If I Ran the Zoo...(otherwise titled, If I Ran My Life)

If you could possibly witness part of our daily life, you, like me, would have a hard time figuring out which animal cage to make yourself comfy in. Life in general can be a balancing act, and of course each person will choose what sort of juggling club they want to throw into their mix. It just so happens I choose China (well, I would argue that China was chosen for me). Sometimes, I want to know, why there is only a sheet of glass between me and the tiger or why is the wall that stops me entering the alligator pit only a metre high while the chasm that separates me from the elephant is so vast in comparison? No matter how hard I try, regular eating times seem impossible because the rice cooker doesn't like brown rice and yet another scooter thought it could take on bus no. 33 and still make it home for dinner on time.

I have 5 different kinds of flour in my house. One for miàn tiáo (noodles), one for bāo zi and mán tou (steamed bread), one for jiǎo zi (dumplings) and won tons (On a small side note, did you know that won ton isn't even Chinese? Its Chinese name is hún tún and that's the Chinese name for the western style Chinese dumpling. That's right -- you can all go complain at your local Chinese resturant now. You still don't know any Chinese.), quán mài fěn (whole wheat flour), and dī jīn miàn fěn (low fiber, cake flour).

Today, I thought I'd ended up taking a 6 month pregnant lioness shopping rather than my friend. The women left me trailing far behind and literally went from 10am to 2pm on her feet, only sitting down for 1/2 hour for the spiciest noodle bowl you can imagine. Everyday, she does her pre-natal yoga and climbs 3 flights of stairs. Its no wonder they beat us in gymnastics every four years...

The other day, I successfully managed to make my art teacher mad by asking about possibly buying another teachers work and also told my class mate that I came to Nanning to go to the hospital (because January and hospital both sound remarkably similar). Jason has one up on me because he told his friend that he 'likes little girls'. He really meant to say that he likes that his wife is short.

My husband prowls the house, searching the cupboards to look for things to cook in the pressure cooker. You can be forgiven if you don't know what a pressure cooker is...as long as you don't live in Asia, but seriously, its so much better than a rice cooker! And its cast iron cookware all the way baby! Yes! I can do something for the environment here!

Lastly for now, Jason says we can buy a fish or two. Our pet-less life is really nice in light of the fact we like to travel but fish are pretty easy. However, I'd really like to get some kind of lizard (we'll name him Steve) to eat the cockroach colony that we apparently share an apartment with. Please tell me how can I get rid of cockroaches in an environmentally friendly way in a country where you can't get borax or any other environmentally friendly pest control? Besides, they eat garlic. These are tough little bikkies.

But now, school is out and next week, we'll be off to explore new lands and try the local delicacies (its turning out good for me that Jason isn't a vegetarian after all) and take photos. I think some new scenery will be good for all of us.