The Love of my Life

This is the first post in a couple of weeks. Sorry!The main reason is that I have found the soul with which I will spend the rest of eternity, and I have been overwhelmed far beyond measure.Her name is Lillian, Chinese name Li Lin Ling (3rd, 2nd and 2nd tones respectively). We have known each other pretty much since I moved here in February, and we are very close friends. We are learning to do all kinds of different things together, and we are planning our future life together. There is an abundance of joy, intense marveling, and abiding peace. Even the craziness of The Mars Volta music cannot begin to touch the depths of this life-turn!

On another note, this is my second week teaching English in primary school instead of kindergarten. It's been a serious challenge, which I am appreciating. Today I discovered how wonderfully crafts can work in the students regular classrooms (half of the classes are in smaller groups in my own classroom!). So I will be resorting to crafts more in the future. There's a beautiful girl names Ingrid, who is an absolute storm of misbehavior! For some reason, though, I took an immediate liking to her, and today she proudly demonstrated to me how attentive and engaged a student she can be, and ran into my arms after class. These two learnings made today a wonderful, heart-warming day (not to mention a long conversation with my parents in the morning, and coming home to a delicious home-made dinner from my beloved hands in the evening!)The danio is happy.

Note: This post was written on November 9, but I have not had access to Blogger.com recently.

Meals

BREAKFAST
I've been eating the same breakfast for the last 6 years or so:
- Hashbrowns sprinkled with cheese (less cheese nowadays, as it's so rare and expensive in China)
- Dark bread (usually wheat, multigrain, rye, etc.) with peanut butter and jelly (natural, no sugar added, usually - also harder to find in Shanghai)
- Bowl of cereal (a muesli-type), with soymilk
I am probably one of those few people who can say with confidence that I have enough fiber in my diet! Sometimes I'll add an egg or some fruit (preferably grapefruit, my favorite - also uncommon in China, alas)






LUNCH
Since I've been in Shanghai, I've been enjoying the marvelous vegetarian meals prepared by auntie Fei or uncle Martin at NewBeat. They are amazing! especially the latter. The food varies so much! It's always white rice with an assortment of three dishes. The dishes are vegetables like potato, eggplant or broccoli, but often veggies I have no good name for: sigua, donggua, and lots of green leefy guys... also lots of tofu, soybeans, mushrooms and beansprouts. All of this is prepared in many different ways. What's more is we have some kind of fruit as dessert every time! watermelon, peach, apple, pair, banana, grapes, lychee, etc. I will certainly miss the lunches when I'm gone.


DINNER
Dinner was usually eating out for the first several months. I could get decent restaurant food for 10-30 RMB ($1-4). Then I went through a phase where I snacked on nuts and fruits for dinner, with an added street food of some kind, like a couple of baozis (last picture on the left). On that note, one of the best things in my life is the sheer amount of fruits I have been eating on a regular basis. It's so affordable, so delicious, easy to buy and everywhere!!! Several fruits, like the veggies mentioned above, are completely new to me - never seen or heard of them! Over the last couple of months, I've been getting pre-made food at the local market, which I can just toss in the wok, with maybe some added veggies, ready in a short 2 minutes. 4RMB. Sometimes I'll hit the noodle shop for 5RMB. And then I eat out with friends sometimes, which is more like 25-40RMB.


 

Monkey-danio in Anji

 

In This Life...

Well, I haven't been able to blog recently... but at least I haven't been able to blog recently!

For lack of anything personal, I will share some pictures from my good ol' pal Logan, a bexy sitch I never made love to... somehow... or did I? He lives in Cali or something, and probably doesn't play basketball. In any case, these are pictures he took - except the one of himself, I guess. blablabla.



So that was Logan... or his pictures. It's late and I should sleep 'cause I'm going to the zoo tomorrow. for half-a-day. No two days are aleich. And you should be proud of who you are. because I am.

Who said that?!?

Take it from me... do it. Use your hands and do it. This is the end. 

Anji. Love.

By special requests:

1. "Please post pictures of Anji"

They are at my new photo site.

--
2. "Who is this girl?"

A friend was asking who is this girl in the poem I wrote a few posts back. She was a beautiful, inspiring girl that I met only once! On another note, my love life, as it were, is taking an interesting turn. It's quite a bit crazy, multi-faceted, exciting and of course spiritually affirming. There is reciprocated love in my life, and I am traveling that road to finding my life-long partner. So much has been experienced, so much my dear reader will never know...

Riveting

Things to do with friends:

- watched a play about how crazy Shanghai is. It was quite creative and intriguing. It was also very poignant. I got to practice my Chinese!
- watched the new big movie, The Banquet - a Chinese remake of Hamlet. It was so gorgeous! Several deviations from the original, including in theme, personalities, and relationships. Much more intrigue and politics. No improvement, but still worthy of merit, especially the cinematography and performance.
- went out to a bar on opening night with free drinks - called LaLa Land!
- went out dancing to excellent house music - my first time since I've been in Shanghai!
- going to Anji in the morning for two days with two friends
- going all night to karaoke with some friends when we get back

It's vacation time! One week of partying and hanging out with friends in Shanghai


Life is sweet. Lamb agrees