The QUEST

So yesterday I mentioned that I left a bag with work visa documents on the bus, which was QUITE STRESSFUL. One of the documents I had was something I could only obtain in person in the US, so losing it would have set me back pretty much permanently on the visa front. 😓😓😓 The stupid thing is that I had two copies of both documents, but I put them all in the same folder instead of keeping one set at home.....Next time, I guess.

The night I lost the bag, I talked with my Chinese boss, and today she called the bus office, and they confirmed that they had it. So this morning I set out to the end of the M448 line to retrieve it! My boss was super nice and offered to come with me, but, buoyed by my successful Chinese of the day before, I decided I could manage on my own.

After a pleasant trip to the end of the line, I stumbled my way through explaining that I had lost my bag the day before (I did successfully ask if I had arrived at the company headquarters and was directed to the building next door, all of which I understood, so that was nice). I received the bag, signed papers indicating that I'd gotten it, and got back on the bus. With the time it took to fill out the paperwork and check that everything was in the bag, I ended up on the exact same bus I had come in on! So that was pretty funny.

I headed out to my company's headquarters next to drop off the visa documents. However, on the way, I got lost in a text conversation with my friend wherein she delivered some great news. Distracted by how excited I was, I almost missed my stop! I rushed off the bus just in time, only to discover.....I had left.....the bag..............a g a i n

I then caught the next M448 and proceeded to the OTHER end of the line, which was a much more miserable trip as I berated myself for being so unbelievably irresponsible. Well, I got to the other end, found the HQ there, and walked in to claim the bag with no problems. No problems, but as it turned out the same driver and attendant from the first two rides were there taking their midday break..... The attendant definitely looked at me with shocked amusement, and there was some light ribbing about the fact that I had lost the bag twice within a 24 hour period. (No one brought it up, but I would like to point out to the reader that I had now traveled the entire length of the bus route.)

The upside: I made friends with the attendant, who turns out to be only twenty years old! She actually thought I was eighteen when she saw me on the bus and that I was here with my parents, so she was really impressed that I was living alone. We chatted while I waited for the bus to be ready, which was maybe half an hour, and then we talked basically the whole way back to the station where I had lost the bag again. All in all it was over an hour of talking......entirely in Chinese.

Periodically, I had this giant urge to cry???? I was so emotional about how well the conversation was flowing despite my constant searching for words. Jianping (the attendant) was super understanding, of course, and the short of it is that we're friends on WeChat now, and we might go catch a movie tomorrow because it's her day off too!

I'm just stunned at how suddenly this ease with language became apparent to me, I guess. I always did well in Chinese class, but my biggest weakness was always free conversation because the scope of possible vocabulary is much broader than a single lesson. And yet! There I was! Genuinely having a conversation with a real person! Regardless of my struggles!

There's some lesson to be learned here about the difference between study and application, putting aside my need to be perfect at a subject, and the reason one learns a language in the first place, but I'm not going to type it out tonight. Not coming for a long time to memoir near you: Lindsay searches her soul about the importance of cross-cultural exchanges.

Anyway, one of the documents I recovered has to be sent back to the US to get authenticated by the Chinese consulate in DC, so that's frustrating.

Another positive though is that I looked really cute throughout the whole process, so I can't be too mad about spending all day running back and forth.

I paid probably too much for the filmy top layer but BY GEORGE I love it

In miscellaneous news, I go running in a public park every morning and took a picture my first day back (when I was too jetlagged to run, so I just took a nice stroll haha).

There's three lakes and tons of plant life 😊

I brought my camera to China with me after leaving it Stateside for the first five months, so get ready for some Quality Pictures going forward 👍

For fans of One Piece, here's a convenience store that I pass on my way to the park.

Peace, all.