I don’t have a story about grapes, but my grandmother just handed me a plate with a vine populated by plump, purple grapes that burst inside your mouth with the slightest touch…

So, I was thinking about grapes when I had to name this post…

(These grapes are absolutely delicious)

Sorry, another fairly uneventful day. Another family matter popped up, so Yuan Yuan is unable to return to Xi’an right away.

Basically, another day alone with my Chinese grandmother.

Good thing is, I’m learning! We talked about my family (thank you, Ethan, for being so tall, ’cause I can actually say that in Mandarin) and various sports as well as gender roles… Interesting conversations to say the least… and they lasted pretty long since we were both struggling to find words that the other would understand.

Well, today will be my random story blog! Yay!

I noticed over the past… 2 weeks? Wow, 2 weeks… Anyway, yes, I noticed that over the past 2 weeks, my grandmother has always wandered into my room and shut off my fan while I’m away. Now, this fan, is basically my lifeline. It’s hot here. Very hot. Very very hot. And the AC is basically a giant, revolving fan in the living room (which doesn’t really help the temperature in my own room), making my small, pathetic fan the only source of relief from the pestering heat.

I mentioned this anomaly to my friend, who explained that “old Chinese women are afraid of fans”… Basically, some believe that if fans are left running while no one occupies the room, then the fan may “take the lodger’s soul from them while they sleep.”

Thanks, grandma, for watchin’ out for me… But honestly, I neeeeeeeeeed the fan on. I’m sure if the fan didn’t like me, it would have taken my soul by now.

She also stares at me like I’m a lunatic when I remove the black seeds from my watermelon… Yeah, okay, you’re perfectly normal because you think a fan will possess me at night, but I’m insane because I don’t like indigestion?

Let’s see… What else? OH! Babies!

So, while I was walking around the park (well, and just simply throughout Xi’an), I noticed that young children… don’t wear pants…

Well, okay, they wear pants, but not for their intended purpose…

See, they wear long, cloth/pant-like things, but… Well… they have… holes… Basically, they cover everything except for what they should cover… Do you get what I’m saying?

I don’t really know why they wear these, considering the holes seem to completely defeat the original purpose of pants…

But, they wear them rather confidently. I even saw a woman taking pictures with her young son (wearing the strange garment) like nothing was unusual… It made me feel a little uncomfortable…

Honestly, I can’t bring myself to keep writing at the moment. I keep getting distracted and my grandmother keeps bringing me fruit, so I have to use all of my energy to refuse the platters of food.

Sorry for the short posts lately, but hopefully everything will work out and Yuan Yuan will return soon!

Bye for now!

Ana