I am worried.

I was reading a Chinese news web-site that said there was a really bad accident involving two trains, one leaving Beijing and the other leaving Yantai. My best friend lives in Yantai and they said that it is the train that leads to Jinan, her home town. I don't think she was going home this week, but I am worried and have not yet heard from her. More information here.

Edit: By a very lucky chance, my friend was in Meifang instead of Yantai - she actually might have been on that train otherwise. She was taking a test - yay TOEFL!

BBK AM99

It may seem like the name of a new and ill-named MP3 player, however the title of this article is that of a piece of DIFFERENT electronic-ware. My mind is boggled by something, and it's not relationships for once. No, for once the techno-girl is stumped. How does an electronic dictionary, readily available to anyone in China cost them a mere $20.00 (apx. US value) and it cost anywhere from $100-$400 to purchase here in the United States? This little gem:
Retails for $99.00 here. Ridiculous. I just want an easy way to communicate with Yixuan. Is that so much to ask? She has her own dictionary that she survives on and I thought I'd reciprocate that by purchasing my own. I knew Japanese ones were crazily expensive, but not the Chinese ones. How does our country stand on its' own two feet if it can't learn to provide easy communication between countries and cultures? I don't understand our country sometimes.

It finally happened!

Well, we all knew it would happen sooner or later - apparently sooner. Luck has come my way in a new friend. My friends who are still in college have acquired a new roommate, and she's from China. How exciting is that? Yixuan is amazing - she speaks really good english. We do have to explain a lot of the slang stuff. Try explaining "anal" to her... Turns out that isn't explained correctly in her Chinese to English dictionary. I'm glad that she will be here for a year, I think it will be a really exciting and educational year. Here's to Yixuan Xing and her polite ways. :)