This very large painting we have bought is one of my few favorite things here (see previous entry).


This very small glass jar of freshly made yogurt is one of the others.

I could happily sit on the couch, eating yogurt and contemplating this painting all day. If I had NOTHING ELSE TO DO, HA HA. It's kind of a running joke in my Chinese class now that my answers to questions about my daily routine are very different from those of my two Irish dude classmates. ("On Sunday, I slept until 2 p.m. And then went out again.") And my classmate Flor's answers often involve buying clothes ("Wo mai yifu.") Tonight I went over to watch James's TV segment at Flor's because she has satellite TV (she lives in our compound) while Ying C. stayed with the kids. Emi said, "Mama, I bet she will have a lot of yifu at her house! And a giant yifu closet!"

Also, my enjoyment of the painting, and its subject's Mona Lisa-like facial expression, is slightly marred by the fact that when we were about to hang it I noticed a Mama Cockroach and several babies living in the frame. The babies were quickly dealt with, but the Mama eluded me, darting in and out of a narrow gap on both sides of the frame and under the canvas. Even armed with chopsticks, paper towel, cup, and insecticidal intent, I was no match for her. This was no fat, complacent New York City cockroach. This was more a Jackie Chan of the insect world. I spent an hour trying to pry her out without damaging painting or frame and finally gave up and hung the painting on the wall. I have the kids watching for her should she make a break in daylight hours, with a bounty of 1 yuan on her crafty little Asiatic cockroach head. I just hope it doesn't turn out that she brought friends.