My friend Jessica is one of those sweet little optimistic bundles of sunshine who turns dirt on a sidewalk into a place where flowers might someday grow. Her outlook on life has rubbed off on me a tiny bit over the almost 9 years we've been friends now, and I'd like to think that I try to get a lot of happiness out of the smallest things. Today was one of those days. This time though, it may not have been any level of impressive optimism but rather just a love for rare things. To explain more clearly, tonight I discovered that I can get Quaker Oatmeal Squares (a beloved cereal in our home), chocolate milk, and Dove Shampoo all here in Macau and at not too ridiculous a price. What does this mean? Clean, healthy hair and fiber in my belly...well, the chocolate is really just a bonus, but we'll say it's the calcium ;)
In other news, today we signed our lives away for the next 10 months. In fancy wording that is 'contracts and paperwork'. And in case anyone is wondering, if I don't make it home (which I will if I have to turpentine a lions tail or slide down a razor blade into a pool of alcohol to do it!) my mother will be getting my pay...which is diddly squat in terms of what anyone would ever really want, so yeah don't make any grand plans of sabotage unless you'd like to reap the grand reward of a single name brand can of biscuits...which you would have to further retrieve somehow from my mother. In other words, ldkajdkljds.
Onward.
Tonight for dinner, after a hard days' work in teacher training (but a fun and valuable one), we wandered into a little Portuguese part of town. The streets were paved in little tiles of black and white, which I could only imagine would be something like a slip n' slide in a rain storm, but today the streets were dry (unfortunately?). We found this little Chinese restaurant in the alley and ate a delicious dinner for a modest price. I drank freshly made papaya juice for the first time. It was a treat, but not so sweet and very filling. The interesting thing about Macau and all the Asian cities I have been to is that the cost of food is about the same as the cost of a beverage...so it makes you second guess drinking with your meal. I drink about 2 gallons of liquid (non-alcoholic drinking people!) a day, so it's very difficult for me here having to pay for every ounce I drink. I realize at those times I do not drink I have gotten dizzy, so my cheap self is sucking it up (preferably through straws ;)) and staying hydrated. Actually tonight the straw in my juice was bent in a curl for me :).
Lunch today was a different story. Although it was fabulous to be able to eat with our Fulbright friends now working at USJ, we went to an overpriced and under serviced Indian restaurant. The food was AMAZING, but there was hardly any of it. Luckily, we are still at the hotel and eating large amounts at the breakfast buffet. I paid the equivalent of about 11 US dollars for a tiny bowl of vegetarian (which is cheaper) Indian food, one tiny flat piece of bread, and a 12 ounce can of soda. To give you an idea of what I've been paying, I ate my little tummy stuffed and had a luxurious juice beverage (aka more expensive than a soda) for half that price.... noted that we probable won't be going there again.
Uggggh who is this whiny girl?!?! Stop, Chelsey. The good news is-- outside of the little details that I'm sharing just to help you get a grasp on life and experiences here-- I'm absolutely loving it and taking it all in. Macau is a very nice, very well off place with a lot of opportunity to learn and explore. So as Dora would say "vomanos!" (Let's Go!)
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