9 pm, 90 degrees and 90% humidity (it’s true, I checked on weather.com)

July 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

Gosh, I love humidity….ugh, blegh, arg… There’s actually quite a nice breeze right now, so I’m trying to stay brave and keep the windows open vs. turning on the A/C.  Although it’s verrrry tempting right now…

There’s definitely been a breakdown in the posts.  Sorry!  I could blame it on being pregnant, or studying hard (rather, hardly studying), or faulty internet in this darn place, but I really have no excuse!  We’ve had a steady stream of visitors, been busy studying and reading up on becoming parents (eek!), and trying to stay cool in this blistering heat.

It’s been so hot, we have kitty puddles throughout the apartment.

We also had my dear friend W stay with us for a couple weeks.  She brought us cereal, which made my love for her grow infinitely large and reaffirmed my love of Trader Joe’s.  (Yes, to win my affections, cereal from Trader Joe’s or a 2-item combo from Panda Express will do).

My super genius cousin W is also in town, learning Chinese, his 3rd language (unless it’s his 4th…), at Fudan University here in Shanghai.  I haven’t seen much of him growing up, since he’s from MO.  It was great to introduce him to M, see that he was well fed, and ate some shaved ice with him last week.

This past Thursday night, M had some business people in town from the Philippines, so we took them out to dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Bund.  Because we had some time to kill before dinner reservations, we walked around a very crowded Bund, enjoying the nighttime lights and scenery.

I’ll be heading out to the States this Thursday.  As always, I’m sad to leave the hubs and the kitties, but so excited to see my parents and my friends.  Since getting pregnant, I’ve been more homesick for the familiar.  I miss the ease of living where I know things, where I can speak the language, and where there is a great many food options.  I can’t wait!!

I probably won’t post while I’m traveling, but most likely, I’ll see you in person soon!!!

Filed under Bob the Cat, FOOD, Happy Happy, Thoughts

Not a sarap nan weekend

January 24, 2011 Leave a Comment

I’ve been laying low for the past couple weeks.  Just put my head down and grind through the studying.  It was JCC’s memorial service and rosary last week, with his burial tomorrow, so it’s been a sad week and a half.  To top that off, M was gone all last week, traveling for work, and when he got back he was sick.  So we spent most of the weekend watching movies, and ugh…such awful movies!  I’d have to say that the best movie we watched all weekend was “A Walk to Remember” that was on HBO.  Mandy Moore and Shane West (he’s on “Nikita”.  have you watched?  it has potential to become almost as good as “alias.”) made the movie weekend bearable.

What did we watch, you ask?  We watched “Buried” with Ryan Reynolds.  It’s depressing and sad.  Don’t watch it.  We watched “Watchmen.”  It was really confusing.  We watched “Everyone’s Fine” with Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore.  It was kind of sad, bittersweet and poignant.  Ending made it okay.  And we watched “Children of Invention,” an independent film from a Chinese director who was featured at Sundance.  It was good but sad.  I knew I should’ve picked up “Hot Tub Time Machine”!

This week, I’m just studying and packing.  I’m heading back to the States to see friends, family and take the (*#$&^$&@*#@^$) bar again.  Sigh.  Must. Kick. Butt.

Anyways, here are some scenes from last week.  Hopefully, see you soon!!

 

I tried to take a picture of snow falling. The little dots on the picture is the snow, not dust.

 

P.S. “Sarap Nan” means delicious in Tagalog.  There’s a Selecta-brand ice cream commercial that’s on TV all the time here, and it says, “sarap nan weekend!” as they eat yummy-looking ice cream.  Sad to say, Selecta ice cream tastes like crap (I tried it and I don’t think they use real milk), but M and I look forward to having a sarap nan weekend every week.

Filed under Bob the Cat, Thoughts

Ring-ting-tingaling too—

December 24, 2010 Leave a Comment

It’s odd that it’s already Christmas and the end to 2010.  What a HUGE year it’s been!  I’d never thought that within a 12-month timespan, I would get married, be done with my schooling (finally!, but  Chinese language classes notwithstanding), go on a mission trip to Peru, AND pack all my belongings into 4 suitcases and 2 boxes, and move halfway around the world to China.  Isn’t it insane what can happen within a 1 year period?!

It’s Christmas eve tonight on our part of the world.  Here are some pictures of this past week as we tried to organize our home, prepare for Christmas, and keep sane.

 

Filed under Bob the Cat, Thoughts

Unable to read the temperature, and other things

December 15, 2010 Leave a Comment

In moving to a new country, I’ve realized that I’m quite at a disadvantage being an American.  Not to say that I dislike being American, but simply that there are certain aspects to being an American that really sucks while I’m abroad.   First and foremost, the damn metric system!  I mean, yes, if you are a science nerd, this is not a problem.  But I went to law school for a reason.  And that reason was because I don’t do math.  I mean, people say things in passing like, “wow, tomorrow is 8 degrees C!”  and all I can do is smile and try to match my facial expression to their’s because I don’t know what 8 degrees C means!!! Likewise, how long is a meter?  Is it less than a yard?  More than a yard?  How far is 1 km?  Also, what time is 20 o’clock??  Do I really have to subtract 12 hours from 20 hours to know that it’s 8 pm?  Can’t you just say 8 pm?  Why the 24 hour clock?  I am mighty confused.

 

And for the record, the US and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries in the world that do not use the metric system.  Talk about siding with the underdog….

 

So yesterday, this is what happened:

 

It snowed!!!  And it kind of stuck too.  Don’t ask me how cold it is outside (my iPhone says it’s 34 degrees F), but it snowed all day long yesterday.  It was sooo cold!  But, it’s actually really pretty right now.  A lot of the snow hasn’t melted away, so parts of the city is covered in a nice soft layer of fresh (acid) snow.

 

Bob and Lamb are slowly starting to come to an agreement as to how they’ll share this new home.  Yesterday, there was a lot of slapping going on, mostly with Lamb instigating and Bob retaliating.  But for about two minutes, there was a moment of truce.

 

I really hope they learn to get along.  It would be great to be able to watch TV and have both of them lounging nearby.  Lamb is going to Grandma’s for visitation, so I’m hoping that we won’t need to re-acclimate them when Lamb gets back next week.  Until then, I think they’ll enjoy some time as king of the kittydom in their respective households for a few days.

 

 

Filed under Bob the Cat, Lamb on Rice, Thoughts

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