My goodness! Well, I hope you will all forgive me for
disappearing for a few months there! To be totally honest, I just got crazy
busy and lost all track of well, everything. Forgive me. Ok! Now that you have
accepted my apology, here is the very latest….since July!!
My first tale begins a while back when I went
“hiking” with my friend Kelly at a near by mountain called Pan Shan. If you are wondering why there are quotations
around the word hiking, it is because
it was anything but. I should have known when she said there was a temple at
the top of the mountain it would be trouble. Being a spoiled Idaho brat my whole life, my idea of hiking, is in dry
forest on dirt trails with Charlie enveloped late morning sunshine and the
fresh smell of pine, but that was certainly not the case here. First of all the
mountain is so lush that the humidity was absolutely crushing and only slightly
less crushing are the swarms of mosquitos that accompany it. We had to stop every 20 minutes or so just to
wipe the sweat out of our eyes and liberally apply a fresh coat of bug-spray. Also the whole “trail” was built with massive
stone blocks made into stairs, lined with handrails, and went straight up the
mountain. Instead of hiking, I felt as if I had just climbed 600 flights of
stairs, leaving my poor knees sore for days to come. But determined to make it
to the top, Kelly and I trudged on and eventually arrived at a lovely although
much less impressive than we had hoped temple where we caught our breath, did a
180’, and headed down. All that nuisance aside I was in fabulous company and
the mountain and temple were lovely to look
at. So here are some pictures of the loveliness, and you can enjoy the view
without the experience of “hiking” in China in the summer.
Also, I was invited to a friend’s
house for a hot-pot dinner, which was amazing and reciprocated the following
week by having them over to my place for a good old American BBQ…well, kind of. I made tomato soup, grilled ham and cheese
sammies, baked beans, macaroni salad, green salad GORP Chex Mix and cucumber
water. I have no oven here so it’s
really the best I could do in a rice cooker….Oh! The joys of living
abroad!
It is turning into Fall here now
which is fantastic because its cooling off and the humidity has died down
considerably which is a bonus because my hair no longer looks like a lions
mane…seriously in July and August I would have ruled the Savannah and had my
very own pack of lionesses…not cool…
Also, I am very pleased to report I
am FINALLY enrolled in a language school where I attend class 4 days a
week. My classmates are the nicest
Korean and Japanese ladies (and one guy!) ever! We all get along very well and
it is great practice because they don’t speak English and I clearly don’t speak
Korean or Japanese so we use Chinese in order to study together. It’s just
really really wonderful and I enjoy it immensely. I met some other foreigners at the school
including a Spanish girl, a French man, and three British boys who remind me of
the Three Stooges. No Americans yet, I
am afraid we are a rare breed here!
While we are on the subject of
meeting people, meet Sean! Sean is my
co-worker turned friend through the mutual love of food. He is from Turkmenistan and in the past few
weeks has taught me how to make Turkmen style dumpling and palov, which is a
sickeningly delicious rice dish with carrots and beef. We have been having a
swell time together over the past few weeks and I will be very sad when he
returns to his home country next month. Safe travels my dear!
On the down side, last month I got fairly ill
and had to go to the hospital to get some IV’s where they charged me an arm, a
leg, a kidney, and my first born because I am blonde and my Chinese is lacking
in the medical terminology department. But, not to worry all is well now thanks
to the most supportive friends a girl could ask for: Thank you Stephanie and
Echo for being my translators in a time of need!!
Speaking of illness, I do have a
bit more bad news. My dear friend and coworker Echo is leaving work for now
because she has to have a rather large tumor removed from her throat. If any of you have extra room in your
prayers, I would appreciate you adding her name in. It’s not life threatening, but the tumor is
in a tricky spot and the surgery will cause her to be in the hospital for a
while. What a bummer. We had a big going away dinner for her last
Saturday with everyone from work at a near by restaurant, where we ate too much
and had a fabulous time whooping it up and disturbing the other diners…yeah we
were totally those people. It was great and we gave her a proper send off after
working for the company for over two years.
My goodness from the looks of this
blog, all I appear to do here is eat! Well you know me, no patience for an
empty stomach…although all the food pictures would explain this layer of chub I
have acquired…I will justify it by reminding you that the winter is on its way
and from what I hear torturously cold and windy here. Like a baby walrus, I
need it too keep warm and adorable…I’ll just call it my rice blanket ;)
Meanwhile back home, Charlie seems
to be doing just fine under the care of Mom…what a little troublemaker!! I hope
every one is doing well wherever you are and what ever you are doing!! I would
love to hear about it! Until next time (I promise not to wait so long between
entries again)! xoxo