Red bull here sucks. there's two different types. there's some labeled
red bull in a squat yellow can. there's some that look like real red
bull in a red bull style can. there is a type of equipment, i can't
remember what it's called, but it specializes in analyzing smells and
tastes and allowing you to chemically reproduce them exactly. i don't
know that i can describe the tastes... the one in the red bull style can
smells like red bull, tastes like a cross between red bull syrup, some
sort of stagnant water, and kind of reminds me of those bottle cap
candies that i will probably never be able to stomach again. the one in
the squat yellow can tastes awful...that's one that i've been unable to
even attempt to place the taste.
So, Mei gives me a ring last night, it has a bar code on it and the
numbers "1314520". i'm stumped, but decided to just wear it, and hope
for the best (maybe there's no tracking id chip in this ring.) i asked
her what it meant, and she said she didn't know, but that i would
eventually figure it out. i don't know why people get to know me and
still give me more credit than they should! i finally looked it up, it
says, in chinese, "131, 452 are two sets of numbers have been used all
of the world, for life i love you."
i was talking to my sister, Paula, this morning, while mei made
breakfast, she was happily, quietly eating beside me and handed me a jar
to open, i wasn't paying attention to what it was, and she knew i was
calling long distance so she just continued to feed me occasionally
while doing her own thing. in the middle of the call, she placed some
hot chilli jelly from her hometown...this stuff is fermented and beyond
potent, all i tasted was burning...paula heard me yell, why would you do
that...mei said, "What? is good!!!" then she smiled her evil little
grin and laughed at me while i said, "burning....so burning...can breath
fire!!" i think she enjoys bringing my english skills down to her
level. tomorrow the little sadist is taking me mountain
climbing....after playing badminton for a couple of hours.
badminton....chinese LOVE badminton, it's as much of an obsession with
them as ping pong is with koreans. i've always thought it was a simple
sport, but it's not easy when they are all at about professional
levels. we looked at rackets yesterday, they wanted 100 kuai for each
racket, and 50 kuai for a set of 3 birdies. i don't know what happened,
we walked out of the store having purchased both rackets, the birdies,
and a ledger for 79 kuai. i have to learn chinese so i can figure out
what she's doing. she never gets upset, i catch words like expensive,
and incomprehensible muttering from her every time, and after anywhere
from 20 minutes to 3 hours, we're paying 10-30% of asking price. she
actually gets better prices than most chinese people that i know.
thomas was stumped watching her last bargaining session, which saved us
all over half what his chinese friends normally pay... at a ktv. it's
pure insanity. she really is looking forward to taking my sister's
shopping....i'm not allowed to go, and i'm kind of grateful, i'd rather
watch the girls come home trying to explain how they got a dress for 10
kuai, when the asking price was over 100. it's a bit mind-boggling.
she does really well with my friends here as well. every single one
asks where i found her, and if we can find a clone of her for them. the
other night, she had her sister (cousin - but they're close, so she's a
sister, i guess) come out with us to ktv. she apologized after to me
and my friends because her sister is so fat. i don't have a clue where
this tall, beautiful woman was supposedly fat, but, it seems to be a
common thing here. mei apologizes to me sometimes for being fat too, i
always tell her that she's as skinny as death, and she's happy for
another day or two.
Mei has decided to show me why i need her in my life, so she has been
taking it upon herself to cook for me every meal possible. she has
asked for a key to my place to clean while i'm away and so that she can
have lunch and dinner made for me. she's an excellent cook, and, while
the food is a bit spicy, it's also the best food i've had in my entire
life (for chinese food, please don't cut me off mom!), she's looking
forward to teaching my family how to cook....except for boys, we're not
allowed in the kitchen, ever. apparently the kitchen is the woman's
domain, and you're liable to be stabbed if you step foot in there. i
did get a cleaning lady a week and a half ago, and mei wants to be able
to watch her like a hawk, make sure she does what she's supposed to,
instead of wandering lost doing nothing as usual. the first day, this
lady was amazing, the second she was awful, same with the 3rd time,
yesterday. i told mei that this time we would give her a list of things
that neither of us want to do, and watch her work for the entire time,
so that she gets something done.
if you leave the airconditioners here running too long, you will have a
lake, so, whenever i'm able to, i just run a fan and open a window.
last night, i apparently let in a herd of mosquitoes. i have never had
so many bites on my back in my life, it's actually a bit uncomfortable
right now. hopefully it will go away soon, although it's already starting to feel better.
i know that everyone wants pictures, the problem is that i have
literally thousands. so, i thought the best thing to do would be to
just ask...what do you want pictures of? let me know and i'll send
them. do you want pictures of my apartment, the city, the city at
night, the water heater that confounds me, my apartment building, my
school, night shots of the city and all the lights? just let me know
and i'll send them out. if you want pictures of people in my life, i'm
happy to do that as well. a couple of them are out of town for a week,
on the exploring path. thomas hit a wall of sorts, with the language,
and he's taking a sanity break from learning chinese, just working on
drawing letters properly, and figuring out how to do it fast, but after 6
months of chinese, he needs some time to let it settle. i hit the wall
every now and then, not a giant one, but i hit the point where new
words don't stick at all, and i don't have a clue as to what to do about
it. i finally asked thomas and he recommended either taking time off,
or dropping my lessons down. he also says that once you get to the
point where you can actually talk to people, it's almost worth dropping
hours down to 2 hours and getting more practice in with people.
i got together with my bank manager last night. we played dice, and
hung out, he brought a friend from hong kong who is a childrens
dentist. i brought mei along with me. steve, the bank manager, told me
that when his girlfriend gets back from her visit to her hometown, that
he wants to get her together with mei. apparently, mei's accent is
beijing, which is considered the best accent in chinese, and his
girlfriend is working on her mandarin, she speaks her hometown language
and cantonese, but needs work on english and putongwa. he's a very neat
guy, he's 29, and will bend over backwards to help out his customers,
this branch has only been open for 2 months. he actually texts me one
his way home from work to let me know when my funds are in and i'm set
up to exchange from CDN to RMB, unless he is not busy during the day,
and he'll text me as soon as he can. he actually watches my account for
me like a hawk, i have to say, i quite like that. he wants to develop a
friendship together, and he's also asked me if i'd be willing to help
his staff with their conversational english. i told him that i would do
so on one condition, that they not pay me for it, because i have zero
interest in being an english teacher. he said that he thinks that he
can live with that condition.
i got the leak in my bathroom fixed. the part was 21 RMB (it was 35,
but the crazy person i sent out to get it, talked them down to 21), and
30 RMB for the install. he also diagnosed the water heater problem,
looked at the pipes and said that the heater was done, and to replace
it. he thinks the install is 100 RMB, but no idea on the part. i used
to think that my landlord paid for stuff, it turns out that they just
bill me later, i'm not really sure on how the set up works. i also
deposited my rent on the 1st of the month instead of the 12th, and they
got all bent out of shape. apparently, i need to call ahead and warn
them if i'm going to attempt to pay early. i told them that if they
want english speaking people to understand the contract, they should
possibly think about translating it into english. i can see the amount i
need to pay, and the account number it goes into, that's it for
english. they even have the due date buried in the contract somewhere
in chinese...while i can decipher dates here, i still find it difficult
to find the 4 characters i know in a 4 page document.
i'm going to go out in search of something not spicy to eat! (tired of
KFC as i can't handle the amount of mayonaise they put on
everything....that reminds me, a word of advice: do not order anything
with alfredo sauce in china unless it's an upscale italian restaurant.
the last time i tried al fredo spaghetti in a chain restaurant, it was
actually mayo with cilantro in it...i know that the chinese people
looked at the dish, saw white sauce, and said, "I know what that is!)
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