a post before Spring Festival aka Chinese New Year

CORRECTION: In addendum to the last post in which you see a freshly graduated bob. bob has informed me that he graduated in 2006, making my estimation two years off. oops. sorry bob. hahahaha. i have this agreement with bob that he will call me when it is mom or dads birthday so i can call them and wish them happy birthday. he also has to call me when it is his own birthday so i can wish him happy birthday. hahahah. i am a bad person. sorry world.

So it is an exciting time here. It is Spring festival time aka Chinese new year. no one calls it chinese new year here. asian countries use the lunar calendar to determine the new year so its usually like a month later. i don't know that much about spring festival. i think there is a lantern festival like 15 days after which i am looking forward to. and there will be tons of fireworks tonight.


I took this pic at a little noodle shop. I thought it would be really funny or an insight on how Chinese people feel about our pres'es but it turns out it's pretty lame or, i just dont get it. Obama is saying how are you, bush is saying not very good, laura is saying i'm so happy he finally got laid off, and i asked 3 chinese people and they don't know what michelle is saying because it doesn't make sense. Pretty lame right?


sugary glazed fruit. it was slightly above freezing this day so they were melting a little.

this is a big winter time attraction in beijing. doing the bing che "ice car" on lake hou hai. you sit in these chairs and push yourself around the ice with sticks. there were people ice scating too and there were even ice bikes.

Chinese people have a good sense of humor when it comes to racist imagery. or they just don't know to be offended yet. remember that illustration i did of the japanese racoon last year and the high ups at FIT thought it was too racist looking because he was wearing a straw asian style hat and and "slanted" eyes? well i asked some people here they thought it was totally fine. I don't even know anymore. are these statues racist imagery?

i've been drinking a lot of tea in china. i've been here 8 months and i still don't have the proper tea drinking apparatus so i just dump the leaves in a big cup and sip away.

remember these turtle statues me and bob bought at the forbidden city? well they are finally facing each other, bobs facing east in albany and mine facing west in Beijing. It is our made up brotherly bond story. We said where ever we are in the world we will have these two statues facing each other for always....and then we made out.

this character kewpie was actually created by a female american illustrator Rose O'Neill that appeared in Ladies' Home Journal in 1909. Q.P. Corporation is a Japanese food manufacturer, famous for its popular brand of Japanese mayonnaise sold in plastic squeeze bottles with a Kewpie doll logo. I love that mayonnaise. it tastes different than western mayo, and i think that is what this ad is for here in beijing.

buying chinese new year stuff for the door and windows.

a wish tree in the lobby of the building that Ogilvy and City Weekend is in. I met Lily and Angel for luch and they both said they never even noticed the tree but it is right smack in the middle of the lobby and you have to walk around it to go to the elevator!

outside my kitchen window a woman is feeding what i think are pigeons, some in cages some not. A 19 yr old girl died of bird flue in beijing this month. i think i want to make friends with this woman and hang out with these birds in the afternoons so i can be in the middle of the next bird flu pandemic.


maybe because its chinese new year this family has 4 bags instead of 1 tied to ropes outside their window aka their refrigerator

lamb meat on sticks. yumm

finally went to the east shore jazz bar at lake hou hai. that band was ok. angel says the good band will be back after spring festival

spring festival decorations at the gate of my compound.

Best of 2008 - Part 1

This is a reminder about how much more awesome my life was in the last 6 months of 2008 than yours was in the last 6 years. Just kidding, this is the Best of 2008 in photos and words in three parts, and it wouldn't have been so sweet if it wasn't for all my friends and family. I am lucky to have friends in all corners of the globe, and to have made new ones. Anyway I did have a pretty spectacular last 6 months didn't I? I hope this 2008 retrospective will inspire some people to come visit me before I leave China! My parents are coming in april, Debbie and Salih might come in April, Yoon is coming in March, Bob came in June, come on ya'll! I did some calculatin' and I think you need $50 a day to have a really good time here including eating and drinking. 2009 is waitin' for you!

Bob graduated in 2008!! wait, did he? i can't remember but here he is in all his glory anyway. Bob is currently persuing his PHD in Albany in some field of math. my loving family and doggies. rock band was a highlight of 2008 definitely a new laptop a new stainless steal canon Harlem, New York. 136th and broadway was my home. I shared it with 2 roomates and 10,000 "loaches" dodgeball madness with 12 mexican kids that jumped in. the final ultimate Viva La Everything Party at Happy Ending Lounge in NY. so sad its over. we had one every semester. rooftop bbq party at my house in harlem. David Joseph taking his pants off was a highlight in 2008 that happened many many times. one final breakfast at the pink teacup. bacon is legendary there, and so are the grits. my room in harlem before i left. it was like $900 a month i think. Moving from NYC in 2008 was a huge huge event. It could have been a big mistake. I guess we have to wait for 2009 to find out. bob coming to china for the first month was a huge highlight, maybe the best highlight. you know how when you go to a new country and everything is new and fresh and amazing and even the sight of foreign toilets make you squeal with delight? imagine sharing that with your brother and buddy for the whole first month. me made fun of each other and ourselves non-stop for 1 month. and look at us, there is a lot to make fun of. I miss bob and our self deprecating quagmire of doom pity parties while we walk the streets of beijing snapping away with our cameras. the house in the gated expat housing complex in the suburbs of Beijing. We lived with our auntie there. yunnan food, the yummiest i've had in china, except for peking duck. we ate a black chick, mint beef that waas out of this world, and other yumminess the best thing i've eaten in china is by far Peking Duck from Da Dong Roast duck. A very nice restaurant, and the best duck! if you're coming to visit me you will eat this. on the other end of the spectrum. burger king. i had not had burger king in 7 yrs since i swore off fast food in NYC. Burger King is far superior to McCdonalds. bob also had it because he was on a 1 month meat eating stint in china. bob's continuing mesquito problem was a delight! we would be sitting around and there would be swarms of them after him but non after me. Nightly sweeps of the house would be done so that bob might sleep with out being paranoid that they would come and get him in the night. cliche i know but the great wall is a highlight. if you've been there you know! the zip line at the end of this section of the well was amazing. i am afraid of heights so jumping off this ledge into a gorge over the river was horrifying but once i was out there on the line it was magical. recommended highly! bob looking like this and having heat exhaustion or watever for the whole great wall hike was def a highlight. i laughed the whole way for 2 hrs. bob was feverish and was lying around for over a day so i made us go out into the night and we discovered this staple of beijing food, the tomato egg thing. so cheap, it was memorable. bikes in china. life is better when you ride one. this is the guy that turned me into a grandma that collects stuff. the tiger toy. now i have 11. the forbidden city was really amazing and vast. turtle guy from the forbideen city. me and bob both bought a small bronze statue of these guys and they face each other, one in albany, one in beijing, to further our brother bond and how twee we are. hard sleeper train back from shanghai. this tree in shanghai inspired the illustraiton of the tree hair woman. finally saw some real brothels/message parlors/barber shops in shanghai and the most amazing hutong i have ever been down. i was so amazed i forgot to take pictures. finally bob got him money shot after we f'd up the tickets and had to stay an extra day in Shanghai my chinese class

my reminder why i shouldn't drink so much. because one day i will wake up and permanately look like this.