Unsurprisingly Randomness

Mmmmmmm........

Recently, I have done more translation work than usual (not too splendid a job, but conveniently workable most of the time) and have discovered a profound respect for (and desire to have) the ability to engage in simultaneous translation. With a fellow American at my side, I will ask a price for some good at the market in Chinese: "这个多少钱？" and get a response: "六块钱" and then turn to my not-Chinese-speaking friend and say, "六块钱" and wait for them to respond with whether they want to buy the item or not.

....

And they stare at me until I realize that I have passed on to them the same foreign sounds that the vendor had made without adding any additional meaning. Oops.

I will have to study Chinese very hard and for a long time to even begin to hope to train to be a simultaneous translator. Then I will have to become absorbed in that study and stay practiced, all of which seems unlikely (but not impossible to one who is still in the honeymoon stages of learning Chinese and seriously considering staying in China long-term). If nothing else, I want to exercise my mind in the way that I have been told simultaneous translators do. One exercise is to listen to long excerpts of speech, then repeat back all of the important details. I guess one could begin to repeat back the information while still listening to most closely approximate the experience. Or, one could read a book and listen to spoken words simultaneously and be tested on either after the fact. The types of mental exercises simultaneous translators do go a touch beyond the crossword puzzles and sudoku games that are generally thought to invigorate the minds of older generations.

I have a short list of things I think I never want to forget to do. It is a strange list, and now, these exercises are on it. Many of the others are things on that list include features I want in my future home. Silly things like several circuit breakers dedicated to the outlets in my kitchen, since that is where I am by far the most likely to use a whole lot of electricity all at once. And I want big windows, and a grassless garden full of winding paths and fruit trees and vegetables and spices. And I want to live somewhere where I can harvest those wonderful delights year-round and have little or no use for either air-conditioning or heating. I want a hot water dispenser, too -- have I mentioned that I have most of this here in China? It is quite nice testing out my future dreams =)

Now for a few pictures...

Until I was served "All Brain" cereal at a restaurant the other day, the stuff pictured above was the closest thing I could find to the type of Western cereal I liked to eat (this and one type of cracker, actually, called "Silang Oats Biscuit"). These puffs of flour and sugar are made by a wonderful contraption that is hauled out onto the sidewalk, warmed up, and then run continuously by one vendor as another makes the sales. The machine operator dumps small piles of a wheat-and-sugar mixture into a funnel over the machine, and the machine (I think) brings the mixture to such a high heat that the sugar rather immediately liquefies and cooks itself and the flour into these airy puffs, shaped by the outlet through which it escapes as a tube and by the scissor cutting action of the doubly-employed machine operator. Pour with one hand, cut with the other. They come out of the machine hot and chewy, and very soon assume their long-term crunchiness. Delicious little treats...

Isn't this the sexiest radish you have ever seen? I saw this in the market, and new we were meant to be together. Long, white daikon radishes are the norm, here -- but they do not usually appear to have a belly button and voluptuous crossed legs. It was hard to bring myself to finally eat this piece of art but, you know... I did.

This cauliflower excited the mathematician in me. It just seems to confirm that nature is as big a fan of this math stuff as I am. It knows beauty when it makes it.

This lotion speaks for itself.

Squirrels are only found in zoos here. After going to this miniature zoo, I felt terribly guilty for having perpetuated the confinement of animals in a place like this. While I will avoid any mini-zoos hereafter, I figure I should at least make use of this last visit. Notice the tufts of hair on this little squirrel's ears; does anyone know where such a squirrel would come from?

And, does anyone know what this thing is?
It's tail reminded me of a Tasmanian devil, so I was thinking that maybe it is a marsupial of some sort. This was the only animal whose cage was buffered by an empty space that would not allow visitors to get anywhere near it, further encouraging my thought that it was at least related to the T. devil. I have done no research on it since, and would love a positive ID.

I am posting this at 4am, after having woke up at about 3:30am for no particular reason. And now I am going back to bed. Good night!