Wednesday 9 November 2011

7:00 AM – I have breakfast in the dining hall and accidentally leave my card at the counter but go back later to pick it up.

• steamed bun with cinnamon
• pickled vegetables
• congee

8:30 AM – In class I make rubbings from my previous seal side inscriptions for the first time.

12:30 PM – I have lunch in the cafeteria with three PHD students, one from the Congo, one from Burma, and one from Guangdong Province in southern China. The Burmese is a good Buddhist and buys rice to feed the fish in the pond outside.

• two unknown vegetable dishes
• chicken wing

After lunch I walk down the basement hallway to the college art store to buy some blotting paper used to make rubbings from the side inscriptions on seals (39 cents). After dropping these off in my room I go pick up my new business cards from the college print shop.

[Back in the hall I decide that, instead of going back up the stairs to my room, I will explore and go down the long dark basement hall and see where it leads. Going up the stairs at the other end I find in the next building over a tiny college stationary shop where I get a .]

2:50 PM – I walk to the bank and withdraw some cash, then go next door to the art store to buy a round coir stamper [22 RMB] used in the making of side inscription rubbings and for more blotting paper [5.5 RMB]($4.36 total for both).

After another trip to my room to drop these off I set out again to the art market to find a calendar so I can mark off the days of the month and make notes instead of keeping a diary. On the way I stop in a stationary store and buy a ream of white copy paper ($1.58). Down the street I find a tiny metalcraft store and buy a brass door knocker in the shape of a lion’s head ($8.72). The shop owner seems confused that I only want to buy one, not knowing that in America we usually have only one front door rather than the double doors found on most Chinese homes. At the art market I get a brush holder roll ($1.42) and at the stone market I get three small decorative Qingtian stones to take home and five medium Changhua stones for practice (about $47.57). I can’t find a calendar for this year since all they have now are for 2012.

I have dinner in the dining hall where I meet “David”:

• Green bell peppers with pork liver
• Cabbage?
• Chicken
• rice

7:30 PM – I go to the college Lavazza Coffe Shop to have chrysanthemum tea ($3.17) and to use their wifi so I can check my email.

It rains and sprinkles all day.