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chaguan, speech competition, and pizza hut pillows

i'm finally better. thanks, muchly, due to the fact that i closed all the windows in my flat and haven't opened them in days. i was having a very poor reaction to all the smog, waking up feeling as though i'd been breathing in forest fire smoke all night. in fact, i pretty much was. my left ear is still somewhat plugged, but i think it's getting better. i have feared going to the doctor in case they probed me with some terrible, foreign device to remove the wax ball. i did try to cone my own ear using a glass and hot water soaked rag. i'm not sure what good it really did. but i do sense my ear is getting better. either that, or i'm getting used to being deaf.

meshell is quickly becoming a good friend. she is fun and we are similar in many ways. so far, she is the closest thing to a friend that i have in anji. while my colleagues and acquaintances in the school are all very nice and incredibly welcoming, i still feel a wide gap between me and them. chinese dragon, the PE teacher in my office, invited all of us in the office to his home for dinner on saturday night. the evening was lovely and i biked over with aita, my neighbor.  the dinner was fun and fantastic, but i still feel very guarded. it sounds a bit silly, but being the honored guest becomes very tiresome. i never have a moment to relax. i can never speak in my fast, easy english - i am always taking care of my speech to be understood. and i'm always on the lookout that i will make a cultural faux pas (i'm sure i've already made many blunders). so meshell is a bit of a relief, because i'm starting to be able to relax around her. and i can speak freely.

sunday i did some errands and finally got a mattress pad. i'm going to have to invest in a 2nd one, because the bed is still hard as a rock. but thankfully, not bruising me now. in the evening. meshell and i went to a chaguan, or teahouse - my first time to a teahouse. a little amazing, considering this is my third time to china. nonetheless, it was fantastic. teahouses have private rooms with sofas and TVs (we didn't use it). they bring you loads of snacks and foods of all sorts - nuts, seeds, fruits both dried and fresh, chicken feet, dumplings, stews, vegetables, beans, snails. it was really more of a feast.  we drank rose tea and lived it up for about 3 hours. all for roughly $2 each. god i love this country. afterwards, we ventured to a jiu ba (bar) - i discovered one that was actually a bar and not a dance club. meshell isn't much of a drinker, but thought she might try. so, we had a beer each and talked about love and men and life. i decided this particular bar was cozy and i will definitely go back. i am in search of a good watering hole in anji, so this one is on the list of possibilities.

today, i was asked to head a speech competition judging panel. 16 english majors gave short 4 minute speeches on the topic "why i love my hometown." this came down to hearing about the bamboo sea and bamboo and more bamboo 16 times. but it was cute, nonetheless. several of the students were quite good, while some were fairly poor.

now, i am piddlng around my flat, washing dishes, cooking some dumplings and what can only be described as a sticky rice cone with bacon in the middle. it's a local speciality and sooo good.

i also discovered, this afternoon, much to my amusement... my pillows say "pizza hut" all over them. for the first time, i removed the cases and washed them. thus, i discovered that i actually have pizza hut brand pillows. god, i love this country.

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