Hello loved ones, I know I've been slacking off with this blogging business. Sorry about that. I recently bought a bag that I paid 30 yuan too much for, but look how pretty it is! This is National Holiday, so the whole country has the week off, which means we get to play around for 7 whole days! It's sooo good to have a break. We've only been teaching for five weeks and we're exhausted...how will we make it straight through until January 12?
Anyway, my day yesterday began when my angel of a neighbor knocked on my door. As you may recall, he speaks hardly any English and I speak hardly any Chinese, so these interactions are always something to write home about. Pun intended. He walked in my house in his matching flannel pajama set. On a side note, it's completely acceptable for people to walk around outside in pajamas (shirts and pants with matching patterns) but my students freak out if I wear flip flops to class. (Sara! Why you wear slipper? April, in America, these are SHOES). Okay back to my neighbor in his pj's, he comes in my house with a bamboo pole that's 7 or so feet long and rams it down my trash chute for me. I have absolutely no idea how he knew that I got a piece of styrofoam stuck in there. It's been blocked for three or four weeks now. But at any rate, I can now use my trash chute again! Woohoo!
Liz and I met Joanie in town for lunch. Joanie's birthday was yesterday, so we spent the day with her. We were going to eat at Dicos (like KFC) but it was crowded like Chuck E Cheese on a Saturday, so we went to the potato lady. She makes fried mashed potato pancake things with vegetables in them, and they're really cheap--1 yuan each. They're sooo good! The three of us ate lunch for a total of 14 yuan (about $2), including drinks that were 3 yuan per bottle. No, it was not liquor, just Pepsi. Sheesh.
We went to get facials. This time, my slimy seaweed mask was not cold, so it was a little less gross. Still squishy, but it's okay. I'm sure it's good for me. Our skin is always really soft when we leave, and if it takes gross squishy things to do that, so be it.
After the facials, we got head massages. We laid on beds with bungee cords across them. Imagine laying on a rubber band bed and you've pretty much got it. They wash your hair and massage your scalp, then rinse, then wash it again. They also wash your face (my face yesterday was squeaky clean). After your hair has been washed about 37 times, they put the shower head right over your face. This caused me to jump and consequently bounce around on my bungee bed because I felt like I was going to drown. That has to be how babies in bathtubs feel. Shortly thereafter, she washed my ears. This was quite the shock. All of a sudden, there was a soapy, petite Chinese finger IN MY EAR. It's like getting a wet willy that you're supposed to enjoy. But it still pretty much just feels like a wet willy. Then she dried out my ears with q-tips. Happily, both of my ear drums are still intact. (Mom, all I could think about the whole time was you telling me not to jam a q-tip too far into my ear when I was little. That was not really that comforting at that moment).
After they deem your hair, face, and ears to be satisfactorily clean, you turn over on your stomach while they massage your back. This was mostly like being tickled to death for me. She touched my neck which is ridiculously sensitive as it is, and then my legs above my knees, and then she grabbed my sides just above my hips. I just about rolled out of the bed. I giggled all the way through. I couldn't help it.
We went downstairs to comb our hair out and put it up. They'll blow dry your hair for you, but first of all, my hair and blow dryers is a terrible combination, and furthermore, sometimes they burn your hair by putting the blow dryer right on it. Anyway, they wanted to comb our hair for us so they could feel it. My guy redid my ponytail about six times. He was very stressed that he could not comb my hair perfectly smooth. Joanie's guy was stressed that she had white hairs. I left with a ponytail tight enough to give me a face lift. I felt like Joan Rivers. All of this for only 15 yuan!
When Liz and I were on the bus on the way home from Joanie's, some middle school girls sat next to us. I don't think they'd ever seen a laili (foreigner) before. They stared at us the entire way home. This must be culture shock setting in, because I was irritated and I wanted really badly to turn around and stare back at her. But I didn't. I mostly forgot about it when Liz and I realized we hadn't been paying attention and weren't sure if we passed our stop or not.
Today, one of our students went to Liz's house to teach her how to cook. I came over for lunch. We had winter melon soup, potatoes, egg and tomato, and thousand year old eggs. I'm not exactly sure if the eggs are really called thousand year old eggs, but they're about the grossest things ever. Basically, they bury eggs in cement for two weeks and take them out and eat them, uncooked. They are clear brown, like really bad Jello. But the rest of lunch was good! Egg and tomato is basically scrambled eggs with tomato and garlic chutes. It's amazingly good. Liz and Danielle made lard from pork fat, which I think is the secret flavor ingredient. Kind of a gross process, but tastes good!
Tomorrow, we might go with Joanie to the cloth market to have clothes made. I'm very excited about this! We are going to be so poor by the end of this month. We are also going Christmas shopping this week to send gifts back to our families. No more spending til Spring Festival. More on the week's activities later!
posted by Sara @ 5:13 AM
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