Too much dampness

Everything in Xiamen is quickly coming to a close. Tomorrow I have my Chinese final. I am not sure how that one is going to turn out. What's most frustrating about Chinese, is I don't think I have found a foolproof way of studying. We have a lot we need to memorize and I have yet to find a way to make all of it stick. I don't like feeling like I am wasting my time. It's not like I've lots of time to spare. Well, seeing that the test is tomorrow, I won't have to worry about such things for much longer.

Monday is another final. This time for Contemporary Society. I don't think it should be that difficult. No biggie.

I just put in a load of laundry. I don't know how often we'll have access to a washing machine on Travel Component. If it's anything like MESP then we will have zero access, so that's what I am preparing for. Doing laundry here is a pain. To start with, the washing machines don't fit that much into them. You think they do, judging by the size, but it's all a lie. The water only fills up basically to the half way point. I am using a bag from H&M to throw all my dirty clothes in. One full medium size H&M bag is just about how much will fit into the machine. Not very much at all. Laundry here is pretty cheap--3 yuan per load (about $0.40), but again, nothing is easy. In China there are one yuan bills as well as one yuan coins. You need the coins to operate the washing. I always seem to only have one or two coins. Not the required three. Lame. Also because of the lack of dryers here and the humid air, you have to make sure you leave enough time for the clothes to dry. For me it's taken about two days, but if it starts to rain, who knows...

I had one of the best meals of China today. When I first got here, I was really disappointed by the lack of variety when it came to food. Now I am discovering new and wonderful things. I don't know if that is because I've been brainwashed into thinking that rice for every meal amazing, or if I am just expanding my pallet. I think that a lot if it is truly trial and error. It helps when there is an English menu, but even then, I am never sure exactly what I am getting. Today I had sour and spicy fried eggplant. Amazing. It was basically eggplant french fries with a sweet and sour like dipping sauce. So good. I am loving all the eggplant options here. Lots of variety and all good. I think that eggplant is my new favorite vegetable. I also had tofu. Normally I am not a fan of such nonsense, but there was a vegetarian in our little lunch group. This tofu was quite good. I would get it again. It tasted like chicken. And I think it was breaded or something so it didn't have the slimy texture to it. On our way back to campus, we stopped in at our normal juice bar. All the workers recognize us. I think I go pretty much everyday. I had a watermelon/strawberry juice. Love it. Oh fun fact to know and tell, I just learned in my Chinese medicine class that because watermelon is a cooling food, you should eat it whenever you have skin problems. It cools down the fire that is creating the impurities. Just fyi.

Speaking of Chinese medicine, today we had an acupuncture lesson taught by a real life acupuncturist. At the end of his lecture he offered to do acupuncture on anyone who wanted it. Joni has a hurt food so she had some done. Another girl had some done on her knee. Bryce, one of the three guys on CSP, has neck problems so he decided he wanted some done. After the professor inserted the needles (four in total) Bryce started to look pretty pale. Then he started to look REALLY pale. The professor noticed and quickly took the needles out. By this time Bryce had lost all color in is face. And then he fainted. He was out. For like 5 minutes. I would have been worried but the professor was there and he didn't seem worried at all. He was just calmly supporting Bryce's head. And then he started to put pressure on that space between your top lip and your nose. Apparently that is supposed to bring people around. Bryce was gone. It took him a really long time to become coherent again. Apparently he's scared of needles. Best class of my life.

I didn't get acupuncture done. He did diagnose me though. He felt my pulse and looked at the color of my tongue. According to the pale color of my tongue, my qi is not as strong as it should be. Also, he said I have too much damp in me (not too sure how he came to this assessment), so I should avoid cold drinks. Interesting.