Just filling you in

Chickened out on the hair treatment thing. I went into this shady Chinese place where no one spoke English and somehow got the message across that I wanted the hair relaxing treatment for 85 quai advertised on the poster that hung on the front door of the basement level salon. Then after an intense consultation with the instructions on the back of the bottle of solution, the Chinese man with a bouffant who was assigned to me applied a thick layer of the pungent white goo to the hair at the nape of my neck. At first I just shrugged when they didn't use any vaseline to protect my scalp from chemical burns. But once they painted on the first layer I just looked at my face in the mirror and imagined myself bald. And promptly freaked the f out. And made them wash it out immediately, got a simple trim, and left. So my hair is still a mess. I'm going to save up and get a treatment at a Western salon eventually.

I got a ton more tutoring gigs recently. Hopefully I'll retain them all. It's a little scary to rely on your main source of income from a source that you is not contractually obligated to pay you, but one-on-one tutoring is totally more my bag than wrassling a classroom full of shrieking 5 year olds. One of the songs I played for them last week to teach them different ailments--runny nose, tummyache, toothache, headache--involved them acting out crying. Let me tell you, that's tough to take on very little (or no) sleep.

On Friday night I met up with some people at this Xinjiang restaurant. I had already eaten with a group of people at a Sichuan place where the food was really spicy and a man did a dance where he changed masked a million times but instantly, like magic. And another man did a dance with a teapot that was really lame and I just ignored it and ate the delicious food. I had rabbit for the first time and also a potato knish like thingy that was amazing. Xinjiang and Sichuan are both areas of China. Sichuan is a province in Western China and Xinjiang is an autonomous region up in the Northwest. It borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and a bunch of other 'stans so the people look different. I didn't eat there but I did play hackysack with the restaurant workers with a lamb hoof that was served with my friends' meal. And then I put the hoof in my backpack and forgot about it. The next day I was looking for my chapstick or something and my hand brushed against it and I totally freaked myself out. Now it sits on my mantle. While I was photographing it for y'all I totally realized that it can act as the shankbone for our Passover seder!

Mm hoof. I gnawed on it semi-drunkenly on Friday night. I regret that now. Ew.

Masked man from the Sichuan place making the rounds through the restaurant. I shook his hand.

I also went to the world's first Barbie mega-store right here in Shanghai. And it totally lived up to expectations which were pretty high to begin with. It is six floors! And includes a spa, a restaurant, a cafe, a boutique, a play area, and much more. Oh, and a crapload of Barbies! Even ones designed to look like famous people which are creepily accurate. Ugh I didn't take a photo of the Beyonce Barbie which was totally spot on. Here is another nameless diva Barbie instead:

And here is a glimpse at the store through the glass wall of Barbies that surrounds the winding staircase in the center of the room:
There are so many other great photos of the Barbie store. It was just so well designed and beautiful in the girliest way possible. I made the girl that I tutored the next morning bust out her collection of Barbies so we could play with them. But even so this, by far, is my favorite photo that I have been a part of since I last posted:

This would be the little guy that my good friend Kelly (who was visiting from Zhangjiagang) and I found sweeping the sidewalk with a baby-sized broom. Notice the split pants in the crotch. You guys are lucky he is wearing a diaper because most babies don't and the slit in their pants allows them to do their business wherever they feel is necessary. Good God he is adorable.