do you mind pulling the car out first? there are just some really big roosters by my door

Try explaining unreasonable fears of birds to your Chinese student. It doesn’t really work. I’m probably the only one that would ever need to though after all.
Aaron took Abby and I to the Former Residence of Dr. Sun Yat-sen this morning. It’s a preserved area in Cuiheng, Xiangshan, what today is called Zhongshan, where Sun was born and later lived a good portion of his life. There are several houses still standing and a museum dedicated to his life and works.
We were picked up by Aaron at precisely 8:45 am. I just realized that Aaron is the most prompt Chinese person I have ever met. He’s punctual down to the second. And there are many great things about Chinese people, but timeliness is not one of them. Anyway, we got on the express way (which we then learned spanned from Beijing to Zhuhai…that’s long) and then the rain started. I have never been so scared in a car in my life. I would have pulled over if I ever encountered rain like this, but Aaron just kept zooming along. Looking out the windshield (a scene that reminded me of what one would see on the inside of a car wash when water is being sprayed at the car) made me want to scream, so I spent as much of the time as I could, looking out the side window. It was terrifying. And it was definitely relieving to hear the words “much danger” followed by a chuckle being uttered from our driver as the rain subsided.
Lucky for us, Aaron is old chums with the museum administer. This got us free entrance, a free English tour guide, and a gift of umbrellas with the museum’s logo. And they’re nice umbrellas.
It really was fascinating though. I felt a little jealous of the education in Chinese history that I never received however. I’ve always loved history, but I couldn’t tell you anything more about China’s than I’ve learned while living here. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was a pretty awesome guy I think. Something makes me think he wouldn’t be too happy with how things are currently being done in his homeland. But who knows, I definitely don’t have a place in judging that.
When we were leaving the museum, we walked outside in the river that was falling from the sky and finally came to the covered parking area where Aaron’s car was. I was about to walk around to the passenger side of the car when I saw a rooster the size of a pit bull in my path. I think that maybe my fear of birds comes from an unfortunate experience with a peacock in my youth and Alfred Hitchcock. Regardless, there was no way I was going near that bird. Luckily there were even more by the door so I felt justified in asking Aaron to pull out so we could reach the door at all. I think he still thought we were crazy though.

Sorry if all the recent posts have been a bit too much. I usually only do one a week but I realized if I kept that up, I'd only post about 4-5 more times. And we all know I have more to say than that.