Posts from — April 2009

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Metamorphosis can describe the seasonal changes in Hohhot, the emotional transition of living someplace new, or the simple changing of ones appearance into something completely new and often times much much cooler.

The last few weeks have been full of change. Kindergarten is becoming easier. I’ve moved the office onto a group calendar & email system. I’ve begun a regiment of significantly less alcohol and significantly more exercise. I’ve built the confidence in my Chinese skills to talk with strangers, order food, and make purchases. Dan’s lady arrived into town. The winds have begun to blow. I bought turtles. My ginger-mint has taken root. and I’ve started going to the park. But in all fairness, these things are only trivial compared to the changes in my closet.

it’s too late to write.. come back soon.

I got paid today.

In a quick search I found two sites to contain a host of locations I’d enjoy visiting. Let me know if you decide to go!

Cocaine? Calcium? Tin-oxide? or tasty tasty grape-drink concentrate?

In the first week we were here I discovered a murk to our boiled water. We kind of ignored it for a bit, but then this murk seemed to settle out and collect at the bottom of my glass regularly. We got into the habit of tossing the last quarter of the water because it usually contained quite high concentrations of this stuff, of which did not taste like orange juice or chocolate, so we did not care to imbibe. After a bit of pondering and observing a really murky glass of water or a fresh glass of boiled water, I noticed the particulate was never actually dissolved in the water. Unlike a supersaturated salt solution, there was no solution, just dirty water that separated after a bit of time. What I originally thought was a high concentration of salt in our water now appears to be different – or so I believe. More so, looking at a glass of water poured directly off the tap doesn’t seem to show signs of collecting the same solids and therefore it appears that this comes from water boiled in our kettle. So I inspect the kettle.

Earlier this week I boiled down about four liters of water in the kettle – don’t tell dan. The house was quite comfortable, full of steam and wonderfully humidified. Once the kettle was sufficiently dried out I spooned out all the dry powder from the bottom of the thin metal. (Pictured above) Yet, after a short attempt to burn it off the spoon on the range, I found my spoon to deteriorate quicker than the powder, quickly followed by the burner ring it’s self. I relished in the made in China stamp that abounds.

So, here’s the question: What is it? I suspect many things. In fact I’ve since become quite suspicious of everything. Perhaps it’s the kettle quietly deteriorating while we boil water in it, or perhaps the water contains a substance that is binding with the metal of the kettle, and then dropping out of solution. Perhaps it’s the carrots conspiring with the soy sauce to upset my bowels. I’ve even begun to suspect Dan, though my bowels don’t have issue yet.

While quite limited in scientific supplies, suggestions of flame test are under consideration.

http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group1/flametests.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_test

Other experiments currently under observation:
- Cold tap water poured into the cleaned out kettle and set aside.
- Alternative pot boiling tap water.

As the weekend begins agin Dan and I reflect on a job done. We have yet to find out if our boss actually received the video or has watched it, however, it’s not important. What is important is that we’ve begun brainstorming our next projects and they’re going to be substantial. Using our daily experiences, our studio, and pulling from local and foreign inspirations we anticipate producing shorts which maintain both increases in technical quality as well as substantive quality. – I feel it’s important I convey my enthusiasm.

More so, in anticipation of becoming, well simply put, HUGE POP stars of China, I have been educating myself and experimenting with the dissemination of information and media here on this site using many google services – as it may have been noticed there are advertisements on many of these pages now. I assure you these are for testing purposes only (unless of course y’all start earning me money!)

So, as things go, that’s the update. Here’s to health, energy, and the weekend, maybe I’ll get some new jeans here soon.