A Fisher out of Water

Not if your name is _____ or _______. Ha ha ha!
Sorry. The wounds are probably still fresh if you've just finished Season 3. But I finished it last fall when it came out in Britain (thanks to my London-based VPN, changed solely for watching Downton Abbey, btw), and I'm calloused now.
It was a pretty painful withdrawal those first few weeks after the Christmas special, though. I needed something, ANYTHING, to get my fix of romantic period pieces. I went through a bunch on Netflix, and for a while I was on a pretty winning streak! Occasionally it would recommend some crappy chick-flick, but once I saw the opening scene of a desperately lonely writer/journalist in New York City, I'd just stop right there.
But I did find a few I'd like to recommend.

My new favorite movie? The Young Victoria
It is marvelous! It tells the story of Queen Victoria beginning her reign, and her romance with Prince Albert. The history makes me feel smart, and the love story moves the film along. And it doesn't hurt that it was written by the fantastic Julian Fellowes.
I've watched it three times in the last few months, and I'm feeling like it's been too long since I last watched it.

I also really loved Miss Potter.
It's a historical film with a moving love story, and even though it wasn't written by Julian Fellowes, I still loved it. I love Beatrix Potter's books and her art, and it was a very beautiful story set in beautiful England. Highly recommended!

I'd like to recommend Gosford Park, with the one caveat that it is rated R.

I really REALLY don't like watching R-rated movies, but the allure of watching another one of Julian Fellowes's pieces was just too much. I read the reviews, and besides some F-bombs and a scene involving "thrusting," it wasn't terribly scandalous.
This has the same feel of Downton Abbey, with the story bouncing around between upstairs and downstairs. It even has Maggie Smith in it, though her character is a lot more shallow and silly than Granny in Downton Abbey, whom I love.
So... I liked it and I recommend it, but with a grain of salt.

Lost in Austen

Basic premise: a modern-day Jane Austen fan switches places with Elizabeth Bennet, and the story of Pride and Prejudice unfolds around her. Her presence and interactions cause some... changes... in the story.
I was a little wary that it would be too hokey and cheesy, but really, once the story gets going, I thought the writers did a great job with it! The story may change a bit, but I thought they stayed true to the characters and gave them some fun interpretations!

And my last recommendation for tonight: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
I had really low expectations for this, thinking it would be a cheesy, run of the mill chick flick. But it was better than I thought! The writing was clever and funny, and then by the end when I was realizing that a few things just didn't add up, there was a twist. And then I had to watch the movie over again. (Don't tell anyone, but I actually watched this three times last week. Because I'm so cool.) (Whatever! My girls have watched Mary Poppins like 10 times this month! I'm normal in comparison!)

So there you have it. I've watched a few other movies as well (North & South, Pride and Prejudice, Emma), which are well-known favorites. These are ones I've recently discovered for myself.
Is there anything I should add to this list?

This is the sight that greeted the girls when they woke up in the morning. Balloons! Streamers! I didn't have the heart to tell them it was just leftover from their birthday parties last year.

And a coloring table! I printed out some Valentine's coloring pages and made one valentine as an example for the other kids to copy.

More decorations.

Naomi helped me by un-decorating the kitchen a few times.

Some of the food. I used a cookie cutter to carve a heart into the cheese. And the strawberries used to be a heart shape. We may have eaten a few before taking a picture.

Kids enjoying our party! Other people's books? Other people's toys? Best. Party. Ever!

Despite all my hollering NONE of the kids looked up for the camera. I think it's a side-effect from living in China, where everyone on the street whips out their phone and takes pictures of them all the time.

There, these guys looked!

These two were helping their mom color. I could tell she was so grateful for the advice.

Naomi had a love-hate relationship with the shaving-cream table. If she got any on her hands, she would come whining to me, "Handi di di!"* until I cleaned them off for her. But then she'd run back for more. *"Hands are dirty!"

So I've been taking a painting class for a few months now with some Japanese ladies from my apartment building. It's a relaxing hobby, and it's fun to get together with this fun group of ladies. They are very friendly, and we have fun together-- despite the fact that I don't speak Japanese, and some of them don't speak Chinese or English. But between it all, we always have some good laughs. And we paint awesome paintings!
Now that it's almost Chinese New Year, though, most of the class is in Japan for several weeks. I think there are three of us still in Shenyang, and it's pretty expensive to split the class fee between just three of us. So our class is cancelled for the next month or so.
However, I'm leaving China in three months, and I want to finish a painting or two before I go. Cancelling a month of class doesn't exactly help with that goal. Our same teacher teaches another class on Fridays, also in our building, also in the same room, also at the same time. I asked her if we could attend that class, and she saw no reason why not.
So last Friday, the three of us attended their class. We had a nice time, even though the rest of the students were French, and we don't speak enough French to communicate. Still, we painted, we learned, and we split the class fee between all of us. I'm sure they were happy to have a few more students.
Or so I thought....
Today two of us showed up to class and started setting up to paint again. A French lady who had not been there before came and introduced herself to us. Then she started lecturing us about how the class is arranged by the International Club of Shenyang. If we are not members, we may not attend the class. She shoved membership applications to us and said that if we wanted to attend the class, we would have to pay the membership dues, which are 150 Yuan for the year ($25). It's already 80 Yuan ($12) to attend the class, and I had no intention of paying triple that for a short-term substitution class.
I told her I was sorry for the misunderstanding (it was honestly the first time I had heard that you had to be an ICS member to attend the Friday class. Our painting teacher also said it was the first time she'd heard of that), and that I would not attend in the future. She again repeated that we would need to pay our membership dues to join the ICS club. She wondered how we had learned about this class if we were not members of the club. (Um.... we live in the building? We see it happening every week?)
And she kept going. I was staying calm and thought that a reasonable resolution might be that we attend that day, pay the teacher like we always do, and then just not attend in the future. But she would not accept that. She stayed icily calm, but I could see red splotches appearing on her neck as she kept lecturing us.
She had settled all her belongings in the chair across the table from us, and she was not leaving us alone. She kept badgering us and repeating her demands. Eventually (in Chinese-- our secret language) we decided to just go paint in the room next door. Our teacher came to visit and teach us in there, and my friend and I had fun chatting and painting, just the two of us.
I saw that a couple minutes after we left, the ICS lady left, too. I'm guessing she's part of the club leadership, though I'm not sure if she's the treasurer, the bouncer, or the enforcer.
Either way, she was incredibly rude. If I'd ever given thought to joining the International Club of Shenyang before, I have no desire to do so now.
I've met a handful of French people here in Shenyang, and all of them have been friendly and kind. But this lady reminds me why we have stereotypes of French people being rude, unfriendly, unwelcoming, and arrogant.
And ohhhhhh, the drama!