merry christmas (though it doesn't feel like a holiday...)

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for christmas, the management for our apt/condo building decided to decorate the lobby. i came home the other day to be greeted by bunches of pastel colored balloons- very easter-appropriate- all over the front entrance. loose balloons on the floor, balloon bouquets taped to the walls, and balloons strung up in arches to decorate doorways. somehow, i just am not in a holiday mood... i don't mean this in a negative way, really... it just doesn't feel like christmas.

this is also despite wal-mart playing one song on repeat, a chinese girl with a heavy accent singing "jingle bells", in a fake cutesy voice. it was maddening to the point where i had to leave- after about the tenth time hearing the song, it felt like it was being sledgehammered into my brain.

this afternoon we had lunch at a restaurant where they played christmas carols- in korean. they also gave us a christmas gift, a small bottle of some local liquor in a stoneware-type bottle. yesterday, wei and i didn't do much to celebrate; we went to parkson's (imo, the best dept. store in nanchang) and browsed random shops in the rain. bought a couple of things- laneige makeup at parkson's, sweaters for wei at some arena-type market. met up with jin qian and had steaks (they said it's a western holiday, so we should eat american food... apparently a lot of ppl agreed with that thought, as evidenced by the line at pizza hut). then jin qian got to participate in some iced tea company's campaign. he got voted the best contestant for his runway strut, and his prize was... the honor of drawing the names of the actual prizewinners. haha. came home, watched wei and friends play wii, went to bed relatively early.

one thing that cracks me up is how aggressively vendors will pursue a sale. i've been advised to buy shoes three sizes too large when they were out of my size ("it's more comfortable that way") and apparently any color under the sun is one i would look great in. wei does the haggling and so i'm saved from paying the jacked-up "foreigner" prices- but still, i think i've been influenced to buy more than one thing just based on giving in to a salesperson's persistence.

paid the electric bill today. once a month, management writes slips telling how much you owe and they post it on your door. so i guess everyone down my hall can see that we used 63RMB of electric this month if they cared to look. i'm sure it will be more expensive next month since we were in anyang and beijing for over two weeks in early december.

hope everyone is having a safe & happy holiday.

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Photos

Glass in the cement wall
5th floor apartment's way of deterring thieves who can climb

Car accident
Accidents draw a crowd. It was actually a much larger crowd than the photo shows.