I see Tony.

I was hoping that Tony would be awake when I arrived home tonight. It is not often I wish this thing because, truth be known, babies are best when they are sleeping and secondly when they are happy. But life being what it is, Tony was asleep when I wanted him to be awake. Tomorrow morning will hopefully see a true reunion between father and son.

Tony did wake up tonight and I got to hold him, but that don't count as a reunion because he woke up grumpy and groggy. And he was in no mood to be with anyone but his mother.

Funny, how heavy he seemed when I did hold onto him. It couldn't have been because he gained a lot of weight in a fortnight. In my imaginings, he must have been lighter.


I heard a good story about Chinese electrical setups. One of our trainers tried to use a special kind of heater in his apartment last year about this time. In Wuxi, an expat finds himself always looking for heat in an apartment in Winter. The first time Dennis put on this heater, it apparently took out all the power in his apartment block. He didn't know this. So as soon as the power was restored, he put on the special heater again, and bob's your uncle, it took out all the power in his block again. I giggle hard thinking about it.



The students said the purported photo of the Loch Ness Monster I showed them reminded them of a dinosaur. In Tibet and Xinjiang, many Loch Ness type monsters are believed to inhabit lakes there.

The students also told me that many Chinese like to eat placenta because they heard it is good for their complexion.

Other stories, they told me: They have heard that if you use a mobile phone, you should use your left ear, not your right; Girls would not use the bathroom at school dorms at midnight because of a belief that they would be killed at that time; and Chinese scientists have argued about whether the Americans in fact landed on the moon.


The wife has forced me to take a late night shower.


I can get by happily with a 25 rmb a week allowance from my wife. Let all Chinese wives with foreign husbands know this. If any Chinese wives of Foreigners are reading this, pass it on to the other wives. Please.


David Warren says Canada has elected an Obama as Prime Minister already. His name was Pierre Trudeau. Someone I know who tried to defend Trudeau did so by saying he had a vision. All I can say to that is so did Hitler and Lenin. Warren does hold some hope that maybe Obama will miraculously become another Ronald Reagan. Reading Audacity of Hope, I don't think Obama recognized what Reagan was about, at all. Obama did not mention Reagan's role in winning the Cold War.