An update

This weekend was very nice. Nathan came up from Nanchang, arriving around 8:30pm at my apartment. We were both tired from teaching that day, so we decided to have a quiet night in, watching movies instead of going to a club.

The next morning we woke up relatively early and lazed about until we decided to go downtown for pizza and to hit the arcade. We ate our fill then decided to go to the dvd store, as this is our usual practice when Nathan is in Jiujiang. On our way to walking street we saw huge crowds of people, they were all watching a presentation being put on by a photography studio. Nathan and I found a picture that we both liked, a sort of 1930's Shanghai gangster look, and agreed that when we get engaged that will be our engagement photo. It was pretty awesome. We also saw a man selling furs on the street, which was really sad. All from endangered animals too. Nathan told the man that he liked the furs better on the animal. When we finally made it to the dvd store I bought Sleeping Beauty (the Disney version), Wall-E, Wanted, Mama Mia, and Hancock. I think that I will show Mama Mia next week to my students during midterms, because they really seem to love musicals.
It was a really nice temperature outside so we decided to walk around walking street. We meandered into the arcade we had visited a few weeks ago, and entertained some of the local kids by playing a kill the zombies type of game then some basketball. We did manage to beat the zombie game, although I think perhaps is was more a game of how much money do you have (you have to pay if you die and want to come back to life to keep playing) than a game of skill.
We walked home from downtown, taking a route I had never walked before. Luckily we managed to find our way back. Earlier we had decided we wanted burritos for dinner, so we stopped at Lian Sheng to stock up on tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and spices. The fresh produce was so cheap! We were still full when we got back so we watched Narnia 2, and Smart People so we could finish digesting the pizza from earlier.
Making the burritos turned out to be interesting since I didn't have a can opener. Nathan eventually busted the can open with a swiss army knife type thing. Luckily he didn't hurt himself! I think we didn't end up eating the burritos until midnight, but they were delicious!

Nathan left today. Since it's midterms week, I really don't have anything to prepare. I went to an art store with Nathan and stocked up on supplies for Thanksgiving week. I'm going to have my students make hand turkeys and write down something they are thankful for. It's tradition!

Oh! Yesterday I got a package from Leslie for my birthday with the book Three Cups of Tea in it. I'm pretty excited to read it, and I know Nathan is too. I also received a package from mom containing what will, at some point, be delicious Thanksgiving food. Apparently a container of fruit broke open during shipping, alarming the Chinese customs agents who consequently opened the box, took note of the items in the box, then taped it all shut with their official tape before sending it on to me. The broken container of fruit was still in there, just drained of all the syrup which usually preserves it. Ah well.

Cary is going to check with the S&N hotel to see if they will have a Thanksgiving buffet. It's unlikely, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Next weekend I'll be in Nanchang. I'm going to see if Pearl wants to do some Thanksgiving shopping with me, so I can pick up a can opener and anything else I may want to add to my feast.

I'm off to watch Wanted.