It's 2010 Already!!

I got to visit the new US Embassy here in Beijing to have more pages added to my passport. I may not have a boyfriend, a car, a job, a house, a couch, a dresser, any kids, etc., but at least I have a lot of stamps in my passport! Security was crazy at the embassy as I'm sure you can imagine, especially following the terrorist threat last week. At any rate, it was efficiency in action - only 2 hours to staple 24 pages into my book! Like the Chinese, I fell asleep in my chair while waiting. I swear these people will sleep anywhere. Like at IKEA. Rumor has it that they go there on dates and to take naps. I'm going this week to check it out. The mattresses have to be better than the one in my dorm room!

I went to a fantastic Peking Duck restaurant with some classmates to celebrate the end of 2009 on New Year's Eve Eve. I felt I needed to test the menu before taking Mom there later this month! I also watched Mei Xian perform in some kind of show for the Chinese Minister of Education and other dignitaries here on campus (picture). She and 11 or so other Koreans dressed in traditional Korean outfits and danced and sang....pretty cool even though I didn't have a clue as to what they were saying!

For New Year's Eve, I went to Michael's house for some winter wassailing, then to eat sushi. Michael (left - Danish) and Tom (next to me - English), Anna-Lina and Lena (Greek) ate our weight in fantastic sushi, then headed to a warehouse party in the arts district. It was packed, great light show, music etc. The countdown, as always, is the best part of NYE in my opinion...otherwise it's just like a normal night dancing in a warehouse!

To usher in 2010, Michael and I watched a movie (no substitute for a lazy day watching football, but it worked!). Tom, Michael and I went to dinner last night and I couldn't resist the temptation to have a dance off with a Chinese guy who was tearing up the dance game at the arcade. I gathered quite a crowd who, like Michael and Tom, were shocked by how uncoordinated I am. It was quite embarrassing. After dinner and arcade dancing, we went to meet up with some Chinese friends in a VIP room at a high end night club here. Of the Chinese who actually have a lot of money, they can certainly blow a lot of it in one night. For the room and bottles it easily cost $1,000 USD. They were nice enough to share, so I reciprocated by singing karaoke for them. Again, I embarrassed Michael and Tom...not sure why they still hang out with me!

It has been snowing now for over 16 hours. Have I mentioned that I hate the cold? Yesterday on my way back from the gym, as the temperature was dropping drastically, I noticed that little piles of spit were actually frozen on the asphalt. That was amusing.