mlia

seriously though. i know you think that because i'm off in thailand now, i must be doing something crazy all the time. i probably always have fascinating stories or thrilling culture clashes.

but mostly, i go to work, i get excited about watching tv, and i spend a lot of time thinking about what i'm going to eat later. i'm still just as boring as i was in america.

li rong just told me the chinese version of the creation of the earth and of man. keep in mind this is a second-language convo for her, so i might not have everything right. apparently, there was this god guy who was born and grew up inside the atmosphere ("airs," she called it), which used to be really tiny. when the god guy got older, he stood up and was HUGE. he expanded the atmosphere and the light stuff floated up to become the sky, and the heavy stuff sank down to become the earth. hence, the creation of the world.

then this lady god came along to create humans. she took the soil from the ground and shaped it into humans. these handmade people would become the famous rulers and academics and stuff. to create the common people, she took a whip and whipped muddy water. the droplets that flung off became regular people like you and me. so in china, we've been whipped from the beginning.