with space to swing your arms around

we've officially entered winter. this picture is from saturday, but it still feels chilly. the ground is frozen. maybe i've fallen a few too many times in this town, but my legs feel really unsteady walking on the frozen ground. it's like you're waiting for the feeling of falling on an ice rink. i've fallen flat on my butt 5 times in 3 months here.

so i just got off the phone with the kuo's and mr. kuo wanted to know if i had a boyfriend and when i was coming to taiwan and what i'm doing for christmas. then he says love you, i say love you too, and he says 'very good!'

speaking of a bit of taiwan.. i finally opened one of my bags of tea. it is so fascinating to brew tea from real leaves.
i forgot the water needed to boil the first time around, so not much happened. i dumped the water out and started over. but you're supposed to wash the leaves first anyway so i guess it was fine.
eventually they all opened up. i allllmost cried drinking that tea. it felt like i was just sitting in the tea house with alex guppy and the tea lady, discussing how it has kind of a flowery taste in your throat afterwards.
anyway i'm trying really hard to get both feet in DC. this week i'm going to make up a cover letter for political jobs and just blitz the listservs from now until the end of january. if all went perfectly according to plan, i'd find something before i have to move out of this apartment and just seamlessly move into a real place with a real job. the hopes are pretty high, so we'll see. keep your fingers crossed.