Life seems to be slowly returning to normal in Baoding: the shops are opening, the marketplace next to Zhuguang is full of people again, the old men seem to be finally running out of firecrackers...

Actually, you know what's funny about firecrackers? It's not just the noise and the explosions they cause, but the car alarms they trigger off that makes them annoying. The big *BOOM* is always followed by various *beeeeep, beeeep* and *oooaaaoooaa* noises from any cars within a hundred meters or so from the explosion.

Yesterday we celebrated Griselle's 27th birthday by going out for dinner with some people, and then went to Top One, which is one of the two nightclubs in Baoding. We lasted there for about an hour, during which we ordered expensive coctails that all turned out to be just juice, tried blending in by doing the weird Chinese-type dance to bad eurotrash-techno mixes, observed a male dancer doing some impressive upside-down manouvres on a pole and a psycho guy dancing in front of our table like a boxer on drugs screaming "heellooo" for about five minutes. After all that excitement, we took a taxi to good ol' Nongfu (which, incidentally, means 'farmer' and is thus a most suitable establishement for us agricultural teachers).

I have also experimented with some interesting Chinese medicine, as I've felt that I'm coming down with a cold (I guess I should've stayed away from those chickens, huh?). It basically knocked me out and made me never want to move an inch in my life again. But I guess it did the trick as I'm feeling better now.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Beijing with Griselle for a few days, so no blogging until I get back. But to entertain you for a while before that, I'll leave you with some customs and beliefs related to the Chinese new year, as told me by my students in class before the holidays. I know I'm a few days late with this, but hey you can always be prepared for next year!

- The firecrackers are used to scare away the evil spirits (the word for the new year, 'nian' also means this scary monster, and people need to make sure he understands that he's not wanted here on earth. Shoo!!). The red paper used in decorations serves the same purpose.
- On the first day of the new year you must not:
*sweep the floor (as good luck might be swept away, too)
*break any dishes
*preferably not use knives or scissors
*open any drawers or boxes before sunrise (which is why people like to get their clothes ready the night before)
* throw out water before noon (or might throw out good luck for the coming year)
- On the first day your hair should be clean, otherwise finances will be bad in the coming year
- You cannot cut your hair during the first month of the new year (not a very good time for hairdressers, I hear...). There's a special day in the beginning of the second month when you are supposed to get your hair cut for the first time in the new year.

So that was a few beliefs. Of course, there are a zillion others, and they are always different according to the town, village, or even the family. And the Chinese can never agree on what is right, although the beliefs might be totally opposite. As far as I see, doing one thing in one place might bring good luck and bad luck in another, so you'd better find out which is which before you go!

uurrghhh... it's way too early for me to be up, but once again i seem to be in the middle of a warzone, with a major battle going on. I don't know if this is some kind of "fifth-day-of-the-new-year-so-let's-blow-the-town-up" -thing, but there's an old man setting off huge bombs (the 5 kg of TNT variety) just outside my bedroom window, and about 30 other people all around the building with all kinds of firecrackers and explosives. Good morning, China...

Happy new year everyone!!
I'm back from Shijiazhuang and safely back online, not having to suffer from the withdrawal symptoms of an internet addict anymore. But guess what, turns out that going to Shijiazhuang was just the right thing for me to do in order to get over that critial culture shock stage. The cultural immersion therapy of being with Chinese people for five days non-stop (well ok, I had my own bedroom) actually got me over the irritation with the culture super quickly - most probably because these particular people are just so extremely nice. Hey, who could object to being really treated like the guest of honour for a few days? I got so many smiles, presents, thank yous, good wishes and interested questions, not to forget the food, food, food that was being pushed down my throat just about all the time. Although that might be the wrong expression, or at least I should clarify that the person mainly doing the pushing was me, though with constant encouragement from the others. "Chinese people feel like they are being bad hosts, if the guests do not eat the food. The more you eat, the happier they will be, as they can say that their food surely is very good as the guest is eating so much." And this is definitely one of the Chinese wisdoms that I have learned to know thoroughly.

So what did we do for the festival? Mostly we just spent time with the family, both from the mother's and the father's side. We had quite a few meals in restaurants with various relatives and friends, as well as ate over at the grandparents' house and an uncle's house. And of course, made dumplings ourselves, on new year's day morning (22nd Jan). Mmm. I think I've kinda got the process of it now... might even give it a try one of these days, make them at home from scratch.

The one thing that makes me feel little uneasy is the amount of money they spent on me. I got so many presents, including traditional Chinese clothes (and these things really aren't cheap...), and was taken around to all these places and dinners, all expenses paid. Even when we went shopping and tried on some trousers that I liked, the mum went ahead and bought them for me. I'm wondering how I'll be able to pay back. And not just for the presents, I mean, but most of all for being so amazingly nice to me all the time. And even though they don't know it, for getting me over that nasty culture shock and back to enjoying being in China ;)

On new year's eve after coming back from dinner, we just sat around and watched the CCTV (China Central Television) New Year's show, which was a whole lot of Chinese music, dance and comedy. By this time, I was already back in the mood for all things Chinese, and actually enjoyed watching it. By midnight, the noise over the city got deafening, firecrackers *everywhere*. And not just pissy little ones, like we have in Finland for new year's, these are really like bombs, I can't understand how anyone can be anywhere near them without going completely deaf. If I though that the noise on the solar new year outside the bar in Suzhou was something, this was like a hundred times that and *everywhere*, not just in one place like that night. And of course fireworks, too, all over the city, in absolutely every direction. I've never seen anything like it, amazing.

But now, it's good to be back in Baoding. The city is quiet now, actually, most shops are still closed and people are still with their families. But of course when I say quiet, I don't mean that the streets are totally empty, more like "a busy day in a Finnish town" kind of quiet. And coming back makes me realise again how much I *do* like this place, I felt really happy walking through the streets a couple of hours ago, dodging between the street vendors and laughing at little kids staring at the 'laowai'. And instead of getting irritated by people talking about me, I actually got back to enjoying talking back to them when they don't expect it. Not that my Chinese is that good, but it's enough to fool people by saying a couple of things in passing. Like at the supermarket today when two older men saw me and started talking about the 'American', saying a lot of things, I have no clue as to what, but by ending it by saying 'but she of course doesn't understand what we say', I got a few sniggers from walking past and smiling at them and saying that I did understand what they had just said (ah, those little white lies). You should have seen their faces. Though I'd like to know what they actually *did* say...

Ok, maybe more later but this is it for now. I'm going to start getting used to my couch potato life again, I'm well stocked with coffee and peanuts and DVDs, so it shouldn't be too hard. But, I'll still add a few pictures to the photoalbum tonight, so check it out.

I just created a photo gallery at http://www.sharexperiences.com/picforum/thumbnails.php?album=178
I added just a couple of photos to see how it works, give it a try and let me know if you have any problems. It seems like a rather good site, allowing me to add descriptions etc. (And you can even comment my pictures...hummm.) However, to make it even easier, I'll try to post some photos also in the blog.

But now it's my bed time....*yawn*

It's been a while... Since I last signed on, a few things have happened. From Hangzhou, Olli & I took the train back up to Beijing and yes, it was more than 16 hours... I was glad that Olli had given me a pair of earplugs earlier, as once again I was lucky enough to have a big-time snorer sleeping nearby. Other than that, the trip for me wasn't too bad and went quite quickly. We had stoked up on fatty snacks (enough to feed a family of 6 for a week) so when i wasn't sleeping, i entertained myself by eating. Olli, on the other hand, wasn't doing all that well. He still had an upset stomach, was coughing, and his fever was getting higher. So, we scrapped the original plan of staying in Beijing for a few days to see the sights, and instead took the taxi from the central train station where we arrived across town to the west station, and bought tickets for the next train to Baoding.

Once in Baoding, Olli's fever was still getting higher, but I didn't realize quite how much higher. I was almost ready to send him off to bed to sleep it off, but though that I should call someone to let them know that we're back and that he's ill, and take us to the doctor if it was needed. Finally, I managed to get hold of Gu Jun Tao, a sweet & helpful student of mine who originally helped us with the travel arrangements, and he told me to take Olli's temperature. Turned out it was 39,7C, which meant that we were off immediately to the little campus hospital. There, they put him on IV (as he'd thrown up and they were worried any medication given orally might not stay in), which lasted through the night. My job was to stay up and keep an eye on the drip-drip-drip, and let the nurse know when it was time to change to a new bottle so I made a quick dash home to grab a thermos of coffee and some magazines and with those I made it through the night, and so did Olli. In the morning, his fever was down though I guess the illness itself was still there. We don't even know what they gave him, but it might have just been glucose or something, with no actual medicinal effects.

So, we hung out in Baoding for a couple of more days, and then made our way up to Beijing for one day. We didn't get to see everything we'd planned, but we did get to go to the Forbidden City on a wonderfully bright, sunny day - and of course do some shopping and eat some good food. Being in Beijing really is like being abroad, there is such a variety of things (compared to Baoding anyhow...) and just such a nice feel to the city overall. I really felt the difference to Shanghai. I don't even know what it is about Beijing that I like so much, I normally would not be attracted to place like that : a huge place with people, people, people, long distances to justabout anywhere, wide roads all across the city, everything scattered around... But still, there is something about the place - can't wait to get back again :)

After Olli hopped in a taxi to the airport, I met up with Audrey Swift, an American woman who is working as a regional delegate at the Red Cross Red Crescent in Beijing, on HIV/AIDS. She had a lot of interesting things to tell about the work they are doing and on the HIV/AIDS situation in China in general and the people's attitudes. God, I really wish I could somehow land a job in that field, it's something that I really do feel passionate about. Teaching has not been too bad, I definitely made the right choice by coming here this year, but it's not something I want to continue forever. I just should kick myself into really actively starting to look for something for next autumn. In the international organisations, it can easily take a year from your application until you even get the job -- that is if you are incredibly lucky.

But for now it's a wonderfully easy life back in Baoding. Griselle has been ill as well, and the trains (and especially the train stations!!) are an absolute chaos anyway, as literally everyone in the country is travelling somewhere, so we decided to postpone our travelling until February. And even then, I think we are going to Beijing instead of Dalian for a couple of reasons. Really looking forward to that, actually :) But right now I'm totally content filling my days with DVDs, lunches with students, shopping, long walks and so on... The weather has been gorgeous and the air actually breathable for a few days now. Today, Griselle and me spent the whole day out in the town, shopping, getting her hair done, eating lunch & dinner... I could get used to this kind of life!! Tomorrow I'm meeting Gu Jun Tao (and his wife, I think) for some more shopping and lunching, and will probably be going out to Nongfu at night with some people. This will go on until the 20th, when I'm off to Shijiazhuan for the Spring Festival.

I know I've really been feeling so incredibly lazy that I've fallen rather behind on my e-mails though you might expect me to be catching up on them now that I have nothing much to do - but I guess that's it's just making me sooo lazy that I don't even feel like swithing my computer on every day (and that's saying a lot for a geek like me). But I promise to be a good girl and do something about that *very* soon. At the same time, I'll make an effort to stop just listing all the things I've done and actually write something more interesting soon, start better observing what's going on around me.

I hope everyone's been enjoying the holidays and has had a good start to the new year.

Funny actually, that after paying attention to the absense of net cafes in all the cities that we went to during the trip, coming back to Baoding reminded of the three net cafes that are there on my street alone (and it's really not a long one!).

Oh, and one more thing: I bought a digital camera a couple of days ago, a Minolta Dimage X20 , (ok, I can't see if that link actually will come up or not...) so expect to get a picure-book version of the blog in the future, I don't think I can actually post pics on this site but I'll set up a photo gallery and give a link to it in the blog whenever I add some picture. Yahey for technology!!