Twenty-second Day

I got up this morning to major trouble with my G.I. system. It was so bad that I did not risk going with Vincent and the other guys to the church. I washed some clothes and then played ukulele. I did this until about 1130, alternating playing ukulele and talking with Kelly. I then went down to Pimpan's room and asked about going to the music district with Jay Jay - she did not know what his plans were and so she will come up here soon and inform me.

I swam about 2000 meters, did it all at the "walking" pace (i.e. slow) because of the air quality. I then walked back to the dorm and did nothing for a while -- I think I actually needed some down time.  I played ukulele for a bit as well. The front door person was supposed to give me a note saying that at 400 they would be free to go with me to the music place. I had taken medicine earlier so I knew that I would be good for at least a few hours.  The front door person neglected to pass along the message so much to my surprise at about 415 Pimpan came up and knocked on my door. We went to the Pingal'li stop and from there walked through the store looking at guitars. We then found one guy that spoke English and bought a guitar from him. He was a doctor on a Chinese navel ship, I found it strange that he owned a shop selling guitars as he was supposedly a doctor. He got a tattoo to get out of the military as people in the military are not allowed have tattoos. I paid 500 yuan, or about 80 US dollars for a Chinese brand of guitar, a case, strings, capo, strap and other stuff. It was good deal, I think. The guy liked to talk and told interesting stories.

After making the purchase, we headed to the campus where we bought fruits and vegetables for dinner, as Pimpan invited me to make dinner with her and Jay Jay. We made curry from a paste in a bag. It was a watery curry but very good. We put chicken in water, then the curry paste on top, then let it boil until the chicken was done. We also made a Chinese morning glory dish (not like morning glory the flower). It was a bamboo kind of looking thing. We put it into a skillet with oil and garlic then put some water and soy sauce paste.  It was allowed to steam and then was eaten like that. It was really awesome. Jay Jay made a Chinese omelet - he mixed everything before hand, then heated up quite a bit of oil and fried the eggs and fixin's basically. It was also quite good. The dessert, (my first time having dessert since I have been here, aside from the ice cream cones) was a dish with green pumpkin, sweet corn, coconut milk from powder and coconut sugar It was one of the best things that I have had since coming to Beijing.

After eating I sat in the dining area and talked with them about music and the ukulele. It was a fun evening. I went up and said howdy to Ben and now I am heading to bed. Sorry no photos today: it is too late and I am too tired.  Hopefully my G.I. woes will resolve quickly and I will be more myself tomorrow.  Good night and God bless.



My turkey Beaker and me in the bluebonnets in Texas.  A little glimpse of home.