in which danielle is too old not to get excited about rain and roads, egyptian ruins, our first kiss.

i woke up this morning with this horrible feeling of melancholy, just a hard knot in my chest that i've been trying to unravel all day without luck. it's been raining hard the past few days along with this bone-deep chill that seems to only be cured by a pair of warm arms. even so i kind of want to be alone right now and just wallow in my apartment. i've felt this before so i know the best thing to do is to go out and be productive, which i did - latte at starbucks then some groceries at centurymart. also took half an hour to study chinese and text some friends. i'm dragging my sorry corpse out tonight for work at 6:30, followed by supper and foot massage with a buddy of mine, so hopefully that helps a little.

i wish:
i was braver
i was stronger
i was a better person
i deserved anyone in my life

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edit: so i guess all it took to feel better was listening to t.i. and painting my toenails pink. who would have guessed!!

still loving the juno soundtrack. also, good friends.

i have not felt this vulnerable in a long time. i don't know what's wrong with me.

in which danielle makes chinese soup.

my first week back in hangzhou, three chinese buddies came over and showed me how to make soup with a whole chicken, veggies, noodles, and stock. it was totally awesome and so as it has been really rainy and cold the past couple of days, i was inspired to create my own pseudo-sino soup. chinese soups are great because they're never too heavy or rich, they're just packed with vegetables and fresh ingredients with really natural, simple flavours. i went to the grocery store this morning, picked up a bunch of nice veggies and some egg dumplings and then got to work.

i used:
- spinach
- 1 package of egg dumplings stuffed with pork
- thin, handmade noodles (gift from a friend - fresh from her nearby hometown!!)
- dried mushrooms
- garlic
- ginger
- pepper
- chicken stock
- water

i made the base with just water, stock, some black pepper, diced garlic, and big chunks of the ginger. when it was getting hot i threw the remaining ingredients in - after it had boiled for a minute, i let the concoction simmer for a few more and then it was ready. all told, took about 20 minutes from start to finish and the result was hot and delicious, absolutely perfect for today. next time i would add shallots, cilantro and maybe some more veggies - also overcooked the dumplings a bit but otherwise, reaaally good.

i had to go to hong kong for three days in order to get my work visa. it was a fantastic trip - i jammed so much sightseeing in, but my favourite thing was ultimately just walking around and watching the daily activities of the city. it's a great place - good vibe, vibrant, huge mish mesh of cultures and walks of life. i stayed in a little hostel in tsim sha tsui on kowloon, it was a bit of a rough neighbourhood but there was definitely lots to see and do within the surrounding area. would go back to hk in a heartbeat.

in which danielle gets a health exam.

at 9:30 on the dot this morning, i was picked up by my lovely lao ban, auntie lin, and we proceeded off to the Zhejiang Travel Healthcare Centre for my "healthy test". after forking over about 80 bucks and filling out some forms i was all set to dive headfirst into a myriad of tests. blood was first, went smoothly, and then i hit my first roadblock - the dreaded urine sample.

they handed me the little plastic cup, i went to the bathroom, mei you xiaobian. no pee. wait, okay, a little bit. i went back out and showed them. not enough, stupid waiguo ren, throw it out and try again! it was hard enough forcing it the first time but bravely i threw out my first cup and got a second one. naturally this somehow fell out of my hand and into the toilet. i came out, explained with halting chinese and mime as to what had happened. the staff were not impressed. out came the third cup. back to the bathroom i went, praying that somehow i would magically need to pee. as was expected nothing happened. auntie lin was getting a bit impatient by this time and decided to force 4 cups of water into me before lugging me off to the next tests, which would give me ample time to want to empty my bladder.

the next test was a weight, height, and eye exam. the good news is i apparently lost 5 lbs since i came to china despite copious amounts of booze and subway; i am now at roughly 145 lbs!!! incredible!!!!! thank you china (although i have a feeling this has something to do with my bout of food poisoning this past weekend)!!!!!! eyes weren't too hot even though i was wearing contacts but mei wenti. test 3 was an ultrasound. the woman grunted at me, pointed to a bed, i complied and lay down. she rucked my shirt up and unceremoniously dumped really cold liquid on my stomach then schlepped the device down. roughly five seconds later she threw a kleenex on my tummy and grunted again. i took this as a positive sign, cleaned up and went on my merry way to blood pressure lady.

blood pressure lady had no patience for my lack of chinese and got really angry when i had no idea what her purpose was or what i was supposed to do. i got yelled at in putonghua for a good minute until auntie lin gently gestured to the blood pressure machine (i'd had no idea that was the test i was getting) and all was suddenly well. blood pressure seemed good, now off to a heart test. once again my clothes were shoved up and weird liquid was dumped on me along with clampy things placed at various spots on my chest, stomach, and ANKLE. the concensus??? i drink too much alcohol so my heart is too fast! i'm sure that has nothing to do with being SCARED and FREEZING as i was half naked in a hospital WITHOUT HEAT and sporting OPEN WINDOWS. on a rainy +11 day. come on. auntie lin admonished me against the dangers of pi jiu as we proceeded to the x-ray. this was the most normal test of all of them and therefore not worthy of a paragraph.

at last it was time to return to the urine test, so i retrieved cup #4 and marched off to my stall. even after four cups of water, pressure to perform had somehow paralyzed me and i could only produce meager amounts of urine. it was just barely enough to satisfy the surly urine nurses but they stamped the forms and finally, finally, i was allowed to leave health check hell.

two hours later i'm now cold and starving but boy do i ever have to pee!!!