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Friday, September 16, 2016

Things You Don't See in Nebraska

Super Typhoon
I've been in mild earthquakes in California and tornado warnings in Tornado Alley though I've never had one touch down near me. I read, I Survived the Japanese Tsunami of 2011 to my students, last year and I thought for sure I was giving some of them nightmares. If I did I never heard about it, but it was definitely on my mind throughout the night of the Super Typhoon. Really a typhoon? Growing up, like most children, I found natural disasters interesting, but I am pretty sure typhoons were not on my radar.

After doing a little research, I found out that the atmospheric cyclone commonly known as the typhoon is,... like... a hurricane. They have different names in different parts of the world.  See the map below.



I don't want to blather on about the devastation in Xiamen. I'll just say day to day life for many of the locals is pretty tough. They work hard and end up without much to show for it. So the impact is felt the most by them. I'm posting a couple pictures I took of my neighborhood. I admit I got choked up when I gingerly emerged yesterday. It looked a lot like those videos you see on the news after major catastrophes and I was in it. But this is not devastating in comparison with many world tragedies. No lives have been officially reported lost in Xiamen, though I have heard of a death by electrocution, after the storm.



Every room in my home has big windows. Yes, even the bathroom. And they don't have typhoon shelters, so I just went to bed. When the heat (my air conditioner stopped working when the electricity went off) or the sound of the storm woke me... I jumped down into the space between my bed and wardrobe because, it was deafening and I was sure a some huge piece of debris was going to fly threw my window, at any moment, and hit me where I lay. When I dropped down I landed in water. Yep. My 13th floor apartment was covered in 2-3 inches of water. Turns out it came in, under the door, from the hallway(there are a ton of windows out there) and from under the sliding glass door, because the balcony drain was clogged. Regardless of why, it was quite surprising. I was informed later that actually I should have also been scared of being sucked out of the window. Oh.

I live alone with no other teacher or foreigner, that I know of, residing in my building, but the whole time I was in conversation with other teachers and local friends through WeChat, the social media platform of choice, in China. They were saying things like, "I'm scared.", "My building is really swaying" and "One of my windows just blew out.", so.. I'm not sure why I was comforted, :) , but I was.

I am back. I left for a short time because I heard my water turn back on. I re-filled all my containers, did the dishes and... I'm back. I had water for most of the day, but then it stopped again. There is a rumor or not- maybe it's true, that Xiamen will turn off their water for 96 hours starting at 11pm tonight to fix some problems. I hope it is a fake message, as some are saying.


The floors in both bedrooms are ruined.


The washing machine was ripped from the wall,
knocked over and cracked, but it still works.
And it's still ugly.


My favorite walking/ running trail :( .

Tonight's hope filled sky.

Mid-Autumn Festival; Moon cakes and a dice game
So there is this 3,000 year old holiday happening this weekend, too.
This is a 4 day weekend for most people in China. It's Mid-Autumn Festival.


Here's What I Know: 
-After New Year's, it is the biggest annual celebration. 

-It happens when the moon is at its fullest. People used to worship the moon during the festival. 

-Moon cakes are shared and eaten at this time. Some are expensive and fancy and some are not. There is a multitude of types and flavors. I got some pretty nice ones as a gift from a student. Starbucks, Godiva and Haagen Dazs even make moon cakes.

-A traditional dice game is played everywhere around the time of the festival. They use a red glass bowl and dice to play it. You hear the distinct sound everywhere. If you spend more than the designated amount at most retail stores, you get to play for the chance to win stuff. I won! It doesn't really matter what, I was just so happy to win. I saw someone win a small package of tissue, so I think I did well. 


There is also some legend about an elixir and someone's wife flying to the moon.


Church
I've wen
t to the Xiamen International Church a few times. There is only one like it here. They can share what they like with two restrictions. China has two rules: you MUST wear a name tag and be a foreign passport holder or be married to one (and have your passport with you) to attend. They occasionally come and check, though not since I've been here.

They do have nationally recognized churches that Chinese citizens can attend but, from what I und
erstand, they can only preach from certain sections of the bible and they cannot talk about the resurrection. Christianity without the resurrection...hmm?

Things You Don't See in Nebraska
So here we are- the whole reason I quickly
 wrote this post. I need to share my two big blunders. 

First of all, today I threw out my salt because it's gross! I've talked about my salt with many people. "Is your salt not very salty either?" and "Is your salt strangely shaped?" , etc. I have been, at times, salt obsessed. I even bought the salt with another foreigner. 

"I haven't seen salt anywhere?"-Me. 
"Here." walking and motioning, "It has sodium in the title."- fellow foreigner. 
"Oh. Yeah. I didn't see that" Me, sheepishly tossing one into my basket.

Well, today, after tossing it out, I typed the name of my 'salt' into Google. It is called Monosodium Glutamate and that, friends, is MSG. 

Yep, I have been adding. MSG. to my own. food. 

And it doesn't even taste good.




Secondly, I found out two days ago that the smaller facet on the right of my sink above the smaller sink is not the filtered water. The main tap is and I, (insert dramatic pause) have been drinking straight China water during my time here, thus far. 

Other Things You Don't See Everywhere

Is that a Sting Ray? I see them everywhere. 

All dried seafood. 

Oreos come in a lot of flavors. 

What are these for? 


All the brooms are half sized. Why? 

That is a big canister. Over 30 pounds. 

Shoe covers. For when it
rains. Maybe not a bad idea. 

I usually try to do something new and exciting each weekend. I was actually suppose to run a 5K this weekend, 4 hours west of here in Sanming but I didn't go due to the storm. Instead, I have been doing a puzzle as I listen to the Little House on the Prairie book, The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

And I think that is enough 'adventure' for this weekend.

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