Sam's glasses

I completely forgot to mention Sam's new glasses in the last blog!  The first night we were in Hong Kong we went to a downtown section to do some shopping and eat local food.  While shopping Sam found the pair of black rimmed glasses you see him wearing in the picture.  He put them on and said to me: "What do you think?"  I laughed at first then I said "They actually look good."  He then totally surprised me by buying them and immediately putting them on!  I could not believe that this was the same guy who had brought only two ties and two shirts to a three day event and most of them had stains on them!  I said to him:  "Do you know you just bought an accessory!?" I may have mentioned it before but many people in China wear glasses that they don't need.  It's a style.  Lots of times they don't even have lenses in them.  Which is why Sam's reply to my astonishment was: "Hey, I'm unpredictable and at least they have lenses in them."  He's been telling people they are part of his "Clark Kent" disguise and he loves to say "Wait a minute, I can't see.  Let me take off my glasses."  Ha!

Swimming in city streets

First of all I'd like to say that we arrived home safe and sound from Hong Kong on Monday night.  We were supposed to arrive at noon on Monday but our 8:30am flight our was cancelled due to bad weather back home. That gave us the opportunity to spend 10 hours at the Hong Kong airport.  This is what I can say about the situation: first, the Hong Kong airport is really nice with good shops and lots of English magazines and books. Second, I will try to never book a flight with China Air again.  I had heard they weren't the most customer service oriented and now I believe it.  I think had it not been for my persistence we would still be in Hong Kong right now.  Probably sitting in the Burger King trying to get wifi reception. 

I had warned Sam that I would probably get depressed upon returning home like I did last time we went to Hong Kong.  Surprisingly enough I feel fine.  I'm happy to be back home and hearing Mandarin again.  As I had stated in my last blog the weather has been crazy here.  Wednesday proved to be the most exciting so far.  That evening we rode our bikes to a friends house and stayed late talking.  Just as we decided to go home a huge thunder storm broke out.  The wind was blowing so hard the trees started to looked sideways and it was raining hard for a long time.   The sky had a pinkish purple hue from all the lightning.  The weird thing was that the lightning didn't hit ground, it was just in the clouds lighting up the sky.  Our friends invited us to stay the night but we both wanted to go home and sleep in our own bed.  Where our bikes were parked a pool of mud was forming and mine had fallen over.  We decided it would be safer to walk until we found a taxi willing to drive us.  Although the rain had subsided a bit  there was water everywhere.  It looked like lakes and rivers instead of streets and crosswalks.  We ended up walking the whole way home because the only taxi's stopped were ones stuck in the water with their emergency lights on.  Many times the water was knee deep when crossing an alley or a small street.  In fact, we saw little waves come up and splash the buildings!  I found myself laughing quite a bit.  I wanted to take a picture but it was too dark and I only had my little i-touch with me.  When we finally arrived home we found more water in our apartment.  Our bedroom had pools of water by all the windows.  I used all the towels I had to soak it up.  At first we thought a window had been left open but they were all shut.  The wind had blown the rain in through the window sills.  The wall by my side of the bed obviously had a problem because it was cracked and swollen with water.  The water on the floor by it had bits of paint and drywall in it.  That's not a good sign!  We see our landlord next week and I will show her the damage then.  Sam says it would need to be fixed from the outside.  That's a big thing when you are talking about an apartment on the tenth floor.  Ah, the adventures of China city life.  Never a dull moment!

"You could be drinking whole milk if you wanted to"

That's what I said to myself this morning as I poured whole milk into my coffee.  Yes, I quote movies to myself. (Napoleon Dynamite to be specific)  It popped into my head because for the first time in my life I have been drinking whole milk on a regular basis...and I'm in China- the land of lactose intolerance.  When we first got here I only saw two choices at the store: skim milk and whole milk.  I first bought the skim milk (it tasted more like 1%) but it was in a larger size carton and we didn't drink it fast enough.  Sam balked at the words "skim milk" and hardly drank any.  So I found a smaller size carton but they only carried it in whole milk.  Thus, we now drink whole milk on a regular basis.  That may account for the fact that no matter how much I ride my bike, run for the bus, go up and down millions of stairs, or walk miles and miles I cannot seem to lose weight.  In fact, lately I've had the problem of my hands and feet swelling up so much I feel like they're going to pop!  I couldn't get my wedding rings off and then after I did I couldn't get them back on for three days.  I asked a friend in the medical field here what could be the problem and she said to me: "hmm you don't eat at restaurants very often do you?"  I sheepishly replied: "actually we do".  Then she told me that it is probably the salt or msg that my body is reacting to.  Just great! (that was said sarcastically)  The one thing I love to do here - eat out, and now its making me blow up like a macy's day ballon!  So I started cooking at home more.  I made pumpkin soup, chicken soup, macaroni & cheese, and veggies with rice.  It felt good to eat that kind of food and even better to put my rings on without wondering if they will come off later.  A friend of mine even said my skin looks better.  The problem is: I still love chinese food!  I suppose I will have to exercise self control and eat in moderation.

In other news: our school ended last Thursday.  Yeah!  So far I'm still very busy but I've been already having more fun. On Friday we played badminton.  Its a pretty popular sport here.  When Sam bought his racket they strung on the strings and added special grip to it just like a tennis racket.  The birdies everyone uses here have real feathers on them and the ball part is actual rubber, unlike the plastic one's I had used when we played as kids.  We went to a gym where they rent the courts by the hour. We saw several children and adults taking lessons.  They all looked very serious.  It made me feel a bit nervous to watch them.  I hadn't played in years and I don't know if Sam had every played before.  We stunk at it but it was really fun. My friend accidentally hit me with the birdie.  She apologized profusely but all I could think was that it was so much better than being hit by a tennis ball! I think we'll be doing it on a regular basis from now on.  

We leave for Hong Kong this Thursday!

Hot in the city

Its been weird weather around here.  One moment its sweltering hot with a 50% humidity level.  It feels like you're in a sauna.  Then out of no where it will start raining with thunder and lightning.  Its nice when it happens at night because the next day the air is clean and you can see blue sky.  What's also strange is what many chinese men do when its hot....they pull up their shirts so just their belly hangs out.  Most of them can just hang the fabric above their belly but some of them actually have flat stomachs so they hold their shirt up with one hand.  Its a little weird when the elevator door opens and the first thing you see is someone's belly staring you in the face.  Most men don't care that everyone gets to see the size of their belly but I have had a couple pull down their shirt when I walk by.  Back home when its hot you see the occasional man without a shirt baring his beer belly. I suppose what I see here shouldn't be that strange to me.  I guess what gets me is that they actually still have their shirt on, just half-way.  Sam said he wants to make a shirt that is made of mesh at the stomach part. That way they don't have to pull up their shirt, they can just let the air flow through the mesh.  Or make the shirts with the stomach part already cut out for those that don't have enough of a belly to keep the fabric up.  It seemed funny at the time but some of my friends actually thought it was a good idea. hahaha

A funny thing happened the other night.  When I said good night to Sam I didn't realize he was already asleep.  I said: "Goodnight" and he said: "You ate all those crackers and only left me one!"  I said: "What?!"  Then he repeated: "You ate all those crackers and only left me one!"  I looked over and saw that he was totally asleep!  I busted up laughing.  The next day when I asked him about it he said he didn't remember a thing.  I think he's got some suppressed food issues with me.  Its either that or he was dreaming about eating. wasabi crackers and I must have eaten them all but one.  (He loves a certain wasabi cracker here. He's always asking me to buy more.)

In other news, we are going to Hong Kong again.  This time it will be by airplane!  I'm so happy!