I decided I really needed a siesta today so I called A Wu to see if he wanted to go for a bite to eat for lunch. He said he did so I went to meet him at his office. As I was a bit early I went for a cup of watermelon juice at such a bar by his office. I had a delightful time with the owner's daughter's and son (at least they said they were sisters/brother but you never know). The seven year old sister was looking after her eight month old brother completely with no adult around. And she was doing a good job by all accounts. When my drink was ready there was a little left over and the mum poured it into a plastic cup for the kids. I couldn't believe how sweetly they shared it, together with the baby. I don't think I've ever seen western kids do the same. I then went to a local shop by A Wu's office to have a look around. I noticed something strange about the canned drinks arrangement and wasn't sure whether to ask the shopkeeper about it. In the end curiosity got the better of me and I asked her. The answer is rather obvious actually.
Yes - they are upside-down in order to keep the upside clean. Well A Wu came around midday and we drove to a nice place I'd not been to before where the two of us had the best part of a goose, plus some rice and greens. I really like goose. It's rather like duck but seems to be a little less fatty. And the greens were something I've not had before in China - they are known as "kong xin cai" - hollow-heart veg, which basically means greens but with a hollow stem, and a particularly nice crunchy texture. We managed to finish the goose and I managed to pay this time - 73 kuai for the both of us including a beer. Not cheap but considering the fare not expensive either.
A couple of days ago Lin Hong, Tan and I had a conversation about our front door. I agreed that we should really have a stronger one than that provided by the housing company. Especially as we won't be here for long periods of time and we may have some valuable stuff here. Well Lin Hong had made the arrangements and the blokes were coming today at 2pm. Moreover, although Lin Hong hadn't said anything other than I need to be in the house, Tan said that I needed to bring cement and stones as they'd need that to fit the new door. Well Tan rang me to tell me this while we were finishing the goose, so A Wu took me to Ling Ming's new house where apparently he had some spare cement and stones. We got a bag of cement from his neighbour's flat that was in the process of being decorated, and then "stole" some stones from the ground outside. I was told we were allowed to take these but when we were filling the bag A Wu told me to hurry up before someone saw us! I was more than happy to pay...I hope he was joking...
We bought the hardcore back to the flat then A Wu took me to pick up the bike and I got back just by 2pm. The blokes came an hour late at 3pm but I sort of expected it, though I could have done with some kip during the wait. The ensuing few hours were typical. There were two blokes; one who was obviously the boss, and another, probably an apprentice who was made to do most of the heavy work. And it was heavy work. After drilling out the parts that fixed the door frame to the wall, they set about drilling out the cement that kept the door frame in. I thought when we talked about buying a new door it meant a new door. Not all the cemented-in frame too....
It soon became apparent that we didn't have enough stones or cement by a long shot. We couldn't go back to Ling Ming's place so the main bloke took me in his pick-up to "Da Xue Cheng" (University City) which is a fairly new part of Pingguo where there is a lot of development going on and unsurprisingly, a university. It was ferociously hot and humid, as together we filled two heavy-duty bags with stones and one with cement, and loaded the pick-up. By the time we got back the apprentice was still banging the old door with a hammer. Lin Hong had stayed while I was gone as, with all builders, they need to be watched in order for anything to get done. The job took the best part of three hours and was incredibly noisy. Lin Hong stayed until we got a phone call at about 4.30 saying Xixi had asked to come home from school early. She went to pick Xixi up but I got a call a few minutes later to the effect that Xixi was unwilling to go home with her... So Lin Hong ended up coming back to the house empty handed. We stayed a bit longer until the old door was just about ready to be removed, and Lin Hong said she'd stay while I went to pick up the kids at 5.30.
So it was another afternoon without a kip but we had a new door. A couple of days after we arrived here I threw out (at Lin Hong's bequest) a load of old cardboard and polystyrene that had accumulated with the purchases of stuff like a washing machine and microwave. I'd left the mess outside our door as Lin Hong said people would come and pick it up. But they hadn't so I said we'd need to call someone to do this. This Lin Hong did and a bloke turned up and spent an hour separating the cardboard from the polystyrene from all the other material, tying them up nicely. Then Lin Hong told him he could buy our old door off us so he called his boss and soon the two or them were up on our floor arguing with Lin Hong and the new door providers about the price and the quality of the door. It was actually good-natured shouting and I couldn't help but join in saying what a bargain it was for 50 kuai. Finally they relented and gave us 50 kuai as they also had all that cardboard and stuff for free. Many things like this are a total opposite from the UK where you'd have to pay someone to come and take stuff away to be dumped. There is far less wastage here from what I can see.
Another bloke turned up during the melee, apparently he was to put the cement in the door frame for 40 kuai. Another argument ensued with the door fitters and it ended up with the cement man refusing to do the work for 40 kuai and going home. As we needed the work done, the door fitter apprentice was tasked with the work, and I left him to it while unsuccessfully attempting a slice of shuteye. I may have dropped off but I got a knock on the bedroom door to say the work was done at around 8.30. Even in my drowsy state I could see it wasn't. There were great big gaps and the job wasn't smoothed off at all. While I stood there he filled in most of the gaps by slinging the cement in by hand. I'm no expert but it looked a bit shoddy. Then he said we'd need to get someone else to do the plastering and finishing. I believed this as he didn't have any such materials so I thanked him and bade him good bye.
While attempting to sleep during the cementing, Li Kun rang me to come for a drink at the Lao Shu cafe near our building. I explained that I had to stay in during this work but that I'd ring him when it was finished to see if he was still around. Yang Haiwei also called me to go out and drink beer but I said I had prior arrangements. As the apprentice left around 9pm, and Tan came just after, I grabbed a quick shower and went to meet him. The cafe was a comfortable place with hived-off areas for groups as is normal here. Li Kun's wife was there, together with a couple of friends, who thoughout the evening seemed to churn, moving to other tables while others took their places. But Li Kun, his missus and I were consistent, and we just had a normal pleasant evening talking about normal things as though I hadn't been away for nearly a year. The conversation turned to air turbulence and I shuddered as Li Kun recounted his Hong Kong-Nanning flight some years back where the plane was jostled from side to side as if it was made of paper, and then the oxygen masks came down from the ceiling.
After some nice bits of food to pick on and a coffee, Li Kun ordered some beers and the rest of the evening was spent gan bei'ing shot-size glasses of beer with various friends. Li Kun appreciated the Marlboro Gold fags I bought for him, and shared them out with his mates. I also bought him some Lynx shower gel. For his wife, who smiled dutifully throughout the evening, I bought her a selection pack of fruit teas. We had a laugh till nearly midnight, when Tan called as she was outside and needed me to take Xixi home. I didn't even realise Xixi wasn't in bed on a school day...Leilei had gone to sleep at Nong Kaicheng's house, I knew that much. Luckily, Tan was eating some sweet puddingy stuff right outside the Lao Shu cafe with Xixi and a couple of friends including Chen Mei, who recently moved to Nanning.
I got Xixi showered and into bed with little ado. And then had to have a shower again myself as when Tan got back she said I stank of smoke. It's been many a year since I've gone for a drink as a non-smoker and come back smelling like one. I understand that in China we now have ban on smoking indoors in public areas, similar to most of Europe. However, when I talked about it to my friends they seemed to think it only applies to Beijing and Shanghai.
As I stayed with Xixi while she fell asleep I got a call from A Da, A Wu's son. He didn't seem to have a purpose for calling...I asked how he was, how his day at school was, wished him a good night and said we'd see him tomorrow at school and he said ok and hung up.
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