Before the storm 1

Picture taken on Feb 11 at 3pm. Snow was beginning to fall. The first major snowstorm, since I came back from Malaysia, is on its way.

Feb5 menu

Latest dinner menu:
1. Korean ginseng chicken soup
2. Bittermelon omellette with salted shrimp and mungbean noodle
3. Soft tofu with oyster sauce
4. Kimchi

Since the guests are originally from China, this menu was agreeable to everyone. Why bittermelon omellette and tofu again? Because I still have half the bittermelon and green onion left over from the reunion dinner and my economical self needs to use them up. Thomas and Jodie brought along a cheesecake, which we had for dessert.

Feb5 guests

Latest dinner guests: Thomas and Jodie. They are expecting their first baby in April.

NiNi

My friend, Yuan, gave this to me just now. This is NiNi, one of the five official mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. They’re called the Friendlies. Just found this out on Beijing 2008’s website:

“Each of the Friendlies has a rhyming two-syllable name–a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together–Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni–they say “Welcome to Beijing,” offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of the Five Friendlies as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games”.

Apparently I’m one of the dying breed of international graduate students here. I used to think that grad students from developing countries must be people of limited means. Well today I met a Chinese student from Mainland China who used to drive a slightly “old junk” car. When he told me he sold his car, I thought perhaps he needed money as his wife is about to have their first baby. Boy..was I wrong! He sold his old car because he bought a new car. A 2006 RAV4.

“Did you pay by installments?”

“What’s installment?”

“Meaning you pay a certain amount each month”

“Oh no, I paid by cash”

“And how much does a new RAV4 cost?”

“$22,000″

Oh my $22,000 cash, that’s a lot of money. Oh well, judging by the number of nice new cars parked along Duh, no wonder the university is cancelling more and more shuttle services. The U used to provide hourly shuttle services to the main campus on weekends but they cancelled that. Gas too expensive. The U used to provide a once-a-week bus service to the mall, they cancelled that too. Gas too expensive, low ridership. And I’m one of the few low-riders..hahaha. Since all bus services from Duh has been cancelled during the weekend, I’m basically stuck here all weekend.