1.17 An Igloo and an Idea

When I arrive, Monte Vista is sleeping peacefully under a thick blanket of snow.

My tiny house is waiting for me.

I look around with a smile. I've barely been gone three days, but I've missed this place!

For the first time since I moved in, I feed Preston the crocodile and Charlie the seahorse.

I stubbornly ignore the puddles and go upstairs.

Today was a long day. I need sleep.

I awake the next morning and begin to miss Shang Simla already. Maybe I should have visited the Terracotta Army once more? There isn't a lot of room in my little house, but I find space to display some souvenirs from China.

The days of eating ice cream are over. I prepare a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

It's nice eating on my little balcony again. And I have more reason to be happy - this week's royalty checks have arrived and I finally feel like I've earned enough to call myself a real author. I think I'll be a much faster and more proficient writer from now on.

I do the dishes in the bathroom sink so I can admire my new toilet. The royalty checks really came in handy. This one hopefully won't clog up as much.

After having finally experienced romance first hand, I am more inspired than ever to work on my novel.

It feels like an eternity since I've begin working on Torn To Pieces - almost like another life entirely - but today I think I can finally wrap up the last few pages.

In the next room, a man suddenly screams in pain.

I am so enthralled that I don't even notice. I breeze through the last few chapters of my book that were giving me so much trouble previously. And finally, finally I've finished writing another romance novel.

Just when I'm done, the computer breaks.

Well, at least I managed to finish my book before this happened!

Well, this is as good a time as any to hightail it out of the library. I remember I wanted to read a book on charisma, but the library has none, so I go to the bookstore across the plaza.

Once I emerge, my phone rings. It's Franco Bianchi! I am surprised, to say the least, when he asks me out on a date, but I agree to meet him nonetheless.

The place he chose is really weird though. On the back of the somewhat shady Good Guys Inc. building there is a fenced in yard where I find Franco waiting for me.

"Sometimes I don't know where I stand with you," I say. "You send me gifts and love letters, and then just the other day you tell me that we aren't friends anymore. And now all of the sudden you ask me out on a date? You are a very mercurial man, Franco."

"If I'd wanted to ask you on a date, I would have taken you to the movies, bambina," he says. "No, this is business."

"So what do you want then," I ask with furrowed brows.

"Well, I heard you're some kind of big-shot doctor, right," he begins and I can already tell the conversation is going in an uncomfortable direction.

Finally, I have enough. "Listen, Franco," I try to explain, "I'm just an intern. And even if I was a doctor, I couldn't get you any medicine. Even the simplest stuff is accounted for and I don't want to get in trouble."

When he realizes that I won't budge on this, he simply walks up to the door at the back of the warehouse and enters.

That was strange. Trying to get my mind in order again, I sit down to read.

While I quietly sit and read in my dark corner, I watch several more people come and go through the suspiciously high-tech door.

Soon after Franco emerges again, I finish my charisma book.

It's pretty late. I should probably be getting home.

When I arrive at my front door, I almost stumble over something buried under the snow. It's an old newspaper! Those damned things... I never read the newspaper even once, yet they just keep on accumulating.

Time to finally clean up this mess.

When I walk inside, I notice the training dummy I brought back from China and can't resist giving it another go. This is just so much fun!

Wait, is it morning already? The car outside honks, letting me know that it's here to pick me up. Did I really stay up all night?!

Today is the day I finally realize that I actually do want a promotion. Being promoted must come with shorter work hours, right?

It is lucky that I've finally found my ambitious side, because today I am offered the opportunity to hold an open-air vaccination clinic for the locals.

It's supposed to take place at the cemetery. Well, at least we'll already be in the right place in case I mess up...

When I arrive, there are already two people waiting for me.

The incredibly attractive man introduces himself as David Haynes and proceeds to flirt unabashedly as I get ready to administer the vaccination.

His obvious suggestions make me blush, but I stay professional.

Next up is Erika Lin. She may be retired now, but I would have never expected a former doctor to be such a baby about a little shot!

When I'm done, she insists on lecturing me about what I did wrong and how she could have done it better. Retirement certainly doesn't suit her!

By this point, I'm getting very sleepy.

Back where I grew up, it never snowed. I channel my inner child and decide to build myself an igloo!

The blocks of hardened snow are freezing cold on my bare hands, but I persevere.

When my igloo is finally done, I crawl inside for a nap. Who would have thought that the inside of a dome made of ice and snow could be so cozy?

It gives me a surprisingly cheeky idea. Wouldn't an igloo be such a fun place to woohoo?

And I know just the person to test this theory with.

"Hey Zhan, remember when you said you'd like to come visit me?"

Elated, I run up the steep hill and through the city gate. Zhan says he'll be here by tomorrow at 9! I'm so excited to see him again, I can barely wait. I need to go home and get everything ready.

What should I cook when Zhan comes over, I wonder.

I try my hand at cooking the dish I tried in Shang Simla.

The traditional Chinese hamburger!

As I shower, I notice how exhausted I am.

I should really remodel this whole place, I think. I want to make a good impression on Zhan! A new mirror maybe?

But right now it's time for bed. And tomorrow, I think to myself with growing anticipation, tomorrow I'll see Zhan again.