Friday, August 08, 2008

Some Random Updates

Today was Chinese Valentine's Day. I got on the subway this morning and some guy was holding a huge bouquet of roses. I didn't know what they were for, but a friend told me later that, apparently, Chinese guys are screwed because the poor schmucks have to buy their girlfriends flowers and candy twice a year: once on the lunar 7/7, and once on 2/14.

The holiday here goes back to some story about a cowherd who tricked a goddess into marrying him but then the Heavenly Emperor got pissed and made them live as separate stars in the sky. Supposedly, every year on the lunar 7/7, magpies fill the sky and form a bridge between the two stars. Thus, only on that day can the two lovers ever unite.

That's sorta like me and Josh, only different. Instead of cosmic fate separating us, it's a bunch of rich parents who are paying top dollar for my husband to play hangman and 20 questions with their spoiled children. And sing them lots of Backstreet Boys. So, since Josh was busy all day and I found out about the special occasion on the bus at about 2pm, I decided I'd bring Josh a cake:




It's almond flavored, like our wedding cake. I thought it was cute.


















Also, we took a trip to Tianjin last week that I've been wanting to post about, but the super highlight of the trip was getting to ride on the new bullet train (27 min from tianjin to beijing...shorter than it takes for us to get home from the train station!).



They even gave us snazzy Tibetan spring water...ooh...













The night before, I watched this spot on CCTV about how the trains are ultrafast but also ultrasmooth, so you can put a bottle of water upside down and it'll stay put. So of course, I decided to try it:



Neato, huh?














So that's all I got for now. I'll post more pictures from the Tianjin trip when Josh isn't passing out next to me.

Tomorrow's a big day:
1) It's Josh's 25th birthday, on 08/08/08. (I also look forward to Josh's birthday because it's when I stop sounding like I'm 2 years older than him...)
2) The 2008 Olympic Games begin tomorrow.

We're kind of excited that those two events are coinciding. No wonder Josh is so lucky. And this time, his uncanny luck came through again, because the government declared tomorrow a holiday, which means Josh doesn't have to teach in the morning and gets to sleep in for the first time in a pretty long while.


中国加油 !!

5 comments:

DP said...

if today is chinese valentine's day...and you listed two dates that are not today's date as days that chinese boys have to get their girlfriends flowers and candy...wouldn't that mean those poor chinese shmucks have to get their girlfriends flower and candy THREE times a year? am i confused?

M.dou said...

haha sorry, i guess that was a little confusing. So, the Chinese Valentine's day follows the Lunar calendar, and this year, 7/7 in the Lunar Calendar happened to fall on 8/7 of the Roman calendar (you know, the one we usually use :P). so that's what i meant. and thankfully, that also means the schmucks don't have to go through the motions THREE times a year. :)

tamz said...

happy birthday josh!!! you are lucky, nice that you get a day off! we'll be looking out for you guys when we watch the olympic opening ceremony :)
ps. what's your guys' new address? (you can email it to me if you want)

Unknown said...

happy birthday, josh!!!!

DP said...

happy birthday josh!