Resourcefulness Awards

I won my first Restourcefulness Award in college, for excellence in decorating, when I used Q-tips, wedged between layers of a mirror, to secure Christmas lights around the mirror. The lights were shaped like starfish, and the whole rig lasted for the academic year.

In China, resourcefulness comes in handy. Without a bag for my cell phone, I rigged a pocket with a bandana threaded and tied through a few belt loops. Without an oven, I made apple cobbler in my slow cooker, which actually turned out to be cake-like. Here is the shocking result:


I think today I will win another Resourcefulness Award, this one for excellence in toiletries. Yes, I made my own sugar wax, for removing body hair. Without strips, and without an old piece of cloth from which to cut strips, I tried cutting up a plastic Walmart bag. Not only did it work, but it was not as painful as regular wax with cloth or paper strips. Also, sugar "wax" is water soluble, so the clean-up was so easy.

-吴佩芙

ALLELUIA!!

Today I went with one of my colleagues to Topu (or however you spell it--the small town between here and downtown). There is a morning market there, where, we were told, they sell fresh tofu. As it turns out, they also sell fresh everything, including jumping shrimp and tilapia that are still flexing their gills. At the tofu stand, we looked up the word "firm" to ask for firm tofu, and the seller complemented our Chinese pronunciation. Much more exciting:

So exciting it deserves its own paragraph: The Topu market has a grain seller, with tons of different kinds of beans and grains. I found chana dal, which is basically like lentils, but a little smaller. LENTILS!!!!!! Chana dal is oblong and yellow, but definitely curry-able.

Another colleague lent me her slow cooker. I had some pintos soaking overnight, so I decided to try to cook them in a slow cooker, instead of cooking them for two hours on my gas stove. It worked wonderfully, and the whole place smelled delicious.

After a meeting with my Chinese tutor, I left for town.

Thoughts on being...

I've decided to post one of the emails I've written, since it sums up some of my thoughts so far, with more to come later:

We had 2 weeks of classes, and then we had National Holiday, which is a week-long break. I went to Xi'an with two of my distinguished colleagues, who are bf/gf. It went really well, and we all got along well. They are better in Chinese than me, and they taught here last year. We stayed together the whole time, in fancy hotels, in rooms (with bathrooms down the hall that were too scary to use), and on the floor of our Xi'an colleague's apartment.

We went to Shaolin Temple and the Terra Cotta Warriors. There were a lot of tourists because everyone had a break. We had some delicious food, esp. Indian food, which we don't have in Shantou.

I'm in the process of starting my Chinese classes and getting a tutor. After my trip, I feel a bit more motivated to learn Chinese a little better. The real issue that I feel is, if you can speak with people, even a little, they feel a bit more trustful of you, and they feel like you are a real person.

Many times students and little kids on campus, yell "hello" at us. They really don't have any other desire than to say "hello," and it feels like we are animals, exhibitions, or something. Even worse, in touristy areas, the street vendors yell, "Hello, hello, hello..." which means "hey, come look at my stuff, buy my stuff," while they trample over each other to get closer to us. It reminds me of 'Finding Nemo' where the seagulls say, "Mine, mine, mine..."

I'm also fascinated with some aspects of Buddhism, having visited a number of temples on our vacation. There is a goddess named GuanYin, who is like the Virgin Mary. She is the goddess of Compassion. We saw a 6 meter-high carving of her, which had 1,000 arms and 1,000 eyes (drawn on her hands). I read the story when I got home, and I think it's so interesting. Because of this, I would also like to read some Chinese novels and legends.

I'm finding some new interests, and China is starting to seem more comfortable now. Luckily, in our school, all of the students have at least a little English skill, so they can help us when we go to the cafeteria or when we buy things at the campus stores. Also, all of our teachers are qualified professional teachers, who have a lot of common interests, and some common personality traits. I would probably be miserable if these two factors didn't exist.

Also, the students treat us very well here. When they see us on the bus, we can tell that they are trying to build up their confidence to talk to us. When they see us with our supermarket bags returning home, they offer to help carry it to our apartment. Today a student walked to the bread shop with me after class, and she carried some of my bags to my apartment. They are most eager to spend more time practicing English.

-吴佩芙

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