"Very Framous Panders"

Above is Pride, the official mascot of Panda Pride cigarettes (which my host father smokes). I got to meet Pride this morning when my family took me to Chengdu's Panda Breeding Research Base...but more on that later.

So, training's going well. My Chinese class and I are putting together a performance (in Chinese, of course) for the ceremonies at the end of training. As of now, it's about robot pandas who scheme to take over the world by stealing Hello Kitty's Atomic Bamboo. Perhaps we have too much time on our hands. The really fantastic thing, though, is a startling close complete with song and dance. It will be fantastic.

Otherwise, my oral Chinese has finally seemed to overcome the insidious second (rising) tone, or so my instructor tells me. It must be happening on an unconscious level as I still can't hear any aural difference when I'm speaking. I've lost a little gusto when it comes to studying vocabulary as well. A shipment of books arrived for me this week, so I've been fairly busy with those. I was eager to enjoy the new _Harry Potter_ (thanks, brother), and, after I finished, I wasn't too excited to return to Marx. So, yesterday, I started reading Naomi Klein's _No Logo_; I've been devouring it like candy (here, I was going to insert a western food that I missed the most, but as I started to brainstorm what that food might be, I realized that I was probably treading in dangerous waters and that it would be best to go with a safer, more generic simile--like candy. We have candy here). Anyways, I found a split infinitive about ten minutes ago (which I can generally tolerate if it's not in a published work), so I had to put it down--for a couple of days at least. It just irks me.

This weekend has been a blast. My friend Katie and I wandered around Chengdu Friday night, looking to make some mischief. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any trouble. We did, however, find a seventeen year old girl named Pepe who was drinking milk and chomping on a meat stick. She gave us balloons. Last night, my mother and brother took me to a teahouse where we watched a Chinese revue of sorts while enjoying a "very framous" tea. (P.S.-Everything in China is "very framous"). There were a lot of dancers dancing, one magician magicking, and some masked opera performers breathing fire and such. It was great. There was one performance in which a man played traditional Chinese instruments, one of which I've decided to call a Chinese fiddle. It was my favorite.

Then, today, of course I went to the Panda Base. The Pandas are adorable. But, I've kind of decided, that they weren't real pandas, just men and women dressed up in Panda suits. Their movements and actions seem too human. They're especially cute when they're chomping on bamboo. Pride, above, just loved to sit on that deck and roll over a whole bunch--he was hot. We also saw a horde of red pandas--the species that might be putting raccoons in the running for the cutest animal ever. They were all playing together and staring at the people and panting up a storm--I wanted to smuggle one under my t-shirt. The base has a museum of sorts with a bunch of taxidermied animals and old bones and such from ages long past. The wierdest thing, though, was that they had jars of panda reproductive organs in formaldehyde--it was creepy. In all, the base was great. Its a fairly large place, and you have to walk these thin, steep trails through a hilly, bamboo forest to make your way around. It was the perfect respite from the sounds and smells of Chengdu.

Well, my Chinese cousins just got here, so I have to run. I hope y'all are doing well. Take care.