Queequeg and Yojo, the Wrong Lock

I must apologize to my more demanding readers for the lack of exciting outdoor photos. Yeah, I still have my camera. It's just that what with the new bicycle and all the excitement, I've been having a hard time remembering to bring it, and remembering to take pictures when I do bring it. I have tried to make up for it with ex post facto indoor ones...

Yesterday I woke up galvanized with concern for my little turtles' health and habitat. So I started searching around for a pet-store or something. Such things are remarkably hard to find, at least in my part of town. But then I remembered that there was is a Walmart next to the second closest subway stop. Doesn't Walmart usually have a pet section? Now the more socially-conscious among you might scold me for patronizing the evil monster corporation. I'll tell you, though, the evil of Walmart kind of blends into the background in Beijing. Or let's put it another way: every big store is a sort of Walmart, so there's less contrast. I admit, I was also a bit curious to see what it was like.

Walmart-haters will be pleased to know that it was not as crowded as the Ikea or the Carrefour. Possibly that was just the time of day (Friday morning). But it wasn't much cheaper than or even much different from the Hypermart or Carrefour. So there was no particular reason for it to be mobbed. It did not have much of a pet section, though--just one little tank of goldfish beside some gardening things.

Downstairs (it was a three-storey building), in the food and housewares, they did have some big tupperware boxes, though, which are recommended by turtle enthusiasts on account of being extra easy to clean. So I got one of those. Then I puzzled for a long time over tank furnishings (they are supposed to have a basking area--big rocks are recommended). Well good luck finding any big rocks around here. And I don't think construction rubble is such a good idea. I finally settled on a dish and bowl that are rough and ridged on the outside, enough that I think the little nippers can get traction on them and climb up. I also put in some shells that they climb on.

I have decided to name them Queequeg and Yojo. They have their separate territorial corners, but they go visiting a lot and often climb right on top of each other. They are eating, which is a really good sign.

Their environment is far from perfect, but it's better than some Chinese turtles get, and better than most of their unsold siblings back at the Wudaokou market. And as opportunity arises, I shall improve it. Another thing that made me feel less bad about my animal husbandry was the seafood section of the Walmart food market. They had several tanks of soft-shelled turtles and--there's no nice way to say this--they weren't being sold as pets. It's almost enough to make a person want to turn vegetarian.

Moving onto happier subjects, I got this bright yellow melon, which I think of as a Korean melon, but it was labeled as "Toyota melon." It was nice and ripe and had a ripe smell coming from it. It made me miss my family a lot, remembering how many of those we ate when we were in Korea.

I didn't want my trip to be wholly frivolous, so I also got a lock to use in the library--if you recall from my earlier post, you can't bring a book bag into the place where the books are, so you have to lock it in a locker. After I'd got back home and rested a bit, I decided indeed I would go out to the library. I got there and optimistically looked up a title I wanted to look at… only to find that the lock was just slightly too big for the lockers. Argh! Also the room I had to be in was going to close at 5 and it was already after 4. So I realized I might as well give it up for the day and show up bright and early the next day.

On the way home, I saw a woman selling straw shapes she had made herself. There were many of them and each one has a separate meaning. This one means family harmony, which is kind of off since I am so far from my family. But I liked the shape a lot, partly because I know just how to make this shape with origami with a number of variations. No, it's not as cool as the green leaf bugs, but I decided that it's better to spend a few cents here and there than regret not spending them. So I hung this straw decoration from my salvaged bamboo plant (someone had thrown it away, but I thought it looked like it still had some life left in it), and realized that it would make a really good Christmas ornament.

I felt a little sad, and so I went to have my favorite pulled noodle dinner. The noodle chef gave me extra vegetable and maybe extra noodle as well, and it was a hearty, filling meal. Somehow the fact that the noodle-chef and the counter-girl knew me, even if not by name, made it taste better. I was missing home.

After I got home, I stayed up late watching the last two episodes of Smiley's People, a brilliant BBC TV adaptation of a brilliant novel by LeCarre (available from Netflix). We hadn't quite managed to finish it before I had to leave, so Colin sent me the last two episodes. Oh it was so good. Parts of it were so like what I imagined in my head as I was reading the book that I felt like I had almost seen them before. And Alec Guinness as Smiley was amazing, especially toward the end when his look was so expressive that he didn't even have to say anything and you knew how he felt.