Day 9

Happy fathers’ day to all the fathers reading this! I hope it will be a good day. Today was a long hot day here. I went with some of the graduate students to their experimental farm outside the city this morning. We left at about nine. We took a bus to a small village outside Beijing. It was about a thirty minute drive. Then, we had to walk from one end of the village to the other in order to get a taxi to the farm since it was Sunday and the school buses to the farm weren’t running. When we got there, Alex showed me his cotton plots. He is testing various types of transgenic cotton, such as drought resistance, Bt, and growth regulation. He was planning on taking soil samples, so that he could measure the amount of water in the soil, but he didn’t have the tools he needed. Instead, we had to thin out the cotton plants, so there was one plant per hole. We also had to strip the non- fruit bearing branches, so that the plant does not waste nutrients on them. This was difficult for me because I didn’t know what a fruit bearing branch looked like. I messed up a couple before I figured it out. You can tell if a cotton bud is going to bear cotton if the bud is in the shape of a pyramid.
We got one plot done before it got too hot in the sun to continue, so we went in for lunch. There is a cafeteria on the farm, but it only offers one option. It was not an option that I liked because it consisted of green peppers and a tiny bit of meat. I ended up just eating sticky rice for lunch. I was also only offered beer to drink. Luckily I had a bottle of water with me, but unlucky because the water was quite warm. After lunch, we went above the cafeteria to small rooms in order to take a nap to stay out of the hottest part of the day. It ended up being a three hour nap. Then, we went back outside and finished up Alex’s other cotton plot. We were done in no time because the others had finished their work before dinner, so they all helped us.
We had to walk halfway back to the village before a taxi drove by and picked us up. Then, our bus drove past us without stopping, so we had to wait quite awhile for another one. We got back to campus in time for dinner. I had some very delicious watermelon for dessert tonight instead of my traditional ice cream. After supper, I went back to my dorm in order to do laundry. It took forever because I haven’t done any laundry since I’ve been here. I actually ran out of clean clothes yesterday, but I haven’t had any time to do it. Here it seems like people wear their clothes until they are smelly and truly dirty. Alex has been wearing the same shirt for four days now, and Lily has been alternating between two shirts and a pair of jeans. Everyone here does this. I think it is to cut down on the laundry, but I don’t think I can do this. Especially not my shirts since I sweat so much. At least my showerhead is detachable, so I could efficiently rinse them. I only got my shirts and undergarments done before I ran out of room to put everything. I made a huge mess in my bathroom and everything is soaking wet. I have decided that I am going to do my laundry every other night in order to avoid this problem again. I spent over an hour on it, and I am only halfway done. I have also realized that I will not be able to wash my two pairs of jeans because they are too big for my sink, and they will not dry very well. I am hoping to upload some pictures and send them out later this week. I will send them to everyone who has been emailing me. If anyone else would like them, just email me!