Sunday 20 November 2011

I eat breakfast with things from the French Bakery across the street ($2.85):

• an egg tart
• a small loaf of bread
• two pieces of toast

In the morning I walk to the Art Market to buy two small water droppers, four small blank books for seal impressions, three small blank scrolls, a blank fan, four metal paper weights, and a fan case ($71.35). At another shop across the hall I get ten long, well-made brush rolls to give as gifts for my fellow classmates when I return to Portland ($4.12 each) and a large brush with soft white bristles and a short wooden handle for myself ($19.02).

12:00 PM – I have lunch in the other dining hall:

• lotus root, green pepper, celery, ginger
• celery, tree-ear fungus, dofugan (dry soybean curd)
• rice
• mystery meat and dofu skins tied in knots – I don’t eat the meat since it has too many bones in it

In the afternoon I return to the classroom for more practice.

I eat dinner in the other dining hall with five Japanese students and one student from Myanmar and I discover that there is an English-language menu available at the counter. I order a bowl of noodles with egg and tomato.

I spend the evening in the classroom practicing and wonder if Wang Gongyi is in town?

It is a clear, hazy, and chilly day with a temperature of 58 degrees F.