Watching fireworks on Emilie's balcony.

炮

~~Spring Festival is over. It's warming up and everyone is starting or has started work and school. Until next year.~~

~*~ Pictures of Silvia for Maida ~*~

At the Xi'an mosque.

At the terracotta warriors site.

Muslim shops in the Hui quarter. The Hui are ethnic Chinese who converted to Islam during the days of the Silk Road.

羊肉泡模 (yáng ròu pào mó) A famous Shaanxi province lamb stew with grilled nang bread

A strange display in the Terracotta Warrior complex.

Wrestlers from a large display of ancient court scenes.

Hui Muslim quarter.

Statue of a general, Terracotta Warrior museum.

散步；Ruby and Silvia, Andy and Ariel.

A garden in 清真寺, the oldest mosque in Asia.

Hostel beds.

Chatting over noodles.

～～～

西安
Xi'an

The crew and I went to the ancient city of Xi'an for a few days, which is the ancient capital of China. It's hard to underestimate the history of the place, being the city Marco Polo exalted, the terminal city of the Silk Road, a city with five thousands years of history. However, due to contemporary history, the city lost a lot, and is now mostly a typical Chinese provincial capital with a few exceptional things. Notable are the restored city walls, one of only two cities in China with intact walls, lively Hui minority quarter, preserved bell and drum towers and great street food.

We saw the terracotta warriors, met our friend Ruby, were treated to excellent and fancy dumplings, got massages, saw the "Forest of Steeles," took very cold showers, strolled, ate some more...

The trip was nice, but still, it was relieving to see Beijing stretch out before us on our long bus ride back.

I've been in the ancient capital of Xi'an for a couple of days for Spring Festival, which was mostly a last minute trip. It's an interesting city, world's apart in many ways from Beijing, and has been a bit surprising. Terracotta warriors, the oldest mosque in China, ancient city walls... Pictures will follow.


Tomorrow we'll return to Beijing by bus, nearly two dozen hours of sitting...

春节快乐！恭喜发财！

The year of the bull! It's Chinese new year again, meaning I've been in Beijing for two years now. Very incredible.

So everyone, eat fish or koi shaped rice cakes, hang a portrait of the god of prosperity, 财神 (Cai Shen), tape an upside down “福” character on your front door, light off fireworks to scare off demons, give younger family members red, cash-filled envelopes, eat dumplings, hang out with your family, eat something sweet, tip well, clean your house...

So, repeat after me, 春节快乐！(Chun1 jie2 kuai4 le!) Or try, CHUN GEA K-WHY LUH!

人体模特课
Figure drawing class
－－－

Responding to the raised prices and lifeless models of our previous school's classes, we've set up a weekly figure drawing class on our 2nd floor with rotating models. I put up an ad on Chinese and expat sites and received a number of possible models, enough to cover the next few weeks, or at least starting again after Spring Festival. These are the drawings from the first class.

Class went well with eight students in attendance and an initially nervous, but quickly comfortable model.

你好中国朋友门！如果您住在北京想这样人体模特的工作，发我个email。因为是裸体的姿势所以不要害羞吧！ 一次是三个小时／一共150块钱一次。男人女人都可以，没有经验的话也没问题。[rosscharris@gmail.com]

最近天

～ Recently... ～

喂？

Emilie, Silvia, Ariel, Guy and I at 一品粥.

Flowering plum.

photographers.

texting.

Emilie's peeled oranges.

Ariel photographed me.