Moleskine is the legendary notebook, used by European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin.

19 October 2006 | As I write this, I'm eating cookies and drinking milk. Both of these, bought in very funny circumstances. Yesterday, I arrived half an hour early for my class, which is at 5pm. A little hungry and worried that I might not have the energy to face around twenty little people of 7 and 8 year olds, I decided to brave the non-English speaking world and get something to eat from the corner bakery. I looked around and chose something familiar, ergo harmless: cookies. There was a price tag that says 6RMB but I wanted to know how many pieces for 6RMB. Naturally, nobody could understand me, so I figured, fine just give me an order so I can start eating and get to my class. I gestured with my index finger, which I'm quite sure is the universal symbol for "one". The lady started putting cookies in a plastic bag, and putting, and putting, and putting. While my eyes grew larger and larger and larger. She weighed the bag and put some more. She gave me, I am guessing, a kilo of the blasted cookies.

After class, I remembered that I was almost out of milk. I went to a little grocery just below my apartment building. I'd been wanting to check it out but I was never brave enough. So finally, I went in. I know enough of Chinese to understand that the young woman was asking me what I was looking for, so I said "milk" knowing she wouldn't understand but hoping she would. She didn't. So I pointed at the display of bottled milk and I gestured with a rectangle to tell her I wanted the small packet sized ones. I swear I saw a lightbulb somewhere above her head. She led me to a shelf with so many different kinds of milk and she was telling me about each one. Of course I couldn't understand a thing. Some were pretty obvious, like the brown one would be chocolate, and then there was a pink one with drawings of strawberries. I wanted to tell her that I want a regular pure cow's milk please. But what's the use, right? After much gesturing from both parties, I chose the most ordinary looking pack.

So now I'm drinking it, and it's not pure cow's milk, thank you very much. I can't tell yet exactly what it is. Some fruit. Really, I'm trying to decide if it's mango or orange. I know that sounds really stupid but I realize now how my tastebuds can be very gullible. If it's written, or even mildly suggested through a drawing or the color, that it's orange, my tastebuds won't even think. They would just take in everything. They'd go, yeah it tastes like orange. Even if it probably doesn't. But now, they have to think. And that may be asking for too much.

So now I have too much cookies and a pack of still unidentified flavored milk.