We'll have to reboot the whole system!

I am furiously getting my new netbook reconfigured before I have to use it for work this weekend.  Electronics are one thing that are certainly not cheaper in the People's Republic, but I was able to do all right getting a pretty affordable replacement for my wayward machine.  I even tried my chops at haggling - though through a Chinese interpreter - and I was able to drop the price of my machine an extra 100 Yuan (about 15 bucks.)  In the end, I got an extra 5 percent off just by asking for it.  Not a big deal, but a small victory.

Monday, as I said, was gorgeous.  The sun was out all day, Guiyang dried out, and it was practically hot outside!  I didn't need to wear more than one pair of socks, and I even shed a sweater before the day was out.  Not bad.

I spent the day with one of the other teachers and Qinling Park, a nice little bit of green space and mountainery in the middle of the city.  Here's the big deal- they have monkeys, monkeys just running around.  The monkeys have over time become quite accustomed to humans and are just fine about getting close to -and aggressive with- people.  I was happy to have my camera at the ready just after one monkey decided he wanted some purple soda more than one of the park-goers did, unfortunately my internet connection is going incredibly slowly tonight and I haven't been able to successfully post a picture despite about a half an hour of trying.

Hopefully I'll be able to fire up a picture or two tomorrow, but then it's the weekend when I work basically 8-8 both days.  After that, I think I may have a couple of free days to get recalibrated, get some pictures posted, and generally take a little breather.

In the meantime, I'll just share a little bit about the streets of Guiyang.  On one of my earliest nights here, myself and few of the teachers walked by a little alley where people were selling puppies.  Since then I've come to find out that this is a place where puppy salesman often come with their cuddly wares.  Apparently, one can purchase a puppy on the street here for as little as 150 Yuan (about 23 dollars.)  That is, of course, unless there are people there just trying to get rid of puppies they can't afford to take care of, then you can get them for even less.  Cute and sad, all at once.