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It has been almost 2 years since my last post, but due to the depressing lack of Avatar movie icons out there, this needed to be remedied immediately.

Go see this movie.

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TEASERS:


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Merry Christmas!

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That's all.

Now I'm off to cook some chicken. Already had Christmas dinner yesterday. Got nice presents. Mom loved the Sonic Screwdriver, like squee-loved it. :D

K is working. Hopefully she'll be home in an hour.

...the Christmas tree lights are not lighting up... *sigh*

Way too much Christmas root beer.

Love to you all!

Christmas is not an official holiday here. Everyone has to go to work, I still have class at 8:00AM (my listening comprehension teacher basically threatened to kill us all if we skipped for Christmas), but Chinese young people absolutely love Christmas. There's Christmas music playing in various places, giant inflatable Santa Clauses in many buildings, and Christmas trees. Today there are fancily wrapped apples for sale everywhere, because the Chinese word for Christmas Eve is 平安夜 (Ping'An Ye), and the word for apple is 苹果 (Pingguo) and since the two pings sound the same, everyone buys "平安果“ － Christmas Eve Apples.

Furthermore, the Chinese internet loves Christmas. Observe:

This is RenRen, China's answer to Facebook. I giggled a lot when I saw the Santa Hat imposed over my picture today. My 8 minutes ago status update you might notice there says that I wish everyone a happy Christmas Eve.


This is the homepage to Baidu, China's most popular website. It's basically Google (which is also popular here) but is far more kickass in that you can download pretty much every song ever.


Tudou is one of China's Youtube knock-offs - I personally much prefer Youku, but apparently Youku is uninterested that it's Christmas. Haha.


This is Zuosa, Chinese Twitter. I only use Zuosa because it let me link my account to my Twitter account, so while I still have no idea what anyone else is saying on Twitter, I can update mine. But, really... you can say a whole hell of a lot more in 140 Chinese characters than you can posting in English.



My tree!! And some of our cards. My roommate and I are well-loved, our TV top is full of cards too!! There are lights on this tree... not sure why they photographed so poorly!!


I also had no place to hang the other lights I got, so I just strung them around my headboard. I think it's festive!!

I'm not yet quite sure what Chinese people do on Christmas Day itself, as our teachers all kept saying "oh, only young people celebrate Christmas in China", but I'll be sure to let you all know!!

I don't write about China enough. I mean to, but my life here pretty day-to-day and full of me doing things that aren't in any way remarkable or exotic, and so sometimes I forget that life in China, and particularly Harbin, is so very different from life in the US.

And so, in an attempt to make myself write more about China and at the same time deflect responsibility off my myself, I am coming to you guys!!

What do you want to know about life in China?

Ask anything! Big things, small things, whatever! People here ask me well-intentioned but vaguely offensive questions about life in America all the time, so don't worry too much if you don't think your question is not "PC" or whatever. I will be happy to dedicate an entire entry to everyone's questions about China, and so I write more, you read more, and everyone wins!!!

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'Tis the season to... make a million memes to let everyone know just how much you appreciate them and love them. :D

Here's the plan: You comment with your username, and people will comment ANONYMOUSLY with things they love and cherish about you. I say anonymously because it makes the atmosphere lighter and more mysterious, kind of like a Secret Santa only with love and holiday cheer! People will wonder who these caring people are and appreciate the fact that they exist, not only the fact that they may be best friends with them.

Then find people you care about and have something nice to say to - even if you don't know them! - and leave them something that will make their heart feel a little warmer at night. This way, the love will go around and around and the magical spirit of the season can be cherished and appreciated by all.

Don't forget to pass the goodwill on to others and increase the flow of positive, caring energy!


Here's the link to me!!!

Click click!

I am, as I write this, watching last week's episode of So You Think You Can Dance (I cannot believe this week is already the finale!!!1!) and I have some thoughts. I will write some now, and then probably add as I watch the episode, because that seems like it could be good fun.

It's so nice to watch a show where the host and judges all seem to genuinely like the contestants and want them to succeed. And even Mary Murphy, with all her screaming, manages to give honest, detailed, appropriate technical feedback. I feel like on American Idol Simon is almost actively rooting for them to fail, and Ryan Seacrest is such a tool his opinions don't seem to matter anyway. So there's that.

Ok, this is the two-weeks-ago episode, but how AWESOMELY AWESOME was Jakob and Ellenore's contemporary piece by Sonya? I was so happy that the judges loved it as much as I did. Another favorite from this season was Jakob and Ashleigh's hip-hop. Clearly, I just love Jakob. He is freakishly talented. Freakishly. And I started the season thinking Ashleigh was a little obnoxious and not as talented as the rest of them, but now I really like her. It's weird.

I decided that you all need to see these performances too. I don't think I can embed Youku videos (or, if I can, I just don't know what button does it) but here are links to the two aforementioned dances that you basically need to watch. GO. CLICK THE BUTTONS, YOU WON'T BE SORRY.

1. Ashleigh & Jakob - Watcha Say
2. Ellenore & Jakob - Tore My Heart

So... more thoughts.

-The Ellenore/Legacy dance with the table? EPIC.
-Poor Russell - a replacement dancer again? He's a fantastic, fantastic dancer, and I would have loved to see him dance with Ashleigh!! This show also has made me appreciate hip-hop, when my hip-hop class here at Heilongjiang University is.... less than stellar. The teacher can't consistently keep the right rhythm when counting to 8 in the warmups. But, I paid ¥30 for the entire semester and there is no other dance class. So I'll take when I can get!!
-Kathryn is just delightful. Her ballroom with Ryan was super awesome. Ryan... I don't really care for, and I can't quite say why. He's good, obviously, but I like all the other guys better.
-Russell in a Santa Claus outfit! Awesome. Russell is awesome.
-I can never decide if I think Mollee is endearing or annoying. I suppose it's a fine line, isn't it? But hooray, Broadway routine! They always make me happy. And it's from Annie! Couldn't make me happier.
-Not feeling this Legacy/Ellenore hip-hop. But I think it's more the choreography than them, because they are good dancers... especially Ellenore. I usually love Tabitha and Napoleon routines, so this is sad.
-Okay, it was really sweet that Ryan asked people to vote for Ashleigh instead of him. A couple points for Ryan.
-Aaaand Russell gets cooler and cooler. Yay Bollywood routine!!! But, again, sad that there's no Ashleigh.

So... yeah. I love this show, and I'm so glad that I decided to watch it this season!! I know who gets cut from this episode, and... eh, I like everyone. So I don't know how I feel about it. The problem is that, of the people left, I love everyone!!! But I think my favorites might be...oh, all of them. Except Ryan. Although he did get points for sending his votes to Ashleigh.

I just watched my annual favorite "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" for the first time this season, and I kept getting all teary. Especially when they sing "True Blue Miracle." I have no idea why, but this silly little 1978 Christmas special starring the Sesame Street gang reduces me to a teary six-year-old, but I am going to blame my homesickness. It's just not right.

I'm planning on going to Carrefour tomorrow or Tuesday after class and buying a small tree and some lights. I'm hoping making my messy, looks-like-a-hotel dorm a little more festive will make me less sad.

I have downloaded an absolutely obscene amount of Christmas music, however, and it's doing it's part to improve my spirits, which I enjoy. I do love Christmas music!!!

只不过我非常希望我可以圣诞节的时候回家。算了把，真没办法。我在哈尔滨有很好的朋友，我应该跟他们在一个开心一点。说实在的，我最近比较高兴，我只是非常想家。