Of course you do. You may be under the impression that the Chinese are completely genetically skinny, almost putting forth no effort to maintain their size negative physique. They inhale large bowls of rice and noodles without taking a breath. They never really partake in sports, unless if it involves a racket. Their main form of exercising is drawing anime and studying (mainly math equations). While some of these stereotypes are true to an extent (a large one at that) many of you may be shocked to find that the Chinese exercise. Quite a bit at that.
I discovered this secret a couple weeks ago. It was a random night, and it was around 10 PM. I was feeling the stress of China and my large amounts of exams so I decided to go on a late night run around the track outside my dorm. I figured I would be alone given the time of night and my previous assumptions of the Chinese. I was surprised to find thousands of people running, walking, sauntering, and in general lugging themselves around the track. Okay not thousands, but there had to be at least 100 to 200 people running around the track. Most not even listening to music, some jogging and gossiping with friends. In the middle of the track there was a large group practicing Kung Fu and Tai Chi. I looked over towards the Communist Chinese playground and every single plaything was occupied by at least three people. The monkey bars seemed to be the most popular. I really need to get a picture of it, because it is completely insane. Now I understand why I get such funny looks when I run around the track during the daylight. I can't figure out why everyone runs at night. One of my more logical theories is that they are too busy having class all day, but I think it's because no one can see anyone. I kind of like it as well because I blend in pretty well.
Also, many Chinese girls have taken up the American habit of constantly stating to their friends (or anyone) that they are "fat". To this I usually respond "well then what am I?". Seriously, these girls are skinny to a point that they wouldn't be able to come close to fitting into woman's sizes. a size 24 would be sagging off of them. A double 00 (same thing) would not suffice, some girls are more around a size -4. Their thighs are half the size of mine, even with my couple pound weight loss I got goin on.
In other news, everyone here contracted some sort of plague from the Tibetan Mountain village they visited last weekend. My poor roommate spent the last night throwing up in the squatty, and the night before Craig, Mal, Bret and Audra were all infected. I think it must be food poisoning because neither me Dan, Scott, Shoji nor Sam contracted it. God that would be miserable.
It's really funny to hear the Chinese explanations of why we are sick. And the remedies they give us for our sickness. In America, when we have the stomach flu we just expel the fluids until there is nothing left. Our parents might give us some pepto bismal (which quickly gets thrown up)and some gatorade and saltines to help. I have yet to see any of those things in China. Winnie went to the student hospital and came out with about a thousand herbs for everyone to take. She also advised the girls to drink water, but only warm water. You see, it is not appropriate for women to eat or drink anything cold. It needs to be Lukewarm or Hot. I think it's because cold things cause infertility or something. Most things here aren't refrigerated anyway. Their frugality rivals Matt's. He refuses to turn up the heat when I am cold, but will give in a little. I'm pretty sure the Chinese don't have heat in any of their buildings, or refrigeration. It's always a shock when I reach my hand in what I think is a fridge expecting a cold drink to find it the same temperature as their friends on the shelves. The only thing they refrigerate here is yogurt.
Tuesday morning I woke up to quite a bit of commotion. People out in the hall were screaming. I had a bad migraine so I was slightly upset. I walked out to find Audra yelling about voodoo magic being performed in her room. Turns out the "voodoo magic" was another ancient Chinese healing tactic. Winnie's stomach hadn't been feeling well so she had Johanna scrape the skin off of the backside of her elbow on her right arm. I tried to ask her about it but she said it couldn't translate. She also told me a couple hours later she felt quite better. Hmmm.
I took another nap later that day because my migraine got pretty out of hand. I was awoken to two of my favorites, Tao and New year. Like most Chinese they only have one volume: LOUD. My stepmom would say that they had the loudspeaker on when they were talking. And oh, they do. They were asking Kara and I about how we were feeling and then proceeded to tell us the reason that we were sick was because of the weather, and how the air was changing. Then New Year opened the window and told us to drink warm water. Great. Well, as rational as that diagnosis sounded Kara was sick because she had food poisoning and I had a migraine because I was severely dehydrated. I try and drink three liters of water minimum here but sometime's it's not enough. I really don't know how the Chinese do it. They are very liberal with MSG, and many other salts and spices in Chinese cuisine, but especially in Sichuan cuisine. I usually get headaches from the little amount of MSG I eat at home but here it is just insane. You can't avoid it unless if you want to permanently be on the BRAT diet. I don't like bananas or applesauce and they don't have toasters here so I would just be on the R diet.
I guess that's all for now. I am going to Guang'an this weekend to meet New Year's family (who owns half of China) so I am looking forward to it! I am sure I will have plenty to say when I return.
Oh! Another interesting tidbit. Monday is some kind of holiday in China. So classes are cancelled that day. This is great, except in China, you make up those classes. We are going to have to Monday classes on Saturday. Good thing I'm going to be gone this weekend. Only in China.
Also this is my Chinese phone number: 13.880.752.4599 If for some reason someone wants to call me you can buy skype credit and call this number :)
I listened to the whole Let It Be album while writing this. It made me think of my dad. Hi dad!
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