Completely and utterly RANDOM

This post is. Its a total hodge podge of random things. I'm still feeling a little bit like crap, but I went to the doc today and apparently its 一般的感冒！Just a regular old cold! But, ugh.. feel like poo. Hopefully the cough syrup drowsy stuff he gave me will help me sleep tonight!

So, anyway we moved into our place and I thought it was so cool because they had flowers on the table, and a tray of fruit, and fresh orchids in the bathrooms... just little things like that make it feel more like home!



Ok this made me totally happy because its a built-in jewelry box! How sweet is that?!! I didn't bring anything like that and was wondering where I'd put my stuff. Problem solved! yay.


And this? We are on the the 29th floor and this is one of those cool things I've only ever seen in the movies... its an intercom-I-can-see-your-face-buzzer-upper-thingie! Sweet!


And trying to do laundry with a Chinese washer! Sure some are totally easy, especially if I know the characters... but, the one with the hand? That I THINK is for hand-washing? The characters mean WOOL. I think you hand-wash wool... right?! I mean, there IS a hand... washing.. so it should be hand-washing. I hope.



So for this next picture...
A little Chinese cultural tidbit - what number is missing here?

....4! In the U.S. our bad luck number is 13, so we often won't have a floor number 13 or room numbers at hotels with the number 13... in China, the bad luck number is the number 4, because in Chinese it is pronounced "SI" which also is the way the Chinese word for death is pronounced.


And skipping around again.. before I moved to China I ate WHATEVER I wanted because I knew I wouldn't be able to in China and would probably lose weight. Yes. I have lost about 6lbs already! I need to get eating STAT! Its just that I eat so much more delicious veggies here, and less meat for some reason... look at these veggies, they are SO delicious, soaked in garlic... oh yum...


And another word on the food... I ordered a normal wonton soup and my husband ordered a soup with "beef balls" in it. We assumed there would be beef in the wontons.. apparently not. After taking a few bites, my husband said... "Do you think this is actually... beef... BALLS?" And looking at the texture and shape... um, they looked like they COULD be! He kept on eating it (I would not have been able to! LOL), while I googled and found that Asian meatballs are just really different in texture than how we make them in the U.S. - they are sort of bouncy and chewy... lol.


And lastly, my husband went to a market the other day and picked me up some of these pretty bangles... they were dirt cheap but I love them! pretty. They are called Jingtailan and are made with a unique combination of sculpture, painting, porcelain making and copper-smithing that is said to have originated in Beijing during the Yuan Dynasty.


I started language school this week, and I love it, its a great refresher! But funny because we are in the intermediate books and our level is definitely way higher... which is ALSO funny because the school I originally went to focuses so much on higher level stuff (for example, I can listen and understand to dialogues or speeches or tv shows about the economy and the political situation and opinions...) .... but throw us in a restaurant and we are honestly somewhat lost! There are so many different names for dishes, and just other colloquial words and sayings that we don't know... so this school is perfect for learning those everyday things & right now refreshing what we already do know!

Alright, off to take my medicine that will make me drowsy and enable me to hopefully sleep through the entire night, and also let me wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed (yes I just said that) for class tomorrow!

Steph
XOXO