Roger

Almost 2 weeks ago (on May 19th), we bought a turtle!

We went to the grocery store in Xiaolan, about a 20 minute bus ride away from Guzhen, and looked them all over before picking the one we wanted. He was the runt of the group (did you know a group of turtles is called a bale?), but he also seemed to be the most active. We got the attention of one of the employees, who then went and got the person who was in charge of the turtles and fish, and we pointed to the one we wanted. He picked him up, put him in his hand, then covered him with his other hand and shook him! He laughed while we all stared at him with a "What are you doing? Don't shake our turtle!" look on our faces. We picked out a little container for him and the man put the price sticker for the turtle on his new home. (He only cost 8 yuan! That's like $1.25!) We also got him turtle food, and rocks for his home. We carefully transported him back to Guzhen, where we named him Roger....or "Rog" as we called him.

He was a grump too...but we blamed the man who shook him...and Olivia-for kicking him across the room (on accident). We changed his home to a bigger bucket that he seemed to like more, and kept him outside on our porch in the fresh air. We showed him to our friends who would come over to our apartment...Mary, Apple, our student Benny boy, as well as a boy down our hall who is also named Benny. Benny from down the hall asked us if we were going to eat him, which we quickly shook our heads to. We enjoyed having Roger...even though we were convinced he was trying to die because he didn't seem to ever eat. And then...on Sunday morning, he disappeared. Gone. Vanished. Benny from down the hall had been over for a second in the morning, and we can't be sure...but we're convinced he let Roger out, or took him, or something...cuz there's no possible way for Roger to have gotten out on his own. He was cute. We miss him. (We also have no idea if "he" was actually a "he"...but Roger seemed to fit...)

Also...the sky was pretty the day we bought him.