Up very late...as usual these days.
Hiya folks,
So it's almost 4AM and I'm here alone in Damia and Jasper's apartment eating shaokao (again, after eating some with Yilin this evening by the south gate) and drinking my addictive Bing Hong Cha (冰红茶）with a fan blowing directly on me as the only room that has air conditioning is Damia's (who's actually coming back tomorrow evening so I have one more night there! hahaha). I've made myself home in their humble flat. I hope Damia doesn't mind the potted plants I've brought in to give away soon and the vase full of white lilies and tuberose with draceanas I've arranged to freshen up the pad. hehehehe.
What a slow day it's been. I didn't get out of bed until about 11:00PM when Joyce called me from the states. I had a nice chat with her while I stayed in bed and, eventually, she convinced me to get up and start my day. So I got some laundry done, downloaded some gymnastics clips from the internet, went out to get my plane ticket to Beijing, headed to Peter's for a really late lunch, headed to Chunxi Lu to get that "Magnolias of China" book only to learn that it wasn't there! Grrr....and then I headed back to campus, bought some lychees (OMG, they're sooo good right now and so big!) and went to lab to kill the rest of my day.
It's been a few weeks now, but so many things....sights, smells, etc. are reminding me of when we first arrived in Chengdu. Certainly a lot of things have changed; I've grown to tolerate and appreciate this city as the seasons progressed and my views about living in China are a little better defined. Maybe it's the weather that's prompting these "flashbacks" of the "mafan" start we had scrambling around to get our paperwork all set, not understanding what anyone was saying and having to be "babied" around to get things done. It's almost a nauseating feeling getting used to the weather, the heat and humidity, and the things that didn't shock me during the middle of the year are starting to hit me again as if I just arrived in Chengdu yesterday.
I think these are signals that are telling me to physically and emotionally wind down his "high" that I've been in these last 10 months. This was a huge opportunity for me and I can't help but think that it'll be over in less than two weeks so I'm scrambling to do things I want to do, but have already done so I don't really need to...kind of feeling.
Much awaits me back home including my new nephew Pao Pao who I hear is crawling like crazy. My thoughts and prayers go out to my older brother, Karl, who suffered a sudden heart attack the other day. Can you believe, at 31, that he'd have to have a stent put in due to a blockage in his artery. I had a chance to chat with him briefly and I hope he recovers soon. Seeing his fall schedule for the Seattle Opera and the other companies he performs for, it would be so sad to see him miss out on these productions, but at the same time, he has to take it easy from now on. Doctors report that stress and overwork may have played a role along with other health factors that he's dealt with.
I have to be up by noon tomorrow to meet some fellow botany and hort. students for lunch. I'm kicking myself wondering why this meeting didn't take place when I arrived here last year. Grrrr....anyway, I hope it's productive!
Kindest and warmest regards,
Riz
I'm getting really annoyed with mosquitos biting me and the extremely loud hissing of cicadas are giving me headaches as I bike around the green spaces of Chengdu. AHHhhhhhhh, I HATE THEM!!!
So it's almost 4AM and I'm here alone in Damia and Jasper's apartment eating shaokao (again, after eating some with Yilin this evening by the south gate) and drinking my addictive Bing Hong Cha (冰红茶）with a fan blowing directly on me as the only room that has air conditioning is Damia's (who's actually coming back tomorrow evening so I have one more night there! hahaha). I've made myself home in their humble flat. I hope Damia doesn't mind the potted plants I've brought in to give away soon and the vase full of white lilies and tuberose with draceanas I've arranged to freshen up the pad. hehehehe.
What a slow day it's been. I didn't get out of bed until about 11:00PM when Joyce called me from the states. I had a nice chat with her while I stayed in bed and, eventually, she convinced me to get up and start my day. So I got some laundry done, downloaded some gymnastics clips from the internet, went out to get my plane ticket to Beijing, headed to Peter's for a really late lunch, headed to Chunxi Lu to get that "Magnolias of China" book only to learn that it wasn't there! Grrr....and then I headed back to campus, bought some lychees (OMG, they're sooo good right now and so big!) and went to lab to kill the rest of my day.
It's been a few weeks now, but so many things....sights, smells, etc. are reminding me of when we first arrived in Chengdu. Certainly a lot of things have changed; I've grown to tolerate and appreciate this city as the seasons progressed and my views about living in China are a little better defined. Maybe it's the weather that's prompting these "flashbacks" of the "mafan" start we had scrambling around to get our paperwork all set, not understanding what anyone was saying and having to be "babied" around to get things done. It's almost a nauseating feeling getting used to the weather, the heat and humidity, and the things that didn't shock me during the middle of the year are starting to hit me again as if I just arrived in Chengdu yesterday.
I think these are signals that are telling me to physically and emotionally wind down his "high" that I've been in these last 10 months. This was a huge opportunity for me and I can't help but think that it'll be over in less than two weeks so I'm scrambling to do things I want to do, but have already done so I don't really need to...kind of feeling.
Much awaits me back home including my new nephew Pao Pao who I hear is crawling like crazy. My thoughts and prayers go out to my older brother, Karl, who suffered a sudden heart attack the other day. Can you believe, at 31, that he'd have to have a stent put in due to a blockage in his artery. I had a chance to chat with him briefly and I hope he recovers soon. Seeing his fall schedule for the Seattle Opera and the other companies he performs for, it would be so sad to see him miss out on these productions, but at the same time, he has to take it easy from now on. Doctors report that stress and overwork may have played a role along with other health factors that he's dealt with.
I have to be up by noon tomorrow to meet some fellow botany and hort. students for lunch. I'm kicking myself wondering why this meeting didn't take place when I arrived here last year. Grrrr....anyway, I hope it's productive!
Kindest and warmest regards,
Riz
I'm getting really annoyed with mosquitos biting me and the extremely loud hissing of cicadas are giving me headaches as I bike around the green spaces of Chengdu. AHHhhhhhhh, I HATE THEM!!!