Got Spots?

Today, I got cupped. There's not much to say about it, other than it was a very strange feeling. Unfortunately Chelsie was getting her toes done while I was getting cupped, so we didn't get a picture of the process. Next time. Here's a picture of the end result, followed by a brief description/history of cupping....

Fire Cupping

Cupping Therapy is an ancient procedure in which a local suction is created on the skin, whose practitioners believe mobilizes blood flow in order to promote healing. Suction is created using heat (fire) or mechanical devices (hand or electrical pumps). The use of Cupping Therapy has been a part of most cultures of the world. It is known in local languages as baguan/baguar, badkesh, banki, bahnkes, bekam, buhang, bentusa, kyukaku, gak hoi, Hijamah, kavaa (ކަވާ), singhi among others.

History

There is reason to believe the practice dates from as early as 3000 B.C.; the earliest record of cupping is in the Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest medical textbooks in the world. It describes in 1,550 B.C. Egyptians used cupping. Archaeologists have found evidence in China of cupping dating back to 1,000 B.C. In ancient Greece, Hippocrates (c. 400 B.C.) used cupping for internal disease and structural problems. This method in multiple forms spread into medicine throughout Asian and European civilizations.

Cupping in Europe and the Middle East grew from humoral medicine, a system of health ancient Greeks used to restore balance through the four "humors" in the body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. This system was pervasive in European and Middle-East cultures at the time. Humoral medicine had a brief revival in European medicine in the 18th and 19th centuries, and cupping was used in this practice.

In the West, cupping therapy was part of the basic repertoire of clinical skills a doctor was expected to understand and practice until the latter part of the 19th century with some Eastern European countries such as in Poland and Bulgaria continuing to practice cupping therapy to the present. In parts of Western Europe there has been a recent upsurge in the interest from both public and academic perspectives. Scientific studies researching the effects of cupping therapy attempt to better understand the mechanisms underpinning this age old medical treatment. Societies like the British Cupping Society have contributed to its re-emergence as an alternative therapy.

Traditional Chinese medicine cupping

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) cupping is a method of applying acupressure by creating a vacuum on the patient's skin to dispel stagnation—stagnant blood and lymph, thereby improving qi flow—to treat respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia and bronchitis. Cupping also is used on back, neck, shoulder and other musculoskeletal conditions. Its advocates say it has other applications, as well.

What's for dinner?

Cake. That's what's for dinner. Last night after a seriously long week, Chelsie and I went to our coffee shop (yes, we've dubbed it ours) and decided that we should just have cake and coffee (or a vanilla milkshake for me) for dinner. It was a most excellent choice. Sometimes following the rules is just stupid.

Last night I also acquired a new wallet. Come to find out, there's a bargain market right around the corner from our apartment and favorite Indian restaurant. I've decided that bargaining can be so much more fun and a lot less stressful if you just laugh about it. Everybody involved knows it's a ridiculous process and yet we all engage in it anyways. I bought a new watch and a wallet. The girl I bought my wallet from was priceless. I was having trouble deciding between 2 wallets and she said "This one matches your purse, this is the one" and I said "you know, I think you're right"....and the bargaining began. She started at 150, I started at 40. She went down to 145, I went up to 42. I kept saying "how about......" so she came back with "how about......one three nine". We were both laughing and at one point she used the wallet as a telescope to look through. I ended up paying 50. This is the kind of bargaining I like, and I think under different circumstances we could have been great friends.

Temple of Heaven

On Wednesday we headed to Temple of Heaven. We didn't have a tour guide and we didn't do any research before-hand so we had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to see. We kind of just ended up wandering around and seeing the different buildings. I wish we would have stayed in the beautiful green part of the park for a while longer....next time I guess. We ventured down the "long corridor" and saw lots and lots of people playing cards - it looked like they were all playing the same game. We were entertained (and curious) by how fiercely they slam the cards down.....it was like slap jack!

And then......we stumbled upon the temple! Left to our own devices we just looked around I wandered away from the group and got lost for a few minutes. Not to worry, I found my way back :) I think this whole experience would have been much more interesting if we had a tour guide, so that's a definite must for next time.

Some more wandering brought us to the Echo Wall and the "Circular Mound".....very literal names here. I'm not entirely convinced that the echo wall works because I could hear people yelling all around so who knows if the sound was projected around the wall or just across the space. I remain skeptical.

The circular mound was oddly beautiful. It reminded me of a place where sacrifices might have taken place way back when.... 

 

 All of this wandering about had me hankering for some ice cream. At one of the many little shops we stopped at I grabbed myself a delicious dark chocolate magnum (no, that's not a joke - that's really a brand of ice cream bars). Upon seeing my frozen treat Chelsie said "Oh well if you're going to eat one I have to eat one too. I'll be too jealous." Hahahahaha this is why we get along so well - no guilt trips about dessert in this friendship.

Hey. Keep your eyeballs on your own eyescream.

Well, that's the Temple of Heaven adventure. Oh, except that we were spit out on the complete opposite side of the park so wee had no idea where the subway was. I went up to a nice little man who appeared to be a local and asked "Zinar ditie?" and he totally understood me! He pointed straight ahead, did a motion with his hands that we figured out meant bridge, then pointed left. It would seem as though he has dealt with many foreigners asking where the subway is because he used very few words and had the hand motions down. We followed his directions and not only did we find the subway, but we also found STREET FOOD! Since leaving Wuhan and its delicious food street, I have been missing street food immensely. This was a yummy yummy yummy little biscuit sandwich with potatoes stuffed inside. I was in Heaven.

Birthday Month!

I love birthday month! I got a birthday package from my sister Brittany and her family about a week ago containing some DELICIOUS homemade cookies and adorable cards from the kiddos. I wish I would've thought to take a picture of the cookies before I gobbled them all up and the cards are at work so I will have to share that picture tomorrow.

Today I arrived at work to find a much anticipated package from Cody and his parents waiting on my desk. It was like Christmas morning :) Cody had been telling me about how they were having fun picking things out and his dad especially chose some goofy stuff. I'll let you decide who picked out what, so here are some pictures:

I LOVED that the comics were included in this package :) I was sitting in the office cracking up and my coworkers were trying to read over my shoulder but they just didn't get the jokes.

Here's an up-close picture of those awesome magnets :)

Now, not to be forgotten, is my dear sweet boyfriend who knows me better than many and most people. Which explains how he knew that this was the absolute most perfect card to get me for my 23rd birthday:

I'm just going to go ahead and give you a photo-tour of the most splendid card that, as Cody said, "was made specifically for our relationship" haha......here you go (you're welcome):

Are you disgusted that a boyfriend would send this kind of birthday card to his girlfriend all the way across the world? Well......that's why I'm dating him and you aren't. So to those of you who have already sent me birthday packages and wishes, here's my formal appreciation:

Animal Prison/Hey, There's A Person In That Tank!

We did SO MUCH tourist stuff this weekend! Tuesday we went to the Beijing Zoo with Bella and Cherry. When you walk into the zoo it looks like this:

Doesn't it look like it's going to be just the most beautiful place ever? We were so excited because it was such a pretty beginning, we couldn't imagine what the rest of the zoo might hold.
Before embarking on our adventure, we decided to help this little guy out of his shell...

We came across some zebras who were pretty much domesticated. They could come right up to the fence and people were feeding them all sorts of things - lettuce, peach pits, apples, etc. I can't imagine this was very good for the zebras, even though it was kinda cool to pet a real live zebra......

 This little guy and his friend were too cute to just not take a picture of.....

haha what a cheeseball

Something that I love about China is how close friends are. The girls link arms or hold hands when they are out together and it's such a simple show of affection between friends....I love it. Chelsie's mom put it best when she said "Remember when you were little and you would hold your friend's hand? And then when do you stop doing that, when is it not okay anymore? They just never stop doing it here...." I'm glad that they don't.

I didn't take very many pictures of the animals because they were just so sad. They were all laying down like they were depressed or trying to eat the walls of their cages because they were so disturbed. The rhino was missing his horn. The tigers were in cages the size of circus cages. The only animals that were even somewhat happy were the pandas, and that's because this is a zoo built specifically to showcase pandas...

After walking through the whole zoo, we were feeling very sad and very ready to head to the aquarium, which was supposed to be really good. It's also the largest indoor aquarium in the world! I knew it was going to be fun when we walked in and immediately were greeted with this lovely display of ChEnglish: 

I don't think many of the pictures really need explaining other than a few, and that's what captions are for......soooooo enjoy!

This thing looked prehistoric, I've never seen anything like it before

China is obsessed with entertaining their children

Seems an appropriate place for a bear statue....

For those of you coming to visit me here in China, I will not be going to the zoo with you. It was too depressing and horrific. I will gladly take you to the aquarium though, and we can go to the dolphin show that is entirely in Chinese and yet still awesome.