Counterfeit stamps and dvds

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It's so uncomfortable outside. I am back in the comfort of my air conditioning. I hope my electricity bill isn't too high! I have to sleep with it on.

So I have a little bit of buyer's remorse on the Ikea bedding. It is a little... rough/crunchy. Yes, I know, this is China. It would be fine if I had some fabric softener and a good clothes dryer.... but I don't! I'll just live with it. I'll take some pictures of my new furnishings later.

This morning I couldn't find a Starbuck's or equivalent in my new neighborhood. 😞 I settled for a diet Coke instead. Then I went to buy a basin so ayi can wash my clothes tomorrow. I also asked the market checkout girl if there was some kind of detergent I could buy to soften my clothes and she couldn't have cared less. I sounded ridiculous to her! 😊 Oh well.

Then I first went to the pharmacy I got some chinese cough syrup. It is really syrupy - the consistency of almost a gel. Ick. The lady said it would work. We'll see! Pharmacy lady told me where the post office was. I asked 4 people before her - all did not know where it was... or didn't want to tell me. Oh, I asked someone off the street where to buy stamps/mail something, and he told me I should find a post office. He told me that there are counterfeit STAMPS. Good grief. I needed the post office today to mail L's wedding card (no line at the post office! no surprise since no one knew where it was). I hope my letter gets to its destination...

On my way to the post I got some baked sponge cake - it was good; just as good or better than the one Wang tai tai makes. 😊 Every other time I ask a question or buy something, I'm asked if I'm Korean. I think to myself, "Is my Chinese THAT bad?" I ask why they think that, and I frequently get, "you don't look Chinese." A guy yesterday had the best answer: "Korean girls are prettier." 😊

For lunch, I had these soup noodles - you pick items (choices are: all kinds of veggies, tofus, noodles, meats, seafood) and put them in a metal basket, and the baskets are all cooked in a communal pot. The broth it's cooked in becomes very tasty becauses it's been stewing everyone's ingredients. It reminds me of hot pot. 3 RMB (less than $0.50). However... eating this cheap yummy street food isn't so good for my stomach. I should probably eat at more expensive (aka cleaner) restaurants and work my way to the local street food. It's not bad enough that I have to break open my pepto, but... err.. I had to go home an hour after eating. I'll take my camera to the market/streets next time and you'll understand why I get a stomach ache. haha.

Since the other night it was raining, I've been bringing around my pretty pink butterfly embroidered umbrella in my purse. I bought the umbrella in China a few years ago. Anyway, the other afternoon it was HOT.... so I did it: I took out my umbrella and used it as a parasol!!!! Lots of people use them.... that's why the umbrellas (like mine) have UV reflective coated protection. I didn't want to admit to it, but the umbrella helped a lot! It's funny because I used to tell my mom that I thought it was tacky and silly.

On my way back I also bought a Chinese DVD with english subtitles. It's supposed to be a romantic comedy. I'm not so into the TV here... we'll see if I like the movies more. The vendor also had Pirates III, Ocean's 13 and the new Shrek. Piracy (sigh)! Oh, and they had all three seasons of Grey's, all ten seasons of Friends, and SATC. I might go back for those. I think it would be good for learning hip mandarin.

Ok, if you've been consistently reading my blog... you need to email me to let me know what YOU'RE up to... and how YOU'VE been. I write about what I ate for lunch, for crying out loud... your turn now! 😊 I miss home... and a tinge of me even misses working. I am definitely having challenges here, but I don't feel like I have to "think" the way I would working. That said, everyone let me know what I'm missing! 😊

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Comments

[lks]

grey's
nice. find out how to say "mcdreamy" and "mcsteamy". hahahahaha.

[Jennifer]

Hooray!
Well - now that you know where the POST OFFICE is, you can send us some goodies from China!! :)

[SF Girl]

McNobody
Trust me, I won't be needing to learn that. There aren't any McCuties here so far. :)