View From Above

It is so hard for me to start my writings each day. It is that “blank canvas” freeze I get when I paint. Anyway, I have been jotting down some things to share and I think I will write this entry stream-of-conscious style.
Pigeons. After the money falling you probably won’t believe this so here it goes. Last night as I was playing with Hazel I looked out at the masses of apartment towers and thinking I spotted a naked man on top a building, (could I really be so lucky!?) my attention had been caught. “He” turned out to be a sheet dancing in the wind, anyway upon further investigation of my vista I noticed another man on the very top of his 17 story building. He was standing on top of an aviary dressed only in black pants and waving a long stick with a red rectangle of fabric that had Chinese characters running down it. He seemed to be waving it in a certain pattern. Chris came to the window and we decided he was training his pigeons of which there were about 15 flying in circular patterns around him, each circle round the building getting larger. It was such a trip. We just stood eyes fixed to the swooping of the flock. He waved and signaled his red flag and they started closing in on the aviary. As we were about to leave, he went down a level and opened a door, one by one the birds followed his flag and into the aviary for their evening meal.
Schell (our guide) seems to be politically savvy and quite environmentally minded in this country of the party line, litter, pollution, and constant hazards. Chris and I were intrigued by a water pillow in Wal-Mart and he warned us it was bad because the paint on it was poisonous-very bad. He has repeatedly told me he does not trust small restaurants because in China there are no standards and says when he eats at them he is sick for two days. He no longer eats shellfish, once a favorite of his as all of the Chinese waters are so heavily polluted. He also told me that it is better to buy produce from larger stores as they use less chemicals and pesticides? When I was trying to find soy milk he really didn’t want me to buy it because it is filled with preservatives and chemicals. I had been drinking(in my coffee) what I thought was soy milk but it is actually peanut milk. It looks like soy plants on the box and tastes real good in the coffee too-so I bought some more. He also says the last three summers he has been scared for as they are so hot it is miserable. He attributes the hotter summers to the onslaught of buildings being built. There is so little surface in Fuzhou that is not concrete. When talking about summer and the heat he repeats “it kills me.’” He is very excited about my love of food and orders things because he knows I will try anything-almost. Last night we had little dried glitter fish with chilies-pretty good, mini crabs-about the size of a quarter marinated in five spice and a lot of soy and maybe some salted plums-I guess you just sort of suck the marinade off and spit out the crab as they have very hard shells. I momentarily thought I was supposed to chew it up, and was contemplating how I would manage this, but he said it was most often just spit out-not my favorite. Then snails-not garlicky and buttery like from the French, but steamed tasty and simple. Octopus was next and it had been grilled a bit and served room temp. It was a little chewy but smoky and flavorful. We also had a really nice fish that had been cut into very thin steaks and was pan fried crispy. I dipped it in soy and vinegar and it was excellent. Schell got excited and went crazy ordering, so the food just kept coming; kung pao chicken, mildly curried beef, amazingly tender and fresh stir fried honeysuckle buds(this is the season-they look just like lily buds before they open and are bright, bright green), sautéed baby beet greens, thick rice noodles with squid and shiitakes and a bucket of fried rice. All of this eaten on a plate the size of a tea saucer and fortunately a wet wash cloth in place of a napkin or the chintzy kleenex napkins of our last visit. Beer and soda is served in the big bottle right on the lazy susan and you drink it out of a thimble sized glass-makes me feel like a lush filling up my glass 20 times during one meal! Onward to the grocery store for some dried fish for baby Victoria. Her parents are real bummed that her favorite food is the dried roasted fish that is part of the hotel mini bar-(which they fed to her in their last ditch attempt to get her to eat yesterday). They were stunned by her disinterest in the golden arches McNuggets? Whah happened?? The grocery store: first to check our bags? I don’t think so... I surely was not going to leave my bag at a check in. It turned out it was just for the food Susan and Schell had packed up from dinner. Chris, Hazel and I decided to wait in the entrance while Schell and Dan got fish, Victoria and Laura went to the potty and Susan went to get me bug repellent/bite salve. Laura was horrified by the true Chinese bathrooms. Sidenote:to our chagrin, far less squatty poties have been encountered and some places even provide TP-big changes in 3 years! Well once again, there we were. “Hello grocery store customers the very rare and strange unicorns have arrived and are at the entrance of our very own store-come have a look.” I was about to snap a shot of this total mayhem-people pushing in and out, everyone greeted by a woman with a headset microphone on, the smells of dried fish, fermented fruit, meat blood and to top it off a man with a megaphone intermittently yelling I don’t know; promotions? prices? and then HE, Mr. Bullhorn, yelled at me and motioned no photos!!! I’m pretty sure he was saying something like “Good evening shoppers. We have a very important and urgent announcement. There are four whiteys in the store-Drop all merchandise and run to the entrance of the store! Maybe you can touch one if you hurry fast.” Only hours before at the local department store the little “red lite special” jingle had gone off that starts an announcement and I believe they too were telling their patrons of the red white and blue special as clerks in their red vests clamored to get on the escalator with us and the backpack department quickly filled with “customers” as Chris and I proceeded to buy small day packs-they argue to wait on us. Oh, buying things in the department store....that in itself is a blog of it’s own. So tedious and inefficient and tiring and just plain annoying with all the back and forth and tiny slips of carbon copies and then the fear of losing your receipt and being held in a Chinese Fred Meyer until Dr. Susan bailed me out. Turns out in buying our packs we both bought the same color-orange! Yep the twinness pervades!
Today I spent the first part of the day at a beautiful monastery that of course is very very old and beautiful. Most of it was torn down and ruined during the revolution, but they are building it back to its original size and grandeur. They have the largest jade buddha outside of Myanmar(Burma). Quite interesting. The only downfall of this particular temple is that most of the Buddha's were in glass cases. Even so it was lovely and peaceful and the most non-cemented area I have seen in many days. It also smelled lovely from all of the incense. Chris did not make it as missy was napping, so we shall return and eat at the vegetarian restaurant. Today we did not go there as “the others” just wanted a “sandwich” and aren’t into veggie food. My guess is the Golden Arches of Fuzhou will be getting some serious business this week. When asked “Can’t we just go somewhere and get a sandwich? “ Schell piped up with “Why do you come all the way to China to eat sandwich?”.
As I finish, Hazel is in the tub eating and playing with the banana rice cereal I whipped up for her. She was so interested in mashing it in her tiny hands Chris stripped her and put her in the tub to explore the gooey goodness. She is blossoming just like a beautiful lotus. Every moment surprising us with a new sound or movement or expression. She is so fun to be with and Aunty B has a sneaking suspicion she is a very very smart little baby with a sense of humor too.