 21. I forgot my laptop at security in the Urumqi airport. I only realized that it was missing once I boarded the plane. By that time, it was too late to go back and get it. Fortunately, I got the cell phone number of someone right there who worked at the Urumqi airport, so I was able to keep in touch with him about finding my laptop. Yuanding and her step-brother Bing Yao met me at the airport in Chengdu. Their "grandfather" drove them there and drove us all home. Yuanding's home is amazing! We pulled into a gated community with lovely yellow-brick streets and later pull up to a 4-story house! This place is great! You first walk into an entryway, and there's a seperate sitting room ... read more