Flashback [Part 1]

There are things for me that I think will forever be 'ruined' because of China. There will always be things that I associate with China, now and forevermore. Some are simple, like any combination of red and yellow, any type of plumbing problem I may ever encounter, and of course, any of the seven outfits that I rotated with for an entire year (I'm pretty sure they will always and forevermore have a funky China smell attached with them as well). Others, I think, will end up striking me at odd random times, blindsiding me when I least expect it. Although I can't say that it's happened yet, I know that it will, and chances are it's not going to be pretty.

Yesterday, feeling ultra introverted, I came home from work and errands and plopped on the couch to indulge myself with mindless television [circa DVD's due to the fact that me and my household refuse to pay for TV]. Though I usually don't endorse this kind of behavior, it is something that had to happen for my own mental health, coming after a solid two weeks of no alone time, no down time, deadlines, raging customers, and educational endeavors.  A night of mindless TV and just "being" was desperately needed.

Sorry, that has nothing to do with China. This next part does though. For dinner, I made myself some homemade dumplings, complete with soy sauce, vinegar, and la jiao jiang (辣椒醬) as a dipping sauce. In case you don't know, la jiao jiang is a traditional Chinese paste/spice that usually accompanies a variety of foods, most notably dumplings or soups. It's sheer goodness. I promise. I may or may not have developed an addiction to the spice/paste and consume it with everyday foods.

Dumplings, dipping sauce, chopsticks, and pomelo. I know some of you are like "pomelo? What the heck?" I had never even heard of pomelo until I went to China. The street vendors were selling these bowling ball sized fruits at the stands.  My teammates and I bought one out of sheer curiosity. Within two bites, I was hooked. Let me give you the basics. It's a fruit native to South and Southeast Asia, kind of like a cousin of grapefruit, similarly sour, but you can eat it like an orange. It's made up of particles like a pomegranate  I explained it to my curious roommates as such: "Pomegranates are made up of eggs. Pomelos are made up of sperm. They're both great on their own, but together they'd make a happy fruit baby."

Last week as I was perusing the fruit section of the grocery store I came across the giant yellow things. I just about did a cartwheel [as they're not always in season and therefore not always available at the local grocery store]! Granted, in China pomelos were about 75 cents on the street, and here I'm paying about $2.50 per fruit, but it's so worth it. I was that girl on team who always had a pomelo in her fridge. My students would buy them for me for gifts. It's a perfect midnight snack. There is something about me and acidic fruits. I love them.

Anyways, curled up on my couch I sat under a blanket, eating away at my dumplings and fruit. I thought was struck by how much "China" was on my mind while consuming the food. As I pulled the skin off of my pomelo, I flashed back to breaking apart the same fruit on the other side of the world with three other wonderful women as we sat up late and giggled, swapping stories, opinions, and encouragement. I flashed back to my classroom as I walked up and down the aisles between the students, them handing me the food from their desks, sometimes a sliver of pomelo. Other times, I wasn't so lucky. As I ate my dumplings, I thought of Lauren's first encounter eating dumplings, ruining her shirt with the dipping sauce as she struggled to hold the slimy bundles with her chopsticks. I flashed back to our school cafeteria and the "Dumpling Man" who was always trying to strike up a conversation with the foreigners who ordered dumplings, as he advised us not to put in too much 辣椒醬. I flashed back to my favorite restaurant, a hun dun place (混沌), with a student named Haily who had decided to confide in me about her new boyfriend and all the excitement that she felt in her new relationship. Memories, so vividly clear, yet so far away. 

They're from the other side of the world, but they're not removed.