life. in china. captured through the eyes of a nomad named jen.

every wednesday i come home to find that my bed is made. my clothes have been washed, the floors mopped, the dishes done, the plants watered.

a sigh of relief. so fresh, and so clean clean.
i am so spoiled here. yes, i admit it. i have an aiyi. i heart her.

i miss you when i’m not with you.

every now and then, i look around me and go #W$%^ , i live in W$%^ China. weird.

usually it’s in a good way. like today at hou hai.

after a leisurely brunch at the vineyard, we headed down to hou hai, a big man made lake in the middle of beijing. in the summer its alive with people eating chinese al fresco, pedaling on big plastic ducks in the middle of the lake, and taking tours through the hutongs on a pedicab. in the winter, the lake freezes over and activities on ice come to life.

but this is china. sure, you have ice skating. and even boys on skates playing ice hockey. but this is china. which means old school chairs are magically refitted with blades on the bottom. which means you sit on it and push yourself with an ice pole in each hand. the chairs come in single, tandem, triple, or you can make a train as long as physically possible. for extra speed you get someone on ice skates to push you from behind. there’s also bikes, fitted with blades on the bottom. talk about fun.

oh, and if you’re a dog you get to slip and slide around the ice in booties. and lick the ice.

today was look and laugh. but next time when all the gang is back in beijing, we is going to race and laugh.

my cousin agrees, there is no other neighborhood that is better than ours.

sandwiched between the second and third ring road, i live in the heart of beijing’s best nightlife. clubs and bars– high end to low end, a mish mash of lao wais and locals, skanks and gigalos, wannabe models and embassy folk.

fake dvd stores, mani/pedi/hair salons, yashow with its fake goods galore, restaurants serving food ranging sichuan to indian to greek to xinjian muslim food thrown in with some night time belly dancing. and a subway’s that delivers their sandwiches to my door steps for free. and a kick-ass dumpling place that delivers to my door steps for free.

and bodhi. i must not forget to mention bodhi. a godsend from heaven, a short 5 min walk away. massagey, i likey. fresh squeezed pear juice included for good measure, free.

yep, everything i need is contained within a 2 km radius. including my bff.

12 courses eaten.
snippets of cultural revolution remembered.

bai jiu, chinese whiskey drunk. over and over. gan bei! gan bei!

doing business, in inner mongolia (and all over China). the chinese (and only) way.

well almost three years later i have self-identified as a quirkyalone. i was just cleaning out my inbox and went to the beginning of my yahoo mail history. back to feb 2004. i was on the road with my backpack traveling se asia. i had told sophie about my travel tale of quick romance with a german with dreadlocks in thailand. she replied, cool! btw, i am a bona fide quirkyalone. and i think you are too. well now three years later, sophie is much in love.

i, however, am a :Quirkyalone: noun/adj. A person who enjoys being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and generally prefers to be alone rather than dating for the sake of being in a couple. With unique traits and an optimistic spirit; a sensibility that transcends relationship status.

Quirkyalone is not anti-love. It is pro-love. It is not anti-dating. It is anti-compulsory dating. It’s an embrace of all kinds of love. Although we quirkyalones enjoy solitude, and sometimes even need and crave it, we are NOT loners. We typically have a strong network of friends. Most of us place a high premium on friendship. We’ve even been known to bring our friends on dates!

and an excerpt from the original quirkyalone essay: Sometimes, though, we wonder whether we have painted ourselves into a corner. Standards that started out high only become higher once you realize the contours of this existence. When we do find a match, we verge on obsessive—or we resist.

did u know there’s even a quirkyalone international day? yeah and a whole website dedicated to people just like me. haha. check it out at http://www.quirkyalone.net/qa/index.php.

so i’m 28 and single, a quirkyalone. and yeah i want someone to sexsnuggle with. but 2007 is full of possibilities for me. i can do anything i daym want without thinking of another. nuff said. tee hee.

i’m brown. i’m 28, tired. and i’m being shipped to inner mongolia to assess whether planting seabuckthorn is helping to battle poverty and soil erosion.

full update on trip to the tropics when i revitalize……pictures too.