Tuesday found me wanting to go to USC because I sat in on Megan's, from USC, pitch to the Senior 1s and a couple Senior 2s. I learned all about USC and by the end, was sold...then I realized I've already gone to college! Weird to be back in that audience. I was a bit embarrassed that no one in the audience seemed to have a dream or a goal in life when asked to share. Guess that's what I'll work on during my Tuesday evening college talks: goals and dreams (besides making money).
So, the Senior 3 students were gone this past week as the other students had midterms. Which meant, I was freeeeeeeeee! For whatever reason Mark didn't schedule me to proctor. Cynthia and I discussed maybe climbing the other peak at Qingcheng Shan or maybe seeing the Panda center (where something like 30% of the world's Panda's live!) on Wednesday (and she was off for the day).
But on Wednesday, at 7am, when we said we'd do something, we both slept in! So eventually we dragged ourselves out and about! I spent the morning researching Emei Shan and other adventure ideas for my next few days of no-teaching. Though staying in Chengdu also sounded nice: relaxing, learning more bus routes, and planning classes.
Cynthia and I bussed #30 to Tianfu Square and we walked to the bus station for long distance buses. There was a big picture sign of all the places to go (which reminded me of Dr. Suess's Oh, The Places You'll Go; which reminded me I am in China, such a cool place to go!). Cynthia thought we could just hop on a bus and go anywhere, but without cameras and my desire to investigate some things in Chengdu, I declined. I want to be that impulsive, but I liked to have a tiny bit of supplies when being that impulsive!
We walked down one of the main drags and ended up at Bookworm; a foreign library/coffee shop/restaurant. It was cozy, they had pumpkin pie on their menu, and free Chengdu maps in English/Chinese! I grabbed a couple for me and other teachers and Cythina and I ordered a bit of food. Her hummus appetizer left much to be desired: flavor. I had a tomato, pesto, mozzarella sandwich on focaccia. The pesto was decent, the mozzarella was actually real, but the focaccia was more like white bread, no good crunch. But the fries (chips) served were delicious! We discussed careers as food writers, but realize we'll eat what we ordered unless it's really really really bad.
Then Cynthia showed me Sabrina's Country Store, which is a foreign import store. There I found allspice, cloves, nutmeg (all ground), wax paper, cocoa powder, crisco baking sticks (pie crust), and CANNED PUMPKIN! Sure it was all a bit too expensive, but what's a guy to do? Thanksgiving is coming fast and I refuse to not eat pumpkin pie. All that's left is an oven-proof pie plate and evaporated milk and I'm good to go! (For whatever reason the pie plate I purchased, had a booklet that said in English that it can't go into a pre-heated oven. Which I found after removing all labels and washing it. What a silly piece of glass!!!) Making a pumpkin pie in an electric oven will be interesting, but hopefully will be successful!
Also, if I failed to mention, I already possess heaps of cinnamon. In fact I have a flour jar and I have a cinnamon jar...what else would I need? And today, I was given a small PUMPKIN PIE by the Korean woman who runs a small shop that has butter and cheese and real milk close to where I live! I bought frozen bagels the first time from her. She's pretty fly!
After Sabrina's, Cynthia and I stopped for a 'bathroom stop' at Shamrock, the Irish Bar (every city has an Irish bar, even in China??). Of course bathroom stop is Kiwi for mojitos (though it was probably my idea)! But it was five o'clock, so it was fully justified. We resumed our quest for food sources and stopped at Auchon, a French store that boasts a large international section and also sells decently prices liquor. I grabbed a couple things including some Capt. Morgan Rum. (My dear cousin Xanna once mentioned something about one our ancestors being a pirate of sorts. Never fully explored, it has still heavily influenced by drink of choice. That and Pirates of the Caribbean...oh media, you powerful force! Part of me also thinks that this movie actually started the news media's obsession over pirates. --Ever the psychology major/over-thinker.)
Finally we found ourselves home and combined forces to make pasta with tomato sauce and heat up (toast!) breaded fish...that still had scales on it...underneath the breading...and was very old and smelly and NOT eaten. Lynette joined us for a brief visit.
I had talked about maybe going to Emei Shan the next day and Cynthia was encouraging me the whole day. I hemmed and hawed. I wasn't feeling my best, having a case of the stomach abroad! (Dun dun Dunnnn!) And then I, while talking to Cynthia, I realized: I've jumped out of a plane. Actually, I hitchhiked with a friend to a hostel, found it, and then the next day jumped out of a plane and hitched back. What happened to all that confidence to travel? I'll tell you: language barrier! Consciously I'm not scarred of it, but I think it was the source of the hemming and hawing. In New Zealand, I could hitchhike alone and feel secure, because of the same language. Here in China, I am apprehensive to get on a bus out of Chengdu! A bus which has a destination and a plan makes me apprehensive all because I can't speak. Sure I can say a little and gesture a lot, but it's all so new.
Cynthia left late and around twelve I had decided to go. I needed to do this for myself. I needed to pull myself out of this helplessness feeling and go have an adventure: it's like the cure for the common case of anxiety. So there I was at 12:30AM frantically putting supplies on my table, making sandwiches, and gathering warm clothes. Finally I relaxed into sleep around 1:30, though I still wasn't sure if I would go. All depended on how I felt in five and half hours (to be continued).
Pumpkin, cinnamon, cocoa powder, Italian herbs, and more are very much helping this place feel homey. I hope to stick to mostly Chinese food and really live like they do, but it's nice to feel I have a home base stocked with pasta sauce! Now to work on that teaching!
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