Gremlins

Hmmm, yesterday. Mostly filled with classes, and the oral portion of my Mandarin exam. I found my missing Chinese workbook that morning, it'd fallen between my desk and bed. I thought maybe I'd find other cool forgotten treasures, but--assorted clumps of dust have yet to make that list.

Wow. I truly have a horrible memory. I'm sorry. Oh! Okay, I remember a bit more now. After the exam I waited for my friends to finish (we talked to the professor one at a time) and then we went to dinner. I tried barbeque pork with vermicelli noodles in soup because I wondered how they would manage putting barbeque pork in soup (how would the sauce stay on? wouldn't it just be normal pork in soup?) and also "vermicelli" is extraordinarily fun to say. However, I would not recommend it. The soup was basically water with noodles, and they placed the pork on a separate plate.

Then we went to the Park N Shop, and I actually remembered to bring the canvas bag I'd bought three weeks ago to save the environment. I have now remembered twice. On the way there I ate some leftover sweet potatoes a friend handed me. Only I don't think they're actually sweet potatoes, despite being sweet tasting and potato-shaped. The skin is purplish and the inside is bright yellow. Yum! Also, it felt so nice to hold a ziploc bag of steaming hot potatoes. Now that it's gotten chillier (especially at night) there are few ways to keep warm. Holding sweet potatoes is one way. Hot showers are another. And the third heat source I've found are the hand dryers in the restrooms; the one near the front entrance is the best because the dryer doesn't turn off until you've moved your hands.

Were you aware that Gremlins is a Christmas movie? It's true; there's a Christmas tree, carolers, a broken snowman head, and everything! Yeah...but not exactly what I imagined after hearing "we're watching a Christmas movie in the common room."

And now I'll share some videos I didn't have the patience to attach the day I wrote about Monkey Mountain. I think I forgot not to rotate a couple of them, but even sideways monkeys should fill your heart with joy. The wobbling pole is from a monkey that had just slid down it firefighter style. And just when the grooming monkeys start to get boring, one of them eats a bug! Enjoy!