Bad Deal

I am very bad at making deals. Thankfully, for the last decade or so, I have worked in a unionized environment where salary is standardized and not negotiable. At least, I don't think it's negotiable. I don't know because I've never asked because I'M BAD AT DEALS. I have accepted every starting salary ever quoted to me without question. I pay sticker price.

13 years ago, my husband Sam and I were planning a trip to Cuba. A friend who had been there before mentioned that they'd had to escort frogs out of their resort room each night; the frogs would jump in through the open windows. I have a problem with frogs. They're fine when they're just sitting there, all squat and warty, but then they release their spring-loaded legs and sproing right onto your face which I don't care for. I find them startling. I wasn't interested in removing them from my room on a nightly basis.

Those tucked in legs are a LIE!!!

And so I approached my husband with a deal, a deal that I thought was particularly generous to him. I told him that he would be in charge of dealing with any and all frogs that got into our room. I, in turn, would be responsible for dealing with any bugs. There were bound to be more bugs than frogs, including potentially unfamiliar and strange (read: creepy) ones, and, I told him graciously, I would take care of the disposal of all of them.

He pondered my proposal for longer than I felt necessary. What was there to think about?  He was clearly getting the better end of this arrangement. Finally, he spoke.

"But I don't mind bugs."

"Right," I answered, panic creeping in, "but you wouldn't have to worry about any of them!"

"I don't worry about them now," he said, his preternatural calm and composure, quite frankly, getting on my nerves. "You should have to deal with something that I don't want to deal with."

My husband, I learned in this moment, is good at deals.

"Well, what don't you want to deal with?" I asked. Would I be tasked with lizards? Small rodents? Recon missions to find the cleanest bathroom stall?

Sam considered this question for at least a minute before he said "you have to deal with talking to any people on the trip that I don't want to talk to. You have to be the buffer."

Well played sir.

I agreed. I took the deal that I knew was a bad one because I really didn't want to have to remove frogs. Also, I secretly believed the internal pressure to be a polite Canadian would be too much for Sam, and he wouldn't enforce that side of the deal.

I was wrong.

There was a team of French Canadian hockey players at the same resort as us, with some very over-bearing personalities among them. A couple approached us the first night, and after about two sentences, Sam just turned and left. No "excuse me", certainly no attempt to also extract me, just a straight shot to delicious mojitos at the bar. 

Drink of choice the whole trip!
(Photo from bbcgoodfood.com)

I continued nodding and murmuring little noises at this couple before I was also able to leave, a good five minutes later. Thankfully, Sam had a mojito waiting for me when I finally arrived at the bar.

We didn't see a single frog the entire trip.

I'm Finally Writing About My China Trip!!!

Hello patient possums!

It's been four months since I was in China on a professional development trip, so I've owed you a post about it for about 3 months and 3 weeks (giving myself a little jet-lag recovery). What I'm saying is, this is very late in coming, and my apologies.

I visited Beijing and Xi'an with two of my lovely colleagues from work to get a better understanding of the Chinese student experience. We spent most of the trip touring university campuses and talking to colleagues there. The campuses were lovely, and many included a water element.

Beautiful pagoda

Series of bridges

I snapped a picture of the library at Beijing Jiatong University, but sadly our schedule didn't allow for a visit.

University library that I didn't go into

Our schedule was pretty packed, but we did manage to visit some incredible sights.

Yup, that's me on the Great Wall of China. You better believe I rocked that fanny pack the WHOLE trip!

The Forbidden City

Breathtaking Buddha in the Lama Temple

Having a sit at the Summer Palace

Either the drum temple or the flower temple in Xi'an

But what, I hear you ask, about the libraries? I'm slightly ashamed to admit that, even though our hotel in Beijing was quite close to the National Library of China, I didn't make it inside. This omission was partly because we did have a very busy schedule, but I also found the entrance requirements to the library a little intimidating. Our lovely tour guide Jack (Tao) told me that I would need to bring my passport and exchange it for a temporary card before I could enter the building. I was a little concerned about navigating that process in a non-tourist destination where, in all likelihood, my lack of Chinese language skills would be a problem. So the closest I got was this shot of me in front of the building.

Fun fact, that umbrella was pretty flimsy, but made for very lovely pops of colour in photographs

I don't feel too badly, though, because it turns out that I found little libraries everywhere! In the lobby of our first hotel in Beijing, I found this.

Mystery library?

To be clear, I don't know what the sign says, so maybe this isn't a library at all, but I suspect it's a "need a book, take a book, leave a book" kind of arrangement for travelers. Because I wasn't sure I didn't take anything, although there were a few English books that were tempting.

We popped into a convenience store/bubble tea emporium close to our hotel, and bam! Another library.

Surprise library

People were working, parents reading with their kids, it was great! No English titles that I could find though, so I just soaked up the atmosphere.

Another library snuck up on me when we were getting some coffee and tea for the bullet train ride back to Beijing (and yes, the bullet train was very cool).

A few customers were reading while they sipped their coffee

We also visited an INCREDIBLE bookstore in Xi'an. 

So many books!

Look at all the books!

They had a small section of English books, mostly classics, so I picked up a copy of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence as a souvenir.

That's some good reading right there

The bookstore featured, obviously, lots of books for purchase, but also had some library qualities, such as the children's area where staff members were reading books to the assembled little ones. (There was also, inexplicably, a substantial bulk popcorn area.)

Children being read to, not popcorn

And so I managed to find libraries throughout my travels, and got to spend some time among my beloved books.

Also, the food was pretty spectacular.

Everything in this meal was NOM NOM NOM!!!

Actual Pilgrimage!

Possums! I'm here to tell you that I went on an actual library pilgrimage! Well, a pilgrimage in the sense that I traveled a great distance, but in truth, only one library was visited. But it was lovely!

In June we went on a family vacation to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, a wee, picturesque island in the Atlantic.

The Azores are part of Portugal

Although our intention with this trip wasn't solely to visit a new (and European!) library, I will let you know that I confirmed there was a library in Ponta Delgada before I booked our Airbnb. I'm no fool.

Now I could go on and on about the views in the Azores,

or the natural wonders,

the interesting sights,

or the local flora,

but you're not here for all that (yawn!). You're here for the sweet, sweet library talk.

Conveniently, the library was about a fifteen minute walk  from our apartment, which we discovered our first night on the island when we went on a gelato mission. From our favourite gelato shop (we tried many) we could see the library. As it was after dinner, a plan was made to return the next day.

And return we did. The unassuming entrance to the library did not betray the beautiful design housed inside.

There was colour to be found in the library as well.

Tile art on the stairs

Since we had been out walking in the sun, the first stop was the library cafe which had a courtyard (how civilized!) where we enjoyed some cool beverages.

Then we were off to explore the children's area. My older daughter quickly found a book on her favourite topic - didn't matter that it was in Portuguese.

All cats, all the time

My younger daughter was interested in the board games and puzzles that they had, so we grabbed Guess Who and took it to our table.

As we were getting the game set up I noticed how many teenagers there were in the children's area (turned out the library was crawling with teens; I think they were preparing for end-of-the-year exams). "They probably find it so babyish in this section," I thought, hoping the sound of our playing wouldn't disturb them.

After we finished our game, as we were putting it away, one of the teens came over to us, and in broken English asked if she could have the game. She took it back to her table and set it up to begin playing with her friend. Not so babyish after all.

We made our way up to the second floor once the games were done and all the cat pictures had been observed. Here we found more teens, but also some beautiful natural light and wood flooring.

What a stunner!

All libraries should have a sky light

And as we were wrapping up our visit, I looked down to the floor below me and saw a man reading possibly the biggest and oldest book I had ever seen.

I don't know what he was looking for, but it was clear that the history that was being housed in the library was put to good use.

It was a beautiful trip, and a lovely library. I hope to return one day. If you're ever there, stop in and have a peek.