So today was pretty dull. I had to get up early for a medical exam. Carol came with us and the cab ride was about an hour to the building (only about $15 for the ride...cabs are SO cheap here it amazes me!!). The exam was pretty straightforward, but they kept having me go from room to room to have one procedure or another. So that was weird. But it didn't take too long...only about one hour or so. Also, we learned that Kerry doesn't have to have a medical exam tomorrow after all, so we are very happy about this. (At least, that's what we are being told today.)
After breakfast, we went to a Starbucks near the Century Mart. The food was pretty good: here, the drinks are expensive (about $5-6 each) and the sandwiches are pretty cheap (about $3-4 each). In the US, it's the opposite. The most bizarre part of the experience is that we went upstairs, and we then proceeded to hear one CHRISTMAS song after another: "The Christmas Song," "Winter Wonderland," etc. Keep in mind it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit today...
It was fun conversing with Carol during breakfast about Americans. She asked a lot of questions about how Americans behave and we tried to fill her in. She wondered about things like Halloween, American sense of personal space, road rage in the US, etc. It was fun to be in the position of advisor after spending so much time these last few days in the position of advisee.
When we got back to the place, Carol cornered a maintenance man and had him check out our water again. They had a lengthy discussion (in Chinese, of course) about the situation. It does seem to me that the Chinese are very....well, loud. It always makes me wonder if they are arguing, but they don't look upset to me. But they tend to have much louder voices than Americans, which makes me wonder if they are angry, yet they don't appear to be. Suffice it to say, apparently the shower faucet has to be in a certain position in order to work properly. However, when I tried to wash dishes this evening, I got no hot water in the kitchen sink. I wonder if part of all this is due to being on the 23rd floor.....
Kerry and I napped in the afternoon, and then we had spaghetti for dinner (no parm cheese!). Then I worked on my class prep a bit. I am looking forward to the first day...just one class, the Honors undergrads...on Monday.
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