This morning, I made the best soy milk I have yet made in China with my new soy milk machine. It had almonds in it -- really, really flavorful almonds. It inspired me to share my joy through blogging. But then I remembered that people like pictures, and I didn't feel like photographing my soy milk, so I decided to share other pictures that I have not posted yet.



Birthday Gift #1: A copy of Hong Lou Meng, or Dream of the Red Chamber. I told my students that I studied this in college (in translation) and loved it, and they bought a copy for me! When I finish reading this, I will feel like an accomplished scholar of the Chinese language, indeed. It is like reading Shakespeare. 850 pages of smallprint Shakespeare.
Birthday Gift #2: Calligraphy, made just for me! A friend who obviously is quite talented found two four-character sayings: one that ended with the first character of my Chinese name, and one that began with the second character (the 4th & 5th characters from the top of the right column). It is said "ray-chee." The longer I am here, the more attached to my Chinese name I am becoming.
Birthday Gift #3: This actually accompanied Birthday Gift #1, but I loved it so much that I just had to give it its own designation. Wouldn't you?!
It actually reminds me of another favorite card, from the Summer Math Institute (SMI) 2008 students...



The algorithm to follow to create one of Chase's Favorite Cards apparently is to have her favorite people draw happy things in bright colors, say "we love you," and sign their names so that she can always remember them. Actually, one of my best friends used to do that on a practically daily basis for me -- and I saved all of those, too. The best part is, I still get the same burst of joy every time I see these cards. So, thank you, again, to all of you who have contributed to my happiness in this way!

Birthday Gift #4 & #5: Calligraphy Tools!
Both my Chinese language teacher and my friends Serge & Lisa gave me all the tools I will need to start learning and writing Chinese calligraphy and painting! I am excited to get started and decorate our now sadly empty apartment!


Random visual: Fish at Zhan's Garden, trained to chase visitors with open mouths. I have a picture of the line they would create following us, but maybe I will add that to another post. It is not quite so striking as this one, I think.


Normally, I do not like to put pictures of myself on the web (as you may have noticed). But, at least for now, I will put this one up because, hey, I'm masked. This was me at one of the student Halloween celebrations back in October. Celebration Method #1 (I am all about lists today): put on communal masks, take pictures, trade masks. Very hygienic. Celebration Method #2: Share pumpkins to carve. The pumpkins averaged about 2.5 faces each carved into their sides (and, sometimes, bottoms). Celebration Method #3: Drink Pepsi. Eat Chinese sweets. I will note that celebrating Halloween with a bunch of college students who claim never to have celebrated Halloween before but who know exactly what it is supposed to look like is really really fun.