happy happy happy!

Guess where i am? sitting in a smoke-filled underground hall with about a hundred computers in north-west Urumqi.

Surrounding me are Chinese young adults and teens utterly absorbed in their virtual world of "O-ICQ" or "MSN" or this popular computer game called "Pow Pow Tang", which from the looks of it, involves a little cartoon bonhomme dressed in a red mousesuit going around and racking up points through this maze-thing. I dunno.

I'm with my VIP student, LiYan, who takes me out every Wednesday on a day trip somewhere in Urumqi. It's a great way to see this local culture that i would not voluntarily do on my own free will.

In any case, this gives me a good chance to update the journal. The week's been full of great moments: went for an overnight trip to Heavenly Lake, clubbing till 6:30 on a MONDAY night, attended a Uyghur wedding on Saturday (see photos), but i must run now. Our time is up here.

Huge snowfall this morning, absolutely gorgeous!