The Seventeenth Day

I got up this morning very tired at 700, talked to "Moo" and ate my obligatory PB&J for breakfast. I am out of nuts which is not good - desperately need to go and restock all my munchies.  At 800 I left to go to work and talked to Dr. Cheng about getting information for my report. I will be focusing on the genes that Yulan is working on for her study.  She has five different genes she is working with, and it looks like I will be focusing on one of them in my report. This afternoon I hope to get the whole story about how the gene is studied and then transferred. I had a spot of black tea with Dr. Cheng then we talked about American colleges. It is very expensive for a student from China to go to attend a univeristy in the States - about three times what local students pay.  I told her that I would have coffee with her the next time that I come visit with her then left to help Yulan. We got some soil prepared for planting tobacco seedlings and talked about transformation vectors. We then got some materials ready for PCR and did a quick clean up. I filled some boxes with pipette tips and wiped down some of the required equipment. Wendy really wanted to clean today - so we cleaned! Yay.

I left at 1145 to go to lunch and had thin tofu and mushrooms with rice. Gotta say it was not one of my favorite meals - the tofu was extremely rubbery. After lunch I went to the "close by" store and bought bread and yogurt. The lines were not that long today - thank goodness.

This afternoon I was feeling down.  The air quality (AQI) has been in the unhealthy range for a few days. There was a chance of rain which would have cleared the air, but unfortunately, it did not rain. I think there is a chance tomorrow so I will hope for the best. My body is not responding favorably to the polluted air.

I transplanted tobacco seedlings, mixed soil, and plated it for the plants that will be planted tomorrow. Wendy decided that we should clean out the -40 C freezer as well today.  He opened the thing up, started pulling stuff out, and scraping the ice onto the floor where it promptly melted. I could not see a way to tell him that it would be better to scrape the ice into a bin instead of the floor with no drain in it. By the time we finished, there was water everywhere and the mopping commenced.

I decided not to go swim tonight as I am not really feeling well at all. I think the pollution is catching up with me. When walking up and down stairs, I feel almost weak.  I hope to swim tomorrow or at least on Thursday. Praying for a good night of sleep - I will definitely be wearing my mask tonight (to try to keep out all the particulates in the air). I requested some time with Yulan so that we can discuss how everything has been brought to this point in testing.  I need to have a working abstract to Ms. Fleming by July 7th.  My older brother Will (who was in Egypt in 2009 for his Borlaug-Ruan internship) sent me his final paper to use as a template for mine.  Older brothers are such a gift.

I am going to go with the African guys again tonight for dinner if I am able to find them. I think they must go at about 7 so I will knock on Vincent's door at about 645 to see if he is there. I am very hungry, I hope that I am taking in enough calories during the day - this may be another reason why I am feeling weak. Tomorrow during lunch, I may walk to the Carrefour to get nuts and pineapples along with some other fruit.

This afternoon I was getting major pains in my right hand -  it was a bit disconcerting. Not trying to be a hypochondriac but I am SO not use to having any ailments (and my mom will tell you that I am a horrible, complaining, impatient patient when I am sick).

I went to the Sesh Wan (Szechuan) place for dinner. This is the same restaurant that I met the African guys twice and will henceforth be referred to as the Sesh Wan place. I ate some type of meat with peppers and onions and then a stir fry with rice. It was very spicy but pretty decent eating. I could not find the African guys tonight though so I ate alone. I am not a fan of the solo eating so I ate quickly and got back to the room even quicker.

The AQI is up to 218 - unhealthy for even the healthiest of us! And I hate to admit but I am feeling pretty puny.  It may be that I am not getting enough sun (and hence Vitamin D) or enough B vitamins my Madre commented. So tomorrow I will get some eggs and fruit from the Carrefour as well as some nuts.

It just started raining here, and with thunder, which is even better. Am heading to bed for now - sorry it was a post with no photos; I will make up for that tomorrow. Night to all or good day to all wherever your current home may be.  My mom (a.k.a. Madre, a.k.a. Moo), who has become my blog editor (I bet you were wondering how my English skills could be improving while living in China), decided to include the photo of the Skype call on the 60 inch screen....

Skyping with my family in Texas on the big screen. We do everything bigger in Texas!