My CNY diary: Day Three.

Since I was unable to access a computer for nearly five days on my Odyssey to the Chinese countryside of Beixing, China (three hours by car from Shanghai), I had to blog on paper for later transcription on my arrival back at Casa Kaulins. The following are the transcribed journal entries from Day Three (January 27th):

• Day three saw me counting down the hours till we were to leave.
• My wife purchased the bus tickets for our Day return to Wuxi. I breathed a sigh of relief because there was a golden week holiday where my wife couldn't get a bus ticket prolonging a stay out in the countryside one more day. I was beside myslef with anger when I learned of the delay in departure.
• I took out my frustration that time on a bratty kid. His bad behavior made it easy for me. I hadn't seen this kid (he was in fact a nephew of mine) for two years till this CNY 2009. I was expecting some animosity from his parents but I got none. Telling this to Jenny, she told me the kid deserved the walloping I gave him. In that case I asked, why didn't his parents give me hongbao (a red money envelope)?
• This day we went to bed at 730 pm. As I have blogged before, in the Chinese countryside, when it gets dark, there is nothing to do. The cold made the bed the only place to be. And to be honest, it was nice to lay in bed with Jenny and Tony. The family being together quiet and relaxed, providing each other heat, is a great feeling. People who choose to eschew having children don't know what they are missing. The moment was something to appreciate. When I think of all the times before in my life when I couldn't have imagined it happening.
• I downloaded a lot of Dennis Prager podcasts to my phone. I learned that starting February 1st, I won't be able to get the podcasts of his show for free anymore. Shame! But he has to make money like I do.
• I spend the morning of Day 3 at Jenny's parents. I watched one episode of the Wire before the Teletubbies had to go on for Tony.
• Kosher Sutra. Prager talks to an orthodox Rabbi who wrote the book with that title. The key to keeping sexual intimacy in marriage is to keep things a mystery. Over exposure to sexual stimuli makes people jaded.
• In the afternoon, we were to go to Jenny's natural parents home. Jenny was in fact adopted by the in-laws I call my in-laws. Her natural parents felt they had too many girls - an attitude that unfortunately still exists in many parts of China. Jenny, of course, is resentful of her natural parents. She hadn't gone to their home for ten years previously. (*read the story of that visit in my day 4 entry*)
• When in the countryside, I try to eat and drink as little as possible. I don't the cleanliness of everything.
• Those who served with George Orwell in the Spanish Civil War, said he was always writing things down in his notebook when he occupied with military duty. Reading Homage to Catalonia, the reader can see how Orwell conveyed the banality and the boredom of the war experience. I can imagine that the rare reader studying this entry will also be conveyed a sense of banality and boredom in my CNY experience.