What did you use to wash the kids?

It was very agreeable to have woken up at a normal hour, and it gave us time to sort out the rest of the clothes and wash some of the ones from last year that have become a little musty. A Da called and Leilei went out to play with him while Tan took Xixi to Waipo's. I hung up some clothes to dry and it dawned on me it's not been so exciting in a way. But in a good way, as here does feel like home now. We do similar stuff except eat out more and hang clothes in a different way, and probably a good deal of other non-similar stuff but the point is it doesn't feel like a holiday.

One of the first things Tan did when she got up was to go to our en suite bathroom and ask me what I used to wash the kids last night. This is difficult to answer if you know the tone of the question is accusing and you weren't able to read the label on the orange bottle the night before. It was too late to lie, not that I would anyway, and I admitted that whatever was in the orange bottle was used to clean our kids' hair and bodies last night. I got the look of scorn when she told me it was washing up liquid but even though she didn't show it I like to think she saw the funny side. At least that explains why it didn't lather up.

A Hua called me mid-morning to ask if I wanted to go grape picking tomorrow with her son and Leilei and other friends. My initial reaction was to say no as I wanted to be free to sleep, but it's wrong to turn down a new experience so after she said we'd go at 12 midday I was fine. 30 minutes later I got a call from Tan saying that A Hua had decided to leave at 9am instead of 12pm. Had I known I would not have agreed to go; I am jetlagged and changing such a time is a big deal. Anyway I still agreed to go.

A Wu rang in the late morning to tell me we were going for lunch. I went to his office and proceeded to drink tea with him and a couple of bosses for half an hour or so as you do. Then we went for a meal at a restaurant that belongs to one of the bosses, Boss Shao. The five of us only got through six cans of beer during the whole meal but I still began to feel woozy. So much so that back home I barely managed 15 minutes before I was in the arms of Morpheus once again for a three hour siesta.

View from our house 2013

I got a phone call at 5pm from A Ni telling me to come to A Wu's office, from where we'd go to eat. I said I'd be there by six and I got there at five past but it was all closed up. Then Tan rang to say they couldn't wait so had gone, but they would pick me up. I found it a little hard to believe but A Ni turned up in A Wu's black Toyota from last year and I was about to get in the passenger's seat when I noticed it was taken. I got in the back and the woman in the passenger seat turned around and it took me a second to realise it was Tan with her new hairdo from Lao Ma. It actually looks ok.

We were on our way to the restaurant when A Ni changed her mind and decided to go to buy some fruit. A couple of minutes later we were at the market trying long yan and grapes. One of the market stall ladies reminded me that some time ago I'd promised to print out a picture from 2003 with her in it. Er, well I showed it to her on my phone and she pointed herself out and I bought myself some time by saying that she hadn't changed a bit. But I will need to make a few prints in the coming days.

We went to the sumptuous meal where there were a couple of other people too that we didn't know. But that soon changed as we tucked in. Xixi was at Waipo's house and at 8pm Tan got a call saying she was missing baba and wanted me to take her home. I was happy to do this and made a last gan bei to all in the room, but just as I was about to leave Tan got another phone call saying Xixi had fallen asleep. So I stayed a little longer, but then took Leilei home for a shower and bedtime. It seems that "shi cha" (jetlag) has been almost a non-factor here so far, however Leilei didn't sleep till gone 11pm, at which time Tan finally came back from having a massage or similar with A Ni. Then she did some sort of honey facemask and I helped hold her ipad up while she watched Korean films as it dried. But it was worth it.