Miscellany

We went to have dim sum with a friend today.  Within minutes of sitting down, two acquaintances of Man Yung also showed up at the same restaurant and came over to say hello.  One even sat down to chat with Man Yung - AND REFUSED TO LEAVE, even though our friend and I are hinting strongly "GO AWAY!" - like trying to order food with the waitress, looking bored and checking our email on our smartphones, giving him the evil eye, etc.  FORTY-FIVE MINUTES later the guy finally leaves to join his wife who had been waiting completely alone at their table with a huge black cloud emitting thunderbolts over her head. 

"Can I help it that my conversation is so interesting and amusing?" said Man Yung when we complained to him that he didn't do anything to get rid of the guy.

When we left the restaurant we bumped into another acquaintance of Man Yung.   We quickly whisked Man Yung away before he could be engaged in another witty conversation.

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We went to Koreatown to buy some chinese herbs.  We found a store in Koreatown last month selling better quality and cheaper medicinal herbs than those we have found in Chinese stores.

We go straight to the store that we went to before - and got large quantities of Cassia Seeds (good for eyesight and to reduce Yang energy), Wu Jia Pi (increase energy and strengthen joints) and Magnoliavine berries (also good for eyesight and to strengthen heart, lungs and kidneys) at very reasonable prices.  We decided to walk around Koreatown to see if there were more stores selling herbs. We drive by once or twice a week after going to a milonga and it always seems that there are lots of herbalist and health stores in Koreatown that we haven't checked out yet.

We look up and down, and discovered that the six other stores in Koreatown were all "Natural Health Food" stores selling pills promising to heal every kind of ailment known or unknown to humankind.   Strange how the first herbalist store we ever stepped foot in in Koreatown and the store right next door to it were the only two selling herbs in the whole of Koreatown... and the rest were all selling snake oil.  We are lucky that in many areas of our lives, even in relatively unimportant ones like this, we end up straight to the point and not in some kind of runaround!

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During our evening walk in the park, we heard the Canada Geese flapping in the pond and honking at each other.  One goose would give the "Let's fly this way!" command... and then another goose on the other side would give the "Let's fly that way!" command... and then the first goose would look pissed and honk louder, and then the whole gaggle of geese would look confused.  A few geese would start to take off, but they would stop, and a few others would try to take off, but the lack of coordination meant that all of them stayed put.

"See, see!" said Man Yung.  "It's just like Tango, you have to have ONE PERSON to give the command and all the others* have to FOLLOW.  It is NOT a DEMOCRACY.  If everyone is trying to lead at the same time the dancing won't get anywhere!"

* Meaning "Irene".

"Can't I just say my opinion? I just want to be heard!" I said.

"No!"  said Man Yung.

"OK then, I will follow...for now.  But by my body language and my aggressive auto-adornation you will know that I secretly resent the dictatorship of Chairman Mao.  One day by golly you will have a revolt on your hands!"**

** Your socks will all have "mysterious" holes in them, your coffee will taste salty instead of sweet, your steak will totally be overcooked, all your favourite CDs would "disappear", you won't be able to find your towel when you emerge dripping wet from the shower..... Mwwwwwaaahahahahaha!!!!

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Osvaldo and Coca are in Italy on a five week tour!  Many many videos have been posted of their performances on Youtube.  We talked to them before they left on their tour and they were very excited even though as they are getting older it gets more difficult for them to travel.   They have always enjoyed the warm welcome of their hosts and students in Italy and were looking forward to seeing all those familiar friendly and enthusiastic faces in Italy again.   No doubt they are having a very good time!

Here's one of their magnificent performances - dancing to D'Arienzo's "Color Cielo":