Day 468 POETS and such

Len's first weekend here was a busy one- starting with POETS on Friday evening.  POETS is a monthly tradition started by my Canadian friends, Kathy & Ray.  It is a social gathering of teachers after school on Friday for Happy Hour and then some.  There are no poetry readings involved, as it stands for Piss On Everything, Tomorrow is Saturday!  You may hear the occasional dirty limerick or haiku, though (wink! wink!)

These are just a few of my favorite people in the whole world.
No, seriously.  I work with some incredible people at BNDS.
They make China tolerable. and laughable. and downright
pleasant, even on the crappiest of bad air days.

I got my first Christmas delivery of the season!!! A box of
homemade candy and chocolates from Wanetta's Candy
Factory in Alexandria, IN.  I politely shared.  Skeet,
you may need to reopen the candy factory early
to make a special hand delivery when you come to
visit September 2016.  You were a HUGE hit!!!

It seems our apartment complex has gotten in to
the Christmas spirit- I think?  Because nothing
says Christmas like covering up the evergreen
shrubs, and zip tying silk flowers to the trees.
China is so freakin' weird sometimes,
I cannot help but giggle. 

The local mall got into the Christmas spirit, too, though
I cannot make heads nor tails of this display...
an upside down tree with piles of 'fluffy snow'.
The mannequins were wearing the fluff, too.
Yeah, I don't get it, either, but traditional Christmas
music was playing over the loudspeaker which was nice :)

Len and I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant which is
in my neighborhood.  It's my favorite because they have
a picture menu, so I don't mistakenly order frog penises
or other Chinese delicacies.  (I did not make that up,
btw, frog penises are on the menu. smh)

By Sunday, we decided to do some Christmas shopping
in the hutongs and Pearl Market.  This dog was laying
on his master's blanket, begging for money.  His
master was no where to be found, but the dog was
dutifully staying put as people dropped coins in his bowl.
He only got up as I was giving him the "puppy talk."

We stumbled in to 85 Bakery for my beloved
chocolate buns (Skeet, they are to DIE for!)
and a delicious caramel hot drink. It hit the spot!

Yams are in season now, and the streets are
filled with the scent of them baking in old barrels.
I often will buy one for dinner, as they are
so HUGE- for all of 40 cents. 

This was the cool find of the day....traditional Mongolian
stirrups.  Len bought a pair for his buddy Ray. The
real question, though, is how to get them safely back to
the United States?  It could be a problem; given my
track record with China Post.  

This next week is going to be an exceptionally busy one....several Christmas celebrations, Len and Rob's gig at Homeplate, then off we fly to the Maldives where I am chomping at the bit to go diving with the whale sharks- stay tuned!

G'nite, y'all!