Today I was once again performing some death-defying stunts on my bike in the middle of the stream of Baoding lunch time traffic. Here mostly everyone has a two-hour lunch break, from 12 to 2 p.m., during which they all go home to eat and maybe have a little nap. So, in the middle of the day thousands and thousands of people get on their bikes, on the buses and pedicabs and hit the streets. Oh what fun! But in the middle of all this chaos today, I was thinking to myself how it all, everything that I see around me and live through, somehow doesn't seem all that Chinese anymore. I mean in the beginning it was obvious to me how the music, the food, the people, the traffic - all of it was so very Chinese. And now it all just seems so...well... normal. I guess I've come to that point in the cultural adaptation where my life here is what seems normal now, and were I to go to Europe, for example, right now, I'm sure it would all strike me as so very European.

Remember when I mentioned that donkeys were pulling carts loaded with Chinese cabbage just when the winter was beginning? Well, the season has definitely changed now since these same (?) donkeys are now pulling carts full of pineapples, with peasants selling the fruit to passers-by. And ahhh, those strawberries!!

This past weekend was a really good one. On saturday I had dinner with Griselle, Malcolm and Fritha, after which G and I headed to Nongfu where we were supposed to meet a couple of people from Hebei University. It turned out that also almost everyone else from our little group of foreigners had the same idea, so in the end we were about 20 people, and had a really nice night. It's fun to be with such a diverse group, with ages ranging from 19 to 65 and people of 8 different nationalities.

On sunday, Guillaume, who is teaching economics in Beijing for a couple of months, came over to see what Baoding is all about, and we spent a lovely day just walking around, having lunch, coffee and catching up. After a really cold week, saturday was suddenly very warm (for this time of year), with the temperature going up to 15C and the sun shining all day long. Spring!!

Oh, and last week I bought a cheap acoustic guitar, and will now become a famous rock star. Maybe. :)

I also have a couple of pictures I'd like to upload, but there is something wrong with my camera's (computer's?) USB connection...humm...