Second Second Opinion
Q. Have you found any underground (or above-ground) Catholic churches in your town or close by? Do they even have any Christian churches there? I would need some spiritual uplifting if I were living the life you're living right now.
How is the teaching going?
Have you found any places to eat other than the faculty cafeteria? Any
sources of Pepper Steak, Lemon Chicken, egg rolls, tea?
Do you have any of the powdered drink that athletes here use to avoid stomach upset? I guess I'm thinking of Gatorade. Do you want me to send you some?
Spencer's dad was a pharmacist and Spencer always had special teas for any health problem he had. Know any pharmacists yet?
-- (Real, Actual, Biological, Non-surrogate) Mom, Falcon Heights, MN
A. Great questions, Mom! Yes, Rauol has heard rumors of a Catholic church in Zhuzhou City, although its location is still a secret. I will find it soon, with the help of some of my students.
Teaching here is a dream. I get to pretend I'm Garrison Keillor every day in front of a rapt, reverent audience, I get to teach kids English and hear their determined, albeit often butchered, attempts at speaking it, I have not a lot of work outside of class and I get to plan my lessons completely on my own. And my students visit me outside of class, ever eager to get more practice. It's similar to the way school must of been in America in the 50s: the teacher is boss, do what he or she says, make every effort to get ahead and practice, practice, practice.
Eating is a singular delight. I still visit the prison slopline at least once a day, and it's getting significantly better. My earlier qualms with it had a lot to do with the timing: it was National Holiday, no one was around, so the food reflected it. I've also visited numerous hole-in-the-road restaurants nearby, and, good Lord, they're divine. Somewhere in the past 5,000 years, these people figured out how to cook. My favorite food, by far, is cabbage. I eat my weight in cabbage, it seems, every day. Other delights are fried eggplant, octopus soup, duck casserole and boiled snails. If I've had Pepper steak, Lemon chicken or egg rolls, I wouldn't know it. I can't read the menus, so it's still point and pray. And someone above answers, in the form of steaming delicious creamofsomeyoungsomething. Of course, the bill makes its way eventually: sometimes over two dollars for six courses, but usually not.
No powdered drink required. I had a spat of diarrhea early on, I took an antibiotic (prescribed by my Mayo doc), it went away. No worries.
I know no pharmacists yet. Peace.
