The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

The smoke billowing from those two stacks is a pleasant sight for us warm-blooded Americans who can't stand this temperature getting below zero degrees Celcius! It is so low that our bodies are numb to the point that we could probably run a marathon at full speed and not feel the pain until about 5 days after soaking our selves in a hottub. Of course, that's us Americans - we've seen a Chinese kid in jeans and a t-shirt, a testament to how much colder it's gonna get. About a week ago we noticed that things were beginning to heat up in the apartment, but it wasn't until last Wednesday that we actually walked home with icicles hanging off of our noses and 5 minutes later I was in shorts and a shirt. So the bad news - it's freezing cold. The good news? Those smoke stacks bring nice heat to our very cold lives here.

The Bad:

Well, we hate to bear bad news on this blog, but I believe we ought to here. Last week our cute bunny passed away due to an unknown cause. It came very suddenly and was unfortunately a traumatic passing. It has been very sad and a bit lonely, especially for Tiff. I'm not sure if we ever mentioned it, but we decided last month to name him Pepper. We found out through this experience that bunnies make very good pets pending you have patience to train and a tile floor (for obvious reasons). He spent a lot of time sitting in our laps watching movies, bothering Tiff while she was doing Pilates, and jumping on the bed (which, of course, was not allowed). We will miss him, and will post this last picture of him while he was taking a nap with Tiff. Goodbye, Pepper.

The Ugly:

Well, I thought of putting a picture of Robert (the best man in my wedding) up here, but decided that would just be mean to do. Instead we decided to put up a picture of the meal each of you will be eating in about 2 days. Why is that ugly? Because we can't have it! "Turkey?" the Chinese people ask us. "I have never tried turkey. Where do you get turkey?" Well of course we don't know any better than they do. I showed my kids a picture of a turkey and they marvelled over it the same way they marvelled over a picture of the swimming pool behind my parent's house. However, the most disappointing thing about this Thanksgiving is not missing a turkey but rather missing our families. If you have the chance, make sure you spend Thanksgiving with loved ones - because turkey's overrated anyway.