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Reflections on a Wandering Life.....

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sunday Evening 

Charley brought his company car and helped me take my books to Fragrant Hills. My new neighbor had said I could store my books there until my apartment opens up. I am going to have to farm my stuff out to different friends until I can get moved into my apartment. But the books are the most critical, mainly because they are, well, books. But also because books are heavy, and they would not be that easy for me to handle on my own a little at a time. This way, when I get ready to move in, I will just have to carry them downstairs.

After we got back and Charley left, Forrest showed up with his car to help me carry a bunch of clothes over to Shannon's place. The clothes are much easier to handle, because I went to Walmart and bought some vacuum seal bags. I don't know if they have those in the States now--I imagine they would. They look like giant ziplock sandwich bags, except that they have a valve on the side, and come with a pump. You put the clothes in, seal the zip lock, screw the pump into the valve, and pump the air out. Turns a big bundle of clothes into a neat little package.

After we were finished, I told Forrest to drop me off at the sky bridge opposite the North Gate, since he was heading west. As I came down from the sky bridge and headed toward the North Gate, I noticed a new bookstore I had not seen before. Not much chance of finding something in English, but I entered anyway, just to see. Lucky me, I found one paperback book: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. I couldn't pass it up. Not that I really need another book... I found myself mentally searching for one small corner in one of those ten boxes. Just big enough for one little Latin classic from the battlefields of ancient Rome, that has fought its way through the centuries to be waiting here for me on a Sunday evening in Beijing. Could I just ignore such valiant chivalry, and walk away? For eighteen kuai? Unthinkable.

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