So life in China is as usual, always busy and always changing. I just came down with a nasty bout of tonsilitis and it required two intraveneous doses of antibiotics, as well as a follow up of tablets. Gross. Though I haven't posted a damned a bit my trip to Vietnam, and then Hawaii, I will announce to you all that I will be leaving for one-month trip to Europe on Monday. Talk about a charmed existence...

Stay tuned.

My friend Emily told me this joke. (If it hasn't been mentioned before, Emily is a Chinese lady who I used to work for. She ran an English "school" in her living room on the weekends, and I was the teacher. She's a very smart, industrious and open-minded gal, and she is one of my favorite people here.)

This is how the joke goes (it's a loose translation):

There are three people at Policemen's competition: a German, an American, and a Chinese. The policemen are told that they must go into the woods and bring out a bear. The American goes in first and after 10 minutes, brings out a bear. Then, the German goes in and after 9 minutes (German efficiency, of course), brings out a bear. The Chinese policeman then goes in, and after 8 minutes, brings out a rabbit. The judges look at him and ask, "Why have you brought out a rabbit?" The Chinese policeman then throws the rabbit to the ground, kicks him in the ass and says to him, "Go on, tell them who you are!" The rabbit looks up, and with his hands in the air and bruises on his face says, "I'm a bear!"

Ironically enough, just two days after I heard this from Emily, Tim, an English friend, told me the exact same story except it was squirrels and not bears, and the Chinese cop was LAPD.