Making a Home and Other News

So, we're basically settled in Beijing. Except for...well lots of things really.

See, we spent a lot of our leftover travel money on things to help us settle in and feel like home. I mentioned before that our apartment is oh-so-small, but we're doing our best to fix it up. So far, we've purchased curtains, a carpet, 2 folding chairs, some tupperwares, plates, cups, bowls, some Ikea storage drawers, and a few trashcans.

But we still have a lot on our plates to do. We had hoped to get a little more into the Beijing thing, but we pretty much have to wait til payday to get things started. Here's our to-do/get list:

Tv
X-box
Gym memberships
Oven
Electronics to be fixed (camera, e-reader)
Guitar amp
A dog (getting closer!)
Routine!
Picture frames

That's all I can think of at the moment but I know that there's got to be more.  I just know it.

But in other news, do you realize how cool Beijing is! There is no shortage of things to do. This week, for example is the Beijing International Film Festival. Unfortunately we just discovered it yesterday, and the closing ceremony will be held the day after tomorrow. But we're planning on going tonight to check out the scene, and find out how we can get to the closing ceremony because wouldn't it be great to hang out with Keanu Reeves, Jackie Chan, and the cast of Iron Man?

Getting Ready for a New Addition to the Family

Well, we have decided it's time to expand. We feel good in our apartment (you know, with wi-fi and new curtains and all that), and it only makes sense to bring someone else in to enjoy it with us.

And so, we are awaiting the arrival of dear little Wicket:

Watering cans are the new Gucci handbag.

See, we've been wanting a pet. Well, I"VE been really wanting a pet. I miss my pets back home, who all died of old age about a year ago, all within a couple months of each other. 2 dogs and a cat.  And I want something to take care of, something that will give me some cuddles while I read on my chair. Ricky's fine and all, but just a tad too large to sit on my lap.

So I was looking at pet adoption websites for places in Beijing. Our apartment is quite small, so I figured a cat would be the best option. They don't need a ton of running-around space, and taking care of them is pretty easy.  But they are actually quite expensive to adopt (weird, right?). When I talked to Ricky about it, he said he would prefer a dog, but it's even more expensive to get a dog (higher adoption price, required registration, etc).

Yesterday, I was browsing thebeijinger.com, a magazine for foreigners in Beijing. I found a lady trying to get rid of a couple of Yorkshire Terriers, which honestly aren't my favorite breed, but they're small and cute. I contacted her and she's pretty much giving the things away, along with all their crates and toys and AKC/quarantine/vet/passport papers. The catch is that she is in Thailand, so we have to pay for the transportation costs. At $140 it's already cheaper than adopting a dog here in Beijing.

So we hope he arrives soon. It'll be great to have a little animal companion around here. Until then, we'll stock up on carpet cleaner, because even little tiny terrier poops can be a disaster.

Home Sweet Home: Getting Set Up in Beijing

Well, we made it. We're in Beijing, and it was kind of a wild ride.

We got picked up from the airport at 2 in the morning by our new boss and after going to the wrong apartment complex first, found our way into our own 17th floor apartment. It was a short visit, however, because of the extreme cold, no heating, and lack of any bedclothes. So we took off for a hotel and were on our way to Jinzhou the next day.

For those of you that don't know, Jinzhou is where we both started teaching English and where we met (awww!). It's also where most of our stuff was hanging out since it was a bit impractical to take our giant suitcases and winter clothes with us to tromp around Southeast Asia. 

So, we hung out with our good ol' buddies, had some delicious food, and enjoyed putting on jeans for the first time in months. It was nice to remember that I actually had legs. Shoes are a different story, since every pair I wear kill my feet, and it's too cold for the old Keanes.

After a week of bumming around and Ricky being very sick with an intense cold, it was time to head back to Beijing with all of our stuff. It was a nerve-wracking few hours, getting our 3 very big suitcases and 5 smaller bags (backpacks, duffels, etc.) onto the train when it only stopped at the platform for about a minute, and then back off when we got to Beijing. But we survived, and all of our things ended up at the apartment.

Speaking of, the apartment is nice, but incredibly small. We have all of the essentials--bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room--and even a nice enclosed balcony that we want to make a nice greenhouse-breakfast area.  I took some pictures of the place, but the camera's not working on the work computer, so I'll get those to you later. 

Also, we can see the Great Wall from the balcony, but today, Beijing being Beijing, the smog was too thick to take a picture of it. 

But we're making it feel like home. The landlord brought in a couple of nice armchairs and a microwave, and I have the kitchen stocked with the necessities (pots, pans, spatula), but none of the fun stuff (blender, oven). The bed is dressed, our clothes are hung up, and we even bought a carpet to cover the terrible, lumpy linoleum floor, and curtains are being made as we speak. 

It's starting to feel like home. All we need now is a TV. And a cat.

The End of an Era: Headed Home

Well, folks, this is the last blog post of our travels. We have been on the road for nearly 9 months. We've been to 7 countries. We've eaten amazing foods, seen incredible things, and met wonderful people.

It's weird to think about all of this being over. We've been living out of backpacks for so long that it is such a strange thought to actually be able to live out of closets again. But we're ready for it.

 It's been a long hard road and an amazing journey. We've learned so much and grown in ways we had never imagined. We have our little tiffs but for the most part, we have grown together and learned so much about each other. I consider myself very lucky to have had these experiences with Ricky.

Tonight we fly back to Beijing. We'll spend a night in our new, mostly-furnished apartment. Then, we'll take a train back to our old city, Jinzhou, to meet up with some friends and pick up the rest of our stuff. Then it's time to rejoin the work force and the world of duty.

We're pretty excited about it. We've already planned out some things, the really important things. Like what size TV we need, and what kind of kitchen gadgets to get. Oh and work...

But don't despair, dear readers. No, we will continue to blog to our hearts' content. Expect  to hear about the sometimes frustrating life in China, weekend trips, the upcoming visit to Ireland where I meet Ricky's family and friends (wish me luck!), my adventures in grad school, and general observations on life and every aspect of it.

We look forward to our future adventures and what they will help us accomplish. We hope you continue to join us on our journey!

Dinner of Champions: Fresh Cobra--Every Bit of It!

Well, it’s been a while since we experienced this insane dinner, so it’s high time we wrote about it.

Let me start at the beginning. Ricky and I are big fans of Top Gear. For all you ‘Mericans and others who may not be familiar with it, the show is a BBC production. It  features three middle-aged men mocking each other’s hair, racing cars against men wearing jet-packs, and occasionally giving consumer advice. A few seasons ago they did a “Vietnam Special” where they bought 3 motorbikes and traversed the country from south to north. This inspired our motorbike trip. Our mistake was starting in the north, though, which wasn’t all that enjoyable. 

Well, on their trip, they stopped in the city of Dalat and had a unique dinner—Cobra. Real, live (at first) hissing cobra. Well, we decided to go to Dalat just to eat there. We didn’t have much information to go on, so we just started by asking people if they new of a restaurant that served snake. We mostly got strange looks. This wasn’t working.

After a couple days of this, Ricky got the brilliant idea of pulling up the video of the episode to see if there was a sign in front of the restaurant. It was pretty hard to see, but we started showing it to people every couple of blocks or so and got slowly guided to the right direction. Eventually we ran into a young guy that spoke English very well. He deciphered the sign perfectly and told us exactly where to go. So we headed there, and saw a sign with the same name, but it definitely wasn’t the same number on the street, and it was a different sign. And it was closed, so there was that. There was a group of people outside so we showed them our terrible ipod picture and they said it was the same restaurant.  They couldn’t do snake that night because they had a church thing to go to, so we set a reservation for the next night.

I could tell you exactly what happened, but I’m going to let the videos and pictures do the talking. It began like this:

Then this happened:

And then I had a tasty treat:

And we got ready for a drink:

After all the excitement of that, we sat down and waited for our meal: a spicy salad with vermicelli and snake organs, and hot pot with the rest of the snake meat, noodles, and veggies.

Snake innards salad

I got the tail!

Ricky prepares for a glass of blood. He doesn't look thrilled.

Snake tastes good, but look at all those tiny ribs!

Our new buddy, the champ that cut the heart out.

It was a great meal, and the family that run the place are so kind and friendly. If anyone wants to be adventurous and go there, we can help you find it. And if you're lucky, you might get a nice souvenir...