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it has just been waiting for me |
25 April 2008
Why is it that in-ear headphones begin to ache after extended use? Is there an actual physiological reason for it? I'm not talking about in-ear music-too-loud pain, or anything connected to piercings, but just the pain you get after using them for a few hours sometimes...Anyway - another update for this week. Largely owing to my being a little at a loss without lessons. It's quite pleasant, though, not to have to worry about what to teach or needing to get up early. I'm a strange combination of workaholic and lazybones... I hate getting up in the morning but if I don't have anything to do I get restless and fidgety. This morning I was dragged out to rehearse a rather strange game of charades being staged by Oscar for the school's expo day. Essentially, it seems that we're being taken to another school in Qingdao so we can fake an english corner to impress them. There is a very strange script, written, I presume, by Oscar, for the occasion. In fact I will see if I can get a copy of it for posterity, as it really is rather wonderful. I don't object to all of this at all, but the only thing that does bother me is that apparently we have to be up at the eyewateringly painful time of 6:30 tomorrow in order to be taken to the other school. The day's event itself seems to begin at 7:30. I have no idea why it needs to be organised for such an utterly unsociable hour. Perhaps simply a matter of culture again. All I know is that 6AM makes my head hurt. I decided to be adventurous at lunch today, and ordered something billed as 'Wasabi Octopus of Tofu'. Despite the slightly odd translation, it turned out to be more or less what one could expect. The unfortunate octopus manifested itself in some small chunks of purple tentacle, complete with suckers, marinaded in something and draped artfully over some pieces of plain tofu, the wasabi itself served separately on the side. It was... interesting. Let us just say that cold squid is not something I am anxious to consume again. The main course was a Japanese-style rice hotpot. I have become rather a devotee of the hotpot while in China. My preferred restaurants both have variations on it, served as a meal for one person. Essentially it consists of a heavy, sizzling metal pot with a helping of rice in it, covered with a small assortment of meat and vegetables, and usually an egg. The flavour of the toppings can then slowly seep downwards into the rice. Eating a fried egg with chopsticks is, as I have previously noted, all in a day's work for me now, and perfectly easy to do. What is a little more disconcerting is the egg as served in the Japanese hotpot I had today. Here, it is merely cracked over the top of the hotpot's cooked ingredients, and served translucent and runny, as yet uncooked. The idea is presumably that the egg should fry itself against the side of the pot. This is indeed possible, but requires that the diner immediately sieze spoon and chopsticks and manoeuvre the liquid egg from the middle of a bed of rice and mincemeat to the outside of the pot. It's basically impossible to do this without getting raw egg all over the rice, and so the end result is that there is rather a risk that one will end up eating the egg uncooked. I've done this twice now, and thus far it does not seem to have done me any harm. I suppose years of eating raw cake batter may have done some good, but one can't help feeling a little concerned about the whole thing, especially in a country where food hygiene can be a little less than up to western standards. The guidebook is somewhat hysterical about this, and Gap informed us that we *would* get an upset stomach from the food at some point during our time in China. In fact, thus far I have failed to get sick at all, and, touch wood, do not show any sign of doing so. I'm not entirely sure why. I'd imagine luck, health, food/restaurant-fussiness and two decades of nailbiting all play their part in this. I miss having all my music on my computer like crazy. iPod is all very well, and certainly a sanity-saver at times, but it doesn't quite compare to the convenience of scrolling through my almost-30-gb mp3 collection without having to use a click-wheel. It also feels as if half my most favourite artists are releasing new records at the moment. New Miss Kittin ('Pollution of the Mind' and 'Machine Joy' are essential listening), new Dresden Dolls, new Ellen Allien. My amazon wishlist is growing at an alarming rate. The Ellen Allien I am particularly looking forward to, although what I'd really enjoy would be another collaboration with Apparat. If you've never heard it, I thoroughly recommend 'Orchestra of Bubbles' (official site/amazon us). It's a ridiculously addictive collection of minimal, scratchy, clicky beats. Light and cool as the breeze, and particularly perfect for summer listening. I can never get enough of it. utterly utter [
08:21 ]
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