Dinner Pains and Some News

There was no taste. There was even a delay before it hit me, then there just was fire. My whole body was in pain from what I just ate. It was flames running up and down my whole body, in my veins, in my face, burning my tongue, tensing up my chest to the point of almost pain. It was the most incredible wasabi rush I’ve ever had in my life… and it wasn’t even wasabi. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and I reached for another bite. It was a good pain. Dinner was nice.
Life has been good around here lately. Nothing exceptional, really. Everything here feels almost exactly the same as before except for one thing. It was off and until now I didn’t realize what it was. Cabs. They’re everywhere. China has been experiencing a recession. For two straight quarters their growth rate has been around six percent, down from the ten to twelve percent it’s been at for the past so many years, which is nowhere near where it has to be to sustain a comfortable life style. Many people have taken to the cabs to make a buck. I was able to hail a cab on the outskirts of Beijing at 10:43 at night without waiting. That means the yearbook meetings can continue to run late. The pressure of that’s beginning to get to me… *sigh* but it’s on its way. With the start of a recession on the horizon in China, China is extremely tense, but to make for a more… stressful political atmosphere, this year is the anniversary of many important events within the past one hundred years. There’s the first year anniversary of last year’s Tibetan protests about the Olympics. There’s the twenty year anniversary of 六四, or the Tiananmen Square incident. There’s the fifty year anniversary of the Dalai Lama fleeing to India and starting his government in exile. And lastly there’s the ninety year anniversary of 五四，more commonly known as the May 4th movement, which was an iconoclastic movement to get rid of the old way of thought and replace it with a newer one. The intellectuals of China were upset with the Treaty of Versailles giving western colonies to Japan. But anyways, with all these anniversaries lining up on the same year, the Chinese government is very rigid, ready to crackdown if necessary. But don’t worry, the trip to Xizang, (Tibet,) has been changed. Foreigners aren’t even allowed into Tibet at the moment. Consideration for entry starts April 1st. So Gansu is looking more and more likely for the April trip.
Just some news for you this time.


Clinging to not getting sentimental