Otis, my new pug puppy

I must apologize because I didn't write last week, and I should warn you I probably wont write next week. My goal is to get a post up once a week, but if you are wondering why I've missed you will soon discover from the following.

If you are reading this blog and are my friend on facebook, you probably know about Otis. My new pug puppy. And if I say so myself, he is so stinking cute. 

But he came with some problems. Now would be a good time to mention, how if you get a puppy, there is only a 50-50% chance of him living. So, every time I came home there was a bit of fear I would find him dead. Thankfully a little over a week has proven it not so. Where am I going with this? Every thing that might have been a problem freaked me out. Then on top of that I'm leaving on a 2 week trip tomorrow, so my puppy will be staying with some friends. Because of that I was pretty urgent in wanting to fix any problems immediately. That lead to 4 vet visits, plus a few phone calls. Thankfully getting your dog checked out is free, so as far as money goes it was no problem, but it was a bit straining on my time.

When Otis came he had some major dandruff issues. That lead me into a search for home remedies on how to moisturize his skin. That lead me to a lovely mite known as “walking dandruff”. They are mites that crawl under the skin scales of that animal creating dandruff, and if you look closely it looks like the dandruff is moving, thus the name. Of course that freaked me out, so that was the first vet call. Thankfully, the vet said unlikely! Because his dandruff was everywhere not just confined to one spot.

After a couple days of applying baby oil, Listerine and warm water combination (odd I know!) his skin became normal!

Then he started scooting on his butt, and crying in ridiculous pain. Another vet call. This one taught me about pin worms (they live in the big intestine and at night lay eggs on the anal hole causing severe itching) and clogged anal sacs ( apparently pugs are prone to them). That led to a vet visit. Thankfully it wasn't clogged anal sacs, and according to them not worms. But he did have ear problems.

After medicine, further watching and more calls and visits I came to this conclusion. My puppy is healthy, but has dry skin. The only thing really wrong with him is ear mites (I know random), which is why he was crying in pain. After applying some medicine his pain has gone away, but it will take a bit longer to get rid of the ear mites. As for the scooting, a cause of dry and itchy skin. So I will be applying some of my home remedy to his back end.

Thankfully that's all. He knows his name and hes great with kids. But because of the vet visits I have not had time to work on potty training....that will be the next goal.

A Friend's Note

Hey this is Rebekah! I have been in China since I was born! After 26 years, my Chinese is pretty good, the reason I say this is because I have only been learning English for 4 years, so please forgive me if I use the wrong words or grammar! :-) I'm sure you will need to do that!

Anyways, as a 100% Chinese girl I have always had pride in my culture. But things started to change when I was at University majoring in Marketing English. That's also where I met my American teachers for the first time in my life and they taught me a lot about American language, culture, history, beliefs...etc. These things somehow stirred up my desire to learn more about America.

After I graduated from school, I started working in a language school for foreigners to learn Chinese. To my amazement, 90% of my students were American and we became friends quickly! I guessed the reason was because I was such a smart teacher and such a nice friend to them! That explains everything! :-)

During that time I was spending with them, I noticed that there are a lot of differences between American girls and Chinese girls. One thing in particular is, “personal space”.

Chinese girls love intimate relationships more than any other girls in the world (in my opinion)! We enjoy clasping hands with our female friends while wondering around, going to the bathroom together, feeding each other taking showers together! These kinds of things are quite common in China! Without a doubt!

So one time I told one of my American friends that the whole of last winter, I didn't have heat in my house, so me and my three other roommates took a shower together in order to keep warm.

Yes! Three naked Chinese girls crowding next to each other, shaking in a small cold bathroom! I know its weird in American culture, but, my American friend …... actually didn't say anything when she heard it. Not because she thought it's no big deal, but because her mouth opened so wide and couldn't close up!!

As you can see, Chinese girls don't really have the concept of “personal space”. Sometimes I do enjoy it, but sometimes it drives me crazy, even though I'm a Chinese girl! I love my American friends because they taught me that I can't just grab their butts because I want to, I can't just rush to the bathroom when they're taking a bath even though I'm gunna pee my pants! I can't just... I can't just...

Yep. This is me, a normal Chinese girl who loves America and my own motherland! Once again, I love you...all my American friends! See ya!

PS. I am heading out to India in January, and right now I am facing economic crisis... so if anyone wants to help me, please feel free to contact Natasha :) Thank you!

Stolen Bikes

So, here in China its not exactly uncommon to get your bike stolen.  You could even say its part of the cultural experience.  Despite it being "part of the experience", its one that I really did not want to have.  Last year in Xian, around the New Year I knew 3 or 4 people who got their bikes stolen.  It happens more often around the New Year because people are trying to get money to go home and all that.  But that doesn't mean it can't happen other times of the year...like for instance now.

I rode my bike over to a friend's house a few weeks ago and left it there.  Locked up, but not locked to anything.  I knew it was stupid, but I was busy and if I'm being honest...a little lazy.
So Sunday, I go over to say hi and I notice my bike is gone.  My stupidity caught up with me.
I tell my friend, who feels super bad, but it's my own fault.  I knew I should have moved it, I even checked the other floors in case the person who stole it just moved it to another floor temporarily (which I know from a friend's experience has happened).

I don't find it.  Later I run into my friend's husband and tell him, he's also very sorry, but I explain its my own stupid fault.  Then he tells me he had moved it into the stairwell and did I check there?  I didn't remember, so there's hope.

Later that night my friend calls me and tells me that her brother might have some news to brighten my day.  So, he gets on the phone and tells me that he got the text my bike was stolen.  Anyways, he's walking around later and sees a guy riding a bike that looks just like mine.  What's the coincidence, right?  So he goes up to the guy and says, "Hey where did you get this bike, its my friend's bike, give it back to me" and the guy responds, "No this is my bike".  And again my friend says, "That' my friends' bike, give it back" and again the guy says, "no its mine"  So this goes back and forth a couple times and finally, my friend tells me he just physically takes it from the guy and rides away on it!  So he got my bike back!  I was screaming and hollering through the phone!  Man I was pumped. 

Then he tells me, "Ok so now here's the real story.  It was in the stairwell the whole time and never left the apartment building."  Wow, he got me good.  Either way it was good news, so I'm happy :)

My bike is not stolen.

 Above is a moon cake, the popular dessert for the Moon Festival, which we just celebrated last week.

Above is a picture of butter!  Crazy I know, but its true.