Pierre is leaving China

Pierre, the gentle giant... my friend, my cousin Pierre is leaving in July.

He has helped me so much in his stay in China... I simply cannot imagine life without him in this country. 

I met him first in 2004, when he arrived in China and didn’t know anything about this strange country. 

Throughout his stay here he always stayed calm, wise and nice to everyone.

He was even nice to my ex-boyfriend, who definitely was not a nice person.

Every time we would fight with my ex, Pierre would be the person I call.. to talk about what happened, to cry, to complain, to be consoled. 

He had all the reasons, he refused to believe in anything bad, he always refuted all the evil ideas and mean words said and found a way for things to work out. 

He was my anchor in the stormy seas, a window to a happy place.

I have never seen him angry... well, maybe once, when we were in the zoo, and the 100-th Chinese turned to stare at him, he was annoyed and shouted - do not stare at me, there are much more interesting animals here.

Pierre, who always had time to talk and listen.

Pierre, who was always there for me when I had to move house, carrying heavy things without as much as a sigh from corner to corner in my new apartments until I was satisfied. 

Pierre, who always supported all my decisions, be it to buy the n-tieth mobile phone, change a job or a hairstyle or even break up with my boyfriend. 

For the last he stayed and listened to me talk about my reasons for 6 straight hours...without ever appearing bored or tired. Then he came with me to the airport to get my earrings, which I had forgotten in the hotel room of a guy last night. That hotel room, and the time I spent there made me realize that I had to break off the poisonous relationship that still weighed on me. Weighed with dead weight, because there was no love, no trust, nothing... Pierre listened for 6 hours, and agreed with me - You need something better than that, Sue.

Pierre, who I call my cousin, because sometimes families are not based on blood, he couldn’t be real family, but  to me is more than that, even if I call him simply cousin.

Pierre, who always has an advice for a difficult moment.

Pierre, who laughs with all his heart when he is happy and you can see that in his eyes.

Pierre, who loves pizza and good music.

Pierre, who is friends with everyone. 

Pierre, who is always late for everything but you cannot get angry at him when he appears and smiles and says Ah, Sue!

Pierre is leaving China. 

I’ll stop writing because I am going to cry.

Cooks Gathering Lunch?

Now now, I know that the tennis center where our kindergarten is situated suffers from  money problems, but the sight this morning caught me off-guard. All the cooks, in full kitchen attire, plus hats, are on the camp grounds picking unidentified green things. Together with them is the canteen boss, two cleaning ladies, and god knows why, the accountant. 

All squatting down and inspecting intently the grass. 

I really hope we won't be eating the result of their work at lunch. 

Beijing Taxi Driver Diagnosed My Mom

Today I had a spectacular taxi driver on my way back from work.
I flagged him down on Guo Mao and while he was driving me to Nanluoguxiang, where I had to meet my friends, he was listening to the radio. The station playing was on health topics.
First an old lady explained that she is 74 and she has a number of diseases - some of them were diabetes, insomnia, anemia and a small benign tumor on her arm. She spoke about 10 min while the radio host was trying in vain to interject something, then the driver sighed and changed to another health topics station. Noticing my interest in his choice, he asked me if I understood the programs. I confessed that I understood, and I asked him why he was so much interested in this.
He explained that these are programs, which tell you how to cure, or keep in check any existing illness that you might have. I didn’t really believe, and it probably showed on my face, so he decided to prove it to me.

He asked does anyone in my family have any health problems.
The first thing that came to my mind, was the high blood pressure my mom suffers from.
The driver jumped happily in his seat - Of course! It’s really simple! She has a problem with her cervical vertebrae! (脑颈椎)
-Oh? - i was surprised
- Yes! How high is her blood pressure?
- 280/220 - I ventured from memory.
-And her bottom reading?
- it’s 220.
- And does it fluctuate sometimes?
- I guess so....
- Does it go down when she takes her pills?
- I think it does.
-Exactly! - the driver was sure - She has a problem with her cervical vertebrae!
- But how can you know?- i was curious.
- It is always like that. Does her neck hurt?
- No, it doesn’t - I tried to say.
- Exactly! There are many kinds of problems with the cervical vertebrae, and only some of them hurt!
- How can she know if she really has a problem there? - I asked, even more curious.
- Very easy, - explained the driver, - tell her to check if the temperature on her neck is constant, on all of the neck. I am sure that some places are cold, and some are hot.
- I see - I said, - But she is a bit overweight, and it might not be obvious.
- Oh, than she must sweat a lot on her neck!
- I think she does - I agreed
- Now, that’s the reason - the driver insisted.
-I have a low blood pressure - I told him - What about me?
- Cervical vertebrae!
-Me too?
- Of course! - replied confidently the driver. - All blood problems are because of cervical vertebrae.
- But how can you know it’s that simple? - I inquired, even more curious.
- It’s usually a very simple reason. You the Westerners, you like to complicate everything and take a lot of tests and pills. We have a long history in studying health and we know.

I was impressed.

- Let me see your left hand! - he asked.
I obliged.
After looking at my palm for about 3 seconds, he gave his opinion:
- You like to dream, don’t you?
- Hmmm, yes, but who doesn’t?
-Nooo, you don’t understand - he seemed dejected. - On your palm you have a lot of small lines and from there I could see that you like to dream.

I had to agree, I do have a lot of dreams when I sleep and I do enjoy them.

-Call your mom and tell her to check her cervical vertebrae.
- I will - I promised.

Then we arrived at Nanluoguxiang and unfortunately he couldn’t share more of his health wisdom with me, but I thanked him.

You never know what will happen to you in any day in Beijing, but one thing I do know - we live in interesting times here. Just like in the old so-called Chinese curse - May You Live In Interesting Times.

I don’t find it a curse, though :)

I will call my mom tonight.... just in case, you know.

Thinking of home

Today Beijing spoiled us with clouds.

The usual flat blue skies of spring, interspersed with dust, today were crystal clear.

I was sitting in my office,looking outside the window and sighing.

It looked eerily like Bulgaria...

In past holidays there I usually took at least 20 pictures a day of clouds. My parents and friends thought me slightly deranged... but I didn't care, the clouds were amazing!!!

I posted this picture on twitter with the Bulgarian feeling that came with it.

Then a Brazilian friend (@corujinha) replied : "I had the same impression, but remind me the south Brazil... feeling nostalgic"

Today Beijing wore a cloudy summer dress, and it made us all dream of home.

Blogging on a Mac

...is not at all easy. I thought it will be, but it proves me wrong.

I had been using Windows Live Writer in my Windows days, and loved the simplicity of it. Now that I have a Macbook ( and absolutely love it ) I decided to try the blogging editors that are out there.

iWeb is the first choice, it’s amazing, but does not publish to Blogger.

Next was Ecto, which refuses to import pictures from iPhoto. Even the option from the drop down menu is grayed out.

Now I am downloading VM Ware and very reluctantly will install windows for the sole purpose of running Windows Live Writer.

Posted with LifeCast

Surprise, i have a Blogger account!

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon and I was sitting happily on my Mac, engrossed in Twitter and random news sites. Then @Ceena tweeted about an interesting website where you could check if your online name is taken on number of social media sites ( www.namechk.com) and I decided to give it a try.
My online name was indeed taken on the websites where I use it, but, surprise, it was also taken ot Blogger!
I went to investigate and found out that I have registered a Blogger account in 2004. Since in that time Blogger was actually blocked in China - a fact that you got to know only after the registration, when you decided to see your new site - I didn't use it at all and forgot about it.

Until today :)

So I find myself with a new blog, in addition to the two others I have - Girl Talks Tech and Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost and filling them up will be a challenge.

Blogger has a clear advantage now, because I will be able to post from my phone, which is not at all easy with Live Spaces accounts.

And there is a picture to celebrate the spirit of Saturdays - as we see, full of discoveries :)