Back to work and more Mario Kart

Oh well back to work today. I did wake up 9am but got a little more sleep as Tan took the kids to school. 

A beautiful hairy caterpillar at the kids' school 

Later, when back, Leilei and the kids were playing the Wii while I was working. One of Nong Kaicheng's friends was there too so there were four of them playing Mario Kart. I was quite happy to see them together. 

The boys playing Mario Kart Wii with rare footage of Leilei speaking Mandarin

There was a lot to catch up on after two weeks of holiday but I managed to pop out in the evening (lunchtime in Europe) to buy some stuff I'd been meaning to for a while - a dustbin and a tissue holder for my study and another clothes hanging stick. Rather than go to the supermarket I went to the actual market, which for me was more super. I had a chat with the boss, who remembered me from various years gone by, and everything came to 15 kuai - cheap!

As I didn't feel like going home just yet I popped into another local shop to buy some dried squid, which is a tasty snack without too much carbohydrate late at night. Unfortunately the young lady said they didn't have that, and I should go to the supermarket. I said it would be hard as I had the dian dong che with a four foot stick and a dustbin and a tissue holder, but she said she'd look after everything. Well ok then, so I walked over to the supermarket by the market, which I'd been hoping to avoid, and went and got some dried squid. I happened upon the alcohol section and decided to get a small bottle of "yao jiu" (medicine alcohol) for 4 kuai, as apparently it's good for you. Then, when nearly at the checkout I changed my mind and thought I'd buy it from the shop where the lady was looking after my bike. I went to put it back and found that the space I'd left it was no longer there - someone had evidently watched me take it and filled the shelf appropriately. I wasn't particularly happy about that and thought my choice to replace it was vindicated as I pushed the bottle back into its former place.

Back at the local shop I thanked the lady for looking after my bike and dutifully asked if she had "yao jiu", which she certainly did. She gave me the option of three types, and I asked what the difference was. "They are different brands", she answered, slightly unhelpfully. So I opted for the middle one and was charged 10 kuai for the same size as the 4 kuai one in the supermarket.

I still had a little time before meetings so went to the guangchang to call the bloke I missed seeing a few days ago, the one I used to get breakfast from when we were here for three months in 2008. So I gave him a ring to ask where his shop was but I didn't recognise his voice and feared I'd called the wrong number. I gave my phone to some bloke doing bbq next to me and he chatted to him and said someone would be around in a bit. A couple of minutes later a young bloke in his early 20s came around and seemed to recognise me. I didn't recognise him properly until he spoke and I realised that was who I'd just called. I was a bit confused as he seemed to be expecting me but I was expecting someone else. We walked for a minute or two before coming to a bbq place I hadn't been to before, and I immediately recognised the breakfast bloke who'd scratched my number on a cardboard beer box a few days ago.

I said I could only stay half an hour or so, but that "so" became well over an hour as I ordered some fatty beef and duck tongues and shared a few beers with the bloke and his son and the son's girlfriend, who was cooking the bbq. It was pleasant but I really did have to leave and said I'd be back soon when not working. They wouldn't let me pay for the food, so I took back the fatty beef and gave it to the boys who wolfed it up in no time, including Leilei, who even asked for more. Oh no! It's not just Tan but both our kids are now bbq addicts too!