Thou Shalt not Spit

If you're feeling the urge to spit repeatedly throughout the day, fear not, for you are not alone. You, as well as millions of other Chinese people are fighting this urge to publicly "hock-a-lueggy", discharging what should remain a private oral secretion. As a reminder, we thought you might enjoy this sign that is popping up in our neighborhood making it clear the government would like to reverse this trend that makes the rest of the world disgusted when they first arrive on Chinese soil. We had heard that they were taking strides to curb this habit in Beijing where the Olympics will be held next year, going as far as actually fining those caught spitting in public, but we were both shocked and honored that such a PR campaign charged its way all the way to Xinjiang, our province. The next step? We'd love to see a campaign promoting the sale and use of baby diapers on children ages 3 and below.

We've been promising you updates on our friends that we told you about a few weeks ago and as much as we'd like to hold off until we had more information, here goes. We talked with the mom on the phone a few days ago and found out that they are back in Karamay and the operation removing excess blood from the head was apparently a success! We were both very relieved to hear this news but were confused that she didn't sound more happy herself. We then realized the possibility of brain damage that won't be visible until later years. That time for worry will come later though, if it even comes, and we are celebrating the fact that they're all home and safe. Right now they're still in their time of emotional solitude that we explained earlier, so we can't really talk to them or go over to see them until they decide that they're ready. Once they are and we do, we'll give you more details. In the meantime Tiff got to visit another one of our teacher friends who had a baby, this time a girl. Our friend seems to be doing very well and enjoying motherhood. You can see here a picture of Tiff holding the little girl during her visit.

This last week has been exciting for us! In the span of a 7 days we have revisited old friends, made some encouraging new friends and have been planning a Thanksgiving with our American friends. First, as we told you we took a short bus trip to see my old basketball buddies last Sunday. Besides a minor glitch everything was great. That minor glitch? Well, once we arrived and exited the bus we were supposed to wait for our friend to meet us at the bus station and walk to her home. We waited for half an hour in a town that can be traversed in 10 minutes on foot. We finally called her and she said she was right out front waiting for us. We return to find no friend. We call again. Where are you? We asked the shop owner - WRONG CITY! We exited the bus one city too early not realizing that this was a multi-city bus. The worst part of all is that we had already bought non-refundable return bus tickets to Karamay just to make sure that we had them! Ahhh! So we took a 20 min taxi to the town and Josh got to play basketball and hang out with friends while Tiff walked around and chatted with the foreign friend we have made from South Africa (who is going back in February to become a full-fledged American citizen). We didn't lose too much money in the whole ordeal - bus tickets cost $3 each - but it did make for another great story.

Winter is setting in now, but whereas last year at this time we were becoming bored out of our minds, this year I don't think that we can find enough time in our day now - and that is quite encouraging. This Thursday we're leaving for another bus trip, this time to celebrate Thanksgiving in Urumqi. While we're there we plan to pick up a few more television shows on DVD, some foreign imported goods such as cheese, Dr. Pepper, and more cheese, and possibly some cheap winter coats. Our Thanksgiving meal will be on Wednesday night, but we'll be spending actual Thanksgiving lunch at a place called Pizza Hut. We're not exactly proud to say that, but we are looking forward to some "American" food. We'll post pictures when we have them and hope that all of you enjoy your Thanksgiving with friends and family wherever you are. Take care and eat well!