The Foam Fiasco

I think I've mentioned the hardness of the beds here and the fact that even my well-padded hips feel like they're permanently bruised from sleeping on my side. To thwart the mattress' effort in trying to mame me, I've been desperately shopping for some sort of cushion to lay on top of it. I've actually purchased two different "bed softeners" in an attempt to make my slumber a little more sleep-filled. But to no avail because both have been too hard themselves to help. In fact, at one point I had a comforter folded in half (two layers), a double-size "cushion" folded in half (two layers) and a queen-size "cushion" folded in thirds (three layers) all on top of the mattress to soften the blow. It was almost like the princess in the pea. But instead of a pea, it was like a huge boulder I was sleeping on. And what's funny about it, is that none of those things actually fit the width of the mattress, much narrower (and got narrower the higher up they were) so by the time I was on top of the somewhat pyramid shape (which was an extra foot higher than my regular mattress), I had about a foot and a half to balance on every night. It's a lot to concentrate on, NOT sleeping on your sides, NOT moving too quickly, and NOT rolling down the hill, all while trying to sleep.

So, a few days ago, we heard a rumor from someone that there was this place in a riverbed that sold thick foam that you could put on your bed. The riverbed? Yes, that's what we were told (it wasn't actually in a riverbed, in fact we never even saw a river which was part of the whole getting lost thing but that's how rumors work I suppose). And by thick I mean like 6 inches thick. And REAL foam, not that hard stuff you buy in the department stores here to soften your bed.

I have never been more excited. Before I go on, let me tell you about my pillow situation. When I first got here, someone lent me their pillows to use but a couple of days later, we went to the store where I bought my own pillows. I got three of them so I could also use them as decoration on my day bed. They were fluffy and plush, awesome. It's a little uncommon to find something with that much padding here. So, I get home that night, all excited to use my new full, bright and white pillows, I put them at the head of my bed, I use two, and lay down...the pillows were so thick it literally pushed my chin down to my chest. So, now I was laying on this rock hard bed and sleeping with these marshmallow shaped pillows. I looked night and day for different pillows but everything here is all about aromatherapy and theraputic blah blah blah so all the pillows have beans and rice and tea leaves in them. I'm sorry, I don't want to make a soup I actually want to sleep. Anyway, after purchasing four of the wrong size pillows, I finally found the one I was looking for. It really was the perfect pillow.

And now I'm getting the foam mattress to go with the perfectly sized pillow, needless to say, I was oh, so excited.

So, a friend of mine and I start the treck to the mysterious foam place...we were following directions that were kind of like- take the bus until you cross over the bridge and then turn right, get off there- when you're facing the street, you go to your left, walk about a mile until you get to the end of a block where you'll see a slightly upturned rock, go 400 ft to your left...yah, we got lost on a couple of occasions.

But, we finally found the place.

We had to wait a long time because they had to cut out 3 queen size mattresses and 2 twin mattresses. Yes, I know that adds up to five. I was also getting a queen size one for the roommate.















And yes, she's using a meat cleaver.



















Now, I know I've also mentioned that the Chinese people like to stare. But just imagine seeing four white girls carrying these massive foam rolls. I am telling you, a crowd gathered. Like stop-what-you're-doing-come-out-and-see-the-most-interesting-thing-that's-ever-happened-in-these-here-parts" draw a crowd.
















We had to split up just to get a taxi (that we had to beg) to take us home. There was no way we could all fit on a bus.
















The taxi driver was not happy and poor Kayla could barely breath (man, this picture cracks me up!) but...















it was totally worth it (yes, Kayla survived). The long bus ride, the getting lost, the walking, the waiting, the begging, the suffocating, the staring...all worth it. My bed is 100000000000% more comfortable than it was yesterday. The foam, the pillows...living in the lap of luxury I tell you! My hips don't hurt, no cricks in my neck, it's almost like being back in America.

P.S. I won't be doing any more picture slide shows on my blog. It just takes too long. And I'm doing double work because I'm also putting them on Facebook. So, if you'd like to see them, you'll have to look me up on FB.

P.P.S. Update: My parent's sold my car yesterday!! Huge, huge thing. No more car payments. No more car insurance.