Day 13: Another Day at the Office...and the Laundry Dilemma

            Well, I won’t bore you with the tedious routines that will occupy my time for the next six weeks, so I’ll try to find some more interesting tidbits to post here.  For a quick overview, this morning I woke up, walked to work with Evan and James, researched various Asset Management companies and China’s QDII scheme, ate lunch, etc.  Ooh but I discovered Google Finance (why had nobody ever shown this to me before?!) and I had a good time checking out the different funds that I’ve been researching.  Since I’ve never really been into finance, it makes me really happy when things start to click and I’m the one explaining how things work rather than the one confused.  I still know very little overall, but it’s awesome how much you can learn just by reading different Investing articles and stuff.  So I really haven’t been too bored, even though we really do sit at our computers for 9 hours straight.  We find others ways to stay entertained too actually- like sharing ridiculous slogans and pictures on websites and renaming companies’ mutual funds (my favorite today was Evan’s “Ninja Assassin” fund, wouldn’t you invest in that?  I know I would).

            So usually after work we go out to dinner, but tonight Evan and James wanted to stay in.  So I seized the opportunity to do something girly for once and went out to find a good nail place.  I totally scored- I found the best place with the cutest little Chinese lady who was so nice and did a wonderful job.  We didn’t really talk, because she didn’t speak any English, but it was so awesome and I enjoyed pretty much every minute of it.  Manicures here are really cheap- the one I had was 40 RMB, equivalent to about $6.50 so you can bet that I’ll be going back soon.  (You know, I really don’t enjoy manicures in the US, but something about being constantly out of my comfort zone/discussing World Cup soccer with boys all day made it so refreshing.)  Then I went to this pseudo-Italian place and ordered spaghetti and didn’t even use chopsticks and then ate some peanut mms. 

But now for the really good story: Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a great house with a laundry room about 10 steps from her bedroom. Then she moved to Seattle, where she had to go down 8 floors to get to the dorm laundry room.  There was some grumbling, and she felt more grateful for her laundry room at home. Then one summer, she decided to move to China for ten weeks.  In the second week, she realized she had one clean pair of underwear left and that laundry needed to be done.  Unfortunately, Chinese people are not into Laundromats, and it seemed ridiculous to dry clean twelve pairs of underwear and socks, so she decided to wash her laundry in the sink.  BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER.  Ok, well, let’s be honest, it really wasn’t that bad, but I’m now considering alternate laundry options. Here’s what I have so far.  (Note- I am most concerned about underwear). A) I have 59 days left here and I just washed nine pairs of underwear and I’ve needed new underwear for a while anyway, so perhaps I could buy 50 new pairs?  B) Wear diapers.  Pull-ups?  C) Not wear underwear at all.  Haha, totally kidding. Eew. Anyway, in about 30 minutes, I have developed a major appreciation for my washing machine, drying machine, all those pioneer women who washed clothes in ice cold rivers, and the Lander laundry room.  The best part: I only did half of my laundry.  So that means I still have to do the whole process again or come up with another solution very quickly.