Sorry, No Pictures

Posted on October 7, 2007 by Meg

On the morning of the third day of my food poisoning adventure, I awoke and… Ok, “I awoke” is clearly wrong as I hadn’t been sleeping so much as lying there wondering why the clock was moving so slowly, in between Flash-like speed on my trips to the bathroom. So let me rephrase that:

Stick awoke and asked me how long my fingernails had been blue. It was the final straw in our decision to go to the hospital.

“Should I bring my camera?” Stick asked, as we got ready to leave for the hospital.

“Why would you do that? If my mom sees me like this, she’ll freak out!”

“You know, so you can blog about it later.”

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Not Dead, Just Resting

Posted on October 7, 2007 by Meg

So, I got an awful case of food poisoning on our last night in Hohhot, and, after 48 hours of misery, we went to the hospital. I got an immediate glucose IV, and they did some tests to rule out diseases I thought were extinct. Chinese employees often get nervous and flustered when confronted with a Westerner in their place of business, but I still wish it hadn’t taken the nurse quite so many stabs to find my vein.

I have a pile more Mongolia pictures to post and some hospital adventures, too, but I have to go back to sleep now.

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Dazhou Temple

Posted on October 3, 2007 by Meg

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Hohhot Mosque

Posted on October 2, 2007 by Meg

On our first day, we walked down to the Great Mosque. We knew we were getting close because we started to see Muslim butcher shops and the architecture of the whole area changed. There was quite a bit of staring and a little pointing, but I didn’t feel any hostility. Stick and I hadn’t seen another white face since the Beijing airport, so the staring seemed natural. (I can’t beleive I typed that)

The whole place was so beautiful, and we took a lot of pictures but I can’t see to find a picture to show the whole thing properly. Instead, here’s a bit of decoration on one side of one of the arches in one of the courtyards.

Only Muslims are allowed in the worship hall, but we walked around the grounds. The men smiled and asked where we were from, but between my limited vocab and the strange dialect, I had trouble understanding anything else.

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Fire Escape

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Meg
Stick models the in-case-of-fire headgear thoughtfully provided by our hotel.
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You Can Take The Girl Out Of Jersey….

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Meg
The first step of our trip was a visit to the Beijing airport Starbucks. Delicious foamy milk, real coffee and a little break from the National Day crowds.

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National Day

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Meg
Made by the kindergarten classes at my school.
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Cinderella

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Meg

Stick and I had some last minute errands to run (camera batteries, closed-toe walking shoes, snacks, etc.) before our trip to Hohhot, so we took the bus to the local shopping mall. The market was a disaster with hordes of National Day shoppers.

Actually, the whole thing reminded me of Christmas Eve in the states. There was a festive atmosphere and nice seasonal decorations, but I just wanted to get home before I was crushed by a swarm of frenzied holiday consumers.

I found the shoes I wanted, and began to dig through the pile left by the swarm of shoppers. Chinese shoe sizes are sort of a mystery to me… I pulled off the sandal I was wearing, and found that I’m a 245, but the shelf by the women’s shoes was marked with 20.3 I started to pull slippers off the rack and compare to my sandal, when Stick decided he was tired of shoe-shopping.

“This one’s your size,” Stick said, reaching into the pile and pulling out a perfect pair of black 245 slippers.

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Blogspot Unblocked?

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Meg

If you’re reading this through an RSS reader in China, check and see if Blogspot has become magically unblocked in your area, too!

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Booking A Hotel

Posted on September 30, 2007 by Meg

I understand that grammar and punctuation are optional on the internet, but isn’t forbidding the use of punctuation taking it a bit too far?

eLong.net is breaking this English teacher’s heart.
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