"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!