buy one get one free...

In order to promote sales, the local stores have interesting "buy one get one free" promos. One recent example...

Buy 2 bottles of yogurt, get free pair of mittens (taped around the bottle of yogurt)...

Very interesting. Do I buy the yogurt because of the gloves? Or do I buy the gloves because I want the yogurt.

Oh boy...!

Interesting English...?!!

[L]: I've grown to love signs that express English with an Asian-flair. It now takes me several seconds to realize that something is wrong with the sign. Maybe I've just gotten desensitized or just gotten use to understanding bad English...that it just doesn't look so bad anymore. haha.

Here's some funny signs taken in two separate locations that I've recently been to -- One place has a ferry... and the other place has a beach.

Exhibit A: This says, "Warning, Do not step on a moving gangplank when the ferry is rolling heavily."

Gangplank??? And I didn't know that a ferry can "roll" so heavily.

My translation? "Watch your step. The entrance ramp into the ferry boat is in constant motion."

Exhibit B: This sign is trying to help point to a rocky path on a beach that isn't too high nor dangerous. Does it mean.... THIS way not too high?? =)

It's a cute sign! Let's just hope I don't end up speaking this way...

Happy Lanterns Festival

According to the Lunar Calendar, 15 days or so after the Lunar Calendar's New Year is "Lantern Festival". Whether or not we knew this beforehand, it did not matter. Fireworks can be heard as early as 5 or 6am this morning! You can't avoid it. It goes on pretty much throughout the day.

So, the battle is either to cover your ears and try go on with life, or join in! So we did! We bought some cheap fireworks and set some off ourselves tonight by a little river.

My friend tells me that this Lantern Festival marks the "last day of winter". The celebration includes eating sweet sticky rice balls and playing with fireworks. It also marks the last day that people typical set off fireworks for the New Years Holiday. After that, people return to school and work and life goes on... So sad. The winter holiday is coming to an end.

Here's a pic during one of our mini-explosions:

Just weird.

Expectations. They can be useful, helpful, and helps us plan for the future. Perhaps. But when things don't happen the way we envision it... disappointment can set in.

Like what happened to us a month or so ago... at McDonald's.

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Edwin: Can I have a big mac?

Worker: Sorry, no big mac.

Edwin: Can I have a hamburger?

worker: Sorry, we are out of hamburgers.

Edwin (confused, looking around): Oh, he in the other line, looks like he's receiving a big mac!

Worker: No, he's not.

Edwin: Yes he is. It looks like a big mac.

Worker: No it isn't.

Edwin: Fine, I'll get chicken nuggets.

Worker: Okay.
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Moral of the story:

Don't always expect McDonald's (at least on this side of the world) to have hamburgers. Or, if you really want it, be persistent and get in the other line. Apparently, our friends who were denied hamburgers in one line, went to another line and was able to get it.

Weird.

last traces of snow...

[L]: Snow. Just a bit of it and it transforms the landscape. Then it snowed some more and we were able to have some snowball fights outside our classes. Then, suddenly too much of it... it shuts down roads, airplanes, and cause mass chaos. It's all melting now... but I still try to savor the memory of freshly fallen snow.

Another pic of the first day it snowed this winter.

A walking fire-hazard

We just recently got back from traveling. Boy are we exhausted and glad to be back. But I forget how COLD our home is. We are lucky to have mini-heaters some rooms, but central heating is nonexistent. We bought portable heaters and usually spend a good amount of time sitting next to them in the winter.

However, that requires some forethought and planning. We don't have enough heaters to heat up every room. And even if we try, we usually break the circuit and all electricity goes off. (This often happens when I use my hair-dryer.) So, we have learned that to maximize heating, we need to pick one room (preferably a small room so heat doesn't just dissipate) and make that our "heating" room. We bring all of our portable heaters into this room.

When we are at home in the winter time, we stay in that "heating" room (which is usually our study room). If we leave this heated room and go to another part of the apartment (e.g. living room), we need to put on a jacket and brave the cold.

One problematic area is our kitchen. Granted, the entire kitchen feels like an icebox. The problem is when my seasonings, oil, and other liquids start to freeze or solidify. My jar of honey I left by the stove is now completely solid. Every time I need to use it, I have to soak it in hot water. And it takes forever just to get a few drops...

I also have trouble cooking in the winter for a different reason. (Not because we don't have fire. We are very grateful to have a gas stove.) It's really because I have to wear three layers of clothes PLUS my down jacket every time I venture into the kitchen. My big down jacket sleeves are "poofy" and thus, I recently realize that I am a fire hazard when I stand next to the open flames by the gas stove. With that much poofy clothes on, I also become a food magnet. Somehow, whatever I stir, cut up, mix, or pour... parts of it splashes and makes its home on the front of my jacket.

Recently, I have been using a "food jacket" that I wear over my coats and other clothes. I also put on a plastic apron in the front. So far, it's squashed down the size of my sleeves and makes me somewhat water proof. So far, it's been working. But boy, do I look ridiculous.

But I think I still enjoy wearing more clothes than sweating. Because in the summer, I have the reverse problem. Our kitchen becomes a sauna, and cooking in a sauna is no fun. I think I'll just enjoy these winter months. (Well, I also enjoy spring and autumn).

Maybe I'll be okay till late May, when it starts to get hot.