did I even need more reasons to love my mom and brother?

Here's a little backstory. A few months ago, I decided to commit to the world of e-readers because books are heavy and don't travel well or cheap internationally. After doing research, I decided that I wanted a NOOK Color, because it was from an actual bookstore (as opposed to the Kindle from Amazon) and would have the most book options. I asked my family if they would buy it for me, with money I would put into my American account, and bring it when they visit in July. I also asked my brother to do some research for me, including going into Barnes & Noble and clearing up some questions I had about international use. Every now and then, my mom would mention the iPad, and ask why I didn't want one of those since it can be an e-reader and more. An iPad would be fun, but it was way more money than I wanted to spend on myself; also I knew basically what it could do, but since I never saw myself owning one, I never looked into the product or did any research.

Then on Thursday when I was Skyping with home, my mom said that I needed to turn on my video because Keenan had something to tell me. Turns out, they had been planning (for about 4 months now) to surprise me with an iPad2! All of my NOOK obsession had them freaked that I wouldn't like an iPad if they just showed up in China with it (bahaha)! So here it is:

It will be a combination birthday/Christmas gift from several family members, and I get to see it on July 20th, when the Abners are reunited in Beijing! Obviously, I'm really excited, especially after sitting down yesterday and watching the Apple Keynote when they introduced the iPad2, seeing what this thing is capable of and some of the really cool apps. Also, I'm glad that my family will not be having to send me packages for the holidays. I love getting mail, but to send a small box to China runs about $40 in shipping each time, and I hate that they have to pay so much money. This way, they can give me giftcards and I can buy more apps or ebooks or whatever.

We're down to three and a half weeks of teaching here, and boy, is it dragging on! The Sports Meeting was last weekend, and ended up being a fair bit of fun. I won third place in my division on the hammer throw, and if I'd bothered to practice I could have easily gotten first. I mean, seriously, I played softball for a total of about 10 years, and some of these Chinese women actually didn't know how to throw anything. (Summer, I thought of you!) The shotput did not go as well for me, as it seemed that all those same wimpy women had actually been trained in shotput--they had the technique and everything, it was fascinating to watch. I was interviewed for NUDT TV, and got to march in the opening ceremonies with other teachers and staff members. It was hot and sunny, but all the bleachers were roped off for students of the different colleges, who sat all weekend cheering. There are a few pictures on my flickr account. This week, I've been asked to tutor what I'm told are 8 eight-year-old girls, so I'm going to meet with them and their families tomorrow and see if this will happen. I need to tutor this summer and make extra money so I won't starve without two months of pay, but to be honest, my laziness is kicking in and trying to dissuade me. Also yesterday, Amy and I went to Juzizhou Island, which is in the middle of the Xiangjiang River in between the east and west sides of Changsha. It was rainy, and therefore a little miserable to begin with, but on top of that there was nothing really open. Much of the architecture is copies of various Western styles, and they were blasting Western classical music on the speakers, both of which bothered me, because I don't enjoy seeing the Chinese eschew their own culture in favor of something they think is superior (and which I could see if I stayed at home). The big draw of Juzizhou is the tallest statue of Chairman Mao in the world--it's only his head, but it's 32 meters high! It's on the very southern tip of the island, so it took over an hour of walking to get there, but we hit a lucky point between tourist groups and were able to get some quick photos, which will be on flickr shortly. The four of us are trying to plan a long-awaited trip to Shaoshan, Mao's home village, but it's being complicated by the mutual tightness of money as the other three friends apart from myself are preparing to move back home, which means sending expensive boxes full of belongings ahead. Amy only has two more weekends with us, since she is heading out early to travel with her younger brother, so I get the feeling that the next month will be very busy.

On a final note, I have decided to change the title of this blog. "hello, december" comes from a journal entry made more than a year ago, at a time when I was feeling very, um, dramatic? Romantically depressed and melancholy? Whatever, it's a time in my life that's passed, and my blog title needs to reflect that. The URL/actual address will remain the same, but the new title comes from a quote from one of my all-time favorite TV shows, "Grey's Anatomy":

"Slow rides make for boring stories. A little calamity--now that's worth talking about."