One, two, three

Weather: cold with mist/smog
Temp: 1-13
Exchange: RMB1 =R1.50
Looks pretty real: Those rockets look pretty real to me - scary thing is that this 'jet' is about 600m from my school's office.

Lekker verjaar Martin! Hoop jy't 'n lekker dag met baie presente. Jou Oom Frikkie belowe hy pos een van die dae jou present, so dit gaan dalk bietjie laat wees (maar dis maar hoe ons Oom Frikkie ken, ne). xxx

Winter has truly arrived in Beijing. It's cold and the sun struggles to get through the clouds. I cycled to Carre Four yesterday and I had tears streaming down my face - it was so cold my eyes watered. And my ears! They hurt if I cycle without my beany on. And I've started wearing my gloves. In short it's not safe to leave the apartment building without at least three layers of clothing on. Thankfully the apartment stays at about 22 degrees - so nice and warm.

I can now count to ten in Chinese! I practise with the taxi drivers every time I have to catch a cab somewhere. They find it pretty funny and I get to learn something. I've started recognising phone numbers in radio ads, which is pretty useless since I have no clue what they're advertising but it's a start. It also means that I can start bargaining in Chinese. Yesterday I went to the flower market and know that I got ripped off by RMB20 cause the shop assistant asked the owner how much the lilies were and the price given was RMB60, but then when she spoke to me in English, she said it was 80. I didn't feel like arguing, or bargaining, but next time she won't be so lucky.

The kitties are being picked up from Rebecca this morning for their flight to Amsterdam tonight. They'll be staying in a kitty hotel til Thursday night when they fly to Beijing. They land at 9 on Friday morning. We are SO excited.