The Thirty-Eighth Day

It has been a really good day today.  I wish I would have spent more time networking in my first couple of weeks, but I was wallowing in my homesickness and was a bit of a recluse.  Now that I have overcome that, I am totally enjoying meeting new people, learning about their cultures, and introducing them to mine. Here is how the day went:

I got up this morning at 700 and went to make grits like the African guys were making, The grits (corn) were okay but I should have put some butter and salt into them and they would have been better. At 800 I headed to the lab where we had to make medium again as the batch from last night that was made was no good. I am going to have to get the names of all the materials being used from Yulan.  (Yulan - the way I pronounce it means "flower" which confuses everyone in the lab.)  I cleaned the beakers for the medium and did a distilled water (dw) rinse. We measured the OD on some bacteria cultures and got some ready to culture for the evening.

Lunch was pretty good although I had a very strange stir fry. They described it to me as a blood and cow stomach stir fry - can't say I'm not adventurous. It was unique to say the least. At lunch I told them that I liked the bread that we had yesterday at lunch. It was basically a very large and thick tortilla that was cut into slices, So they showed me where the bakery was. At first, they tried to tell me where it was, but based on where it turned out to be, I would not have found it. They told me to find the white house and go behind it on the road where the construction is. The white house was very gray, and it was right next to the police station. I am glad they took me instead! I came back to room and practiced guitar and uke before heading back out. I had more melon and need to replenish my supply.

Back at work we quickly plated some medium before going to a talk on the second floor. The talk was about using viruses to transfer DNA. It was pretty interesting but I struggled to keep my eyes open and was nodding off the entire time. It did not help that the presenter spoke in Chinese. After that, we came back to the lab and put membranes into the plated medium and got some other stuff ready. At 500ish I left and came to room where I got my stuff to go play Frisbee. I caught Silvio on the way in and asked him if he wanted to come play.  He decided he would come. We walked to the green grassy field at Renmin University and threw it around for about an hour. Several Chinese students joined us which was very cool. On the way back, I asked Silvio if he enjoyed it. He said that he did. At the beginning he did not like it, but as his throws got better, he started to like it. He said that he would come again. While walking back, we stopped at the bakery. It was not as impressive as the bakery at The Temple of Heaven area and it was more expensive. I bought a small thing item as I was quite hungry and had to go back to the lab. On our way back, we also bought some sweet potatoes from a street vendor. Those were very good. I told Silvio that I would be swimming tomorrow, and he said the he would come if he could.  THAT was rather awesome (I've found myself a workout buddy.)

800 - At the lab we plated the samples, and Yulan commented on how cheery I seemed. I did feel good. I felt awake for the first time in a while. The air was good today and I am sure getting to play Frisbee had a huge bearing on my good mood! I was feeling better and enjoying some good health today. And my Frisbee skills weren't too shabby either. Yulan, Chungli and Lili did not know what a Frisbee was so I showed them.  I also invited them to come with me on Friday to Renmin, and I would teach them how to throw the Frisbee. Maybe if I attract enough extras, I can put together an Ultimate Frisbee practice (ha). I think that for sure Yulan will come with her boyfriend.

We headed out at 900 after we finished our work at the lab. I ran into Salma and her older daughter and one of the Thailand moms with her young son. While both mothers visited, I entertained the kids. It was awesome. Even a random kid walking by with his mom stopped and played with us. We play around for a good hour and a half. I should have had Salma take photos on my phone, but she took some with her phone and I will be sure to get them from her. (The photos won't be quite the quality as from my Nokia 1020 but at least a visual remembrance.)  After that I talked with Misma and some of his amigos and then headed upstairs to type my posting for the day and eventually head to bed.

I have got to get started on writing up my information for my research paper!

Good night and God bless.

Random photo - Helping my friend show her turkey at the Brazos County Youth Livestock Show in March 2014 

Swimming the 200 IM at a high school swim meet.