Rebecca A. Foster

It was finally hot enough today in Salt Lake City: Living in the mountains in a desert makes for a very temperate climate, which I appreciate when I receive my electric bill each month; it's never been higher than $35. Compare that to the $180 it used to be in San Antonio in the summer (read: March through November). But I love any excuse to wear my summer hat; I learned in San Antonio for dark-hair, it really does make a difference in how hot you feel. But I do miss the heat and humidity; when I was in NYC on vacation, I slathered on face lotion and cream one morning and my make-up all started melting off my face, because I was so...dewey. Oops. I'm so used to greasing up like a piglet here, I forgot I didn't need to do it there. And my hair got that awesome humidity thickness to it. Speaking of a day almost two years in the making, I realized today the Peace Corps China volunteers I trained on my way out are coming home this summer. Crazy. Can't believe it...

This weekend I was making pebre  and my serrano peppers were not getting the job done, so I pulled out a couple of habaneros. I asked my mom,"Do you think these will be hot enough in the pebre?" "Well, how hot are they?" Hmmm. I sliced one open and licked the pulp. Just in case you didn't know, licking the inside of a habanero is a really dumb way to determine how hot it is. THE BURNING IT GOES ON AND ON HOLY HELL WHAT WAS I THINKING. I couldn't feel my lips or tongue for the next several hours, but on the bright side, 'licking the habanero' is now my new favorite euphemism for doing something stupid you probably knew better not to do. Example: "Yeah. I went out with that guy even though I knew he was bad news. I totally licked the habanero on that one." Live and learn (the hard way).

Three months in, a few things I love about being back in America: 1. Walking into a store that has clothes and shoes in my size, and no one telling me I am too big or fat for their store. 2. Buying produce without having to weigh it first at a chaotic produce counter where if you don't shove to the front, you never get your stuff weighed. 3. No one screaming "Hello!" in my face as I'm walking by. 4. Super clean public bathrooms! 5. Everything smells so good. (Americans are very particular about smells, aren't we?) 6. Indoor climate control everywhere you go. 7. People smile at you and hold the door*. 8. Target. 9. So much cheese! 10. No firewall, no need to censor what I'm Googling, and I can take pictures of whatever I want.** *Stores in my part of China don't have doors, just an open wall, but no one smiles. ** In the video I posted recently of my neighborhood , you might not have noticed I was being very careful to keep the camera on my s...

Packaged dry beauty face masks (Hello Kitty, of course!): I also bought green tea powder, which I mix with about a 1/4 cup of hot water. The mask expands and soaks up green tea solution, and I wear it for about 1/2 an hour. Green tea is great, it makes my skin look very clear and even. It costs about $2.00 for 12 masks and a box of green tea powder, super cheap! *sniff* I will miss you dry masks when I leave China. I also make masks with really cheap red wine (heated), which has high levels of acid. Also great for the skin, like a little mini acid facial at a spa. My electric hand/body warmer: It comes pre-filled with some kind of fluid, plugs into an outlet, heats up in five minutes, and stays warm for two hours. Did you know I don't have heat? I live below the 'heat line' the Chinese government drew across China; people above the line get indoor heat, people below it don't. It doesn't freeze here, which is why we don't get heat, but it does get down...

1. This week it's been 107 degrees daily in Chongqing. I thought I was used to heat from living in San Antonio, but it turns out I am also used to copious amounts of air conditioning to make the heat bearable. Walking is much less fun that driving in an air conditioned car in this heat! But least until Sunday, we are living in an oven. (I tried using that metaphor with a student, and they didn't quite get it. No ovens here. Oops.) As one of my students told me, "Have a great week, in spite of the intolerable weather!" On the bright side, classes have been cancelled for the rest of the week because school buildings are not air conditioned. 2. I had my hair cut into a chin-length A-line bob. I cried the last time I got my hair cut here, the guy cut a bunch of layers into it that might look good on super straight, super fine Chinese hair, but not on mine! This new guy seemed to understand Western hair and gave me a beautiful cut. I wanted to kiss him on the mouth whe...

My apartment in China does not have central heat, so it gets quite chilly in here. I bought an electric blanket (which I pray doesn't catch on fire--products here are not known for their reliability and safety) but follow the Chinese tradition of placing the blanket underneath the bottom sheet and cotton mattress pad, not over the top comforter.  I turn it on about an hour before I am going to go to bed, and it is delicious crawling into the bottom-up warmed sheets.  I'll probably die in a fire for keeping an electric blanket under a cotton pad and sheet, but it sure is nice while it lasts.  I also love the heat lamps someone installed in the bathroom ceiling, the only heat source in there. Brightest light ever, but very nice when you step out of the shower. 

This is one way cold drinks are stored in Texas gas stations. These troughs are usually full of beer, but also a few sodas for the kidlets/non-drinkers. I am always tempted to sneak a piece of ice to suck on; gross, I know, but when it's 100+ degrees for weeks on end, you don't pass up ice when you see it. This post should also explain why hockey is not popular in South Texas. Ice? Ice is what keeps the beer cold. End of story.

I hate the cold. Perhaps it's the Spanish in me, but I just don't have much tolerance for it physically. I am often chilly when others are just fine. (My male acquaintances love this about me, I know.) So I stash sweaters, hoodies and little electric heaters everywhere I can, including under my desk at work. Illegal, but if you stick me under a vent, you get what you get. And on the plus side, it keeps people from asking me to do things for them because it's about 80 degrees at my desk. My third favorite heater is Dewey, the sole heat source in my apartment in San Antonio. Dewey was not only an old-school gas heater, it was a life affirming old-school gas heater because every time I turned the knob to start the gas flow and lit the flames with a match and didn't blow up, it was another good day. I didn't trust Dewey, but it was always a pleasure coming home from work in the winter at dusk, pulling over that little bear skin rug and curling up with a blanket for a qu...