Christmas Eve Gift!

Now you all owe me a small present. I said it to you first!

This weekend has been interesting. Saturday the Usual Suspects and I came to the new apartment to get keys and for me to drop off my first bag of stuff. Afterwards we boarded the subway and rode to the family's house. We all had a Christmas party together, and it was loads of fun. We played ridiculous Christmas games (I won a bag of Chee-tos), and we ate ourselves silly on some catered Christmas food. We also did a Secret Santa exchange, and I recieved some scarves and gloves. Now I have choices and will never be cold. The Professor was my Secret recipient, and I got him a set of clay soldiers that replicate the ones found in the tomb in Xi'an. They're pretty cool, and they are what he actually wanted. I am also planning on getting him a book, but I haven't yet.

Yesterday we went to our normal international fellowship. It was a family day, so the kids were all out with the big people. I find these Sundays interesting because it's cool that everyone is together, but it's also kind of weird because then the teaching includes puppets. Puppets don't usually tackle deep matters. Christmas is a very deep matter, or it could/can/should be. They talked about the incarnation, and I think the point was that a child could understand it, and that's good. The rest of us, though, might have been a little left out.

After we left there, we went to the hutong. That's where we stayed when we first hit China, and let me say that it is even better today. We stumbled across a shop called Grifted, and I've read about it in that's Beijing magazine. They sell fantastically irreverent China-themed things. Plush communists from around the world, "No Spitting" t-shirts, Confuscious garden gnomes, you know, that kind of thing. I got a t-shirt (my first Chinese clothing purchase) that has a map of China on it and the stars from the flag over it with the big star over Beijing. It has "Beijing" printed at the bottom. I also bought a present for Jem back home, because it's exactly what I knew I'd get him here, and they sell this particular thing in the hutong. The Professor and I got some hand-made leather bracelets, so now we're apparently best friends forever.

Funny story about that actually, yesterday, during the "welcome your neighbor" I tried to give him a hug, which, of course, he blocked. This is normal behavior. So I shook hands with some people, and one man was wearing an Eagles (football) sweater. From behind me I hear "Don't shake his hand! He's an Eagles fan." The Professor is from Dallas, you see. Team rivals and whatnot. I turned around to him and said (loudly) "You're a Calvinist and I gave you a hug! I think I can shake hands with an Eagles fan!" Butterbean's family in front of us convulsed with laughter.

Back in the hutong we had lunch in a wonderful little restaurant called Fish Nation. We had fish 'n chips. I had a Greek salad, as well, and it made me happier than any other single food I've had since I've been here. It was amazing.

Then we hopped in a taxi to get back to the dorm. The Professor was supposed to meet his tutor in Zhongguancun to shop for a wireless card or something for his laptop. The wireless in his laptop is broken. So I needed to go to Carrefour for bedding for our new place. I had withdrawn money earlier in the day for this purpose, but the hutong had snuck up on me, so I was lower than should've been. I bought some of the bedding, but ran out of cash. So I wondered around for an hour and a half looking for an ATM that would take my card. Finally I found a Citibank, and they did it. So I spent another 30 minutes walking back to Carrefour only to be told I couldn't bring a bag into the store. Ok... so what does one do with such bags. There wasn't a counter check. I discovered electronic lockers for this purpose. Instructions in Chinese only, though. I watched for a good solid 10 minutes until I saw how it works, and then hastily shoved my stuff into a locker. I walked back into the store and found what I needed, bought it, and came home. This whole thing took from 3 until 6:30 yesterday afternoon. I bought two sheet sets with duvet covers and two duvets. That's it. It also took most of my patience and a bit of angry muttering.

All of that leads up to this, though: I am now living in the new apartment! My first apartment is actually in China. My life is weird. I am amazed that this place, which is 3000 times better than the dorm, is actually considerably cheaper. It's just silly like that. I'll give you a tour later, when we're settled in. It's nice. And the bedding I bought is nice looking, to boot.

Right now I'm a bit cold, though, I do admit.

T