30 Days Braver: Day 3

Day 3: Today I went up to the north side of Chicago to meet a friend for a yummy dinner at a Korean restaurant. It turned out to be a delicious meal and quite adventurous; I figured this would be my adventure for the day, but it wasn't! Instead, going into a random tea shop fulfilled my daily requirement of 'scary' for Thursday, May 28th.

(As an aside: To meet Eleanor Roosevelt's assignment: "Do one thing every day that scares you," I will be engaging in activities that push me outside of my comfort zone; not all of these activities will be scary/frightening in the same way as horror movies are. Instead, these daily adventures have the requirement of being at least mildly anxiety producing.)

Back to the tea shop. Normally, I don't go into random, slightly strange-looking shops. But, since I'm trying to be brave for 30 days, I decided to go for it. Plus, I had a friend along. We stepped inside to find a store FILLED to the brim with tea-related goodies. A zillion kinds of tea along with all sorts of tea accessories. And a mini-grocery area with different Turkish spices and pickled goods. The man working was incredibly adorable with a balding head and an accent; I'm a sucker for an accent. And there was another very elderly man in the shop wearing a clerical collar (the kind pastors wear sometimes) and a giant cross. He was also adorable but lacked an accent. Mr. Pastor and the shop owner were chatting happily as my friend and I perused the store.

I ended up getting a few little bags of tea. I got one really bizarro kind. And I've been drinking it this evening. Drinking it definitely fulfills my scary quota for the day. It's called "First-Sight Love" tea (perhaps a hilariously translated Chinese version of "Love at First Sight Tea"). It tastes pretty strange and surprisingly kind of tasty. Check out all the special features of this tea in one of the pictures below.

Day 3: Mission Complete.

The alluring shop entrance.

Just one section of the store. Tea, tea, tea.

Yum, yum. First-Sight Love tea. Brightens eyes. Remedies dim color. Soothes nerves. Slows down aging process. Protects teeth. And much, much more!

Here's what it looks like when you buy it in a little ball.

Here's what it does when you add hot water.

Here's what it looks like after 1 minute in hot water. It opens up to reveal little flowers inside.

P.S. -Tomorrow I will still write up the usual "Fantastic Friday Check-It-Out List" in addition to an entry on 30 Days Braver: Day 4.

P.P.S. - Don't you think "First sight love" sounds much more fantastic than "Love at first sight." Let's just go ahead and start using this amazing new translation immediately. :)