As I was biking out the gate today, the guards at the front gate tried to stop me and the pointed out a sign that said (forgive me if I’m missing a bit, but I believe this was it):
出人下车
I’m pretty sure that means that I have to get off my bike to exit. However, I was already going at pretty good speed and I just said “Wo bu dong!” (I don’t understand) and then they laughed at me and let me through anyway. The guards at the back gate weren’t so forgiving though. They seemed to know that I knew, so I got off and walked my bike in.

However, it is terribly frustrating to live in a country where I’m practically illiterate. I’d really like to be able to learn more. The unfortunate part is that my lack of literacy is largely due to an excessive amount of slacking on my part. More of then than not, I just don’t feel up to it! It’s a ridiculous excuse, but it’s the one I give myself when I put my Chinese textbook back after 5 minutes of looking it over. I’ve really got to make myself work on Chinese this year.
I was looking at a blog of one of my friends from high school. She’s in Morocco now and she spent a year in Paris before. Some of the things she said were very true. Knowing other languages really opens doors in life. It gives you many opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise. I’d like to become at least conversational in Chinese and I’d like to study French again because I’ve forgotten nearly all of it. (My French prof at Hope was right when I quit- “Ce n’est pas une bonne idée”. I should have listened.)
Hopefully, when I’m back in the States, I can find somewhere to study, or at least practice one (or both) of those languages.

In other news, I’ve finally found a place with fun drinks that I like. Back home we have Bubble Tea (called Pearl Tea some places) and usually you can get black bubbles or colored ones. I, personally, think that the black ones taste horrid. Unfortunately, that was all they had here. Until a new shop came in over the summer. And at this shop, I can get this delicious grape juice (a great alternative to the usual tea mixed with milk). I’m really happy about it and Kate and I both really enjoy it.

Also, a bit of sadness over my former “roommate”.
I’m sure I had told several of you about a little gecko who had taken up residence here at the start of term. He’d always come out at night, but during the day he would find little hiding places. His favorite seemed to be in the crack of the door. This caused me to be incredibly cautious whenever closing or opening any door.
Unfortunately, Friday morning, I left the bathroom door open a tiny crack while I took my shower; I guess it just hadn’t latched right or something. Anyway, I got out of the shower and then the door swung in, then back out. My little gecko friend must have snuck in the crack when I wasn’t looking because then he fell- plop!- right onto the floor in a puddle of water. I quickly picked him up out of the water only to discover that his back legs had been irreparably smashed. Poor fellow.

This morning, I was sitting downstairs outside of my apartment eating my breakfast- a funny pastry filled with strawberry filling and a pumpkin cake-type thing. While I was eating, I was reading ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. Underneath the building, there is a garage for motorbikes and bicycles. A couple came downstairs and went to leave on their motorcycles- the woman got hers started and headed off. However, the man was having a bit of trouble; he couldn’t seem to get it started. Eventually even the guard came over and was trying to help him out, but it was no good.
I just found it particularly ironic that I am reading a book that talks quite a bit about maintenance and repair of motorcycles (as well as many other things) and there’s a motorcycle in front of me that’s having trouble and I don’t know a thing about how to help.

In church this morning, I took a closer look at the bulletin for our weekly service. At the bottom, I noticed some addresses and websites. One of my freshmen students also goes to church and he happened to be sitting next to me. I turned to him and asked what those were.
“It’s an email address,” he said.
“Right, but for who?” I asked.
He looked at me and said very confidently: “Jesus Christ.”

I probably should have just taken that in stride, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t. I burst out laughing. He quickly corrected himself and said that he meant to say the Chinese Church.
It was certainly the most amusing point of my entire day.
So apparently the church in Yizhou has a website. I’ve been checking it out; it’s really quite interesting. Granted, I can’t read much. I’ve used Babelfish Translator to get some of it, but the translations are fairly inaccurate and comical. It’s certainly worth a look though.

I’m currently listening to a podcast that Kyle sent me. It’s a discussion between John Mackey (One of the founders of Whole Foods) and Michael Pollan (author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma). (I’ve linked John Mackey’s blog Michael Pollan’s site there, but Pollan’s doesn’t seem to work working- maybe someone outside of China can tell me if they can get it)
It’s an incredibly long podcast- nearly two hours. However, I thought I’d mention it because it’s incredibly interesting.
Personally, I’m a fan of Whole Foods- I really enjoyed shopping there when I lived in Philadelphia. I felt much more informed about what I was eating and where it was coming from when I shopped there compared to the grocery stores back home.
Anyway, I won’t bore you with details. If you’re interested in listening to this (I suggest that you give it a try), you can get it on mp3here.
It actually talks a little bit about organic food from China, which is something I’ve been doing a considerable amount of online research on lately.
Unfortunately, despite my strong feelings on animal rights and organic food production, there’s not a whole lot that I can do about my food choices in China.

Hanoi is amazing- French food, cheese, yogurt, salad, sandwiches.

I could almost live here- except the traffic is insane (we saw someone get hit by a motorbike) and I don’t speak the language (not like that stopped me with China though).

Last night I slipped into a gutter along the edge of the night market though- my shoe, my sock, my foot, and my jeans were soaked through with disgusting sewage-smelling water. UGH.

But other than that, so far Vietnam has been fantastic- everything is incredibly colorful here. It’s quite a change from Yizhou!

Well, I’m going to get back to my French cheese and French bread now…