All systems go for operation Chengdu Burrito

I finally got all the paperwork in order and submitted my application to Sichuan University! I had forgotten that Dawn at the OSO had told me that the physical was only necessary if I wanted to be able to stay on a student visa for more than 6 months. But since I'm currently only planning to stay for one semester, the physical is unnecessary! I had decided to get it so that I wouldn't have to pay the 300 RMB to get a new physical later. But since I was going to have to get a new one anyway, I might as well wait until I'm sure I'll need one at all. Pleasant surprises: making forgetfulness more fun since 1997.

And I visited a place near my apartment called Sabrina's Country Store, a store dedicated to imported Western food. For the first time in a month, I saw avocados, tortillas, spices other than chili peppers and huā jiāo (cumin!? paprika!?), Western-style soymilk, a couple American microbrews (they carry Dead Guy! the catch: it's $3 a bottle over here), and all of the junk-food brands I've never eaten and never thought I'd miss seeing (OK, well, maybe I don't). It was almost like being home again...and being unable to leave the grocery store.

I also accidentally tried hot pot. I was looking for a place to have a simple lunch and through a series of misunderstandings fueled by my poor Chinese, I ended up going on a tour through the dingy kitchen (don't fall into that gutter running haphazardly along the middle of the cement floor! make sure not to slip on the gristle next to your foot!). After selecting four vegetables (bean sprouts, potatoes, lotus root, and something green and unnameable), I sat down at a table with a burner set into the middle. The next step involved a bowl of sesame-flavored oil, a bowl of garlic, a bowl of cilantro, and a cauldron of boiling red oil teeming with peppers and huā jiāo. The waiter did me the honor of carefully dropping all of the vegetables into the oil, where they cooked. Eating required fishing pieces of vegetables out of the boiling pot with chopsticks and dipping them into a mixture of the sesame oil, garlic, and cilantro. I think I consumed enough oil in this meal to make a batch of french fries in my stomach. But it was seriously delicious (and spicy). I did feel a little bit sad to have had this whole production put on for just one person. Hot pot is definitely a meal best eaten with friends.