a little coffee

On Wednesday, Robert, Chris and myself took a train Xinxiang, a population 1 million town an hour train ride from Anyang.  The objective: collect Robert’s lovely girlfriend Cheryl and spaghetti!

The train ride there was awful.  Think of all the people crammed into the train during rush hour are crunching on peanuts, pistachios and oranges, leaving the shells and peels wherever they fall and spitting the orange seeds on the floor- where many people have put their bags to sit on.  We were lucky and got a seat because the people where we stood got off. Then I was bonked in the head and shoulder by a doodle baby’s musical toy as the doodle baby tumbled over the back of the seats.  Mercifully, this only lasted one hour.  As we wait in the claustrophobic aisle to get the hell off the train, we heard this strange wail that sounded like a rooster crowing.  I thought it was the eight year old doodle, but no!  Underneath a table by the window was a canvas bag that was, indeed, concealing a rooster.  After the third kick from it’s owner, the rooster shut-up.  (Thankfully, the train ride home was less cramped and rooster-free).

The rest of the afternoon was much more comfortable.  We met Cheryl and some of her classmates (they’re all studying for their Master’s in English) for lunch at a hotpot restaurant and then… shopping!  For some upsetting, mystifying reason, Anyang doesn’t have any International supermarkets but Xinxiang had a couple where we loaded up on spaghetti.  Chris salivated over the cheese (much of which was Land o’Lake’s finest) and I bought real coffee, good butter and a bottle of Peach Absolut Vodka- which we would drink that night to celebrate the new year.   Between the two of us, we spent at least double what we’d normally spend on a month’s worth of doodle groceries. But I don’t care because I have spaghetti!

Some of our purchases!

Sadly, in preparation for this picture, I dropped our jar of pasta sauce on the floor.  It shattered.  I wept.