Of the twenty-five students in my Chinese 101 class last semester, only six are currently enrolled in Chinese 102. There are, however, a number of new faces that are a mix of students from last semester's 9:00 class and new arrivals with past experience in Chinese. I sit next to a guy that falls into the second category - he took an extensive, ( Read more... )

There's something a little odd in hearing that the local temperatures here in eastern Washington are colder than some of those in Alaska. There's no denying that it's been cold here, but the standard assumption is that the temperature drops the further north one travels. Oh well ( Read more... )

Thursday nights are when MK and I drive over the state border to go swing dancing at the Moscow Social Club, and last week was no exception. The temperature was well below freezing but that still wasn't enough to keep us at home. One difficulty though was that several of the songs played that night had rhythms that jumped all over the place, ( Read more... )

Today was the first day of my last semester at Washington State University. I have four requirements to fulfill before graduating, but it looks like my current schedule will require fourteen textbooks and who knows how much in the way of additional reading. And the list of classes for my final semester as an undergraduate?

Requirements:Anth 370 ( Read more... )

It's hard to believe there are only two more days left before the semester starts.

I left at seven o'clock this morning to pick up MK from the Spokane International Airport. Having made it back safely, she's out having lunch with a friend while I enjoy the smell of 반찬 (Korean side dishes) in our kitchen. 맛있다 ... and tempting!


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Thursday began with a relatively warm morning before an unexpected downpour of snow coated everything in white. I was the only person in the office to bring a heavy coat, which also made me the warmest person walking through the parking lot - an important detail given that I had parked up the road, down a hill, and two lots over from the ( Read more... )

Ligue 2 | 28 Octobre 2006
FC Gueugnon 0:1 RC Strasbourg

In the time since my last update on the French equivalent of purgatory (Ligue 2) Racing Club de Strasbourg has maintained its position near the top of the league standings since the start of the current season. The club are in third place after the conclusion of the weekend's fixtures, equal ( Read more... )

A meeting in Prague by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) near the end of last week demoted Pluto so that, rather than being the solar system's ninth planet, it is now considered a dwarf planet. The debate arose due a recent string of findings that have yielded at least three celestial bodies (Quaoar, Sedna and 2003 UB313 "Xena") that ( Read more... )

It was raining last night as everyone assembled for our football match. The nasty weather meant fewer people showed up, but as the clouds drifted past we were soon playing under three different rainbows arcing over our field. I played like Gheorghe Hagi during the match - which is not to say that my dribbling skills matched those of the Romanian ( Read more... )

I had a woman offer to buy me a drink this afternoon. She also really enjoyed our conversation together. She's a high school teacher and was at the university to visit one of her friends, although she's leaving the country within the next two weeks. This was not, however, a fledgeling date or the start of an extremely short relationship - the ( Read more... )