Monday, around lunchtime, I purchased a new steed! This one is green/fades to black. It sits higher than the old one, and I think it might be a tad nicer than the old one, as well. I paid slightly less this time, because now-- seven months into this China gig-- I can haggle and joke with the shopkeepers until they do what I want.
I've realized that dying to self can mean different things at different times. One of them, I'm seeing, is accepting that which does not fit into one's own system of reality. This can take many shapes and forms: the uncanny popularity of American Idol, a literal seven day creation, or chocolate-flavored cheese singles. Today I dealt most closely with the last. I was poking around my local supermarket, (with a French name and a very Chinese interior) and I found chocolate cheese.
Now, please, understand, I'm American. I grew up on the firmly middle class diet of Twinkies and Yoo-Hoo. But there is something disturbing about cheese-cum-chocolate in a plastic film single-serve. The texture (of course I ripped it open and tried it!) is somewhere between chocolate pudding and a Fruit Roll-Up, which, if you're honest, is the same as a regular American cheese single. Lately the Professor has been on a grilled-cheese sandwich binge; that's the real reason I bought the stuff. In reality, the taste is about as close to Godiva as American singles are to cheddar. I'm not sure if I'm more appalled at the idea of the cheese itself or the idea that he might actually make a chocolate grilled cheese sandwich. Then again, what else can you do? Ham-n-Chocolate? Nope. So he might as well take these squares, brown and shiny, and put them between white bread. Slather the whole thing with margarine and cook it to a golden disaster. Who's hungry?Meeting with my tutor, who we'll call Jill, has been interesting. I'm sensing that I will need to be armed with questions about Chinese and life if we are to make any headway. The knowledge I've gleaned thus far has been very helpful in learning about characters and whatnot. She's quite nice, and she is very helpful in my studies. This week my studies have been progressing nicely, I feel. I'm able to go to class, listen and learn what I can, and then meet Jill and ask her about things that were unclear. The other day I was able to help her edit a letter of thanks to be sent to an interview panel she went before recently. I hope I can do things like this for her benefit. I don't want to always be only taking. And my English is phenomenal... (I say in a fragment.)
The Professor refers to me as Sunshine on his blog. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It basically comes from the fact that he tells me, "Good mornin', Sunshine" most mornings. Am I "Sunshine"-like somehow? I've always thought of myself as more a "terrible and imposing figure" person than "Sunshine." I guess I should answer with, "The Earth says, 'Hello,'" and let it be done with.
I just recently finished reading the book Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler. It is a really good view of the way China has been shaped and formed through history and especially the last 60-or-so years. It's thick but it's a great read. Now I am reading Light in August by William Faulkner. I've always had some dread fear in my heart about Faulkner. I suppose it was unfounded and silly. He's a Southern boy! This book is going quite well, and I admit that it's been too long since I was reading solid fiction. I guess that was most recent with East of Eden last semester. It's like putting on a soft, plush sweater on that day when autumn has finally tilted the calendar in favor of winter and the T-shirts have been forced to surrender their hold on your priority wardrobe shelves. (Did that sentence make sense?) I'm also working with the Professor and Cowboy on a study of a book about the development of a sound rational mind; the book is by J. P. Moreland. Google it.
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