ahhh, china

so nothing of real importance has happened since my last posting, but i figured that it was time to provide a little update . . .

every day is basically the same. i wake up in the morning around 7:30 after around 30 minutes worth of snooze button pressings. i then follow with making some oatmeal and letting it cool while i wash my face (no, i can't shower in the mornings, because the water is not warm yet) and get dressed. i then eat my breakfast, brush my teeth, get my things together, and go outside to pull some grass. yes, i pull grass every morning, afternoon, and night for my newly acquired guinea pigs harrington and mimi. you may ask why i have guinea pigs, so i will tell you the story . . .

so my friend liu jinpeng (james) who i have mentioned in previous posts (the one who sends me around 52 text messages daily) texted me one day and asked if i could meet him on a saturday around 5 for dinner. i didn't have anything planned as of yet, so i agreed. on that day, i hopped into the cab to take me to the city to meet james expecting a nice dinner and then to return to my apartment afterward for a night in with my foreign cohorts. well, i pulled up to the pre-arranged meeting spot and saw james holding a cage with two furry creatures scurrying around within it. i was not surprised as i often see people with an array of animals in varying degrees of life or death all over the city (including chipmunks, doves, mice on strings, etc.). well, james was grinning ear to ear as i exited the car and handed the cage to me. i looked at the guinea pigs and acknowledged that they were cute and told him that he must enjoy having pets to keep him company. well, he then proceeded to say that they were my gift since we were "best friends" and all, handing over the following letter:

dear clay,
how are you? do you like them? they are very interesting and lovely. how about your feeling with them? they like grass best. if you have not grass, the rice or millet or vegetables is ok. they have a good stomach and they eat very much. so you must give them enough food to keep them alive. if you won't let them make your room dirty, you can put a plastic bag under the cage so the dirty will on the bag. you only need to change the bag. it is very easy! put the bag like this: [detailed diagram]. best wishes for you! everything goes well!
your friend,
james

well, we continued on to dinner with the guinea pigs and all. i set them down on the chair next to me, as this is allowed in china, and commenced dinner. i then said that we each had to name one of the guinea pigs. he named the female mi-mi, which means beautiful and clever in chinese, and i named the male harrington as this seemed like a respectable name for a chinese guinea pig. after dinner, the guinea pigs had proceeded to "dirty" on the chair which i had to clean up. well, that is the story of harrington and mimi. not that exciting, but it has added a great deal of responsibility to my life. i now not only have kids to take care of at work, but also at home. ahhh, china.

oh, yeah, and today all of us went to lunch with our boss for no particular reason. we ended up going to a restaurant that specializes in the preparation of gou rou (or dog). so with our boss's prodding we got drunk and ate dog only to return to have to teach children. ahhh, china.

oh, yeah, and one other thing, one of my boss's secretaries called me a "dreamboat" today. ahhh, china.