A story from October, 2014.
In 2007, I met Mandy, my old Soderquist Fellow and dear friend, in China. We had good adventures, saw amazing things, and got sick. This past year China became an extra-special place for Mandy because she and her husband brought their daughter home from China.
My story does not touch their family's story, but it does end a mystery. One of the days Mandy and I were in Xi'an, a city in the midwest of the nation, we went to an antique bazaar. I found it in a Rough Guide, which I have always thought were unique guides if a bit up-market for the way I traveled in those days.
June 2007
Xi'an was the end of the Silk Road, the part of the world that most captures my heart and mind. So the treasures there that day in the bazaar were treasures indeed. There was a sort of incense pot with Arabic on it, and a beautiful real ivory necklace I still remember. I did not barter for either, but I did find a little rough hewn stool.
You see it here, no glue, no nails, extremely worn. It must have cost $15. But that day as we carried it through the rest of the city, I got an inordinate amount of attention. People watched me, said things to me, pointed at it. No one we encountered spoke English, so I never knew what it meant. I guessed it was a typical childhood toy and was somehow nostalgic to the people who saw it. I subsequently guessed milking stool.
Fast-forward to Jim and Lois' visit to Colorado three months ago. They had been my colleagues in Afgh and were making a world friend tour as they anticipated shifting from a career teaching in Asia to teaching in New Zealand. Now Lois is innocent as a dove, but she is also sly like a fox. The moment she saw my bench she asked why I had an opium pillow.
If you google it, that is exactly what it is. Mystery solved. And no, it is not a nostalgic childhood toy.
2 comments:
HA! Look at the white American girl with the opium pillow!
Not that we ever used one, but we did see them in the Opium Museum in northern Thailand's Golden Triangle.
Post a Comment