I now believe in magic

I now believe in magic. Today has been a day of hardship, ups, downs, and some more downs, but I'm now up at 1130 pm and excited to be on my own for the weekend.

We had our midterms today which consisted of a written 2.5 test and two oral reports, one in front of our class and one in front of two scrutinizing teachers. And most of the kids here have gone on a trip to either Datong or Luoyang with ACC but I chose to stay here in Beijing to start my documentary project and really just to get some time to chill. I hate traveling with a bunch of people, having a tight schedule, and walking around Buddhist temples. One, two temples and you've seen 'em all. But to the magic...

I experienced two cases of undeniable magic today. If the first bores you skip to the second.

First off, I lost my wallet. In magic terms it literally disappeared. I know i had it last night, I never left the dorm, and today after the midterm it was -poof!- gone. I've searched everywhere-nothing. I don't really have any idea how I could've lost it, and I don't think it was stolen because this building is pretty secure, thus- magic. And I'm also left without credit card, bank card, gym card, my 100 yuan cell phone card, and probably a lot of other stuff. I'm surprisingly unconcerned about it. I have enough money in the safe in my room to last three or four weeks, and it's one less thing to hold when I go out. I sucks I don't have a bank card, but now I have to really be a traveler and ration my lifestyle. (Don't worry mom, I know you're the only one who reads this blog, I am currently hyperbolizing, I have enough money.)

Second case of magic, I was just down in ACC's recently opened computer lab (which is much nicer than I thought it'd be) trying to print out a sign to inform the other residents that I have lost my wallet and if they happen to see it floating around they should pick it up. But the printer was jammed so I fiddled with it, gave it a couple whacks, and all of a sudden it started printing... a lot of pages. And my jaw dropped as I looked at the first page: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". In my hands were the first few chapters of the most anticipated book on the planet. I was one of a few to lay my eyes on it. It was as if the wizards and witches were contacting me. I half expected an invitation to Hogwarts to come flying out of the machine.

Of course, I really would of believed this was magic if I hadn't read earlier that the seventh Harry Potter book had been leaked on the internet, but still the fact that it just popped out like that was pretty cool. Somebody else must have tried to print it but the printer was broken. So now I have maybe the first fourth of the book sitting on my bed. I'm not sure what to do with it. It's really cool that I have a chance to read it when most of the world still drools in anticipation, but it kinda ruins the experience, no? I mean it's not the same as cracking open a fresh hardcover. But is there really such a experience in China anyway? I probably won't read it. No time.

Lets hope a little more magic brings my wallet back.


金屋藏娇 - jin1 wu1 cang2 jiao1 - all that glitters is not gold