Beijing, China. What's Happening to Me: The Eighteenth Day

Up at 700 - I still seem to be suffering from some fatigue, but I did sleep with my mask on for most of the night and feel somewhat better. The mask may have helped, but the fact that the rain brought the AQI down 50 points may be the greater determining factor. I had PB&H, bananas and yogurt for breakfast and talked to Madre.

This morning I made up the medium to plant tobacco on and then helped Yulan transplant tobacco already grown in the medium into soil. Looking for all of the components for the medium was interesting. Most of the bottles had English names on them as well as Chinese, but there were a few that Yulan pulled out that I had no idea what they were. Several of the supplies we had to borrow from another lab. Also this morning I found a packet containing selfed corn seed on the ground in front of the elevator. I tried to find whose it was, but to no avail, so eventually I gave it to the security guard at the front desk. This was after I traveled to the 6th floor to find the person that I did not find.

Lunch was very good today, I had rice and bean sprouts and a very good and peanutty stir fry. There is a new system of me paying for lunch now that there are two cards in the lab. I have to record whose card I used and then pay them. Hopefully I do not mess anything up although it is pretty simple procedure. After lunch, I took the 25 minute walk to Carrefour where I bought jujube newtons (the giant pack), nuts, pineapples, eggs and a strange bread that I wanted to try. I then walked back with a very heavy sack of groceries. I bought at least a kilogram of jujube newtons!

This afternoon I spent about 40 minutes taking a nap before Yulan came back in. Remember I mentioned that naps in the afternoon are pretty typical - so no, I was not slacking on the job. I then spent about an hour planting seedlings, medium to soil this time again, while Yulan prepared some PCR stuff. I made two gels entirely on my own for the DNA that she was preparing. I also got to put tubes in the PCR machine and centrifuge them. After all this, we took the trays of seedlings up to the 6th floor growing room and put them in a growing chamber. We sat down and talked about the process of getting to where the current testing is right now. I just got the overview from her today. As we continue to work together, I will ask more in depth questions. Some of the others in the lab were talking about how good Yulan's English will be at the end of the next month. She even asked me how long she will have me to practice with.

I came back to the dorm for a few minutes after 500 and started working on my abstract and playing ukulele. This weekend may be the time that I go get a guitar. At 540 I left to go swim, at 547 I realized I did not have my suit or goggles so I turned around and got them. I ate some of the weird fruits on the way to swim. The AQI was pretty bad while I was swimming so I did not push it much at all. I just put in 3000 mixed yards and did very few push ups. One of the guys swimming talked to me on the wall for a few minutes. He said I was very fast and when I said thank you in Chinese. He replied "you speak Chinese?" I held my fingers about a millimeter apart and said, "very little." After he asked me a few more of the questions that the locals always seem to ask (must be part of their basic English curriculum), I pushed off and did 900 more to finish the three thousand. I walked back to the dorm and immediately went to the Yellow restaurant where I have a bowl of noodles, beef broth, beef, cabbage, and very-salty-what-looked-like green beans, but I have no idea what they were. However, it was another positive food experience. There was a boy and his mom in the restaurant. I waved to the boy, and he waved back tentatively. His mom spoke a little English so I talked to her. She said that the boy knew English very well, but the boy would not open his mouth to speak a word - kind of awkward but manageable. I finished my food and paid 15 yuan for it. I walked over to the small store that is beside the restaurant and paid 2 yuan for an "ice cream" cone. It was okay but not near as good at American cones are (and not even close to Blue Bell ice cream...yes, I'm missing my Cherry Vanilla).

I walked back to the dorm and settled in for the evening. I managed to not screw the lid onto my Gatorade squeeze-y water bottle very well after filling it, and so when I tried to pick it up and drink from it, it spilled everywhere...on my computer desk, on my computer, on my phone. The keyboard stopped working for a few minutes which made for some interesting maneuvering on trying to find the onscreen keyboard. While I was trying to find that, one of the manager people of the building knocked at my door. I answered, and he wanted my card to enter into my room. He then tried to tell me something in Chinese. I stared blankly at him. It is weird that in a building where everyone is required to speak at least some English the managers speak no English. It is about the only thing that kind of annoys me about this place, that and the pollution. I followed him down to the ground floor and waited while he did something. I do not know what he was doing. I still do not, but now I have a new card that is completely white. Maybe they thought that I needed a card that matches my skin, but it is a stark white piece of plastic that is for sure.

With that diversion, by the time I got back my keyboard had recovered so all is good. I finish off my day with a night cap of yogurt and watermelon. Good night and God bless.

Mixing soil. This is Yulan.