Today I went to City Market, a local farmer's market. I was so excited when I saw vendors with Chinese eggplant (or Japanese? but I'm so used to calling it Chinese since I became acquainted with this kind of eggplant in China) and bitter melon (even though I said I didn't like it when I tried it, seeing it made me happy - and I kind of want to try it again!).
There was a Chinese grocery store nearby, so I also stopped in here before leaving the area. Actually, this was a necessary trip because I am terribly socially awkward. So yesterday night I bought Vietnamese food for dinner and had leftovers. My Airbnb purchase comes use of a fridge and the microwave if I need it, but the only container I had was my styrofoam take-out box. If I had asked, I'm sure I would have been guided to a paper plate or another plate I could use to reheat my leftovers, but I just...suck at asking for help. (You generally exchange contact information with your host so that you can ask questions if they come up, and I did have her phone number..) So while I was at this store I purchased a set of two microwavable containers, each decorated with a picture of Disney princesses. I bought them because they were cheap. I still have them, and they make me feel like a child when I use them. Despite that, I occasionally use them when packing my lunch for work.
Anyways, after visiting the farmer's market, Chinese store, and eating leftovers for lunch, my afternoon was open. After spending a little bit of time studying Chinese, I decided to drive around. I bought a hot chocolate in Kansas City, KS to say I've been to the Kansas side, as most of the Kansas City tourist attractions are on the Missouri side. Then, I continued to drive around Kansas. Specifically, I chose to drive to a certain park (the name escapes me now). While I was on the highway, I saw a sign which listed the upcoming exit for a historical site. Since there wasn't really a point for me to drive to the park in the first place, I thought, 'why not?' and decided to drive past said historical site. It's called Grinter Place, and from the research I've done on the web, it's basically an old house. I'm sure the museum has interesting information about who they were and what it was like to live during their time (maybe 150-200 years ago?), but I didn't stop to go in.
In the evening, I went to Hank Green's book tour event at the Unity Church. Now, let me back up a bit and explain why this event was so great.
I started planning this Kansas City trip in June - at least, that's when I reserved my Airbnb. It goes without saying that I'm subscribed to vlogbrothers on YouTube. In early September, Hank uploaded a video talking about a book tour for his first book An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (which is very good, please go read it). I saw the notification for this video on my phone and thought 'nah', and proceeded to do something else. But since I didn't completely swipe away the notification, it was still on my phone when I turned it on again, and I decided to give it a go. After watching this video, I investigated the tour dates, and I saw that none were in Texas (WHY?). But I noticed there was a date for Kansas City. And it just so happened that vlogbrothers was going to be in Kansas City while I was there. So I impulsively bought a ticket (which also came with an autographed copy of the book!) and I must say, this was the best impulse buy ever. The event was awesome - Hank and John Green were hilarious.
There is a dance venue in Kansas City for free salsa dancing that I was planning to go to afterwards, but the book tour event ran a little long. I also waited in line after the event ended to buy an autographed copy of Paper Towns (they also had autographed copies of The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Turtles All the Way Down, but Paper Towns was the only one of these that I have not read).
All in all, it was a fun day, and now I must mentally prepare myself for the 10 1/2 hour drive home.
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