Yeah, so. Maybe it's not all so bad.

I got a really, really good night's sleep last night--the sort of sleep where you roll over, consider trying to stay awake for a minute to follow the interesting train of thought that just developed, and then fall asleep, only to dream about people who become vampire zombies if you don't give them sunscreen--and woke up to coffee.

I love coffee.

Then I drove through Big City construction (will it never end? No.) and sat for six hours in what should've been a ten-hour computer training course. The instructor began the course by listing out in detail what he would and wouldn't be covering. Given that I'd seen it all before--literally, as I've been using this system for a year (but we're all getting re-trained), that was a relief.

Halfway through the six-hour course, we got an hour and ten minutes for lunch. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've been given an hour and ten minutes for lunch? Holy cow. We all went down the street to some tiny little hole-in-the-wall place with a name like "101 SNAX" simply because we saw a line of other people headed there.

Inside was your typical Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino grocery section. In the back were several long steam tables offering everything from chicken fingers to pre-breaded shrimp to some sort of soup I'd never had before that involved kimchi. I ended up having soup, a salad with vegetables that were beautifully peeled and cut into different shapes, something that I think might've been cold pickled tripe, some roasted vegetables that were so fresh they tried to cop a feel, and a really interesting mix of rice, more vegetables (including bitter melon, which I try to love), and shrimp. I skipped the pre-made cheesecake and lonely slice of chocolate cake and went instead for melon bits carved into fun animals. Oh, and some pineapple in the shape of a swan. Couldn't pass *that* up. All for less than ten bucks, including drink. Don't tell me that the 'hood don't have good food.

Now I have to figure out how to submit my hours for the week while simultaneously feeling sorry for a fellow intern who wouldn't even go into the restaurant because it "smelled funny." Granted, she's from the land of corn and wheat, but I think she'll have a hard time here if she won't eat anything that smells funny. The Big City is a diverse place; you're as likely to find menudo as you are meatloaf, and foods that might be animal or vegetable (sea cucumber?) are common.

So, yeah. It's not all so bad. I have intelligent colleagues who like to talk about cooking and dogs. I had a very satisfying phone conversation that made me laugh like a hyena more than once, followed by a good night's sleep. And coffee.

When it gets bad--when I'm trying to remember how to level an A-line, or when somebody pulls out their ventric tubing--I will remember today.

Which won't be hard, 'cause I'll probably still be burping kimchi soup in July.