Any Given Sunday

This has been my shortest, most painful weekend in recent memory. Last week was equally painful, but long. The muscles in my back reached a level of cramping that became unbearable by Monday. So, Tuesday evening I went for a Chinese full body massage. I don't know what it's called in Chinese, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was called something like "expensive pain."

Face-down on the massage table, I wanted to scream, but the pain was so strong that I could only gasp for air as the woman pushed, prodded and smacked my body. The height of pain came when she began to work on my back. Using my own body against me, she rolled the tensed muscles over my shoulder blade. She must have done this a million or so times to each side and I felt like I was going to pass out from holding my breath, waiting for it to end. When it did end, I felt fine. If I had the memory of a fish, I wouldn't have known that some small Chinese lady had just beat the crap out of me.

The next day it felt like someone had punched me in about a dozen different places in my back. As I went about my day, though, it seemed to get better, so I had another brilliant idea, YOGA! It felt good to get a little exercise, but my back still felt tight. Massage, ibuprofen, yoga, it all helped, but didn't solve the problem, so I had to go with the last resort. I went to the doctor.

Friday morning I headed off to the hospital where the doctor took a whopping 10 minutes to talk to me and inform me that I had twisted my vertebrae. My guess is that I did it about three weeks ago in yoga. Why did I wait so long to go to the doctor? Because I thought my discomfort was related to stress, not an injury. As it turns out, I was wrong. So, she prescribed me some medicine, including a muscle relaxant that I insisted I didn't need, and sent me downstairs to a Chinese physiotherapist. She looked at me far longer than the other doctor, poking and prodding to find out exactly where it hurt, and boy did it hurt! Then, she gave me an adjustment.

Saturday, my back was feeling a lot better, but I woke up with a nasty sore throat and runny nose, the exact symptoms Dan had a week ago!! It was downhill from there, in part because I had to go to work. We had a professional development day, and I was miserable. I left early because I started to have a fever. At home, I couldn't get comfortable or warm. My nose ran and my throat was hard and dry, making it difficult to swallow and breath.

Today I am not feeling much better. I was well enough to get some work done, but I still feel like crap. I'm hanging on to the highlights of my week, Korean food and a haircut on Friday with Marty. Originally, Dan was going to come out as well, but he was still sick with his cold, so just the two of us went. When we got back, we decided to get our hair cut. We tried the "new" place by our apartments.

Ushered in by our hair washers we sat down and they began our half hour head massage. It felt wonderful, but it was clear that my hair washer had never washed hair like mine before. Twisting, pulling, and rubbing long hair into a ball may not be problematic for the smooth straight hair that most Chinese people have, but I was expecting my hair to be one big nest. It was. After rinsing, it took three people to comb my hair, a half an hour to cut it straight across, and another 45 minutes for a moisturizing treatment. The last part was the best. They literally beat the conditioner into my hair, rolled perfect ringlets and attached me to a steam machine that looked like a shower cap attached to a vacuum hose. The steam came out from two little holes on the top, making me look like an angry cartoon character, think Yosemite Sam. Two and a half hours after stepping into the shop, I stepped out with some fabulous hair.

Another Relaxing Weekend (for me)

Today marks the end of yet another somewhat relaxing weekend where I didn't get much of anything done. The weekend before last was the end of my week-long holiday and I spent it recovering from a pretty nasty cold. This weekend, I was healthy, but not very focused on what I needed to do. I spent a lot of time snuggling with Dan and Da Mi. We watched some movies and played outside a bit, but nothing very far from home. The farthest I went was actually to the vets to get Da Mi her first round of vaccinations. I was a little disappointed to find out that I still won't be able to take her outside for another three weeks! Apparently canine distemper and parvovirus are really common in Beijing because few people vaccinate their dogs. I can understand not vaccinating if you live in the middle of nowhere and your dog isn't exposed to much of anything, but in the city that just seems irresponsible and mean. Anyway, one shot down, three to go. Da Mi didn't like the vet. She peed on him twice and wouldn't go near him unless he pulled her close. I can't say I blame her. If the first thing someone did was to stick a cold piece of metal in my bum, I might not be very happy either!

I missed my Sunday posting!

I thought for sure if I picked one day a week to blog I would definitely do it. I failed. Fortunately, I feel it was totally justifiable because of what happened yesterday. It started off with a lazy morning, then coffee and work in the early afternoon. I wanted to get as much work done as possible on my paper that's due Thursday and I wanted to do my regular classwork as well. My goal is to have at least two days this week where I have absolutely nothing that needs to be done. It doesn't look particularly likely, but I'm still working for it.

After a couple of hours spent working on my paper, I headed home to let the puppy out. I didn't want to leave her alone for too long because she has had some trouble digesting some of the food I gave her (to put it lightly). Everywhere I read said it would happen, and she doesn't look like she's suffering, but I still feel bad sometimes. I went home, let her out. She peed and pooped on the newspaper and then everywhere else as well. I basically followed her around with toilet paper and a mop. Sometimes I think she just likes to watch me mop. I am so close to hiring a full-time ayi it's not funny. I don't really need a full time ayi to help care for my dog, but cleaning my house three times a week for about 10 dollars is certainly worth it!

Anyway, I did some work and played with the dog and Dan came back from yoga around 5:30. He sat down on the chair, put the dog on his lap and proceeded to let the dog fall off his lap, and not in any gentle sort of way. I usually get really pissy when I feel like he's not being gentle enough with Da Mi, but this time I was hysterical, because she was actually hurt. She was screaming and refused to walk on her right, hind foot. She wasn't very good at walking on three feet either, so she just kind of scooted to the washing machine (where she often goes to hide or sleep). I freaked out and was in tears, yelling at Dan, that I couldn't believe he just let her fall off his lap like that, and so on. He was being very patient and probably feeling more than a little guilty.

We basically rushed her out to the vet across the street, where they looked at her, but couldn't really help us because their x-ray machine was broken. They sent us to a different hospital where we paid 80 kuai (about 12 U.S. Dollars) for a visit with a doctor and x-rays. On the way there and the whole time in the hospital, Da Mi was so calm it freaked me out even more. She just wanted to snuggle and sleep. I had a massive headache, thought I was going to puke, and came really close to punching some people out. I slowly forgave Dan, and had a lot easier time of it when the x-rays came back and there was nothing wrong. Her bones looked strong and she had probably just bruised her foot. The doctors did ask what the heck she was eating, though, since her poop showed up in the x-ray. Turns out Chinese people don't think dogs should eat whole eggs or bones. Maybe they're right, but they also shouldn't eat toxic chemicals, so I'll pass on the dog food, thanks. When we got her home last night, she was already starting to walk on the foot a little (and continued to poop and pee everywhere). So, maybe I overreacted just a little...

This morning Da Mi has been fine, though clearly still hurting a little. She chewed her nice smelly chicken neck on some of our clothes to thank us for last night (they were dirty, but still). We even left her alone for a little while to go out to lunch. We had really delicious meal at an Indian place. We each had about 5 small dishes, plus bread and dessert for about 10 dollars. The food was well-prepared and the service was amazing! Now we're at the bookworm having some coffee. I was going to try to finish writing more of my paper, but I am too full and sleepy. It just isn't going to happen until I have a nap, and a snuggle with Da Mi!

Starbucks Rocks the Milk Scandal!

I came to Starbucks to work, because I know I will want to sleep if I stay home. It's a wonderfully rainy day. Since there is less pollution in Beijing still, there continues to be evidence of real weather (i.e. rain, sunshine, and clouds) as opposed to the usual monotone grey sky and dust storms. But I digress. Starbucks no longer offers milk here, period. They don't even let you choose if you mind dying a painful death or not. Instead, it is soy milk for everything, and they've got advertising telling you how wonderful it tastes too! There is a sign that says "Try our new vanilla soy latte!" as if you have a choice! In spite of myself, I actually like the soy latte. In different times, I would not order it, but times are tough, and I guess I should be grateful that some companies still believe in somewhat ethical conduct.

In other news... there is no other news. I continue to be swamped with work and school, but I can't complain. My life is wonderful. My boyfriend still loves me in spite of me and my puppy is growing big, though maybe not as tall as Dan would hope. I only wish I was closer to my family.

A Walk in the Park

The only thing easy in my life right now was brunch and the walk in Chaoyang Park that we took today. It was a beautiful day and Dan and I just sat on the edge of the lake for an hour and a half. In spite of the fact that school has only been going for two weeks now, I really needed this three day weekend. I have been working hard to teach, working hard to study for two grad classes, and spending a lot of time with my new puppy. I am exhausted and trying not to get sick!

Last night we said goodbye to our friend Matt, who is heading home to coach swimming before taking a job in Germany. We went to Hatsune for some really delicious Japanese food and tried to make plans to see each other again soon. Soon, I've found, seems to get further and further away as I get older. Soon used to mean a couple days from now, or next week. Then I went to college and it meant in a couple months. When I left the States, soon started to mean in 6 months to a year. Now, it often means two years, maybe more! I'm not sure where the time goes.

Today we had brunch with Filipa and Stan before our escapade in the park. Delicious food and good company makes me smile. I ate bread, which I haven't done in about two weeks, but it was totally worth it. As long as I'm going to eat something with wheat in it, I might as well binge. So, binge I did! I haven't been good about keeping the corn out lately anyway, so bad skin is to be expected. I'll just have to be extra careful this week!

It's far easier to control my diet than it is to control stress. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I am constantly preoccupied with my puppy. Something about actually managing to save her, with a LOT of help from my friends has made me worry even more. She's about three and a half weeks old now and appears to be really healthy, so there's not much to worry about. Oddly enough, I find things. Maybe she's a little sleepier or not gaining as much weight or fell off the bed, and I worry about every little thing. It's stupid, I know, but I can't help myself. I feel like it's my duty to protect her! I've also been struggling with the fact that she's looking like a big dog. At three and a half weeks, she's about four pounds. Beijing doesn't allow dogs over 35 centimeters or 14 inches, so unless she's just going to stop growing up and start growing out, I might have a problem. I'd be willing to pay the 5,000 RMB fine if that means that I can register and keep her, but I'm not sure that's the case and I don't want them to take her away and kill her. And they would. They are pure evil!

A long, long time ago...

I can still remember how... I used to blog here now and then. And I can't be sure what my excuse is this time, but I'll bet it's the same old thing. Life happens and I haven't been organized or dedicated enough to keep going with this regularly.

Tonight is my last night in the D.C. area for this year. I have spent five very short weeks here, and I'm just a touch reluctant to leave. Classes, and with them all the stress, just ended Friday. I finally have time and mental energy to do what I want, but it's time to move on.

In spite of the work, there were some highlights. I saw friends that I haven't seen in years, lots of them, though not all of them. I met a lot of great people that I hope to keep in touch with. Most astonishingly, perhaps, I ran without suffocating! I'm a fresh air addict and it's near impossible to get a fix in Beijing! To offer a small glimpse into the reality of Beijing pollution, I will tell you that I can run for about 10 minutes there before I feel like my lungs are crusting over. Here I can run for half an hour. Yes I break a sweat, but no I don't feel like my chest is imploding. It's funny because I was starting to think I was just getting old, but this break from bad air has been reassuring!

The good stuff just kept on coming this summer, so I have a lot to be thankful for. I know a list doesn't quite cut it, but it's what I've got. In no particular order, I'm utterly grateful for...

...my friends from former lives who still make me feel like I belong, even though I keep abandoning you to go on my fantastic voyages.

...my awesome roommates who made me laugh and kept me sane.

...all the cool people in the program (FAST TRAIN, not AA) that shared stories and ideas.

...Screen on the Green.

...Dan, who has an uncanny ability to just appear places.

...crab.

...sun, blue skies, greenery, and the smell of fresh air.

...crickets.

...and, why not, vegetables.

My summer isn't over, though. Tomorrow I head to Kentucky to visit family, before going back to New York, and visiting more family, for a couple of weeks. I'll get to spend time with people I care about and do a lot less work than I have been. Life is good!

Spring in the City

It's the time of year where I feel like I could be in any major city in any part of the world. It smells like spring, it looks like spring, and the big buildings and hustle and bustle aren't particularly distinctive. There are moments where I could be anywhere and then I am reminded that I am definitely in Beijing. The following things help bring me back to reality:

1. I see a bank guard. He doesn't have a gun, but instead he has a long stainless steel baton with spikes on it that make it look like an instrument of medieval torture. As an aside I was going to take a picture of it, but I didn't want to tempt him into using it.

2. I'm walking along one of those could-be-anywhere streets when all of the sudden I run into a wall of sewage smell with an unidentifiable origin.

3. More and more people are out and about after hibernating through the winter, but I don't look like any of them.

4. The smell of paint thinner is in the air in all major shopping areas. I still haven't figured out where this smell is coming from or, frankly, what it is, but it seems to be everywhere. Maybe people are doing all of their toxic renovations now that the weather is nicer and they can open the windows and doors and poison us all.

5. CNN has blacked out twice in the same news sequence. I had to look online to find out why, and I had to use a proxy server to see the pictures. I don't know how they managed to block only the pictures on a site. It's pretty amazing and mildly disturbing!

6. Our taxi driver stops en route to our destination and asks us to wait in the car while he goes to the bathroom. I let him know I wasn't inclined to do so, so he punished us by driving as slowly as possible the rest of the way.

7. Two police officers showed up at our hutong trying to tell us that we needed to re-register after going home for Christmas holiday, when it is not the case. They insisted, however, that we would not be able to stay there the next night if we didn't do this. It turns out they were probably looking for a bribe. I'm sure you're shocked.

8. The police officer waits for me to tell her if I will tutor her child in English before beginning to do the paperwork I need from her. Of course I told her yes, but I may not answer my phone for the next few weeks!

9. Blue skies and real clouds are not the norm.

10. There's so much dust that spring cleaning is a weekly event!

Chinese Lantern Festival

Today I ate boiled sticky rice dumplings with a sweet filling in honor of the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and as a consolation to myself as I will most likely find it difficult to sleep tonight. There are, by far, more fireworks today than there were on the first or any other day of the celebrations. The amount of gunpowder dispensed could easily put the American Military to shame! As much as I hate the noise, it is, at least, prettier than what our people do with similar resources, and it might mean that China has sold fewer munitions to Sudan in the past few weeks. I am grateful that I don't live in a place where all of this noise would signify people dying. And on that happy note, a video of fireworks for your viewing pleasure.

http://american.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=528204047765 (I had trouble uploading it and since the error message is in Chinese, I'm out of luck for now)

Oh, and just for the heck of it, here's a great picture of the metro the day I couldn't bear to take it!

One too many excuses.

I think it's been about two months since I last posted, but I'm afraid to look. I decided, about two weeks ago, that I was going to do a "highlights" posting to avoid feeling overwhelmed with the task. Unfortunately, there are quite a few highlights considering that the two months of blog neglect include almost a month and a half of vacation! So, maybe you understand why it took me two weeks to psych myself up enough to do the abbreviated version.

I'm not sure where I left off, but I'll start with my Christmas holiday which started on December 14, because, quite frankly, I don't remember anything in the two weeks before that. I'm sure the vague memory has something to do with working too much, but I have no details to give on that front. Back to the point, Christmas was a godsend.

I flew back to the states on the 18th. Dan decided on the 17th that he would join me, and managed to get a direct flight, round trip for about 900 dollars. My flight, on the other hand had a layover in San Francisco. Needless to say, my flight was delayed and my time in SFO was an absolute nightmare. While going from the international to the domestic terminal I was harassed by the guy who shuffles people into various security check lines. He claimed I had too many carry-ons. I was annoyed because I had just found out about the delay and knew I would have to take my shoes off in about three minutes and I almost started crying. "Well, I have already checked my bags. What do you expect me to do?" He made me go talk to the 'managers', a group of women chatting in a corner. They suggested that I shove everything from one bag into the bigger one. Thinking this was stupid, because this didn't actually reduce the size of the stuff I was carrying I said, "Why?" "Just do it and trust me." And that was it. I was just dumb enough to have small bags instead of the enormous ones that some people take as carry-ons. Oh, wait, this is supposed to be a highlights post, isn't it? Sorry.

Highlight number one, Dad, Katie and Ezra waiting for me at the airport. Ezra was rolling around on the floor because he was so tired, but I was glad to see him, even if he didn't have a clue who I was. I got to see my grandparents and enjoyed every bit of it. And what better than a picture of the motley crew to prove it!

Getting back to Bath was great! It was nice to be home, and even nicer knowing I was going to be there for Christmas. Time flew, though I did spend exorbitant amounts of time lounging around and eating. Dan was with us through Christmas, so we did some last minute shopping and the like. I also took my turn dirtying mom's brand new kitchen, but I left staining the brand new sofa to my brother and stepfather ;-)

Christmas Eve with dad was yummy as usual. We had yogurt curry chicken and lentils. It was awesome, but a LOT of food. Christmas morning was busy, like always, though our guests seem to arrive for brunch a bit later than they used to. Not having small children who wake them up at 5:30 a.m. probably helps.

Aside from Christmas and general quality time with my family, I would qualify my two highlights as my night out with Kate (See scary picture below), and sledding with Ezra in the backyard. We actually went sledding a second time because he went poopy in the potty. I was cold long before he was, both times, but he was so much fun I didn't really mind!


I also finally finished the masterpiece I started a year ago. Yeah, I know, it's been done before, but gosh darn it I'm proud I finished!


I got to bake a cake (dirtying the kitchen one last time) and sing "Happy Birthday" to my mom before I skipped town. And having had about 3 hours of sleep between Thursday and Saturday, I started my journey back to Beijing. Dad drove Philip and I to the airport in the morning and Phil had been kind enough to get the earliest flight possible meaning we had to leave at about 4 a.m. You will not live that down, brother!


Back to Beijing and back to work. The downside of three weeks of vacation is that eventually it is over :-( The upside of going back to work was that it would only be four weeks until my next week and a half of vacation. Unfortunately, that vacation is now over to, but I digress.

Back in Beijing I focused my attention on trying out my new pasta roller (thanks mom!) and learning the fine art of making bagels that taste and feel like bagels. I made pasta once and rolling it was harder than I imagined, since I had the machine and everything, but the end result was wonderful! It was the fluffiest pasta I've had in a long time, if ever. It was delicious and easy on the stomach. The half of the batch that I dried was not as good, but it was still far better than what you get in a store. The bagels were another story. Recipes for bagels are deceptively easy and the first one was absolute crap! They were the breadiest bagels ever! Not to be discouraged, I tried the recipe for Bronx worthy bagels and it turns out they are worthy. The first time I made them, they weren't spectacular, but they were a bunch better than the first recipe. The second time, I can honestly say I almost did it. I guess the third time's the charm. I'll post pictures of that when it happens.

So after four weeks of suffering, my Chinese New Year holiday started off (and continued) with a bang. For those of you who are unaware, Chinese New Year is a week and a half of non-stop fireworks in Beijing. Everybody and their mother gets the urge to blow stuff up this started around the 6th and it is still going on today (albeit slightly toned down). Some people were kind enough to set off some bombs, er, I mean fireworks, right outside the window of our hutong. Dan and I have learned what it must be like to live in a war zone, and we are glad it's almost over. I can stop shielding my eyes and running for cover, now. We did really enjoy the holiday though, especially since we finally got heating in our hutong. We did discover that the pipes were frozen, but our landlady kindly came and helped us fix the situation. So, we spent the majority of our time in the center of the city. Ignoring the fact that we were both suffering from nasty colds (lovely timing), Dan and I made the most of our week. We went to a different set lunch (read cheap food at expensive restaurants) every day and to two different places for brunch on Saturday and Sunday. The food was awesome in general, but the overall winner had to have been Assagi. It's an Italian place that normally costs an arm and a leg, but they have a great lunch menu. For 100 kuai each we got a starter, an entre, dessert, and coffee. The food was delicious and the service was amazing. I will never go there for dinner because I can't afford it, but I will be back for lunch! The second best was easily Alameda, which was also a great deal. It didn't end up being as cheap as the Italian place, but the food was equally delicious. We will, most definitely, go back.

In retrospect, I wish I had taken pictures of each of the meals. On the other hand, I wouldn't want you drooling all over your keyboard, so I suppose it's for the better.