Hey, I’m in China!
When I woke up it had been snowing during the night. Outside my window, a woman has put a bright orange umbrella down at the foot of a tree and is taking photos of it. My hotel room is a functionalist dream with no visible drawers or cabinets. I spent an hour in the supermarket just looking at things (this is my favourite pastime when in another country: slowly wandering through supermarkets, looking at stuff. My husband thinks I’m crazy. I see it as an anthropological field study).
The Bookworm is an absolutely lovely place: it has that slightly shabby, lived-in and cosy feel that makes you want to stay forever, just sit there and read books. The organizers are just a lovely bunch of people; you can tell this is really a labor of love. Tonight at 8PM I’ll be chatting with two other writers about short stories. Given the atmosphere of the Bookworm, this will be a great couple of days.
Also: dumpling timer starts now.
Do tell us more about the venue! The Bookworm sounds like a bookstore, is that so? And if you can make some anthropological field studies of the street fashion (or, you know, just the way people dress) that would be wonderful to hear as well. Have a lovely trip!
Hugs!
/Nene, suddenly longing to go back to Beijing