Puppets, Puppets, Puppets!

Tuesday November 27^th, 2012

Third day of being mute and still counting! ß(said with sarcasm) Ugh this is getting ridiculous. I sure hope it clears up for tomorrow’s Rotary meeting. I am supposed to have a speech/presentation.

It’s a good thing I write my blogs and not video record otherwise you would hear, “…” and “…” and a little of “…” Yeah, no voice at all. Zip. Zlich. Noooothing. It made an awkward, silent time on my part with my host father when he took me to see a museum. Yes today is yet another vacation day from school because I don’t have to take the exams (final, mid-term, something like that). Even when not feeling so hot, I still wanted to go see and learn something new.

First my host father and I went to a small market under a bridge near our house. It has a selection of mainly foods with a couple stands of clothing or religious Buddhist things.

The museum was about Chinese puppets from hand to string to shadow types. It was small but still nice to walk through. There was even a special area for balloon art, totally unrelated but a joy to see. Pictures speak better than my words in this case so here you go!

A fancy-shmancy Chinese puppet stand

The beginning of a shadow puppet. First you draw the design on an animal's hide.

Then you finely and intricately cut out the pattern

After painting and assembling, viola! You have a shadow puppet! Easily said than done by a million miles! XD

Shadow horsey and warrior! Wow, I'm impressed! If you can ride to battle on a horse on one leg with a big spear, your side automatically wins!

CHRISTMAS! Balloon version! How adorable is this little display? SUPER ADORABLE THAT'S WHAT! :D

I've seen this white and purple character a lot but still don't know who it is. Nonetheless, they're pretty and the balloon version is quite good looking!

Next we dropped by my host mother’s work office in the government’s environmental department to grab some lunch together. Unfortunately she was too busy with work to join us so only my host father and I went for a bite. He purchased a meal of fried chicken, tea and sweet potato fries with a sugary sauce. A little messy with all the grease but still tasty in that dark pleasure sort of way. :P

We basically went home after that because I was feeling popped and sick. A long, restful nap was needed. Rest, water, rest and water was the game plan for getting well. That’s the summary of the second part of my day. Exciting huh?...not :P

Oh this? This is a cup of hot water my host grandmother gave to me. With the language barrier but understandable body movement, I was supposed to dangle my head over the cup and inhale the steam both through my nose and mouth to help with my sickness. Boy did I feel silly doing it. XD

Unconscious Andrea waves goodbye to you from la-la-land. Good night everyone! :)