From infancy to toddlerhood

I think that I had a breakthrough today. My brutish attempt at communication spurred me on to go for an adventure. Let me tell you about it. I have been in Chengdu for four and a half days now, and my supply of toilet paper was starting to run low in my guest house room. I had previously purchased a pack of travel tissue, (BYOTP seems to be the going trend in public restrooms) but I was feeling adventurous, bored, and in need of some human contact. After scraping some unintelligible sino-mutterings together from the vocab list in the back of my language text, I ventured out into the lobby armed with my out-of-place, North American grin. SUCCESS!!

This spirit of fortune widened my already absurd smile, and I set out into the night to seek out some tea and note cards. I'm pretty sure that everyone was staring at me, but I just walked faster and kept my eyes straight ahead. After self-consciously ambling around the stores nearer where I am staying, I wandered into a small store located at the fringe of the terrain currently stored in my cognitive gps. I stared at the goods for quite some time, and the store workers stared at me. I finally decided on my purchases and went up to the counter where a father/daughter team (presumably) was working on math homework with the curious 'Speak and Spell' calculator from the register. I smiled and shrugged as he rung up my purchases and the little girl put her head in her hands and smiled up at me after writing imaginary characters with my new brush.
I think I'll go back there.
Check my treasures out! I think I payed less than $2 for the lot (sans citrus fruits).

I wish I could express everything that is going on in my mind and heart at this point, but I suppose it will take time to form a cohesive picture in my mind. One of the other teachers here was talking with me and shared a very useful analogy for what I'm experiencing. He said it is like I have gone from being a fully-functioning adult who is capable of taking care of myself to infant-hood. I am very thankful for that articulation as I am also thankful for today's beautiful blue sky which perhaps mirrored this bit of clarity.