Little creatures

So there are bugs in my room. They are these bugs that look like I cut out a small triangle out of brown paper and attached little legs to them. When you smoosh them they're yellow. Bugs completely gross me out and even typing this is making me quiver. Yuck! This is where I wish I had my brother or dad to kill it for me. Sometimes I call the girl who lives down stairs to come and kill them. Ugh! Anyway, I saw this bug one night when I was lying on my carpet reading. It crawled right past me. I freaked and dropped a weight on it. I didn't look at again until the next day when I lifted it up to take a picture of it. By the way, it wasn't dead! Even after having a weight on it over 24 hours. Erin eventually picked it up and put it outside. I just smoosh them.

Olive oil

So I bought some olive oil from the import store. I was just excited to find some here. It's called Olive Pomace Oil. I looked up the name online because it had a bit of a different flavor than what I'm used so I was curious.

This is what the internet said:

This is the lowest grade of olive oil made and should not even be considered olive oil. It is the kind used to make soap and industrial products!

What?!?! And I've been putting this in my body, making food from it and salad dressing and what not! Awful! I'm sure the Chinese have no idea what they're selling. I had no idea what I was buying! But everyone has been successfully warned now!

Heat

They turned the heat on today! Five days early! Yea!

Happenings...

So I think some exciting things have happened in the last couple of days!

I met a new girl named Katie the other night walking home from dinner. Apparently my long, wavy, blond hair is obvious even in the dark that I'm a foreigner! She came up to me and said, "You want to give me a hand with my English?" Right now? Um...I can't right now. Anyway, we set up another possible time (which probably won't happen). At the end of the conversation she tells me I have a big nose! What?!?! Thankfully an American here told me that the Chinese think Americans have big noses, but they think they're beautiful. I'm so glad I had that 'warning' if you will! I always thought I had a normal size nose :)

And after being sick for five days the little Japanese girls next door came to check on me! Wasn't that sweet? They're in my class so they noticed I wasn't there and well, that I hadn't been out of my room since, uh Saturday! (This was Wednesday.) And...MeiShui brought me roasted chestnuts! Too sweet!

Yesterday Erin and I went to lunch and I successfully ordered our lunch and understood what the lady was saying. The night before I went into the same restaurant by myself. This is the place I got when I'm alone because they have a nice upstairs where I can read in peace while I eat. Usually I have no idea what I just ordered. I point to something someone else has and then pay. This night I came in and pulled out a sheet of paper I had prepared with the characters of food that I like and then how to say it. I wanted to be able to read the menu and then tell the guy what I wanted. As soon as he saw me pull it out he started laughing, said something and then the whole restaurant erupted into laughter. Guess I'm a comedian now:)

And tonight these two old ladies commented that they thought I was French. Yes, I understood what they were saying! This has happened to me more than once! Apparently I look European! Is this good? I just don't know...

It means this...

I can't remember my own language! Everyone told me that eventually I wouldn't be able to remember English words that I used to use. I've been here a little shy of three months and it's already happening. It happens at least once a day. I'm typing an email or talking to someone and all of a sudden I'm completely dumbfounded as to the word that is supposed to go in that spot. UGH! Dictionary.com has become my new friend!

A Day at the Beach

Our last day in Qin Huang Dao was a beautiful one! It had poured our whole vacation except that last day and we were thankful because we got to put our feet in the sand and enjoy the sunshine!

The Great Wall!

I finally was able to post these. The internet has been a real pest lately! Anyway, these are pictures of my trip to The Great Wall! There's pictures of the restored part as well as the original part. The part that looks like a bunch of rocks on a path is the original. There's also a great sign telling us not to walk on the grass. It's how they say it in Chinese translated into English. When they translate things they don't always get the "exact" meaning :)

Sick

I'm sick today. I've been sick since Saturday. It's just a bad cold. But I'm laid up in bed watching movies, napping and reading. The American that lives below me is taking good care of me. She checks on me a couple of times a day and she made me chili and cornbread for dinner last night. Sick feels the same no matter what country you're in...

Drop everything!

Let me tell you what happened Tuesday!

A girl from the Waiban's office came to my door and dropped a package off. She also told me that I had another package and they wanted to know who it was from. Well...I don't know who it's from, I can't see it. So she asked what the address was that it was shipped from. I don't know, I can't see the package. So what's in the package, she asked. I don't know, I don't have the package. She looked worried and said, "You don't know the people who sent you the package?" "I'm sure I know the people I just don't know which ones cause I can't see the package." We went through this same conversation at least twice more.

She kept asking if the goods were personal cause I would have to pay a fee if they were because it was a large shipping order apparently. I told her I didn't know. I told her that if she looked on the package it would give the name of who sent it as well as the address. She told me the package was held up in Xian at the customs office because they didn't know any of the information that she was asking.

She was holding some papers and I asked to see them. There on the top sheet was Shipper/Sender information. I showed that there was the name: Land's End and there was the address it was shipped from. There was also a complete listing of what was in the package. [The Americans here went in together and ordered flannel pj pants and divided the cost of shipping.] I asked her if she understood and she said she did. She also said she needed a copy of my passport, visa and entry form. Of course, I don't have any of this on me. But the way China works is that once an order is given from the top down it is immediate. Everyone is supposed to drop everything they're doing and do whatever was asked of them. So...me being in this country I was supposed to drop everything (sleeping) and go down to a copy place and make a copy of all of this. I let her take my passport and make the copies at the office.

I thought we were done. Not so...

Ma Laoshi sends Aiyi to my room to tell me that I have to come down to the Waiban's office right now and talk to her. I'm in my pajamas! Aiyi is handing me my shoes and shutting the door behind me telling me to come NOW. So I'm walking out of the dorm with one shoe on as Aiyi issues me over there.

I get to the office and the only thing Ma Laoshi wants to talk about is that package again. She asks me the exact same questions the girl did and I showed her the sheet again. Then they start arguing over whether or not this sweater that another girl ordered had a hood on it or not and what type of material it was. I don't know! It's not my sweater! I think I made up something to tell them so they would quit going on about it. It was absolutely hilarious!

If I come back to the States and do everything last minute and expect all of you to drop what you're doing immediately, please forgive me. It was drilled into me here! :)

Highlights of my vacation to the coast!

I know you've seen and you will see pics, but let me tell you some things as well...

Highlights:
1. Riding a train for the first time.
2. For western restaurant since I left the States-Pete's Tex Mex and Grill
3. Real ice cream.
4. First experience in a hostel.
5. See Jenny Lou's (import store) and all it has to offer next time in Beijing!
6. Starbuck's coffee-and buying a bag of decaf to take home!
7. The Great Wall
8. Hiking the Wall in the rain.
9. Summiting the peak next to the Wall.
10. PB&J sandwiches 5x during the vacate.
11. Being with a large group of people my age and in my same stage in life.
12. Laughing 'til I cried.
13. Finding a book store that sold English novels.
14. McDonald's
15. Homemade chips and salsa
16. Homemade apple pie a la mode (my fave).
17. Eating pork (I can't do it in Yinchuan.)
18. Going to the beach and putting my feet in the sand and basking in the sunlight!
19. Band pics.
20. Acting like I was 19 again and back in college!
21. Expensive, delicious coffee that our friends shared so graciously!
22. Making up themes for girls' night!

It was an awesome trip and so refreshing to the soul!

Vacation to Beijing

Some pics of our trip east. There's a pic of the countryside (taken from the train-18 hours from Yinchuan to Beijing) and a picture of Beijing (that was actually an extremely clear day), me at a Western restaurant that we went to called Pete's. It was fabulous!

No heat

One, I'm back from vacation in Qin Huang Dao. I was greeted by cold weather here in Yinchuan. It was seriously like 40 degrees yesterday. I'm wearing long underwear and as many layers as I can get under my jacket and jeans. I've got all the accessories going on as well. The big deal, there's no heat in any of the buildings in the whole country. The country controls the heat for everyone and it doesn't turn on until November 1. So...even though the weather gets colder outside as winter presses on, this is said to be the coldest time of year because there's no break from it. It's usually even colder inside because the sun can't shine in there! Brrrrr!!!!!!

October School Trip

Some pics from our school trip out in the dessert. There's our trek through the dessert, eating a normal spread of Chinese food, big plate of what's supposed to be lamb (but mostly fat) and then the skin left over from the roasted lamb. Nice bow on top, huh? :)