…And other odds and ends.
Well it’s December already. Some of you will groan that I will point out the obvious, others will groan with me and wonder where the year has gone, others may be excited that yet another year has come to pass and either marvel, or despise, what they have done this past year.
So I finished my tube of toothpaste. I know it doesn’t seem like such a big thing but, when you travel as much as I do sometimes, these small things become more significant. When will I next have a tube of toothpaste with an English packaging? Will I even be able to find toothpaste in a Chinese store? (Yes.) And what about floss. Talk about a slow death. If there’s one way you could torture me it’s by taking away my dental care. I enjoy having teeth and would like to keep them for some time, so I tend to take care to brush and floss regularly. (End of public service announcement!)
Tried the Chinese tobacco. Apparently the government is trying to usher in a new law that prohibits smoking indoors, similar to the West’s crackdown on smoking. There are some 300 million smokers in China and, how I see it, smoking is simply a part of life here in Asia. I cannot attest to the purity of tobacco or what they treat the crops with but the cigarillos I tried were alright, a bit dry from sitting in the shop for so long, but a pleasant aroma nonetheless.
Read a interesting article on how blogs are on the decline. This coincides with the sad realization that I wish I started blogging sooner about my travels. Instead, I waited a full year and a half to get going. Whatever the case, blogging may be on the decline but stories aren’t. Short-form media such as Twitter and even Instagram don’t convey the same message as a lengthier blog post. Furthermore, although I think it can be done, it will take a lot more effort to create something substantial from either Twitter, Facebook, or Instgram photos. I personally use Flickr or this site to post photos because they’re not blocked in China. However, I wonder I wonder, I wonder if something could be made from all of those FB and TWTR posts?
Here’s the post:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2014/12/01/is-blogging-dead-how-blogs-are-changing-and-how-you-can-stay-on-top/
I have noticed a change in my own writing, and no doubt you’ve noticed I post fewer longer-form essays/posts and I think this is reflective of my own change in blogging style. Instead of covering only one topic, I’ve begun writing about several different topics in the same blog post. I might not be able to keyword it well or develop an idea into any depth, but it does get the point across and, I think, keeps things interesting.
We started learning how to write Chinese characters the other week. I thought they looked alright until I saw how some of my students wrote the same character, then called them “laoshi” (teacher/professor) instead. From my understanding, Chinese characters are made up of a few different parts, which I wish I could explain but I’d probably get it wrong. The part I found most interesting is that each sound is made up from the combination of several other, different characters. I’ll have to give an example one day.
In other news, I’ve now experienced a bit of the Beijing winter: it’s smoggy on one day and incredibly windy the next. The windchill alone managed to zap the thermometer down to negative centigrade the other day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen before. -1C, sunny with a bit of wind? Okay, I lie, it’s not “a bit” of wind. It’s enough wind to make me wonder if parts of the surrounding buildings will hold.
The school has started asking me what I want to do for winter vacation. I don’t normally plan my trips this far in advance. Return to Canada? Go to the Philippines or some other SE Asian country? Travel China? Ugh, I guess I have to make a decision soon. It’s too bad, because I’ve been enjoying staying in one place with no thought of moving anywhere. 😛