Circumlocution

Me: Sometimes in the summer, my father and senior younger sister and I get up and ride our bicycles in the clear early morning. We often ride very long ... um, very long ... [hand gestures meant to indicate "distance"]
Lu laoshi: Oh! I know! You ride the American bicycles that three people can ride all at once, yes? I have seen this on television!
Me: Um, no.

Me: ... but actually it's the ... oh, what's the word, you know, like big and little, far and near, tall and ... something...
Lu laoshi: Short?
Me: Yes!
Lu laoshi: Opposite!
Me: Right! Opposite! (pause) What was I talking about?

Today I felt that if I even so much as looked at a baozi or a dacong bing I would throw up, so my roommate, Lili, Tian Kangrei and I went out for Italian food. Oh it was so wonderful! It was clean and it didn't smell like smoke and I bet you a mao that the bathroom stalls even had doors, although I didn't check. (How much effort would it be, China, to put doors on your bathroom stalls?) I had penne, cooked perfectly, with tomato sauce, garlic, basil and red peppers. "Please bring bread," my roommate said to the fuwuyuan.
"Oh my god, they have bread?!" I said. They did. It was warm, and contained yeast. I was almost reduced to tears by the beauty of it all.

After lunch we had Magnum bars and then I read some Anna Karenina and took a nap. I was woken up by the mailroom calling to tell me I had a package, which was surprisingly not from my mum but my dear Aunt Claudia and her family. So that was nice. Then I went to the gym.

Today's lesson was about "taking a morning stroll" and included much useful vocabulary like "to take one's pet bird for a walk in a quiet place" which is just two characters in Chinese, which indubitably tells you something or other. Something about birds. So tomorrow our Language Culture Practicum is to go to the park in the morning and watch people do their crazy Chinese park activities like disco dancing and Tai Ji sword dances. That should be pleasant - I love Chinese parks. Saturday we're going to the Great Wall, so if I can I'll be posting pictures by and by.

Thanks for the encouraging response to my last post. As a rule I try to keep all angst in my paper journal, but not every laowai day is corn flavored ice cream bars and sunflower seeds.