More photos, food, and rain

We all got up at a leisurely hour and let the kids play for a bit. It's not like we'll have many more such days. At lunchtime Tan declared she'd only eat grapes during the daylight hours, so I took the kids to the nice place opposite I'd taken them just before going to Fang Cheng Gang a few days ago. I had to choose between buying two portions and wasting most, or buying one and risk insulting the owners who would have expected a tad more income. This time I only got one portion between the three of us as the pain of wasting food was more than that of not paying as much, and all I ate was the egg and some greens.

So without a full stomach we went to my favourite Nan Cheng Bai Hua supermarket but as expected the gin had still not been delivered. We got a bit of stuff, but the main reason I went was to sort out my VIP cards. I had three, and asked how many points each had. One had about 3500, another 2500, and the other 1000. But I was told I could merge them all, so I said ok, and received yet another new card, the fourth in as many years. What I should have done is ask what the 7000+ points actually represented.

My Nan Cheng Bai Hua VIP card with 7000+ points

Then we went to pick up the photos we'd ordered. It was an extra 560 kuai but at least we can bring them back with us. After dropping off the photos and getting approval from Tan I lay down for a while as my back was killing me for some reason.

Photos that will actually fit in the suitcase

After a bit of medicine I took the kids out again, this time for Leilei to have his hair cut. We went to Lao Ma's, as we had done several years ago. But now it's a lot easier than say in 2008 when he would only let her cut his hair when he was busy with the electric razor shaving my forearm. The kids were happy to stay at Lao Ma's and play with her dog Aili while I went to the supermarket.

I was on the road for 30 seconds before the heavens opened and it was all I could do to find shelter under the overhanging of a shop with a fellow electric biker. The five minutes we spent together made for a nice chat about the weather and things in general, where he was from, just outside Pingguo, and I didn't even feel like a foreigner.

The rain cleared up as quickly as it arrived and was starting to dry off some of the more exposed areas of the ground as I arrived at the supermarket a minute later. I picked up the stuff I wanted (cups and bowls for T and E), picked up the kids and dropped them off with Chuan Chuan as Uncle Yellow had called me and reminded me we were going to Li Kun's place to drink tea this afternoon.

I got a lift with Uncle Yellow in his sister's car and we got to Li Kun's and indeed did drink lots of tea for an hour or so. Tan had called a bit earlier to say we had been invited to a meal at 6pm at Li Jia He Xian by her ex-colleague, so I had to leave a tad later. But Li Kun made me promise I'd come back afterwards as some friends would be there. I said of course I would, and not to pick me up as I'd take the dian dong che.

An Italian VW?

Uncle Yellow dropped me off at home to pick up the bike, but I popped inside at first for a bit of medicine. Tan called and I feared the typical "where are you??!!" even though it was a couple of minutes to six, but in fact it was to ask me to pick up something from the house, exactly where I was. Despite my justification for arriving after 6pm I did receive the "where are you?" call moments later while on the bike for the two minute journey to the restaurant. I told her I was just arriving. This was pretty much true, but it was also true for up to 200 guests turning up for a wedding meal. I was just about to sneak in before they all started but I was just five seconds too late. They started really slowly filing in, each handing in their red envelopes and receiving some monkey nuts and cigarettes in return. After five minutes of this, feeling like ten, and realising it could take many more, I worked out I wouldn't be jumping the queue if I jumped in, as it wasn't my queue. So I put on my best smile and politely as possible squeezed into the queue and felt embarrassed to not be giving a red envelope as I got slowly swept upstairs.

The phone was ringing again and I didn't have to look to see it was Tan. But instead of answering I could see about 100' down the corridor Leilei and Xixi, so waved to them. They could at least tell mama that I would be there soon, but I could only move as slowly as the wave of wedding goers would permit. At least I had a reasonable excuse for being a tad late.

There were only Tan's ex-colleague, her husband, their son, and us four at the meal. Despite the fact that both the parents are English teachers, and introduced themselves with their English names, they were the only English words that were uttered during the evening. This was to my considerable relief, as I know it must be difficult to maintain any standard of English living here. I did make an effort to speak a little English to their son though.

It was a pleasant enough meal, and the husband and I shared six Li Quans while we spoke about what it was like 30+ years ago when the girls were in infant school together. Afterwards, we said our good byes and Tan went to see her friends and after dropping off the kids, I went back to see Li Kun. I hadn't realised he was having a pretty big meal at his house, and as soon as I arrived I was given a seat and a bowl and chopsticks and told to eat. Well, it's like that, so I picked a little and joined in with a few gan beis and had a lot more fun than than at the previous meal.

At one stage I had to pop out for a couple of minutes due to the gas of the beer, and just avoid it for a bit. There were four or five ladies outside looking like they were making red earphones for aircraft. I ended up chatting with them and having a laugh for a bit until Uncle Yellow came to find me and bring me back. Got back home stuffed.

My earphone ladies