Week 3 Begins

Another funny story: Phil and I were hanging out in front of a local shop having a cold drink chatting. A guy near us started up his motorcycle. We froze in astonishment and then burst into laughter. It was like a cartoon come to life. The motorcycle made these hilarious pop-pop-pop noises in such a manner that we immediately starting looking for the soap bubbles coming out of the tailpipe! Welcome to China! ☺

Phil brought his super-duper binoculars with him to China. He’s in heaven. Except that not of our books arrived so we can’t poor over our new Birds in China book. Despite this, the binoculars go with us on every hike we take. There are some fabulous birds in the country. They all have distinctive calls and colors. They zoom around so quickly, it’s very difficult to get a decent picture of them. It’s been fun trying though. Recently we were out for a walk and I motioned for Phil to freeze. Up ahead of us was a pair of quail (or pheasants-I’m really not sure at this point, but they did the quail coo) casually crossing the road. The female made her way into the brush first, followed by her more flamboyantly colored husband. I think Phil and I held our breath the entire 30 seconds. I’m also wondering if there are whippoorwills here. It’s not the exact whippoorwill call, but it’s very similar. Maybe they are close cousins.

We are working on week 3 of traveling around, eating local cuisine, avoiding ice cubes, drinking boiled water, and (for me) trying to remember not to rinse out my mouth with tap water after brushing my teeth. I’m very happy to report that so far, our digestive systems are in pretty good shape. Today we thought we might be hitting a rough patch, but everything came out okay. ☺ (Subtle pun, don’t you think?)

Since we’re on the bodily function topic (Sorry, Maria. You can stop reading at any point.), I’ve decided that deodorant is an important and indeed critical aspect to enjoying my time here in China. It seems that my nose only detects body odors. And not the nice ones if they do exist. So, being pretty ambivalent about deodorant use normally, Phil and I haven’t been using any since our arrival. About half way through last week (a week and a half into our trip), I noticed that I smelled REALLY bad. So I showered. But not very long afterwards, I smelled again. I switched shirts. I still smelled. I needed deodorant. And so does Phil. Fortunately, I normally like how he smells, so he didn’t take it personally when I requested that we both go back to regular deodorant usage. His nose is designed to sniff out food gone bad. A much more practical usage for a nose if you ask me.

Oh! Someone told me that bugs are attracted to scented body products like soaps, shampoos, deodorants, etc. I want to make clear that I’ve thoroughly tested out this claim. It is completely false. Even in my stinkiest condition (we had no soap or shampoo or deodorant-just water for a brief period of 4 days) where I could hardly stand to be around myself, the mosquitoes, horse flies, gnats, and other annoying flying critters continued to swarm me with great glee. I think it’s a myth deer hunting men started as an excuse to just get gross. By the way, I’m not knocking getting gross. I enjoyed it for a short time. But I’ve had my fill of it now. (Get the pun? ☺- one of my seventh grade students informed me that puns are not the lowest form of humor, they don’t even rank as humor. Duly chastised, but not reformed. ☺ )

We haven’t had very many clear days where we can look out and see the mountains in the distance. It seems like a combination of heavy humidity and smog. Everyone here remarks how much better the air is than in Beijing. Yikes! I’ve heard that some Olympic athletes (especially runners) have refused to participate in this year’s competitions due to the horrible air quality here. They say that it could ruin their careers. I don’t know about that, but I’m also not an elite athlete. I’m just popping Claritin daily and doing pretty well. Even with a cat running around.

Speaking of the cat, it seems to think that we should all feed it and play with it when it so desires. I like cats, really. They just make me sneeze so I avoid them. But when the cat starts weaving in between people’s hands and feet as we are doing yoga, it’s gone too far. Today, Barbara (the Canadian yogini) was leading a class when the cat started up his typical attention-seeking antics. So she put him in another courtyard outside. Apparently intent on partaking in the yoga session, the cat scaled the walls, climbed across the roof, and promptly returned by bounding down the rooftop stairs back to class. So the cat was put in the ‘reading room’ with the doors shut. Well, the cook came through, leaving the door open. The cat was returned to the ‘reading room’ with the doors shut. The yoga session had ended by this point and they were doing yoga nidra (a deep meditation) guided by a computer program in the ‘reading room’. The cat, again intent upon escape, was tearing around the room like mad. About a third of the way through the guided mediation, the program stopped. When Barbara went to investigate, guess what she found? The cat was quite smugly sitting upon the computer keyboard with the mouse dangling from its cord. Cats are cats no matter what country they are from! ☺

In order to practice my tiny bit of Chinese knowledge (which totally centers around food items and eating), I have been asking Phil to make simple requests in Chinese while we are at dinner. For example, I can understand when he asks for more of something, if he asks if I want more of something, and what those somethings are: rice, noodles, steamed bread, veggie filled buns, soup, carrots, potatoes, tofu, etc. It really helps that the cook uses pretty much the same ingredients just combined differently each day. My big accomplishment of the week so far was that I went to the local store by myself and bought two Mung bean popsicles. It took several tries to figure out how much I was supposed to pay, but I did it. It’s pretty funny. I feel like a kid, when I run home to declare to Phil how I did something all by myself! Just like when I was little with my mom and dad. ☺ It’s fun to be an absolute beginner at something again. It keeps me humble.

Oh! by the way, keep checking in on Phil’s blog, he’s not nearly as chatty as I am, and he adds links to cool articles related to China. He always includes fun pictures, too! http://philmckenna.blogspot.com/