I finally relented and got a QQ account...

As you might have noticed, I haven't been posting very much recently. I think that as my schedule starts to become more "regular" and I stop going on spontaneous adventures all the time, there's less that I feel compelled to share. It might have something to do with being in the same place for a long enough time (three weeks today). Actually, I haven't spent very much time just exploring; my travels around the city have tended mainly to have specific destinations that I can't sacrifice on a whim.

On Monday I met up with Diana and David again at the campus of their school, the Southwest Minority Nationalities University (or something similar). The university actually has two campuses--one near the city center and one about a half-hour drive south--and there's a shuttle bus that goes between them. I missed the last shuttle bus before dinner time, so I took a taxi. The campus seems a little bit isolated, but on one side there are a few commercial streets, so that's where we had dinner. The restaurant's chairs and tables were small and unremarkable, the walls were bathroom tiles, and the entrance was a garage door. None of this was out of the ordinary. By contrast, the food was tasty and interesting. The two dishes I remember the best are spicy mushrooms with peppers, and something that might have been called "beehive corn", which was a giant knot of sweet, crunchy, porous, yellow material with a nucleus of corn kernels, all doused in vegetable oil. Speaking of hive insects, I was looking at the jars of variously colored baijiu on the counter near our table and saw one with a picture of ants on it. Diana and David tried to explain it to me, and if I understood right, this particular type of alcohol is flavored with fermented ant mush.





After dinner we went back to campus and they taught me how to play snooker.





Another thing that happened this week is that I started an internship at Chengdoo magazine, the first English language magazine in Chengdu. So far I have been given the task of compiling a weekly news review for the magazine's blog (which I am more than happy to do, because it forces me to stay well-informed about local news), I've helped distribute magazines a little bit (which is great for getting more familiar with the geography), and I've done a few other miscellaneous things. I think I have already learned a lot.

I've also found a few odd jobs, but I'm still searching for a part-time teaching opportunity. Wish me luck.

Happy Hanukkah!