May 19-31, 2010

May 19- 31

I forgot to talk about the Wenzhou Zoo last time.

So I heard there was a panda at the Wenzhou Zoo and thought it would be cool to see. Off we went to the zoo which is situated on a really high hill with a very curvy road leading to the top. Once we got our tickets and headed into the zoo we headed straight for the panda…which took forever to find because the paths at this zoo are stairs going in all directions. Once you climbed to the top of one set of stairs you thought you'd be safe only to realize it's one animal enclosure and you have to climb back down and up another set of stairs to get to the other enclosures. Needless to say I definitely got my exercise for the day. The enclosures made me very sad for the animals though because they are pretty much chain link or concrete fences around the perimeter and a concrete slab for them to lay on. Some enclosures had a type of structure that would provide a tiny bit of shade but it wasn't enough. After about an hour and a half of hunting for this panda we finally found it in it's little cement box with it's bamboo shoots scattered on the floor. He was a fat little thing nibbling on bamboo, and I think it was too hot for any of the animals to want to be doing more than panting to stay cool. I would not suggest the Wenzhou Zoo to anyone…it's just not worth it, and you walk out very depressed. I won't be able to add pictures for the zoo because I forgot my camera that day.

I learned that you pay for highway service here. As you leave your city they give you a tag that you will return to a ticket booth once you enter your destination city, from that they will find out how much you owe; I think it's based on mileage.

Also one day driving along a pig truck drove past and the pigs were HUGE! Seriously; I bet they were the size of a smart car, maybe not as tall but definitely as long. I couldn't believe it when I saw them.

My vocabulary in Chinese is growing every day, not always on purpose either. When I go to branch school I usually stop at this little shop that sells BaoZi (buns with some sort of filling in them) I like the veggie ones. :-) (Cai) however for some reason when ever I asked for Cai Bao I got blank stares and confused looks as they lifted a lid to a nearby container of BaoZi. I would always nod my head and say "ya those are the ones". They would tentatively take one out and hand it to me and I would be on my mary way. Well it turns out the word for "guess" is also cai, it's just a different tone and it happens to be the tone I was using when ordering these BaoZi. So instead of saying I would like a veggie bun, I was saying "I want guess bun". AHHHHHHH now I understand the blank stares and the tentative handoff. Ha ha ha they obviously did a good job of guessing which BaoZi I wanted.

I had my first experience with a door less bathroom. What made it worse was it was a squatting one and it faced where the door should have been. Ha ha ha ha. Crotch to the world. Ha ha ha ha. The girl I went with guarded the door for me and I guarded for her; luckily for both of us no one came to the bathroom at the same time. It was interesting to say the least.

I've had my apartment set up for a bit now which has been really nice; I figured I would share the before and after pics with you. The before's are when I was living with Frances, and the after's are once I got the place to myself.

So the Trust Mart I do most of my grocery shopping at is a Chinese Wal-Mart; they are the same company really. Craig showed me this slide show; It describes perfectly what my shopping experiences are like. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/80994072/ we were wondering if it would be funnier if we were seeing it without living here because a lot of it seemed pretty normal to us. Ha ha ha. You'll understand when you see it. Oh, also on that note I was at a grocery store today and luckily looked down in time to see I was close to stepping on an escaped mini lobster. There were two of them roaming around the meat section in defense mode; it scared me a little.

The weather is getting warmer and warmer everyday; even when it rains I've been able to wear a tank top and jeans. At night it's about 20 ish degrees; perfect temperature after a hot sweaty day. (yuck)

Well, I think that sums up May. I'm hoping to get some pictures of my students for you guys in June. :-) talk to you next time!