You know, it’s quite entertaining living in the land of mini-peeps. Really, the average Shanghainese woman is probably a US size 4 and under 100 lbs. Last Thursday, I went to my guzheng lesson. I’ve been practicing this new string vibration technique, and it’s frustrating the shit out of me. The elbow is raised, parallel to my shoulder, and then my right wrist is supposed to rotate like I’m using a screwdriver. In turn, my thumbnail touches the string twice– once when my wrist rotates counterclockwise and once when it twists clockwise. Regardless, I just can’t get the technique right. When my teacher demoed it, she made the method look so easy. I felt like maybe there was something physically wrong with my hand. I was right. When I matched my hand with hers, my fingers were a good inch longer than hers. It was as if I had man hands. She said her hand wasn’t even considered small among her classmates. Great, I’m just a frickin’ barbarian.

I’ve had similar issues in the bra department, to be honest. Now, everyone in the States knows I don’t have a chest to brag about. But here? Ha, ha. I’m huge. It took me 30 minutes, wading through tiny lil’ bras with disproportionatly large foam cups to finally find something comfortable (no underwire, no foam cups) and in my size. Actually, it was the largest size they had– probably the equivalent of a US 36. Cracks me up. And it had super wide straps and a hefty clasp in the back– for added support I guess. And my bra only cost $1 US. Can you believe they cost $15-20 in the US?