Cultural Tour!

A wedding carriage. Young girls stayed in the room until about age 13, when they were married off. This is what they rode in. I was told these girls basically stayed in these rooms until they got married.

Temple at Huang Zuobin’s house. The furniture you see is from a tree that was 300 years old at the time the furniture was made. The wood is 500 years old.

Pottery room.

One of several little courtyards at Huang Zuobin’s house.

I joined the teacher’s union, and they sponsor trips every so often. They gave me a 1545 yuan grocery card, which is about $266. I stocked up on beef, chicken, personal care products and cleaning supplies.

Yesterday, I went on a trip. And that’s part of the reason why I didn’t post anything yesterday. I was beyond tired when we returned. I think I slept for a few minutes on the bus ride back, but when I got home, even though I had lots of papers to grade, I decided to put them off and sleep. And jeez, I certainly did. I think I made it home by 3:20 p.m. or so, and I continued sleeping until the next morning. Yes, I woke up a few times to pee, but it was right back to sleep for me.

I was shocked at how much I slept. But I’m not a morning person. And going to bed late and waking up early is not a good idea, especially for me. But I like these occasional trips. It was a relatively free way (aside from my union dues) to see a different town and to have a good lunch.

Yesterday’s trip took us to a house that was owned by some guy in pharmaceuticals. Huang Zuobin was his name. The house is huge, and big enough to get lost in. Took him 28 YEARS to build. The house is in Minquing County. The house was hit by Typhoon Nepartak and flooded. It took three years, but they restored it.

A bit of history about Huang Zuobin’s house.

A scale model of what the complex looks like.

These thresholds were kind of high. I’ve seen them before, in temples. I’m not sure if they are to ward off vermin, flooding, or what.

A nice little pond in one of the courtyards.

I love going on these trips. After this, we were treated to a delicious lunch in town, which had the food already on the table for us. I tried bamboo shoots (they looked like thin slices of beef) and also yam beans, also known as jicama. I’d heard of this vegetable, but hadn’t had it until now. It sort of has the texture of a pear, but none of the sweetness. It has a very fresh taste, sort of like alfalfa sprouts, but a lot milder.

Then we got to walk around for a while, and one street were really interesting. It was a combination of commerce and living quarters. The windows were decorated with flowers. It was a pedestrian street, and I imagine it would be very pleasant to live above the shops.

I thought this looked both peaceful as well as trendy. The pedestrian street had a variety of shops as well.

After we walked through the street, we made our way back to the bus and went home. The pedestrian street also had a small museum as well.

A raincoat!

The pedestrian street also had a little museum highlighting stuff made in the area, like pottery. There is also a man from the area who became a kick-ass doctor. Wu Mengchao was his name, and he is the founder of liver and gallbladder surgery in China. He also was a trailblazer in international liver cancer research.

Wu Mengchao!

So it was a nice trip, and also nice to ride in a bus and let someone else do the driving. I love traveling by bus and by train here in China. Because I can take a nap any time I want, and also check out the scenery. Lots of mountains here, which is a novelty for this Indiana girl!

Continued thanks to those who read my blog. Check me out on Medium.com. My handle is Gloriajanelldiaz7.

Gaaaah! Late again! VPN isn’t cooperating. Sorry.

The Cardinals Aren’t Real

I watched Jerry Maguire again the other night and the fact the movie centers around Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Renee Zellweger, I still don’t believe the Arizona Cardinals are real.

I’d never heard of them before the movie came out in what? 1996? Yeah, 1996. I thought the team had been made up for movie purposes. But no, it’s an actual real team.

How it it I’d never heard of them? Were/Are they really that bad? Our family has always rooted for Green Bay. Of course I knew the Chicago Bears, and Detroit Lions, because before I moved, I was literally just a few hours’ drive time from the former two cities. But Arizona???

I STILL think they’re fictional, but I guess they’ve been around since 1898.

But those are just one of my super stubborn, “I know I’m wrong about this” thoughts that I just can’t give up. I KNOW the Arizona Cardinals are an actual NFL team.

But I still don’t believe it.

Excedrin Headache Number OMG!

I woke up this morning with the worst headache I’ve had in a long time. I get headaches in China, usually right before it’s going to rain. But this was a right behind my right eye, stomach-churning pain that had me wondering if this was a pre-flu trailer.

I took some Walmart Acetominophen, and went back to sleep. I had a mid-afternoon class today, so thankfully I could do that. The pain lessened, so I went to class. But I decided to stay home tonight and get some extra rest. That really helps me if I think I’m coming down with something.

There’s a drama presentation I want to go to tomorrow, so I might spend the majority of the day just hanging around home. Sunday, there’s a day trip I agreed to go on. I really like going on these trips. They sponsored a weekend in Foshan when I was teaching in Guangzhou, and that was really nice. It’s a way to see other Chinese cities for free or next to nothing.

But to have a headache like the one I had this morning was kind of scary. I just looked out the window and the pavement is still dry. So no rain… yet.

Busy， Busy Week

It’s been very busy here, and I can’t even look forward to the weekend to relax.

But it isn’t normally like this. It’s just a convergence of stuff to do. Grading, prepping, starting a new Chinese class, English corner two times a week, a drama presentation Saturday night and a full day trip on Sunday.

The day trips sponsored by the school I look forward to, because they’ve been good. It’s a good way to see another Chinese city without the travel costs. As someone pointed out to me, traveling in China is very cheap. Yes, but it isn’t FREE. And if you’re trying to save money, and you make less than $9.50 an hour, maybe you can feel my pain. Apparently lots of people are just rolling in money and can travel all over China. Not me. I’m fucking poor. No matter what I do, nothing gets better.

The drama presentation last year was good, and related to one of the trips I took. I enjoyed the trip so much, I went back this summer to explore more, and I’m glad I did. There was just so much more to the place than I realized.

I don’t think I’ll ever get fluent in Chinese, but whatever.

I’m grateful to whoever is reading. My stats went up in a big way a couple weeks ago. As I’ve told a couple of people, I’d love to say I’m doing spectacularly well, but I’m not. As it is, I just seem to be a cautionary tale.

Bad Insomnia, Tech Breakdown, and Putting a Shelf Up

So last night I had really bad insomnia, even though I took a Unisom, split in half. And when I woke up this morning, it was overcast. And after my last class today, there was just the lightest of sprinkles.

But I made it through both classes today.

For some reason though, my computer would not hook up to the wifi. It’s annoying, because I have everything here on my laptop that I want/need for class. I usually use Kahoot to review for quizzes. But I could only go online through the classroom computer, which of course, is entirely in Chinese. Also, I had to have students log in to the computer for me, because of course, my credentials didn’t work.

But Kahoot thankfully does NOT require a VPN. So I was able to sign in and do the review online.

And I put up another shelf. I saved for several months to get shelving. I rigged up something that is unusual, to say the least, but my initial purchase of used wardrobe doors and plastic waste basket/buckets meant I could create shelving at a dirt cheap price, even for Ikea. No drilling into the walls, none of that.

Of course, I need to be careful where I put stuff. I need three waste buckets per shelf, and to center most of the heavy stuff over the buckets, which seem pretty tough.

I couldn’t find boxes that worked. I thought I did a few weeks ago, but it turns out not. But Ikea is selling packing boxes, so rolling my eyes, I picked up a few. I’ll have to cut them down, but whatever. I have white drawing paper on a roll, so I can wrap the boxes up, and not have them be so brown and moving-ish. When you’re poor, you have to work with what you can afford, or already have.

Even so, the shelves look way better than having sagging, more than a year old moving boxes to keep the stuff I want handy nearby. When I went to Ikea last week, they had a lot more doors. I didn’t want to spend the money, but when next paycheck rolls around, I might snag a couple more for my spare room. There’s hardly any floor space in there, so walking is a hazard. And I can plunk the boxes of craft/clothes/handbags/office supplies on shelving and maybe turn the floor space into a yoga area.

It also makes me realize I have way too much stuff. But it never fails–whenever I throw something away, just weeks later, I need it.

Pics to follow soon about my transformed living room. I’m pretty sure I took a before shot of my saggy-ass moving boxes. Now to take pics of what it looks like, which is better.

Another Quiet Day

I got done what I needed to get done for tomorrow. Plus, I don’t have to get up too early, so that’s another good thing. Went for a walk today. And that’s really all I’ve got done.

It’s finally cooled off, which is very nice. I’m not dripping sweat five minutes after I leave the apartment. It means I can wear makeup again, and maybe style my hair, because I’m not sweating buckets.

And my hair is finally long enough for a ponytail. A small ponytail, but a ponytail nonetheless. I made a huge mistake getting my hair cut in January. It seems like no matter how I style it, it always looks the same. Like a poodle. A puffy afro. Or, as my mother would say, “a bubble bob.”

When I first got my hair cut, it didn’t look the way I wanted at all. So I spent about $40 on hair crap to see if I could make it look right. If it looked right at home, it didn’t a half hour after I went out the door. The stylist said I would look elegant. I just ended up looking like a fat lesbian. Which would be fine if I WERE a fat lesbian, instead, I’m just fat.

And I’m convinced I have a fat liver and cortisol problems. I feel like I don’t eat very much, but I haven’t lost any more weight. I’m down to maybe one meal a day and a snack. I usually try to start the day with fruit, but some days I’m just not hungry, so I end up eating lunch for breakfast.

But the idea of eating nothing but meat for days/months on end sounds disgusting. I like meat, but I think I’d like it better if I could eat the kind and quality of meat that I wanted to. That won’t be happening in China. And even so, I like my veggies. I like tomatoes with my bacon, and yes, I KNOW that tomatoes are technically fruit. II like artisan lettuce with my chicken. I’ve replicated the Wendy’s Apple Pecan Salad here in China, and it is WONDERFUL. I need to make that again, because that sounds really good right now.

Today Was Okay

I slept super late today. For some reason, it’s taking me a very long time to get started when I don’t have any particular time or reason to get up.

But I got some prepping done today. Not all of it, but a good start on it. I am back down to five classes, so I’m going to have a little more time to do stuff. Which is good.

I went for a walk tonight. Still no Campus Kitten. I think I’ll never see her again, which is sad. I hope she has a good life. I am glad that I helped keep her alive for several weeks. It’s just hard not knowing. Her food bowl was gone again, but the water dish was still there. Weird.

It’s cooled off so it was very pleasant to walk. But the melancholy remains.

October 25 my stats on here exploded. I can’t figure it out. For years, I have like 10 views a day, if I’m lucky. This past week, I had hundreds of views. Not sure why. Doesn’t matter what I post, or my tags or whatever. But this week, it was huge. Whatever it is, thank you for reading.