Back to "normal" in Wuhan

This is the last picture taken from the Big Trip. No, your eyes do not deceive you... that is an insect hanging out of Meghan's mouth. On our last night in Bangkok, we came upon a nice vendor selling BBQ grasshopper as well as other lovely grubs. So, being the excellent students of culture and society that we are, we stopped and had a bite. She actually ate that believe it or not! Oh yeah, I had one too. Sandrine has a great picture of me with bits of goodness in my teeth. The Soc/Anth Dept and Millsaps would be so proud!



On a more serious note, classes have returned and we are all getting back into the mode. No more beaches, tans, or boat rides. No more Thai, Malay, Hong Kong, Singapore, or Macau architecture and not necessarily in that order. Fortunately, all of us have Fridays off, so maybe we can get some travelling in for the sights in China. That means more pictures and I LOVE PICTURES!


In the meantime, we must try to find ways to entertain ourselves. Last weekend, Lindsey invited us over to her apartment where her boyfriend, Harrish, was kind enough to make us all a FEAST. It was fantastic. We all came together to eat delicious food and talk about the good 'ole days... which were really only about a week ago. We'd reunited over hot pot earlier that week, but this was a formal sort of welcome back get together. Kate and Duff were there to regale us with tales of India as well as two new students from Canada, Erin and Amy. Only Amy is in this picture, just to the right of me... from an onlookers perspective. My new camera has a nifty timer on it!! And I actually figured out how it works! From left to right we have Ben's fingers, Everett and Katrina. On the second row: Me, Kate, Jennifer, Meghan, and Brad. Then, Amy, Harrish (the cook!), Lindsey (sort of), and Duff (or Keith Duffy). Ben doesn't like to have his picture taken... but I have a plan to capture him on film!
OK... I have the timer ALMOST figured out. This happened when I set it for 2 seconds and not 10. But, that is not important.

We all got together and had some authentic Indian food and Harrish was nice enough to make some vegetarian things for Meghan, extra spicy things for Jennifer (and everyone else), and some mild-ish things for me! Honestly, I'm getting used to spicy food. Perhaps I'll be able to handle the spicy hot pot by the end of this year!? That's the update so far. I'm teaching an American culture and society class, which is a deviation from what I've been teaching all year. Last semester I had fewer hours than everyone else, so they created a new class so I would be working the full 14 hours. It takes a lot of preparation, but I have some plans to invite a guest lecturer every once and a while!
Right now, I'm looking out my window and it is SNOWING! Thankfully, the repair guys came today and fixed my heater! YAY! Also, Jennifer rearranged my apartment to make it more feng shui. Indeed, the chi is flowing.