Category: Life in Xining
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It finally caught up with me… After a year and a month of intensive language study, I finally started speaking Chinese in my dreams. The bad part is that I can’t speak it any better in my sleep state than I do in real life. In the dream I started speaking to this taxi driver…
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Today was Saturday (the Johnson family’s blessed day of rest) so we ventured out to a "park" some friends had told us about located on our "end of town". I put the word park in quotation marks because in typical Chinese fashion it resembled something more akin to a "square" or "plaza" than an American-style…
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Imagine you have ordered a delicious plate of large, fresh, tasty, greasy, home-style French Fries (or "chips" if you live on certain other islands.) You’re ordering from Xining, by the way, so you’re already feeling very delighted to be able to order such western luxuries… Then imagine that your order comes out looking something like…
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Have you ever seen this guy before? His name (I just discovered) is Lefty. He used to show up on occasion on The Muppets / Sesame Street. If my memory serves, this infamous fellow would often beckon a gullible soul (like Ernie) into an alley or side-street in order to sell him something (i.e. the…
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If you believe they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.If you believe there’s nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool. "Man on the Moon"R.E.M. This week I am especially and uncharacteristically thankful for the moon. But I must say I am more thankful that the Chinese people are thankful for…
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"They wander on earth and live in heaven, and although they are weak, they protect the world; they taste of peace in the midst of turmoil; they are poor, and yet they have all they want. They stand in suffering and remain in joy, they appear dead to all outward sense of life and lead…
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Our company here is having our annual "retreat" this weekend. We, Johnsons, are slowly recovering from our bout with scarlet fever and this weekend we’re excited to visit with all our friends who are working here in Xinng and around Qinghai. It will be a good time to re-charge and get away. For about three…
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The blog gurus say that it’s a bad idea to blog about what you had for lunch or how your bowel movements have been lately. Generally, I agree with this, but if I can’t write about how I’m doing I really don’t see the point. (After all, a majority of the readers I have are…
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Well, the power is back on. I’ve been running around the house turning lights on and off obsessively just for fun. We went without electricity for almost 42 hours. It was nice to finally shave off my Amish beard and Bob Marley dreads. Have’t done one of these lists in a while, so I thought…
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Today our block is without electricity as they are putting up new electrical poles (huge metal monstrosities) on the main road. Right now I’m blogging on a dial-up connection with the remaining "juice" from the laptop’s battery. It’s amazing the types of things that require electricity (electric stoves, electrically powered light bulbs, electric TVs and…
yeti speak... 