Thomas invents a game and sounds of China

Picture, if you will, a boy of eleven, precociously exposed to Tolkein and the fantasy genre, cut off from 90% of his toys and with only 7 or 8 of his favorite books... marooned in a faraway land. Christmas is still months away. How can he survive? He invents a game, based on the game he most wants for Christmas (his friend Tal in Xi'an has it, called Heroscape). Thomas's heroscape actually turned out quite well. We actually played an entire game through, with much excitement as the dragon went on a rampage across the board, only to be repelled by a collection of action figures from all the blockbuster fantasy movies of the last 4 years. Even Helen got in on the action, although we had to have a quick resurrection when Thomas finished off her unicorn and she burst into tears..
We do watch a fair amount of movies here (since we acquire the latest titles so cheaply and easily --- occasionally in Russian, though), at least as much as in the US, but with fewer toys, they have definitely become more creative.


When I logged on tonight it was with the original intent of musing about the sounds I hear around here..so different from my neighborhood in Buffalo. For example, right after I put the kids to bed tonight, I heard a gong sounding first slowly and then faster, presumably from the temple. They also call the monks to prayer at 5 am with a throaty "yodel" in the wee hours. Some days we can smell the incense, too. At 9 am, a loudspeaker broadcasts instructions for a series of stretching exercises (which I recognize from the warm up at my Tai chi group). In the afternoons, a guy pushing a cart (full of what I am not sure) walks through this part of campus with a rhythmic call. Occasionally in the evenings, the guy in the house across the street from us goes out into his courtyard and sings Italian arias loudly and with only moderate skill. On Saturday mornings we frequently hear the yahoos of college students who have successfully scaled the mountain behind us. We no longer hear construction noises, now that the restaurant downstairs is finished, but we do hear happy diners coming in and out and bus boys on their break playing tag in the courtyard. What we don't hear ..sirens at all here, being a college campus, and mercifully few car horns..which is unusual because the cars and buses are insane about blowing their horns at each other in general in China. What we still hear..car alarms (once in a while) and cat fighting (every night).