iQue

Took Leilei out for a walk in what was our local park when we lived in Shanghai. Felt really happy to be there playing with my son, yet sad we were soon be leaving and that we weren’t going back to our old house later. Met a Spanish mother and her son in the park and played with them for a bit. Apparently her son (who is 2 years) wakes up at least three times a night, which made me feel grateful.

After the park we walked up to our old road, and paid a quick visit to our old house – nothing has really changed and I could have easily walked through the front door, sat on the sofa and watched some football on the telly, but I had to meet Tan up the road a bit for a bite to eat.

Outside our old house with a handsome chappie

Met the wife and went for a bit to eat near the market we used to frequent. Everyone loves Leilei, women and men alike, makes me very proud – it is very genuine, there’s no animosity towards me as a “lao wei” (foreigner) having married a Chinese (despite the fact that these days so many Chinese men are having problems finding mates dues to the one-child policy and the suspicious statistics that there have been many more men born since that policy than women).

Found that the market that was famous for selling “Lorex” watches and dodgy dvds has been razed to the ground, the only noticeable change I noticed in Shanghai.

Took a couple of photos at our old house with Tan and the baby. Then we arranged to meet Chin (our ex-live-in-English student in London who is now working in Shanghai) for an evening meal.

Met Chin and her colleague in Xu Jia Hui. I really wanted to buy a Nintendo DS lite so her mate helped me get a good deal in the electrics department – I got the Chinese version (iQue) which means I can play Chinese games too!

Had a nice meal with Chin and colleague, although Leilei was irritable, which meant I spent most of the time taking him outside the restaurant. One of the things about having a kid is that you either have a babysitter or you rarely have a civilised meal.