little tidbits

Dearest Friends,

Not only has school started with lots of moxa and some learning but this week George joined Amy and me for lots of fun under the rain!
On his first night we took him to one of our favorite restaurants -- Rosy Cheeks. You pick out what you want from a long list in Chinese characters in a delicious boiling soup pot that sits in the table or do your best job picking out things and then you order more things after looking at what came out and then you order some more beer in our case. We call it rosy cheeks because all the waitstaff have wonderful rosy cheeks from being around all the steam. Oh and we made him order -- he was very very brave after a good 20 hours of travel and just the tiniest bit of Mandarin.
And it was amazing to hangout here in Hangzhou with him -- he went out and joined our biking brigade and we biked all around West Lake and went on a crazy "Amazing Race" style adventure to and from Moganshan (MoganMountain). Note: If you ever want to get away from all the people in China it turns out that few people are in summer getaway resorts in March and it may be cold but it gives a few hours of quiet andone can walk without any fear of being run over.
Can you believe that we have had two weeks of school -- TCM CORNER ALERT-- and there are some moments of real understanding and growth including a great shift with a cardiology internal medicine (read TCM herbal medicine) doctor and her 4 plus assistants who are students like us taking notes, blood pressure, and learning tons. Gua Lou Xie Bai Ban Xia Tang in action clearing up phlegm as seen in extra water that could be heard in the chest, felt in the throat, or in one case the man was just spitting around him mouth. Another herb combo was Jiang Zhen and Yu Jin.
But George is now off in Tianjin researching family history (some English cousins lived there in the thirties) and we are joined by Claire.

Yeah for back to back guests, Elaine