Fur Coat Theory Debunked

People are always telling me that dogs don't get cold because they are wearing, after all, fur coats. Well, how do you explain this?! My dog is practically worshipping at the feet of an oscillating Chinese home appliance. I cannot get her away from it. She also likes the kind with the blowing hot air, but this radiating kind is clearly her favorite. (I was assured the "far infrared rays" are safe for animals.) She stares at it like she is watching TV. She is so WEIRD! Those overpaid TV comedians could never make me laugh like this little mutt can.

Cafes

Bamboo Forest is full of lots of cute little cafes that I hope to more fully explore in the spring when the weather warms up and daylight hours are longer.

I went to this chic restaurant recently during a lovely, steady rain, watching the passersby with their colorful umbrellas. (Yes, so "chic" and expensive I will never go again, which is why I had to take pictures while I was there this time.)

Here's a cute little cafe in an indoor mall near my apartment. It is a coffee shop/bakery/restaurant where you can get sandwiches, spaghetti, soups, and things like that which are easy to make in this country.

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This city has dozens of "western food" restaurants that serve Mexican food, German food, and all sorts of things. Most of them are across town. I feel something is wrong if you come to China and JUST eat that stuff. So I live on the opposite side of town on purpose, and 90% of the time I prefer Chinese food if given a choice. The Chinese food here is delicious, nothing like that stuff you get where you live.

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Hey, have you noticed I have lots of blog entries as of late? Yeah, I can't explain it either. :-)

Cleanliness and Culture

The Japanese are known for cleanliness. I do not live in Japan.

The country where I live had a very bad century in the 1900's. Poverty dictated that many of them had (and some still have) dirt floors in their village homes. This is not their fault, it is just a fact of life.

No one mops a dirt floor. In fact, some people like to spit on the dirt floor, pour dish water on the dirt floor, etc. I probably would too. (I would not spit though, yuck.)

Building construction policies obviously do not mandate that windows or doors be weatherproof. Dirt and coal dust blow in. It gets on your furniture and in your nose. It is not the fault of any one person, it is just a fact of life.

I need help cleaning my house. So I have a lady who comes to my house once a week for three hours to help mop up some of the coal dust. It takes pressure off of me knowing that at least once a week, things will be clean.

The problem is that the people who are willing to do this kind of housecleaning work are village ladies who, as you may have guessed, live in homes with dirt floors and have different ideas of what it means for something to be clean. They mean well, but trying to teach them my standards has proven extremely frustrating.

For example, in Bedrock, the housecleaner would never dust just a mere week's worth of dust. It still looked relatively clean to her. Most people feel the oil spatter behind the stove is too hard to clean, a lost cause, and so she would never clean that (I did though).

My new housecleaner in Bamboo Forest likes to pick a certain room, usually a room like my bedroom that no one is going to see besides Mimi and myself, and spend all three hours in it, cleaning every nook and cranny over and over, to the neglect of the entire rest of the house. The next time she comes back, she goes to that same room, because it is dirty again, and again spends three hours cleaning that room. The rest of the house gets worse and worse.

I try to impose logic on her. But she doesn't understand my logic, nor do I understand hers.

The next time she comes I tell her, "do not go in my bedroom." She smiles, says okay, then goes in my bedroom.

I try to be polite. "No, really, don't clean this room today." "But it is dirty," she replied. I said, "Well, so is the REST OF THE HOUSE!"

She again agreed, and continued cleaning my bedroom.

I said, "can you come to the living room and clean it, since I have guests coming this afternoon?"

"Okay," she said, as she continued cleaning my bedroom.

My face twists in a pained expression and I want to pull my hair out as I dig deep within my soul looking for a way to communicate with this woman.  Alas, apparently she understands facial expressions better than she understands words.  She went to the living room and cleaned it quickly in the fifteen minutes left in her three-hour shift. And since then, I have never had another problem with her cleaning the entire house. She seems more relaxed and happier, and I am too.  Go figure.

Last Look at Christmas

The holidays are over, and every vestige of Christmas has been moved out of sight and into storage where I expect to find it again in two years (I think I will be in the USA for Christmas in 2009). I don't like to dilly-dally after Christmas is over. Like my parents, I like to clean house and have a new fresh look going into the new year. But I decided I'd post a few last photos of how things looked around Bamboo Forest during the holidays.

This is a little Santa village at a mall on the block where I live.

A neighbor who is originally from Taiwan was so excited about the holidays that he recruited other neighbors to post Christmas greetings on the pine tree he decorated outside his balcony area. I was going to make a big sign on my computer to put on the tree, but that's the day the electricity went out from one hour before daylight until one hour after daylight...grrrrrrrr. I never did have time after that to make the sign. Well, at least I had no company coming over the day the power went out. A few years ago my electricity was cut-off on Christmas Day when I had a housefull of guests coming for Christmas dinner. It was the most disastrous Christmas of my life, and has prompted me not to plan many subsequent holiday parties at my house.

I went to a Christmas party that was mostly attended by Bamboo Forest college students and young professionals. They learned ALL about Christmas at this party. But here they are playing musical chairs, which has nothing at all to do with Christmas, but everything to do about pushing people out of your way for fun! :-)

This photo was also taken at the party. The two girls are young professional engineers. And then there is Santa. Santas in China are a little scary looking, because most of them don't have the broad waistline to pull this off believably, including this one.

I gave up digging up real live trees in the forest several years ago due to the intense strain and stress associated with such activity. Instead I have this pathetic artificial tree that was left behind by another American awhile back. As you can see, Mimi considers herself a gift, and although her arrogance is deplorable, I do indeed believe the little mutt is a gift from God. Haha!

To the left of the photo is a traditional Chinese stool (pronounced like mah-jah) that can be folded up and carried with you. They are so handy and convenient for sitting down. Just don't try standing on them, because the seat is made of cloth and won't support your weight like the stools you are more accustomed to will!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year holiday. I'm having down time in Bamboo Forest this holiday season. It's too cold to go out to do much, so I'm reading books, watching TV shows and movies, and on the days that are not holidays, I am working from home...from my sofa to be exact. (I have an office room here in the apartment, but it is too cold in that room.) Thanks to all of you who wrote recently. I hope to get back to you sometime soon. Take care!

Birthdays

This is the week to celebrate some birthdays. Thursday we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and today (the 22nd) we celebrate the birth of my mom. Happy Birthday Madre!

A New Take on the Gong

Update on Ms. Shoe

I wanted to give you an update on Ms. Shoe, the poor widow I talked about four posts down from here. Since I am not in Bedrock anymore, I can't go see her and help her directly. But I asked a dear Chinese friend in her 70's who speaks English (as well as you do) if she would help, and she agreed. I gave this friend Ms. Shoe's address, and the older friend set off in search of her on Friday. My older Chinese friend said, "It was a very tiring search, and I can only describe it like the slums in Oliver Twist. It is amazing and cruel to see still quite a few people living in terrible conditions." Thanks to some of you who have given money to help Ms. Shoe. I think she needs your prayers too. Her situation is really quite grim. How do you stay positive and raise a daughter when the very best you can do is still quite horrible? Seriously, could you put Ms. Shoe on your prayer list, or stop right now and pray for her and her two daughters (one away, one at home) to find hope in their desperate situation? Thanks.

Love Me, Love My Dog

Can't help myself....

I have a windowsill in my bedroom where Mimi can get an extra dose of Vitamin D provided by the sun.

I bought Mimi a stuffed panda in Chengdu. She alternately loves it, uses it for a pillow, and kills it by thrashing it with her teeth.

She loves macaroni and cheese (this batch has ground beef mixed in it). On a paper plate, she can carry it with her from room to room, and even take it to bed with her. Unfortunately for me, her bed is my bed, so yes, I regret to inform you that sometimes I sleep on a bed with macaroni and cheese. Maybe this is not cool, but I promise you my life is never dull. Maybe I need to give her a heavier plate.

Some American friends dropped by to visit Mimi and me one day, so Mimi got a bath and had to wear clothes that day.

Mimi rules, still. Don't tell the Dog Whisperer.

Chengdu

I went to Chengdu, China recently. I was surprised! It's a great city.

This was taken at the Sichuan Opera. It was quite entertaining! Pretty chilly in that room too. It was cold the whole time I was in Chengdu, although it is not generally known for being a cold place.

This is "Ancient Street." It was built in 2005. (Huh?) Anyway, it was so quaint, and the fact that there was a Starbucks on this street didn't bother me at all.

This is no mannequin...that's a real guy all dressed up to look scary, like in the Chinese movies.

Lots of artists and artisans set up shop on Ancient Street.

Sichuan snacks. I don't know if the food smells bad, or the girls are just trying to keep the food clean by not coughing on it. Apparently the girls can't breathe with those masks on, which is why none of their noses are actually covered.

Still in Chengdu...there are quite a few lovely restaurants like this one called Grandma's Kitchen. There's a Tex-Mex restaurant down the road that looks similar.

This seven year-old girl must have thought I looked lonely dining by myself in Chengdu, because she sat across from me the entire time I was eating dinner at Grandma's Kitchen. Her parents were upstairs, and this girl had finished her meal, and so she just hung out and we talked in Chinese for more than half an hour. This girl, like everyone I asked in Chengdu, told me exactly where she was when the devastating earthquake hit outside Chengdu in May. She was in her second grade English class in a first floor classroom. None of the kids knew what was happening until their teacher told them it was an earthquake. The kids all scurried out of the room to safety outdoors. Chengdu city didn't really suffer damage or injuries to my knowledge. The outer poor villages and towns were the ones where all the devastation poured down.

Chengdu is a really fun, modern city. Overlook the smog, and I think it is one of the most fun cities I have been in. Everyone dresses fashionably. Tibetans in native dress (red and orange robes) roam the city--too bad I didn't get any photos of that. There's electricity in the air, and yet it is laid back. If you ever get a chance to go, I give it two thumbs up.

Shanghai

Here are some photos I took in Shanghai not long ago. The skyscraper photo doesn't do justice to the skyline. There are thousands of more like it in the city of 22 million people. Notice all the Christmas decorations in this Communist country. Definitely no nativity scenes in sight, yet it is still a bit amazing to see anything at all like this!

What Do You Do?

Let me introduce you to my lovely friend from Bedrock whom I will call Ms. Shoe. Photogenic, I'm not sure, but her inner beauty shines forth like a bright light.

Ms. Shoe was a gardener/maintenance worker/trash collector at my apartment complex in Bedrock. I felt sorry because Ms. Shoe's husband left her to raise two daughters on her own. Ms. Shoe only makes the equivalent of $70 a month. One day I asked her if her husband was able to help support the daughters financially. That's when I found out that Ms. Shoe's husband didn't leave the family, he left this earth four years ago in a tragic fall from the high-rise hospital a block from where I lived; he was a construction worker. My heart sank at this news.

Ms. Shoe has a daughter in college. This daughter's tuition is paid for by bank loans plus about 20% of Ms. Shoe's monthly income. It will take her daughter a lifetime to repay those student loans. Ms. Shoe has to send this daughter even more money for food and dorm costs.

Ms. Shoe has a daughter in sixth grade. Ms. Shoe and this daughter live in a one-room rental that costs another 20% of their monthly income. There is no bathroom, no place to take a shower, and no kitchen. It is just four walls with one dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling. They were sharing a single bed, either scrunched up together or sleeping in shifts. I gave her my extra bed (a comfy cot, really). Tears poured from her eyes at this cheap gift of mine; finally they would each have their own bed. Their room has no heating in winter, and no air-conditioner for summer. Even if they had a fan or heater, they could not afford to pay the electric bill. Ms. Shoe has an old cell phone, but cannot afford to add money to it to make it work (in this country people pre-pay for phone service). Her daughter in college in another town has no way to contact mom in case of emergency. The 6th grade daughter eats one bread roll for lunch every day. They never eat meat.

I told another Chinese friend about Ms. Shoe, and that Chinese friend said "she will never make it."

Ms. Shoe's parents are elderly and unemployed. Her in-laws broke contact with them when Ms. Shoe's husband died; the in-laws have no use for granddaughters--they are, in the opinion of the fraternal grandparents, useless girls. Ms. Shoe's financial contributions to her family are the only resource. Imagine her stress, trying to survive.

Ms. Shoe is your sister in Christ. Your sister is the face of poverty.

Ms. Shoe doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She never asks for a single thing. She wasn't trying to criticize me, but just spoke the truth--tears streamed down her face as she told me that my dog had a better life than her daughters.

What do you do about poverty? I'm not sure, but I know you don't just sit back and do nothing.

Matthew 25:40 (NIV) tells us the words of Jesus: "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Church

I visited this local church today. It is one of the most beautiful church buildings I have ever seen in my life, anywhere. The chandeliers are just mesmerizing. So many things are different about this church than the ones in Bedrock. This one is extremely clean, has pews instead of theater seats, is spotlessly clean, has young people who attend, has middle-class attendees (instead of only poor farmers) who dress very well, and the preacher speaks the national language instead of a dialect. You have to arrive 30 minutes early to get a seat downstairs. If you sit upstairs you can't see anything going on, but there are closed-circuit TV's that show what's going on. This church is one of those registered with the government. Anyway, I just thought you'd like to see what it looks like.

Autumn in Bamboo Forest

Autumn in Bamboo Forest is really pretty. In Bedrock we had dry autumns, and the leaves just died and fell off the trees. Here in Bamboo Forest it has been a very wet autumn, and so the changing colors have been really pretty to view. I didn't get many good photos, but I'll put up some photos of BF since I arrived.

I'm getting more visitors in Bamboo Forest than I ever did before. I already had one friend spend two nights here, and a married couple is coming to visit next week. A friend passed through town in October and I caught up with him for coffee. Bamboo Forest is a tourist town, and near a big city, so it is not nearly as isolated as Bedrock was. (I'm not slamming Bedrock...I love that place too...I'm just enjoying different things in life now.)

It is Thanksgiving Eve. I just made a pie. Happy Thanksgiving!

Much Ado about a 'Do

I got my hair cut today. At Costa Coffee I saw a barrista with a fashionable, perfectly cut style, and used her reference for a place to get my own hair cut. I researched my preferred hairstyle on the internet, and printed out a large clear picture for the hairstylist to copy. I did it. It’s done. There’s no going back in time.

I have not had this hairstyle since I was 19 years old. I’m not sure if I should cry or go start a rock band. I asked the guy what picture he was looking at to cut my hair. I pointed out that in the picture I brought, the elegant, sleek style’s shortest point was way below the chin line, practically at the bottom of the neck. Then I pointed to the mirror and showed him that the shortest point on my new haircut (bangs not counted) was at the level of my crow’s feet. It took it a minute to sink in, but finally the guy said “oh.” I could have shown him a picture of Mimi and I would probably have gotten the same haircut that I got today. I could have shown him a picture of a chocolate bar and gotten the same haircut. He just decided what kind of haircut he wanted to give, and went for it, with no regard to the picture I brought, my age, my dignity, or anything I said. After a moment, he defended himself and said he was making it look more fluffy. Fluffy? At what point did the word “fluffy” enter this conversation? I looked around to see if I had accidentally gone into a dog parlour by mistake. I smiled and pretended to be happy. No use crying over butchered tresses. He started to cut the bangs. The only thing that could possibly make this haircut worse were bangs that were halfway up my forehead. That would result in me having to wear a wig, and since all wigs in China are black, I couldn’t take any chances. I told him to leave the bangs long, which means I pretty much look a bit like a sheepdog.

I rushed home and googled “mullet.” I am not sure what a mullet is, but I know if you have one you are scum of the fashion world and people will tease you mercilessly…and you have to wear tight jeans, smoke, and name your child Miley, none of which are appropriate for a 40-something single woman in my line of work. Well, I don’t really know anyone in town, so I don’t fear my friends making fun of me. I fear no one will want to make friends with me in the first place though. If I have a mullet, I’m going to have to hang out at video arcades until my locks grow out.

I checked out the online photos. Whew, not a mullet! Looks like I’m sporting a shag instead. Did you know there are 4.1 million hits for the word “mullet” on google, and that entire websites are devoted to this style? Shag only has 227,000 hits. If you are into mullets, you can even join the mulletia. One website says, “Wearing a mullet makes you look like a complete and total fool, and instantly makes you much poorer and less intelligent.” Wow, am I ever glad I got a shag instead!

I walk over to the mirror and gasp. I am not exaggerating when I say that I thought someone let Andy Gibb (God rest his soul) into my house, because he was staring back at me from the other side of the mirror. That’s what every modern woman really wants, to look like she belongs on a 1970's BeeGee’s album cover. This probably explains why I have been singing “Staying Alive” all afternoon and dancing in the hallway; Mimi finds the whole song and dance routine rather fascinating, especially since I am sick, have completely lost my voice, and Mimi no longer recognizes me. “Ay, ay, ay, ay, staying alive, staying alive.”

I go back to the computer and google “Andy Gibb shag.” There are 61,000 websites that feature information about Andy’s shag haircut. I don’t want to look like a BeeGee anymore. I heat up the electric rollers.

My hair looks better all curly. Maybe if the hairdresser had known I had hot rollers, he would not have felt the need to use scissors to make my hair fluffy. I’m not too upset. Hair grows at a rate of about half an inch a month, so by this time next year my hair ought to be looking smokin’!

Images of Bamboo Forest

Leaving Bedrock

Times change, and ya know, even the Flintstones had to move on. On September 20th, I moved away from Bedrock to move to my new home in Bamboo Forest. I was sad along the entire 8-hour bus ride, but the sadness was lifted the moment I arrived in the modern, garden-like, historical metropolis city of Bamboo Forest.

Bamboo Forest has a population about the same size as Hong Kong's, more if you count the immigrant population that cannot according to law call BF their permanent address. But BF has more space than Hong Kong, so it's buildings need not be so close together nor so tall.

The first and best change: an elevator. Mimi didn't like it at all the first day, but when she learned the useful purpose of the elevator and the fact that it allowed her more trips out to the grass during the day, she quickly began to love the elevator. While we are going down, she body slams different sides of the elevator in a sort of victory celebration. Mimi doesn't get on the elevator when other people are on it though. There is no rule against it, but we want to maintain friendships. Mimi tickled a little girl with her teeth our last day in Bedrock, and the frightened parents took their daughter in for a series of rabies shots because they didn't trust my little booklets claiming my dog had a rabies' vaccine. (Mimi's teeth did not even break the skin.) Our departure from Bedrock was, it seems, well-timed.

The second and best change (two bests? yes!): lettuce. After twelve years of no salads, I have become a salad freak. The little grocery store here at my apartment complex sells it, and I can't get enough of it. But I probably will eventually get enough of it and start to hate salads. I think that's going to take a long time though.

The photo is from my apartment complex grounds. It is peaceful to walk in this apartment complex. The neighbors in Bedrock were sweet, but they were also busybodies, always in my business, criticizing me for using my air-conditioner in 100 degree weather, and stuff like that. Here, everyone uses their air-conditioners and no one hassles me when I go walking. I no longer need nerves of steel to leave my home. It's hard to believe I am in the same country still!

Bad Fisherman

Wow, it's been nearly three months since I lasted posted something on this blog. It's all because my dog, who was fishing for compliments, didn't get any! Well, finally she got one (thanks Madre), and then another, so her tail's a-wagging with pride once again. We now will resume our correspondence with the outside world.

Fishing for Compliments

They say I'm beautiful. Do you think it is true? ~ Mimi

We've Been Torched!

The Olympic Torch Relay came through Bedrock today. It passed about 100 meters from where I live, but I didn't get to see it due to tall trees being in the way. Only the priviledged "with tickets" (that cannot be purchased, but have to be gotten through "relationships" and C-Party connections) got to see it in person. But I got to watch it on TV. This whole part of town was barricaded off to keep the common people from seeing the Olympic torch relay. Below you can see a photo of one of the barricades. People didn't seem to mind that they couldn't see the actual relay, they just wanted to be part of the excitement. On this same street where this photo was taken, there were 4 or 5 police barricades before one could get to the main location for the torch relay. I happen to live on the other side of this particular barricade, which is why I could roam freely; I couldn't get past the one on the other side though. Basically, I was trapped between the barriers all afternoon from 1 - 7 p.m. (well, I stayed home most of that time). Crowd control is good in any circumstance, but if anything terrorist-related to the relay happened, local security chiefs would be suddenly jobless, so they took their responsibility very seriously. I watched it on TV, and had my windows open to hear the actual crowd noise. A funny thing happened. The very split second the commentator on TV announced to the crowd that the Bedrock Torch Relay was "officially over," the skies opened up and there was a humongous DOWNPOUR. Within two minutes the roads were so flooded no one could get down them. It's funny that the rain held off for the entire relay, to the very second!

Beijing Buildings

I was in Beijing the first week of July to visit some friends from Texas that I worked with in Colorado in the early 90's. One of the photos was taken at the Forbidden City. The others are photos of the "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium. If you haven't seen it before, you'll be seeing it a lot starting 08/08/08 at 8 p.m. China time (8 a.m. Eastern time in the USA). In one of the photos you'll see a funny shaped building behind the Bird's Nest. That is meant to look like an Olympic Torch Flame.

My Apartment Complex in Bedrock

This is the apartment complex where I live. It's a nice peaceful environment here, and my neighbors are all friendly. The buildings are not really leaning over, I just can't seem to take a straight picture these days.

Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mimi

Dog-gone it! Just can't stop talking about my dog, can I?! Here is Mimi snuggling with her favorite item, my smelly running shoes (yeah, on the sofa, a nice touch don't ya think? I don't know how she gets it up there.) And rainy season doesn't deter her from having a good time in the great outdoors, just don't MAKE her get on the grass and get her hair messed up any more than it has to be.

Early Morning at Starbucks

I was in Qingdao the last week of May. I noticed that every morning, the same two ladies would meet at the outdoor tables of Starbucks to chat and do morning exercise stretches as they held onto the outdoor tables. It was an interesting contrast of old and modern! Also interesting is the fact that most of the writing you can see in the background is Korean instead of Chinese. There are thousands and thousands of Korean people living in Qingdao.