There is no use in apologizing, so I’m not even going to try.  Let’s face it.  I suck at blogging.

I will however play the blame game.  The internet here just blows.  Some days it works and other days, well, it doesn’t.  What is a blogger to do?

Well, tomorrow is our last day and then it is VACATION TIME!!  A whole two months worth.  Why can’t we have awesome vacations like that in the States?  Oh, wait, we do, but you have to be teacher.  Hrm.  I suppose possibly being knifed or shot could almost be worth two months of vacation, but not quite. 

Our vacation is going to go something like this:

Linyi to Shanghai – Stay in Shanghai for 3 days, possibly see the Expo, get some good food.

Shanghai to Hangzhou – Spend a few days in Hangzhou, reminisce, eat some Dairy Queen.  Yum.

Hangzhou to Fuyang – Hang out with our good friend Jin for a few days and reminisce some more.  I am sure Fuyang has changed a lot since we left.

Fuyang back to Hangzhou – Catch a train or bus to Nanjing and see what Bo and Nashville have been talking about.

Nanjing to Guilin – We have to take a plane.  There is no way I am spending 24 hours on a train, even if it is a few hundred yuan cheaper.  Stay a night or hop on the first bus to Yangshuo.

Guilin to Yangshuo – Relax for a week and take in the sights.  Yanghshuo is mostly definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen in China. Phil did say he would foot the bill if we stayed longer . . . so who knows how long we will stay.

Yangshuo back to Guilin – Catch a train, bus or plane to Kunming. I hear it is a pretty nice place.  It will be the first time Phil and I have been there.

Kunming to Dali – Once again, I have heard nice things and we have never been there before. It is always nice to adventure and see new places.

If at this point we aren’t completely broke, we may try to make our way to Qingdao, spend a few days there, experience Beer Street and then come back home to ever so wonderful Linyi.  If everything costs what we think it is going to cost, we are going to have to eat rice and noodles and nothing else for an entire month before we get paid again. 

Okay, moving on . . . Last weekend Phil decided it was time to have a new Chinese experience.  So, we went to the massage parlor down the street and while I got a standard oil massage, he got ba guan.  Ba guan is when the chinese take glass cups, light them on fire, and then stick them to your back – 16 of them to be exact.  They suck up your skin and break every blood vessel known to man.  After 5 or 10 minutes, they take them off.  It looks something like this . . .

Since I was getting a massage, I couldn’t take a picture of the glass cups on Phil’s back, but I took a picture of a friend who did it a week or so ago.  It was her first and last time.  I have no idea how she got the courage to do it.  There is no way in a happy hell that I would ever submit to it.

And this is what it looked like after Phil had his little procedure.  It looks likes someone either sucker punched him over and over again or took a purple marker and went to town.

A close up of the damage . . .

And another . . .

I don’t think that Phil will be getting it done again any time soon.  And not because it hurt, at least he said it didn’t, but because he didn’t really feel he benefited from it.  It is supposed to suck out the toxins from your body.  They tell you not to take a shower for 24 hours afterward, but I am not totally sure of the reason.

Oh, and although this has nothing to do with vacation or self-induced pain, I thought I would post it any way.

There is an Australian in our building who has decided to turn the roof into his very own garden/farm.  He recently just added 4 baby chicks that he will either use for eggs or if they suck at that, he’s gonna eat them.  I really hope they are great egg layers.

Here they are . . .

When he tends to the garden, he lets them out of their cage so they can run around.  They run so fast.  He says they are easy to catch and put back, but I don’t know if I believe him.

And the garden . . .

If I have internet connection during our travels, I will try my best to keep whoever it that reads this blog of mine up-to-date.  I can hardly wait.  This vacation is going to be a blast!

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Well, the seeds have been planted, and now we wait.

This year we decided to only plant 72 seeds – a mix of green peppers, summer squash, grape tomatoes, better boy tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans.  Last year we planted a mix of something like 300 seeds, and since I thought they all had feelings, I couldn’t bring myself to up root and kill them, so I ended up planting them all.  I didn’t have a garden – I had a farm!

I thought I was being a little too sensitive until I saw a Mythbuster’s episode where they tried to prove that plants did have feelings.  Some of their tests included yelling at the plants, blasting loud annoying music, and directing bad thoughts at the plants.  On the flip side, they talked sweetly to the plants, played soft, soothing music, and thought only good things about the plants. They couldn’t prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that plants had feelings, but their results did deem it plausible.  Maybe I just watched too much Fern Gully as a kid.

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It’s nearly spring.  Do you know what that means?  It means it is almost time to start gardening again!  Horrah!

I haven’t bought any seeds or a greenhouse to get me started, though. I should probably do that soon, if I intend to plant sometime after Easter.   Last year, I think Phil and I went a little over board with our garden.  We got a lot of food out of it, but it was very hard to maintain, and my water bill went through the roof!  It truly was a beast.  Every time I went to pick tomatoes, the bushes would swallow me whole.  Sometimes, I had to get my mother to help pull me out.  It was crazy, I tell you.

I’m not sure what I want to grow this year.  Tomatoes and cucumbers are a must, but other than that, I really can’t decide.  Last year, my beans didn’t do squat, but I think that had something to do with not having a big enough stick for them to climb.  The cantaloupe and the watermelon were a complete bust, too.  I didn’t get anything out of them.  It looked like they were going to yield me some yummy goodness, but then they up and died on me.  The green(red) peppers didn’t do so bad, but they could have done better.  They needed more support than what I gave them.

Maybe I can find some time this weekend to go to Lowe’s and stare at the seed section.  With so many choices, picking out only three or four vegtables is going to be hard!  If I had a farm and a million dollars, I think I would pick every vegtable imaginable.

This year I don’t have to worry about renting a tiller because Jeri, a family friend, has been ever so kind, and given me hers.  That was super awesome of her.  I nearly fell out of my chair when she said I could have it.  Last time, when I rented one, Phil only had something like four hours to till the entire garden area.  He was only able to accomplish that because we had spent the entire day and night before preparing the soil with a shovel!  Phil nearly broke his back that day.

I’ll be sure to post the progress, and if I have enough, you are all more than welcome to have some.

Oh, and this weeked Phil and I are going to the circus.  When I found out Phil had never been , I told him we had to go.  Everyone has to see the cirus at least once in their lives.  If we don’t run away with them, I’ll be sure to post losts of videos and pictures when we get back.

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