just because.....

he's soooo stinkin cute! i miss this little kid!

terracotta warriors

in december, a couple of friends came in from out of town. it was such a nice treat. we also had a short visit to see the infamous terracotta warriors. this was absolutely stunning. it is estimated that in the three pits containing the terracotta army, there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried. the terracotta warriors were first discovered by well-diggers in the late 1970's. first emperor qin shi huang had this army buried with him to protect and help him rule another empire in his afterlife! isn't that wild?

winter wonderland

we have had several snowy days this winter, which has been so great! the only problem is that transportation is a nightmare on snowy days. my roommate and i had to wait in the snow one day for about an hour and a half!!!

catching a cab is usually uneventful, except if you are needing one during rush hour or on snowy days! it kind of can be summed up like this.....you wait, try to flag down a cab as they drive by only for them to tell you that they aren't going in the direction you need, so you wait, then somebody else comes up next to you in need of a cab and they stand on the side of you that if a cab were to come along they would get it, so they get a cab and you end up having to wait some more! this can get quite frustrating.

anyway, a couple of weeks ago, my roommate and i were waiting for a cab in front of our apartment on a snowy day. after waiting for about half an hour in the freezing cold, we were not about to let anyone cut us off and get the cab that we so deserve. sure enough, two korean men walked up to the curb to the left of us. my roommate went over to them and did the talking for us. the conversation went something like this...

LP (my roommate): hi, we have been waiting for a cab for the last half hour. (in chinese, of course).

man: ting bu dong ("i dont understand" in chinese. he did not speak any chinese or english).

so my roommate proceeded to think of other ways to tell the man that the next cab belonged to us.

LP: chu ju che....(taxi)

man: (still a look of confusion)

LP: da di ..... (call a cab).

man: da di?

LP: yes. da di.

man: da di? (one hand pointing to himself, the other waving no).

at that point my roommate realized that the man might be thinking that she is saying "daddy." she gave up and walked away towards me. couple minutes later, the men left and went back to their homes, i think. i can't help but laugh at what they might be thinking? is she asking me if i was a daddy? is she asking me if i want to be a daddy?

gosh, it is hard not to be able to communicate clearly! haha.

we didn't get a cab for another 10 minutes or so. :(