Quick hits from this week...

Just some random musings from the week...

• When playing Touch Rugby, one can and will break a thumb. Noah broke his right thumb during his first game last Thursday. But, as most of you know, stupid is as stupid does, he told the coach he was fine and then played two more games.
• How does a Chinese person transport what appear to be 1-year old twins? The answer, of course, is to place one in the milk crate on the back of the bicycle and have the other stand in the basket attached to the handlebars.
  
• Natalie started language lessons again this week. She is so advanced she has moved to Lesson 3 already!
• "We are not sure, but it is ox parts and safe." This is an answer I received at dinner tonight. I asked what a dish was, and after much discussion amongst the 2 Chinese couples I was dining with, they informed me it was beef. Then I was informed that was wrong, it was ox. When I asked what part of the ox, I received the above quote which assured me it was not shellfish and therefore safe to eat. After further inspection, I believe I had the following "parts": tongue, lung, kidney, liver, and "parts is parts!" (that is for those of you who remember the commercial in the '80's; yes, if you remember you are old!)
• When you install a water bottle into a water dispenser, you need to turn it 3 times! After finding large flakes of stuff in my 3rd attempt at getting a decent water dispenser (the landlord kept bringing used ones), I finally went and purchased a new one. I brought it home, the water bottle dude put a bottle on it and left. I was happy I had a new dispenser and went out to English lessons. When I got home there was a puddle of water on the floor. I contacted the admin to call the number on the receipt to get it fixed. The worker came the next night, looked at the dispenser, moved it around, and told me to put a new bottle on it. He then proceeded to turn the new bottle three times and it hasn't leaked since. Who knew?
• You can purchase a 9" plate of rice with beef and vegetables and a bowl of duck blood and liver soup for 16 RMB ($2.25 USD).
• After we finally got the oven fixed last week, the dishwasher broke. So that is now fixed also. I cannot wait for the refrigerator to break. After that happens, we will have had maintenance performed on every appliance in the house. The refrigerator does need a new water filter for the ice maker. Guess how much? 1500 RMB ($220 USD). I don't have to pay the price, but it is still painful. I almost wanted to ask for a new refrigerator to see if it would be cheaper...
  

Just remember, nothing is easy...