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I had the idea of approaching Xiaozhou (our younger chef who’s so cool about practicing english with me) about making a sweet and sour tofu the other day. He was surprisingly keen on the idea of trying. More so than the master chef he asked about it the next day. Both chefs are fantastic, but the master chef is a bit territorial with what happens in the kitchen. Once I suggested that putting some salt on top of the french fries after they’re cooked with add a nice (and authentic) taste. His reply was a firm “if they want salt they can ask me for salt.” He was similarly skeptical about my idea of blaspheming tofu with a sweet and sour sauce.

Xiaozhou had it handled though. He found me a minute later outside of the kitchen and said “the chef’s taking the day off tomorrow.” And today it happened. And oh it was so good. As I said, both chefs are fantastic, but it’s nice to get a new flavor mixed into the routine. I’ve already gotten an approving nod for a KungPao Tofu from the fellow ^_^.

Brilliant brilliant young chef

I’m really starting to miss non-Chinese foods. Don’t get me wrong…the Chinese food here is fantastic, but I could really go for some good Thai or Mexican..or Indian..or Viet. I swear I’m going to gorge myself to such a disgusting level when I’m back in Cali.

Work’s been good but tiring. Long hours, and I’ve been sick the last couple days. The Chinese is coming along well enough though it only takes a few minutes of trying to watch TV to know how far I am from fluent. Something I accept since I spend most of my time practicing travel and hotel Chinese.

I took a few days to visit a Lu Mountain (庐山) in Jiangxi (江西) province. The weather was nice, the beer good, and I found a fantastic potato, tofu, and black preserved bean dish. All the same it was so nice to get back into Wuhan. As soon as I set foot at the Art Academy next to Pathfinder I felt back at home.

The boss is gone for a couple days to Chengdu (成都) so I’m at the desk all day today watching the new kids to make sure they don’t break anything. Tomorrow once a real receptionist comes in I can rest. I found a Thai place a little bit away and I’m intent on seeing if it lives up to reputation (and still actually exists). It’ll be good to try something different =P.

One of the last conversations I had with XiaoJun before he left was the musing, simply expressed in my poor chinese, that people come and people go. His reply: "yes, because this is hostel."

That was more than a month ago. He left. Many have left. Because it is hostel. Had a dream while napping in the afternoon a few days ago. Wuhan, some time still to come. Sunshine needed someone to go with her to take someone’s passport picture and she took me. We drove for a while to a restaurant that Echo had opened. A nice restaurant. Big. It was Alex’s picture that we were taking. Grishka was there too. Fresh sadness at having them gone.

It’s starting to warm up in Wuhan. It’s close to reaching that point where leaving the hostel is an evening activity exclusivly. Two nights ago a Wuhanese coworker took myself and some guests to a hot pot place next to a night market that, despite being fairly close, I hadn’t even heard of before. Delicious hot pot and many great looking things that I didn’t get to.

The night before yesterday was busy in that unexpected sense that has ceased to surprise me; at least 10 foreigners flooded into the reception tired from the bus ride from Yichang into Wuhan.

Met Satan last week. Drank with him. Cool guy. An English student / artist who made some of the wall-space of the hostel more colorful. Most of the photos on his blog on and after May 2nd are in Wuhan Pathfinder.

The busy season from the May holiday has come and gone. We were busier when the cherry blossoms were blooming next to East Lake. I didn’t have an excuse (reason, need?) to sleep on chairs in the back this time around =P

Sunshine told me to take a morning off. I was planning on walking across Wuhan’s First Bridge but an hour relaxing next to the Yangtze and some time wandering around the streets around the hostel were enough to bring the romance of this place back and wipe away some of the frustraion that stacks up little thing by little.

I’ve been working on business cards for CollegeConfessional and realized with the New Year here, the cards could make a nice little marketing device. If anyone wants one tagged on his or her myspace , email confessitall@collegeconfessional.net

Happy and Healthy New Year!! 

A little over two weeks now until I’m back in China.

Awww…..I know…and the weather these last couple days has been so fun and windy and all that.

I was looking for something to keep me busy during the holiday break and found a couple good projects. TiffanyCollector.com and blog.tiffanycollector.com. I know they look like the same thing but that just means more time was spend coding the looks to they synced up.

My dear sweet mother’s been having a simply amazing time dealing with ebay who decided to suspend her account for selling fake Tiffany (which, of course, she wasn’t) and then place listing limits on it. Because of the suspension, ebay says she doesn’t stand a chance of getting those limits lifted until Febuary. Turns out she isn’t the only one. Sellers of designer items all over ebay are going through the same mess. The work around is to open a new account, which sellers of fakes don’t mind doing, but that isn’t really isn’t an option for sellers of legit pieces who make their living on their good name.

Well….instead of sitting on her hands and merchandise until Feb, I set her up with an online store and a blog so she can keep listing and moving product.

Now that building’s done, step two: Marketing

The leaves changing, the frost in the air. Real soup and sandwiches weather, isn’t it?

And I’ve been taking proper advantage of it. Found a job to teach in China’s Jiangxi province this coming semester. Got another ticket after my fist attempt to flee the country failed (though the positive repercussions were greater than could have been imagined). I get to spend the holidays with my family and travel China during the holiday break over there. Since I’ll have about a month to travel around I’m hoping to see, at least, Guiyang and Yunnan before I start teaching.

Mike’s about fully moved to his new place, even has roommates lined up AND a cat. CollegeConfessional is returning about 200 hits a day on average and the viewer ship for MajorFashion is also on the rise after starting a marketing campaign through GoogleAdwords. 

That and some tooling around with cars and it’s been pretty low key. 

Oh how I love spare the air days. I was able to get up to Berkeley (with my bike) and back for the low low price of nothing. Yep…free mass transit today and Friday b/c most Californians can’t live w/o A/C. Pansies.

I’m sooo tempted to take Caltrain up to SF for the hell of it and just bike around snapping pictures. Why not? Oh…this to-do list…..right. Hehe…I’m sure I can get an International Student ID in SF ^_^.

Something about riding trains for four hours, mostly standing with my bike, that seems to have left a touch on my equilibrium; I’ve still got a swaying sensation with me. Best to get used to it, I’ll be on train far longer going through China, I’m sure.

I made a LOT of progress today. FINALLY I got my visa. Ninety-days! ^__^ I’m going to China, BABY! One week from today almost to the minute I’ll be on a plane flying west. Flying foreword about 28 hours on an almost 12 hour flight, after which I’d set my watch, if I wore a watch, foreword only four hours.

After the relief of getting my visa, I got to spend the day in SF with my dear Longman. Visited St. Mary’s Cathedral (my first time in a Cathedral). It was amazing inside; the ceiling literally challenges my sense of depth and dimension. I was grateful for the opportunity to offer a prayer. Before a journey that will introduce me to so many new people and new ways, it felt proper to take a few minutes and pray for all who would benefit from an infusion of tolerance and faith. Once outside I took some pictures of the amazing outside of the Cathedral (promise to post soon).

Afterwords, took care of some computer stuff. Had an amazing Vietnamese lunch. Met an awesome ex-marine who’s travel experience boggles the mind (and she was so kind to give me a book on East Asian art). Her collection of…things covers most of Asia (and I mean ASIA; West, South, South-East, and East) and North Africa. Found a great shoulder bag to bring with me on my travels on Height St (where I also found an AMAZING Turkish coffee). Preston was kind enough to celebrate my visa with a Lonely Planet for China. Reading through it on the train, I feel much more comfortable about the world I’ll be stepping into. I’ve got placed to stay most of the way, I’ll have a paper guide, to get me around the alien environment, I’ve got traveler’s insurance to see me through any bumps in the road, and I’ve got a fair ability to communicate that will thrive under necessity.

My enthusiasm was bolstered this evening while bowling with the fams. Mid-way through our second game, a trio started on the lane next to us. I correctly guessed that they were Israeli from the way their Hebrew sounded and was introduced to their party, who was in the Bay Area on vacation. Meeting a group of foreigners who so melded into the atmosphere and befriending them gave my already strong faith in our inter-connectedness a timely infusion.

Every thing’s going to be just fine (and even if it isn’t exactly, I’ll have great stories ^_^)

Been a fun few days leading up to graduation. Spent a night down at Chabad with Mike, Lisa, Katie, et al stuffing envelopes following the Chabad break-in and robbery. The other day Lisa, Katie, Mike, Cath and I went out to BJs for drinks and dinner.

Yesterday I got together with a bunch graduating history students for drinks at The Hut. It was a good experience； I hadn’t really had the opportunity to enjoy the company of other history students outside of the classroom relaxing at the end of the year in a cool evening made me feel more connected with my peers.

Friday was an honors ceremony for members of societies. I got a token for my participation in Phi Alpha Theta, the history honors society. More of a treat was getting to see my Uncle Mark after so long though. He flew up from So-Cal for Friday and Saturday.

The commencement ceremony on Saturday itself went well, smooth. I didn’t trip (nor did anyone else I noticed) and our valedictorian and keynote speakers did a pretty good job. It WAS sunny though, and between the heat and my exhaustion I managed to fall asleep for most of the BS degrees. Between my mortarboard and sunglasses I woke up with an awesome (and amusing) sunburn on the left side of my face.

After the ceremony we got together for an amazing vegan lunch Mom put together with her usual skill. Oh..what will I do in China?

It’s amazing - okay…maybe not that amazing - how many people can’t wait for this quarter to be over with. It’s been a pretty stressful one. I don’t know how I managed to have more work this quarter than last when I had to worry about that senior thesis. Oh…maybe the business with Mike that’s getting off the ground, CollegeConfessional, my freelance work, evening Mandarin classes, a bit of on-the-side consulting would explain away things. Yeah….that could be it.

On the horizon:

• Monday: HIST 109 final (done now, w00t for posting delays), evening Mandarin class
• Tuesday: CHIN 3 final, HIST 153 Final
• Wednesday: morning coffee and muffin to celebrate the end of the quarter ^_^, file for visa in SF, evening Mandarin class
• Thursday: History student get-together, toast the end of the year
• Friday: Honors convocation
• Saturday: Graduate, countdown until China

Got a pleasant email from JapanFiles.com’s Dave Cirone letting me know that a link to my pictures from Fanime Con 2006’s MusicFest were features on the JapanFiles Myspace blog and I got to meet one of our neighbors this afternoon.