August 16-31, 2010

August 16 - 31
So the tail end of August has pretty much been the same old same old. A few new things though; I bought a yogurt maker and have been learning how to make yogurt. I have had one success and one failure my third try will be today. I've also started making my own soy milk. I bought a blender and it came with this neat attachment that holds the pulp in the middle and lets the juices strain through when you pour it. I've made many delicious drinks with my blender ^_^ Watermelon juice is my favorite so far.


The summer is still hot. The heat seems to come from every direction. I'll be walking along and think it's very warm only to find I've walked through a heat pocket. The buildings are all made of concrete which I have learned hold heat very well. When you're walking beside them you can feel the temperature rise and almost see heat waves coming from the sides of them. People here even have summer umbrellas; which I thought was funny at first but have realized now that it actually makes a huge difference when you use one. I've also seen scooter-drivers wearing shirts backwards to protect their clothes from getting dirty, but my favorite are the dummy sleeves. Same concept as dummy mittens (the mittens attached to each other with string) but just the sleeves of an old mans dress shirt attached with string. There have been many dishes introduced to me that help "cool your body down"; fruit, types of bean porridge, this weird brown herbal Jello type stuff that actually tastes ok. One in particular that was introduced to me was a clear dish that had stringy things in it. It tasted ok, but reminded me of snot because of the texture….insert shudder here… only after I finished it was I informed that it was bird spit. :-P oh but it's good for you, it's good for your chest and throat! Blech no thanks, never again! Gross, no wonder it reminded me of snot!

Our school was doing it's final performances for the parents the other day. This is where the kids dress up, makeup is loaded onto their faces (boys and girls) and sparkles drench their hair. They all look very cute if only a little strange. During the performance I was shocked to see a foreign kid among the group of Chinese kids; I pointed him out to Phoenix and was then corrected that this kid was not foreign in fact he was an albino kid. It was crazy! He looked just like a westerner; blond hair, white skin. Very interesting.

My Chinese is still improving slowly. I heard about this program at the university that has a beginner Chinese class and they will work around your schedule. So now I am just waiting for my September schedule from my school so I can see if I've got time to squeeze these lessons in. The only problem is that the school is about an hour by bus from my house. So I'll really have to get as many classes together as possible so I don't have to do so many of those trips.

It's looking more and more like I will be staying another year. My master plan is ahead of schedule which means I might not have to sign on with another school next year; I can do more private lessons and more travelling. ^_^ speaking of travelling; I'm very excited for Mom, Nea and John to come in October, the celebrations are going to be wonderful!

I'm looking forward to September.