Ever So Much More So

I had a break between classes today so I went to Fabao, the "French" grocery store across the street. I never noticed it before, but they have an entire aisle of MSG. Isn't that crazy? MSG always reminds me of Ever So Much More So from that Centerburg Tales story (or was it Homer Price? One or the other. Robert McCloskey = talented guy). It makes things better! Or more! Or something! What does it do? The Chinese word for MSG is weijing, which literally translates to "flavor essence" which is not very illuminating. Fabao also features an impressive selection of pickled eggs, and it is a mark of something or other that I am sitting here right now thinking, "mmm, pickled eggs," rather than making the yuck-face I bet you a nickel you are making right now.

Today was not a day for purchasing MSG and pickled eggs, however (two great tastes that taste great together!). Today's purchases:

• 4 liters of water. I buy a 4 L bottle of water at least every day, and each time I swear it is the last, and next time I will start getting used to drinking the peculiar tasting boiled water from the dorm's boiler, but I drink a lot of water and I just can't bring myself to quit.

• Two small Tupperware bowls with lids

• A Dove bar, because it has been at least two weeks since I last tasted chocolate, and oh my goodness it was worth it for 4 kuai.

• A King Packet of Convenient Noodles (ramen), shrimp flavor. Ramen is like bowling: best very late at night, but I had some for lunch anyway in the interest of saving time which I could theoretically use for homework but am instead spending typing this. It was extremely complicated ramen, too, containing no less than three little packets: one of dried plant material (carrots? parsley?), one of what I assume was Shrimp Essence (Essence of Emeril: "Did he ... die?"), and one of a crisco-like substance I could not hope to identify but which I added anyway. Made it very hard to clean the bowl.

• Best of all, a packet of children's chopsticks, one blue pair, one pink pair, and a small wooden spoon. They are a little too small for convenient use, but it is totally worth while because when I got home I realised that they are in fact KNOCKOFF SMURF KUAIZI, which is the coolest thing ever. And they came with a sheet of (presumably) Smurf-related jokes which I haven't gotten around to translating but when and if I do I will post the results. They look pretty awesome. I used to really love the Smurfs when I was little for some reason.

Walking home from Fabao I passed Sa Zhi'ang, whom I pretended not to see because everyone knows that is the quickest route to friendship. But then I made up for it by stopping by his room after class to chat for 3.2 minutes, ending in an abrupt, "Okay, bye!" At least this time I remembered not to thank him.