![\"My](\"https:\/\/sfischer.name\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/cn34.jpg\")
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New year\u2019s in China isn\u2019t celebrated either. The Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year (according to the moon calendar sometimes in January or February) and with it the Spring Festival. At midnight of our New Year there were roughly three rockets and that was it. People also didn\u2019t meet to celebrate but stayed at home. My boss however invited us last week to the German restaurant in Changchun to celebrate. I think he was doing that as a special favor to me. The German restaurant is called \u201cBratwurst R\u00f6sslein\u201d and maintained by a Chinese who has spent several years in Germany. You can get Rostbratwurst, Schweinshaxe, Schnitzel, Wei\u00dfw\u00fcrste with sweet mustard, Brezeln, Schweinsbraten with Sp\u00e4tzle, \u2026 and of course: German beer (Pyraser Bier, a small brewery in Franconia) which I think was mixed with water to reduce the alcohol level to Chinese standard. The restaurant inside looks like it has been imported from Nuernberg. I took the chance to explain why Wei\u00dfw\u00fcrste have to be eaten before the clock strikes noon. I also demonstrated how to build houses from beer mats to my boss\u2019s 4 year old daughter. Like I said: cultural ambassador. After dinner they took me to a Karaoke bar which is something you can find everywhere here. My rendition of Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cBeat It\u201d almost got standing ovations \u2026 almost. To me, most Chinese Pop songs sound like German Schlagermusik. Well, it was really funny.<\/p>\n
And in other news:<\/p>\n
If you come to Changchun you might find banners in Chinese, English and German when entering the Jingyue district. The German one has been translated by yours truly: \u201eWillkommen im Changchun Jingyue Entwicklungsbezirk, Willkommen in der Changchun Jingyue Oekostadt, Staatliches Pilotprojekt f\u00fcr die modern Dienstleistungsindustrie.\u201c Don\u2019t you like it?<\/p>\n
In China people peel grapes before eating them. I\u2019ve never seen that before.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve read about the census going on in China? Everybody is getting registered. Even me! The people with the forms looked a bit worried when they saw me. But together we put my name and birthday in the form. They didn\u2019t even start with the (as I estimated) 200 other questions on the form.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve tasted frog! Not bad, tastes a bit like chicken.<\/p>\n
If you want to get money from me, wake me up in the early morning on a Saturday by knocking persistently on my door, talk in Chinese and hand me some tickets which look official. After finishing my sleep I checked the tickets. I might have paid for the waste disposal service. Still not sure \u2026<\/p>\n
My foot is almost completely healed. I still have to avoid heavy impact (so still no sports) but I have a very good feeling about it.<\/p>\n
Temperatures here right now are between -15 and -20 \u00b0C during the day. I do not dare to leave the apartment at night. I cope by wearing several layers of clothing which can still be rendered useless by strong winds sometimes. Employees in restaurants and shops tell you \u201cman zou\u201d \u2013 \u201ewalk slowly\u201c when you leave. The temperatures in my apartment are usually around 18-20 \u00b0C. They dropped for a few days to 13 \u00b0C when I was not using additional electrical heating. The reasons: The cold had frozen the coal for the district heating plants together and they had problems to fire them. Additionally, one of the plants had a little incident with a mouse biting a crucial cable. Don\u2019t tell me this is not funny!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The dusty air in Changchun stopped my computer at work. The repairman had to clean the RAM modules before I was able to use it again! This appears to be a common problem here. My colleagues however tell me that the air in Changchun is still much better than that in other places in China like Beijing or Shanghai.<\/p>\n My boss here got robbed. Thieves entered his apartment and took his digital camera and laptop. The police have very little hope to get it back. My boss\u2019s theory is that they know exactly who stole from him but don\u2019t want to risk social disruption. If I understood his theory correctly he thinks they consider it as a social redistribution process done in an act of individual initiative with government toleration. His main argument: when a colleague of his got robbed of his laptop with secret data on it the police got it back in a day. Well, you never know \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi everybody. First of all: I wish you a happy, successful new year 2011! It\u2019s been two months since my last email and this time…<\/p>\n![\"That's](\"https:\/\/sfischer.name\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/cn35.jpg\")