Remember this thing? The Colosseum tchotchke I bought in Rome? The one made in China?
I had an idea. I brought the mini-Colosseum with me to Xinjiang.
Now, I think of myself as a Romantic. And I do things other people wouldn’t do or wouldn’t think to do or wouldn’t want to do. When I was, like, thirteen I was going to see the Atlantic ocean for the first time. So, I made sure to go to the beach before our trip, collected some Pacific ocean water in a Tupperware container, flew it across country, and dumped it into the Atlantic ocean. Just because. Because that’s the kind of thing I do.
I found these camel wool socks which I thought were particularly appropriate for the market at the middle of the Silk Road.
I haggled in Mandarin with the kid at the stall, throwing in the Chinese-made Roman souvenir as part of my purchase price. Making that East-West connection.
Just because. Because that’s the kind of thing I do.