Our large wardrobe, sitting where I said it would be at the foot of our bed
The kids not appreciating what a tea table should be for
There we met Jiuma and I asked her about A Heng - she said that he was fine which was a bit of a relief. Waipo was also there, but the both of them took Xixi out a few minutes later. Tan was asleep, so I had a little time to myself. I was sorely tempted to catch up on some shut-eye but was determined to wait until I'd at least had some lunch. At midday I decided to search out the family I ate with the other week, when they had seen me driving past and invited me in to eat out of the blue. I found a box of wine gums, and a box of peppermint tea I'd brought from the UK and put them in my bag as gifts. The problem was I couldn't remember where they lived. And today was just about the hottest day so far, proper sunblasting blistering heat, with not so much humidity. I realised my forearms were burning so I stopped every minute or so under a tree for protection. I bought a bottle of water at a small shop and was asked if I wanted two. I then found I'd given the woman 3 kuai instead of 2 for a 1.5 kuai bottle. I said I only wanted one and she gave me my extra kuai plus 5 mao change. I never ever feel ripped off here - it's just not in the culture. One of the reasons I feel very comfortable here.
It took the best part of an hour but I eventually happened upon the place I'd eaten at before, but there were only a handful of people in. They did remember me and asked if I wanted to finish the remnants of their lunch. I daresay if I'd not got lost I'd have been there in time for the whole thing. Well, I gave the father the box of wine gums and tea and he put them on the table. The Chinese, at least in this area, have what at first seems like a strange way of receiving gifts. Or more of a non-way. They don't burst out in smiles and say "wow! how nice!", they take them in a very run-of-the-mill way, that could easily be construed by foreigners as ingratitude. It's not that, and they are really appreciative, but I haven't fathomed out exactly how (if that is fathomable). Even the kids didn't look too excited about the sweets, although they opened the box of tea. I knew, though, that the gesture was appreciated, and I left by saying when I had time I'd bring the kids down for tea one evening - only mad dogs and Englishmen, it seems, venture out in the Pingguo midday sun.
I snatched as much shade as I could as I drove for some sausage and rice at a place I like near A Hua's shop. That filled a hole, and with a cold beer to help I felt the arms of Morpheus doing their trick and I made one last scalding trip in the bike back home where I managed to grab a couple of hours' kip. I woke up somewhat refreshed and called the wife to see what she was doing. Well, she just spent 10000 kuai, that's what she'd been doing. That was for the sofa, the coffee table, the tv cabinet, a shoe cupboard and the sofabed for my study. This had better be blooming good as that's nearly a cool grand she'd just spent while I slept.
I went to the house at around 5pm. I noticed that there was no electricity (again), so gave Lin Hong (who was in the house) a ring as I wondered how the devil they got all the furniture up there. When I told her there was no leccy she sounded surprised, which meant it must have been a very recent occurance. So I rang the wife and told her, much to her annoyance as she was just arriving at the house herself laden with purchases from the supermarket. We couldn't just wait for the electricity to come back so we plodded the 13 flights of stairs to our place to find a welcoming home-like place for the first time. The (non-real) skin sofa fits well with the wood floor and white walls, ditto for the coffee table and tv cabinet thing. The only thing out of place was my lovely tea table. We tried moving it to the end of the sofa near the bathroom but it didn't really work. Then we decided to put it in the corner by the main window and next to the tv cabinet. After some minute adjustments we all agreed it was in the perfect place; I would be able to serve tea to my friends without getting in the way of anyone else, and the table would be in full view of anyone sitting on the sofa. As an extra bonus I liked the sofabed in my study. It's not the widest, and would suit a skinnier couple, or one parent and small child, as it was not quite a double size. However, it was very comfortable for both sitting and lying, and didn't tip over when you sat on the edge (unlike the one I'd tried to the shop-owner's embarrassment last week while looking at one to buy).
View from the sofa, front door opposite. Note the tea table on the right in the wrong place
Tan modelling the new sofa in our nice new apartment, tea table in the correct place now
Tan capturing a pic of the room while I'm getting one of the sofabed in my study, plus the xie gui just in front of Tan and to her left
Me with my pride and joy - fancy a cuppa?
Leilei's bedroom - will double as a spare when couples come over - big enough for 2 + baby...And and Lis??
I was happy with the way things were looking, but I was a bit peckish too. I first wandered down to Ma Laoban's computer shop as I wanted to ask his advice on buying the tea accoutrements. He said he'd take me out later in the evening to get some stuff, but first invited me back to his place to have dinner with "some people". "Some people" turned out to be his family, and there were a lot of them; he has three elder sisters and a younger brother, plus there was the father and various other younger people who no doubt were their kids. I was honoured to be invited to such an event, and really enjoyed the company of this close knit and decent family. A couple of them were beer drinkers, so I was sat down with them to gan bei. The other drinker wanted "er gou tou" (rank white alcohol I can't touch), and Ma Laoban went downstairs to get some, along with some plastic glasses he'd forgotten earlier. He came back with the wrong type of er gou tou. No problem, his wife phoned down to the local shop he'd just been to and asked for the 46% version the bloke wanted. A couple of minutes later the lady came up with the goods, and she was even invited to have some food with us (which she unfortunately declined). The er gou tou drinker poured a full glass of the nearly half alcohol concoction in his glass, but actually only drank that for the duration of the meal. Although I'd said I'd only stay for an hour as I needed to do some shopping, I stayed longer as they didn't want me to go, arguing that we were having a good time so why go shopping as I could go tomorrow? I couldn't argue with such logic!
A lovely meal with Ma Laoban's family
We did leave to go to the tea shop at around 9pm. I hadn't been there before, but it was a friend of Ma Laoban's. We drank some nice "tie guan yin" tea that I'd had recently at Ma Laoban's shop, which was very nice. I then purchased a kettle cum teacup washer plus a few other bits and pieces for 320 kuai. I may well bring it back to the UK as it is pretty nice and practical. We got back and dropped the stuff off at Ma Laoban's shop, and I realised I still had time to get some stuff from the supermarket. In fact Tan rang me at that time to ask me to go and get some milk for Leilei and a doormat for the house, as well as mats for drying your feet outside the bathrooms. So we picked up what we needed, plus a couple of non-slip mats for inside the shower and I took them home before one last trip to Ma Laoban's to pick up the tea stuff and bid him a good night.
Tan fancied some ducks claws, as you do at nearly midnight, so I took the opportunity to take the stuff over to the house, which is becoming more homely by the hour. Back home I could only manage two duck tongues and one duck claw before getting into bed after a long day.
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