January 25, 2024
A Rose by Any Other Name
I suppose I'm supposed to use this section to introduce myself but I've used this section to introduce myself in enough previous journals on this same website that it seems rather unnecessary. Should I be wrong about the unnecessariness of this, I'll just go with briefly saying that I'm American, 42 years old, female, and that I've spent 15 of my 21 years in China working as a Chinese translator.
As the great English playwright Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell so sweet. Therefore, lacking any better name for the winter ride which I've done some variation of at least five times now¹, I've decided to go with acknowledging something that maybe comes from all the cycling I do.
Now I don't know whether or not it's true that white people in China all have fatty livers, but it's commonly accepted knowledge that when you go to get your never actually annual "annual check up" from the health check facility required as part of getting your Residence Permit that all white people will be marked down as having a fatty liver.
Being as I just recently turned old enough to be getting the full range of blood tests and cancer screenings that you start getting as you start turning gray, I not only know that I have less than the usual complement of internal fibroid growths for someone my age, I also am lacking the expected fatty liver.
Choosing to believe that this comes from all the cycling I do and failing to come up with anything the slightest bit imaginative, I figure I'm going with that as the title for the 2023 Round the Island.
Round the Island rides, as their name would indicate, involve going around the island. I start in Haikou. I end in Haikou. In between, I go a lot of other places via what is usually the least efficient route possible. This year's Great Spring Festival Adventure was supposed to start the Thursday before last Thursday but people keep giving me things to do², so I've been delaying and delaying and delaying.
However, the delay is over. I've finished two of the hardest documents I've ever set eyes on³, put on my corporate drag to attend a Very Important Meeting in Sanya⁴, and I've gone to a menu tasting event at the restaurant owned by the second of Haikou's two Le Cordon Bleu trained chefs⁵. So, even though I shall sadly miss the "closing for the month" going away potluck for a friend who will likely be back in Haikou around the same time I am, I have gathered up All The Things and will be hitting the road tomorrow!
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¹ For various reasons, although it is usually at least two weeks and sometimes up to five weeks long, I often don't get around to documenting my Round the Islands.
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² Many of which are either paying things or otherwise beneficial for my career.
³ Respectively an analysis of the plant imagery in the Nirvana Sutra picture on the north wall of Maijishan Cave 127 and the text of the Ritual Invocation of the past twenty Confucian Sacrificial Rites.
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⁴ Where I somehow ended up eating dinner with someone I taught English to 21 years and 3,000km away.
⁵ Mentioning this is just an excuse for me to have a reason to share food pictures in this entry.
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[1] As far as I know
[2] Sticking to a very poor diet and a fondness for good beer
10 months ago