Too Much Food...

Burrrr it's cold here. Alright, I will officially never complain about a DC winter again cause it's really cold here, but we wear so much clothing it hasn't been that bad. All I'm saying is, appreciate the heating system you have back in the States.

Anyways, since my last post, my brother and our friend Payton have both returned to Beijing and it's been great having other people my age around. My brother and I went and hung out with Payton the other day and had some huge laughs. My brother also told me that I am apparently boring and not very pretty either...thanks brother, I love you too. But no worries, I got my revenge when we played Nertz, I am after all the Nertz champion!!! At least I am when I'm not around my friends back in Katy, cause they can definitely hold their own.

Moving on. My mom, Ron, Alex, and I made a day trip to the countryside yesterday to visit the farming family that my mom lived with when she was sent to the countryside for re-education by the government during the Cultural Revolution. They live in a typical countryside home without any real heating system, but what they do use keeps you very warm so it was comfortable. They served us a HUGE meal (I've had a few too many big meals during this trip already and I know there's more to come) and by the end it didn't even look we'd touched any of the food. Typical Chinese hospitality, so nice!

Beginning of the meal

End of the meal -- did we actually eat anything??

Mom, Alex and I with the family

Other than this stuff, I've just been hanging out and attempting to get on Facebook...I haven't been very successful. Also, in two days, my mom and I will be traveling by train to the Sichuan Province to see friends and pandas :) Super excited! More later!