China Survival 101


I love to eat as most of you know. I had the most delicious sticky rice dumpling with peanuts and coconut inside that I have ever had a few mornings ago. It only cost 1 yen which is equivalent to like 13 cents. My foreign teacher liaison David says that you can easily gain a lot of weight your first few weeks in China as you discover all the good food. I had a sublime meal today with ginger rice, snowpeas (my favorite) bean sprout and baked tofu, lots of garlic, onion and more ginger which I concocted myself.


I know its been nearly a week since I arrived in Hainan and I haven't even finished unpacking. Who needs to unpack when we are so busy getting to know the town, the people and tidying the house itself which has been quite a nuisance since two Brit bachelors moved outt.
It is strange to "blend" in with the crowd so to speak. It is easy to pick out the other foreign teachers who are blonde and tall and white. I on the other hand am an anomaly only when I speak and am found to be American.


The mosquito plague has been momentarily averted by mosquito net, anti-mosquito plant and mosquito repellent air freshner. Apparently I have type 0 blood which is the kind they are most attracted to. They seem to leave type As and Bs alone.

Anyway, it rained lots yesterday, my first holy Sunday. Many of the teachers are devoted Christians and had service over at Anne and John Maher's. Afterwards, I joined them in an outing to the nicest hotel in town where we had lunch.

We have lots of new plants now thanks to Deanna who took me to the nursery. She is familiar with the owner Mr. Hong who in turn, gave me every fern or flower I complimented. Now the house feels more like home thanks to his incredible generosity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heal the activists, the tired, the hungry, the angry and the improper: arts and scientists can synthesize the new approach to how we imagine the human race.

The Year of Conquering Negative Thinking https://t.co/mQs6Brodrj #neurology meets #healingarts #foundation #hereistherevolution #INCITE #americanarttherapyassocation — Eileen Cheong (@ModestDweeb) January 25, 2018 #modestdweebink #whoraisedyou #rwthntc #STLimprovanywhere #fergusonforward #artherapy #qtPocUnite #audrelordeproject #angeladavis
Read more

The Outside and the Inside are Inseparable

As I am haunted by the events that occurred late Sunday afternoon, I struggle not to feel robbed myself. The reactions of one student who was followed inside a yoga studio that I attend and work at by a lone gunned man, versus the reactions of another student who was mugged by the same man outside the studio appear on opposite ends of a spectrum. I can only make sense of it by writing about it and putting it out of my mind. We'll call her Cindy, was a young lady perhaps in her mid to late 20s who because she was immediately consoled by the other students caught off guard in the lobby by the incident- was pleasantly calm and seemed just glad that he was gone. When I approached her with a glass of sweet reddish kombucha, she welcomed it with a smile still standing in the classroom beside the spot where she had been held up for her car keys. She was not shuddering as I had half expected, but surprisingly collected. Later I found out from the teacher who had dropped down on her ...
Read more

Mexico Cosas

Image
As I'm traveling through Mexico, I notice you can dance anywhere and nobody will stare at you like you are crazy. That's because music is always filling the air and therefore, anytime is the opportune time to dance. And not just salsa, or Mexican accordian but '80s Americana and Nirvana. Also, people are always selling food on the sidewalk out of regular pots and pans so homemade food is readily available, everything from tacos to tortas (mexican sandwiches), soups to spagetti (which here, is usually cream sauce with beans,) quesadillas to paellas (seafood and rice), gorditas to tamales.
Read more