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October 10, 2005
birthday juice
today is Ilka's birthday. Ilka is a totally sweet German teacher who arrived a few weeks ago. Since we have no "family" here, we figured it would be really nice to have a big celebration and go out to dinner (see pictures in the gallery) We all went to the hot pot restaurant and ate lamb, beef, tofu, noodles, fish balls, veggie things, potatoes and lots of pijuo (beer!!!) so after mass amounts of pijuo, on my way to the bathroom, I discovered a rather peculiar jar of "stuff" on the counter. I stood there, staring at the mystery juice for quite some time, until finally I was told you can buy a glass for 10 yuan. However, the jar contained: brown liquid, an entire turtle which looked as if it had been sitting there for several years, an entire seahorse in the same state as the turtle, a whole snake, raisins, a starfish, a crucified lizard, and lots of other things reminiscent of a 7th grade science experiment. I was quick to say "bu yao. wo kankan." (no thanks, I'm just looking!)
I walked back to my table, wondering if what I had seen was real, or just a figment of my pijuo tainted imagination. Somehow, a couple hours later, as we were all ready to go, we dared Joe to try it. Joe's great... He'll drink anything! So we paid 10 yuan for a glass of the lizard juice, handed it to Joe and anxiously watched to see what happens. He drank half of it and didn't puke. Suddenly, we all wanted in on the action, so the glass was passed around and we all tried it. One of the Chinese students was translating what the little old man at the restaurant was telling us about the lizard juice. First of all, after naming about a dozen things that it's good for, we came to the conclusion that it's good for your entire body... somehow. Secondly, the longer it sits, the better it is for you. This particular batch had been sitting around, fermenting, for about 5 years. Within one minute of drinking the "stuff" we all felt pretty high and rather enjoyed that part. It quickly wore off, but we all still felt pretty good, even after our 15 minute walk home. We're curious to see what tomorrow feels like. :)
Lizard Juice. It does the body good!
Posted by daiseykat at October 10, 2005 01:11 AM
Comments
i consider myself a pretty daring person. i'll try a whole variety of foods and experiences. you, my darling daisey, completely take the cake with this one though :)
Posted by: trish at October 10, 2005 08:31 PM
I totally agree. I would gladly take the prude award on this one.
love and miss you
brandi
Posted by: brandi at October 11, 2005 07:07 PM
To this day I still have moments when the taste (and sensation) come back to me. I must admit, drinking as much of the magic juice as I did, my eyeballs were floating a bit after this stuff. If it does half of what they claim it does, I will live forever.
Posted by: joe at October 18, 2005 01:10 AM
ha! well, it certainly made for a fun walk back to the campus! and also led to the discovery of Street Rummy! :)
I told my students about the Lizard Elixer experience the next day and they all think we're nuts. Apparently, they've heard of it, but it's something only their grandfathers drink.
Posted by: daisey at October 18, 2005 05:22 AM