More dodgy stomach but a cracking City win

I woke up feeling shit like last week. Dreadful “la du” and aches and pains all over. Tan had got up at 7am to go to her driving lesson, and Leilei had come into our bed during the night and was sleeping like a baby. I managed to find some paracetamol and aspirin capsules and downed a couple, but couldn’t get back to sleep, mainly as I felt chained to the toilet. When Tan returned she tried to get back to sleep as Leilei started to stir. This went on for a bit. Tan tapping away on QQ on her phone and Leilei eventually getting up. It took some effort, but once he was dressed I took him to Waipo to play and to put some shorts on as he had run out here.

I made it back without too much trouble but still found trouble sleeping, although reading some of the more scientific parts of “The Greatest Show on Earth” eventually helped me to a few moments of shuteye. But it wouldn’t be for long as I’d promised Leilei I’d call Su Xiaoli’s dad to ask if he could come over to play, which I did soon after lunch. It was nice to be able to leave him to play with her and grab a little more time to just do nothing and nurse my aching body, while falling in and out of dreamlike states where I felt able to see myself from the outside….

Of course I know it is because I is white. The attention that the kids and I are afforded is augmented by this fact. But I have made an effort in many other ways to blend in with the language and culture. And it’s nice to see and hear the kids do so too. From shy’uns during the first week they have blossomed in confidence and are happy to go off with other friends, chatting away sometimes using words I don’t understand. It makes the huge expense of the trip over here that much more bearable, and makes me appreciate how fortunate I am to have a boss who has allowed me to work from home in China for four weeks sandwiched between my holidays.

I was thinking of what I like about being here. Not just how I am treated, or the kids’ well-being, but just as a fly on the wall. I think it’s to do with being organic. Not in the sense of growing fruit for the middle class, but in the lack of human-written “rules” that govern life here. For example, for years before we had specific bins for recycling in the UK we had such bins in China. But it wasn’t because it was mandated, it was because stuff was really needed to be recycled as the core materials, like plastic, were too expensive to be thrown away. I suppose this is a little bit like the deposits we used to get back on Corona bottles in the 70s and 80s, presumably before glass became so cheap to manufacture it wasn’t worth returning it.

Oh...the memories...had these on my desk as a kid

Another “organic” thing I’m just becoming used to, and related to the former example, is littering. Say you just downed a delicious 4 kuai large watermelon juice but you can’t see a bin – what do you do? Well even if you see a bin you drop your plastic cup and straw on the ground because for sure there will be someone around soon to sweep it up and probably take it to be recycled. And if everyone were to put their stuff in the bin would that person still have a job?

An important thing for me is the driving behaviour. It is purely the logic of the pavement translated onto tarmac. Only because of the slow speeds can this happen, but driving is just like walking. Yes we generally drive on the right, and generally stop at red lights (at least more than used to happen). But fundamentally everyone drives at such slow speeds there is time to react to unexpected situations such as people walking straight in front of you without looking (one of whom could be your own child). I have never felt so unsafe crossing a road as the day after having arrived in the UK after having spent time in Pingguo. Having cars pass you at 30+ mph is very scary when you’re not used to it. A Wu explained that in Pingguo there aren’t as many cars as bigger places; therefore you don’t need to drive quickly to get to places. It sort of made sense, but it still seems that driving quicker would get you there quicker. But I’m glad to say it’s frowned upon here.

I’d arranged with Awl to watch the Spurs-City game together with a couple of beers as it was 8.30pm for me, but as the time wore around I still had no desire to imbibe anything other than water and sweet green tea. But the kids were out and so was Tan, and I did have one small sealed glass of “medicine alcohol”. To be honest I’d actually bought it earlier in the day after I’d left Leilei with Su Xiaoli. Despite feeling quite sick I’d gone to a normal shop and asked about this drink, demanding if it really did have medicinal qualities. “Of course”, came the answer from the shop keeper. I decided to refrain from asking about evidence and scientific studies – the medicinal value was probably the same as the medicinal content of a homoeopathic tablet, but at least it could be medicinal in another way.

So I managed to find a shaky stream of the match and managed to drink some of my medicine during it. What a corker! I’ve rarely seen us play so confidently and the 5-1 result was deserved! United needed to win by 5 goals to push us into 2nd so finally I would see City on top of the league…. Well, until a couple of hours later when United caned Arsenal 8-2 to claim top spot. I can’t really complain though….