I wake early to see floaty flakes buzzing around in the wind outside. A few settle momentarily on the windowsill, lovely and sparkling in the early sunshine. The blazing blue sky soon take care of the soft snowy threats, and the chill is held at bay by the wonderful insulation of my apartment. Below zero sees me bundled up for the trip to work, and it takes extreme effort for me to bother going out regularly in the -10 temperatures of night time.
As the chill became serious here in Dalian, I still have a fishbowl of heat that I call home. My couch is bathed in warm sunlight until 4pm when it gets dark. I have been splurging on various clothing items and presents and foods over the Christmas period, and have since decided to make the leap to Thailand for a holiday in January, to make up for the New Years party I never had.
I will say the few here who made Christmas day amazing for me and even pulled out their drunken dance moves to entertain on New Years Eve have reminded me that the place is not so important if you have good friends with you. So here's to Alex, Kenny, Shino, Peter and Ryan, the hooligans of festivities in Dalian.
And when things get back to normal, work resumes and we seek social nights of fun together, as usual, Transformers will welcome us. Warmly underground in the derelict rooms filled with Russians and Americans, drinking away at Leon's well stocked bar, playing pool and jenga until the early hours when food is unanimously sought out and we have a 4am dinner party at some vague Chinese restaurant nearby. Life seems crazy and unfulfilled, but in reality when you don't even realise, the experience and what you make of it are far more precious than at first perceived.
