One of My Favorite TV Shows . . .

. . . is The Price Is Right. I've loved Bob Barker since I was a little girl, and I'm sure I could win it all (or at least a dinette set) if I were ever to actually get on the show. I had big plans to make my TPIR debut last summer while I was in southern California for a wedding and to visit family; however, it wasn't meant to be. I've missed my window of opportunity to give Bob a kiss on the cheek. Sigh.

I'm excited today, though, because I just read that the new host of The Price Is Right is Drew Carey. I'm so relieved--I was afraid Rosie might get the gig. Scary Larry!

On Falling Off the Face of the Blog-Earth

Yikes! I haven't posted since the end of May; however, that's not my fault. It just figures that as soon as I started my own blog, I almost immediately had no access to blogspot. My Chinese internet quit being able to find any and all blogspot sites. Grrrr.

The good news is that I'm back in the States and have blogspot access again. I solemnly promise to retroactively post in the very-near future . . . after I reestablish my identity (see a future post) and figure out minor life details like a car and an apartment. Sigh.

Where I Am . . .

The biggest part of life for me right now (after The Biggest Part of Life, of course)--I mean the thing that takes up most of my brain power--is teaching. Although I've been teaching for six years, this past school year has felt like first year teaching all over again, which is fun and exciting but also incredibly challenging and draining. But I chose it, and I knew what I was getting into when I did so. Here's a little bit of the story:




I spent the past two years teaching post-graduate oral English at Daqing Petroleum Institute above: DQPI in summer and winter) in northeastern China. I loved teaching masters degree and doctoral candidates and I loved life as part of Global's team there, but a big part of me wanted to move on to something more academic. Honestly, I was getting a little bored of oral English.


So, in June of last year, my parents and sisters came to visit (above: us in front of an Olympic countdown in Tian'anmen Square), and in our travels we moved me here to "The Duj." You might think "The Duj" is kind of a fruity name, but the vast majority of people who read this blog will have serious trouble with "Dujiangyan"! Dujiangyan is a "top tourism city" (below: that's what it says under the big gold horse) in Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Americans are more familiar with "Szechuan" which probably lets you know that the food (and the weather) here is spicy!!





The Duj is night-and-day different from the flat oil fields where I spent the last two years. Daqing is dry, flat, super-windy, and cold, but it almost always has gorgeous, clear blue skies. The Duj, on the other hand, has a super-wet climate and is often overcast, which makes for a gorgeously lush atmosphere . . . and, of course, lots of creepy-crawlies including sometimes-jurassic-sized spiders! Fun, fun!

For you history- and knowlege-buffs, Dujiangyan is actually the name of an irrigation system that is more than 2000 years old! It was just one of the major projects initiated during the rule of Qin Shi Huang (below: see us with his statue), the first emperor of China who also connected sections of the Great Wall and was buried in Xi'an with all the terracotta warriors (above: us in Xi'an).

I'm a blogger!

I'm finally a blogger! I should have started this three years ago when I first came to live in China full-time instead of just a month before I leave . . . but better late than never, right?!

Thanks to my sister, Meg, who's a great blogger, and thanks to Dana who's got a fun blog about our lives here in the Duj! You two are my inspirations, but you don't have to take the blame if this ends up being really lame.