Crazy Day

Today we walked up to the Taoist temple. My colleague hadn't been there yet, so we both had our exercise clothes and comfortable shoes, and we went up. It's always very fresh when you get to the top. The way there is not so fresh, though.

We had a meeting at noon. Just before the meeting I decided on my National Holiday plans, which will include some time in Xi'an. The meeting was so long, and the whole time I was considering how to get the tickets booked, and then how to find the office to pick up the tickets. Anyway, I had to run home, and when I got home, I realized that I was logged in at the office. I had to go to the office to log out. Then I went back home, and booked the tickets. Meanwhile, two of my distinguished colleagues were downtown waiting for me to call.

So I called them. We realized that I made a mistake in my booking, so they had to come with me to get the booking changed anyway (their Chinese is far superior). So since I was going downtown alone, I finally ran to the cell phone shop, and bought a cell phone. I asked two girls there to come with me and help in case I didn't understand the cell phone people. Then I was able to call them, and get real time directions when I wasn't sure where to get off on the bus. I couldn't get a taxi, so I took the bus, and they met me, and we took a petty cab to the office.

Anyway, the end result is I got my tickets to Zhengzhou and Xi'an. Then we took a cab back. And I had EL tonight, but it was good. The students were talking about lots of interesting topics.

-吴佩芙

The Banyan Tree

Banyan trees are a new fascination, since moving to China. There is a restaurant near campus called "The Banyan Tree" where patrons eat under tarps and the banyan tree's branches. It's the best food we can get around campus, and they know that vegetarian food means "no meat whatsoever."

Ever since I was little, I have loved trees with things hanging down, such as willow trees. Banyans have air roots that hang down, like brown fuzzy strings. When an air root reaches the ground, It begins to transform itself into a vine and eventually into a twisty trunk. This is why a banyan tree's trunk is actually a mass of thick twisted vines, reaching an outstretched hand out and grasping the ground.

There is an even older and bigger tree near the middle of the campus.

As you walk along the road that goes through the campus, suddenly the walk opens to the wide expanse of shade under the banyan tree. Bricks are tiled in a circle beneath it, which makes it stand out among all the other trees.

-吴佩芙

Stop Everything...

...and cue the angelic music. Today I found a pharmacy.

I went to Lotus with my neighbor. We are both new to China, so we thought we would try to go to Lotus on our own. That way if we get lost, at least we'll be lost together. In the end, there were students on the same bus going and returning, so we had people to talk to and a little reassurance that we were going the right way. I had a few goals today.
Baking soda: negative.
Flour: affirmative.
Curling iron: negative. (Well, expensive and all complicated ones are available.)
Lentils, written in pinyin and characters: negative. :(

Another goal was to get bandages and something to disinfect a cut. So I asked a few people by saying bian1 dai4, which means "bandage." I also showed them a hang-nail, and made a motion like wrapping something around my finger. Eventually, I got pointed to this little area in the front of the store. It was a real pharmacy with everything. I got bandages and some cotton swabs with disinfectant inside. I also got tiger balm. My cold is almost gone, so I didn't spend the time trying to negotiate cold medicines. But, wow! Nobody knew that it was at Lotus. People were telling me crazy places to go to a pharmacy, which were far from us and difficult to get to. This pharmacy definitely had anything you need. It also had English labels on the shelves and cases, such as 'gastro-intestine' and 'gynecologic' and 'fever/nausea' and 'vitamins.' My neighbor got some calcium supplements there too.

I don't even care that much about the lentils anymore. It's just so satisfying to know where the pharmacy is, for when I get sick, and I don't feel like navigating the city to find one.

Yay!
-吴佩芙

Rainbow California Happy Zone

I've seen a lot of interesting Tshirts around lately. "Rainbow California Happy Zone" is one of the more enjoyable ones, but I thought "Jesus Loves Even You" was also notable.

Also notable today: we went to Lotus, which is Chinese Walmart. I got a couple of towels and some Chinese children's books that have both Chinese characters and pinyin. They are really cute. Another great find was butter, which I need to make that box of Mac and Cheese I brought, and any that others send me . Butter comes in a baby package, not bigger than 1/2 c. Finally, I went to the vegetable stand, and got green pepper and carrots. I made a stirfry meal to break in my wok and rice cooker.

This evening we had the most enjoyable food. It's the most enjoyable for me because I didn't have to pick around or pretend that I don't see the meat in a "vegetarian" dish. It was Chinese barbecue, which is available in a stall right outside the campus gate. Everything is on a stick, and you choose the types you want to be cooked on the spot with special spicy-salty seasonings. I got eggplant, tofu, and greens. It was delicious. The woman in the stall keeps track of everything, and at least for us, she remembers our choices and charges us appropriately when we leave.

吴佩芙

I made it...

Yes, that's right. I'm in China. All the blogger buttons are in Chinese, so luckily I was familiar with their locations before moving. The apartment is very nice. There's even a person who comes to clean once a week. Isn't that shocking. When they told us that, we thought they were joking.

So far, I've eaten a wonderful lunch at a nice campus restaurant. We brought leftovers home, so I was also able to have dinner from that meal. I bought some plain yogurt yesterday, which I had for lunch, along with a Nutrigrain bar that I had brought.

I can see that I will be getting a lot of exercise, since there are no elevators in the buildings. My own apartment is on the fourth floor. I'm so happy to be walking everywhere again, even if it's sometimes hot and uncomfortable to do so.

Furthermore, I had almost no jet lag. The plane to Hong Kong was from 1:50 am in the US, to 7:00am in China, and it was 13 hrs. So I slept on the plane, and when we arrived, it was morning, just as if I had slept a normal night, except that I had to sleep sitting up. Also, the airline food was pretty good.

More later,
MsLin
吴佩芙

Oh, Self, I am so proud of you today...

You know, sometimes you are in the shower. You get the heebie-tibba-jeebies because you think you feel something on your foot. Or, you don't have your contacts in, and you mistake a hair clog for a huge scary bug. Usually, it's nothing. Well, I've had a silver fish slide right on into my bath water before, and I've freaked out substantially. Today, as I was finishing my shower, thank goodness, I felt something in the arch of my foot. And it was THIS:This is the actual photo of the actual gecko, so I'm not crazy. I felt sorry for the guy. He was just sitting in the tub after I got...um, jumped...out. He was looking around like, "(in gecko accent) Where am I? How did I get into this nutshell?" Isn't he cute? Ok, I've gotten pretty good at kicking bugs' a$$es, but I couldn't do that to this little gecko. I got him, on his own accord, to walk into a glass. Then I put a piece of paper on the open end, and I took him outside. I let him out on the pebbles in the landscaping, in the shade, and the sprinklers were going. A gecko never had it so good.

And I'm proud of myself for only freaking out initially, and then being able to carry a glass full of gecko out the door, down the steps, and down the sidewalk a little way, without getting all jumpy.

-MsLin

Punky Brewster, Family, & Flowers

If I sat down and thought about how many things there are that I know will work out, but I'm not sure quite how yet, I would go crazy. It's like an abyss, where I know they must have the things that I need, but I'm not sure how I will get them or when after I arrive.

I've really be focusing on saying goodbye to people and to things that I know won't be readily or cheaply available in China, like brownies. Maybe as an effect, I've been more interested in revisiting my childhood favorites. One favorite was Punky Brewster. I watched every minute of it, including the credits to make sure that I didn't miss any of the show. It was probably this show about which my parents first said, "Don't plan your life around TV." I was 7-8.

I've also been thinking a lot about my family and esp. my uncles. There are a couple little flickers of memories of my uncles. One time I was making chocolate chip cookies with my Grama K, and ML was coming home. She said, "We need to add extra chocolate chips, or else ML will ask where all the chocolate chips are!" I remember being 3, and my uncle MX taking a picture of me in my white dress on the lawn. I remember sitting between them while eating spaghettiI was a flower girl twice, but it feels like it was more than that. The first time, I wanted to wear purple, but my mom said that the bride gets to pick out the color. It was quite disappointing because the bride chose this ugly peach color, which was all the rage for weddings in the mid-80's. I don't remember which time, but one of my uncles took me into the entry way at The Farm to personally ask me to be the flower girl in his wedding. I don't remember how old I was, but I was totally impressed that he wanted to ask me personally. When I was that age, people didn't ask my opinion on too many things, and I was a "go with the flow" kind of kid. Obviously, I agreed because I was in the wedding. I don't remember how things went down. I just remember that feeling of respect that I felt, and I still appreciate my uncles for letting me feel like I was making my own important choice at such a young age.

-MsLin