Sunday Snippet and Update in Gloom Town

Okay, okay, I know I am not the only one experiencing a SAD winter, but it occurred to me today how tough it has been without my normal coping mechanism of going to a cozy cafe and at least being around other humans. That has probably been the one thing in my life that’s made it easier to spend the bulk of my time alone. Whether it’s traveling alone or just living as a single person, cafes (usually Starbucks, let’s be honest) have been the one haven I’ve had wherever I’ve gone. It helps me remember that I’m not just a ghost, drifting unseen through the world. I also trained myself to be able to work in cafes. The white noise of the place, the constant movement around me, they engage the part of my brain that goes whiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrr just enough to let me get on with the things I want to do, be it read, write, or do my lesson planning/grading.

It has been especially hard not to have that here in Minsk. Like, really bad, y’all. Add to that weeks of no sun, and it’s going to be a freaking miracle if I make it through this year. *cues up The Mountain Goats*

Blessedly, the sun came out today. I nearly missed it because I didn’t roll out of bed until nearly 1 PM. Then I was going to give myself time to let the coffee kick in and go for a walk around 3, but I noticed the clouds were rolling back in, so I went for a little ramble to a nearby park and back. I like this park because it’s thick with trees, so it’s not a good place for protesters to gather, so it feels like the safest place to go out on Sundays. Although today there was a loose dog that freaked me out a bit, but luckily it didn’t chase me. I did learn that there is a police station nearby because I saw the cars rolling out, lights and sirens blaring, but they were headed away from the direction I was walking. So I got some much needed sunlight and relatively fresh air. Tomorrow I’m going to look again for the Asian market (I couldn’t find it on Saturday, but it was also pretty crowded in the area, so I didn’t look to hard). I’m hoping to have a nice little New Year’s feast for myself. I got frozen dumplings. There is a brand of frozen/packaged Korean food called Bibigo that I found here (I’ve had it in other places as well and know it’s good stuff), so I bought dumplings. I’m hoping to find some good ingredients at the Asian market to make banchan for the rest of the meal. My Chinese and Korean students both recommended the store, which seems like a good sign for me. And since tomorrow is a work day for most people, it shouldn’t be too crowded.

I didn’t get a lot of writing done this week, at least, not that I was particularly thrilled with, but I’ve done a LOT this year already, so I’m just going to be kind to myself and proud that I managed to make words that are reasonably good when I was under such a heavy cloud. This week’s snippet is from a vignette I put up earlier this week. The prompt was “clothes/role switching” and it was for the SangCheng month. I wrote something for my Vague Modern Cultivators AU. Really, though, it was an excuse for me to imagine Jiang Cheng in a crop top.

Jiang Cheng pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales sharply. He opens his mouth to speak, but the whole thing is so fucking … weird … and he needs another minute. Nie Huaisang is, of course, wholly unbothered by it. He sits on the fallen, moss-covered log as though he were comfortably lounging on their sofa at home, one leg crossed over the other, the picture of ease. Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, paces, dead leaves crunching underfoot.