Managed to get up at 9.30 for some reason - I'd been quite good and only had two beers with the late night football. So after lunch at Waip's I left the kids swegging and popped home for a bit before deciding a post-prandial headwash was a good idea. And it was, though for some reason I let them do a facewash too which whipped the price up from 30 to 100 kuai but it's not something I can do every week so sod it.
I was in the middle one and surprised that the lady was nearly 40
Back at home I tuned up the guitar in order to have a bash before Yang Haiwei called me to come over to eat. I was sent another "location" dot on WeChat and thought "why not?". This time it was not quite as hard to find though was still a comedy of errors trying to get the exact building. I though house number 2302 was on the second floor but no of course it was the 23rd floor. By the time I got there the sky had darkened as a storm loomed up, and I wondered if I'd be trapped. Not that it would have mattered if I was; there were food and friends, well Haiwei's mate and his wife, and the Olympics were on the tv.
I needed to pop back though to get the kids as Tan was out, but I was told by Haiwei and his mate I definitely had to come back. The dian dong che was low on juice so I had to charge it and this time took the the kids on a san lun che for 10 kuai. I need to know if buying the dian dong che is justified on a purely economical basis. I estimate I average 10km a day, on about five journeys, each of which would probably be at least 5 kuai on a san lun che. So that would be roughly 25 kuai a day, or 175 a week. 3000÷175=just over 17 weeks and so far we've been here for about 11 of those weeks so if we can make it here again it will have paid for itself. Of course it was more than justified on the day I bought it in 2014 (except it was replaced by a newer, larger one last year) just as a huge convenience and giver of many memories to the kids. The problem is I've hardly walked anywhere so the only exercise I'm getting is the actual exercise I do rather than day-to-day stuff like walking to the train station. It's rather hot to be doing that a lot.
Waiting for the lift I saw these workers bringing down the scaffolding - how much is life insurance here?
Plus I was reading that the fruit we eat today almost certainly did not exist a few hundred years ago; then it was smaller and more bitter. But now we've evolved fruit to be luscious and sweet, which is all very well, especially the Tian Yang mangoes, but I think I'm seeing the effect on my belly. I guess eating five fruits a day is not necessarily that good for you if they are full of calories....
Anyway, back at Haiwei's mate's place there were a couple more mates who had arrived to join us with a couple of beers. I noticed that the home-owner had run out of Snowflake 2.5% and I thought that was rather strange. But of course his fridge was filled with another brand of beer that was actually bottled. I miss bottled beer - it used to be almost the only way of drinking 10 years ago but cans have massively taken over. Anyway, as I had the kids with me I couldn't stay too late and arrangements were made to take us home before midnight. It appeared that we were taking a taxi, though it was more likely to be a mate who just happened to be passing, as is how it normally works here.
Watching the Olympics on an HD tv that was actually HD
I slept in a little as I was hoping to catch City's Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest that would take place at 2.45am, but the kids were keen to get to Waipo's because their swegways had arrived. So we got there about 11 and set upon opening the first box. As soon as we unfolded the first bit of cardboard a large jianglian (cockroach) jumped out and scuttled around. Leilei had been squatting and jumped back and hit his back against the table and A Heng stamped on the damn thing but it took a few goes before it was motionless. Had it been a less interesting present the kids would probably have been in tears but I managed to keep them focused on the task in hand and we pulled out the first one, which judging by its colour, was for Xixi.
We didn't expect them to be charged but Xixi's was and we set about trying to mount it first. Actually the kids got used to it pretty quickly, probably because the swegway itself is heavier relative to their weights, at least that's my excuse as I couldn't balance on it without holding the wall at first. But somehow I sort of got the knack, and was able to slowly roll from one side of the room to the other, spinning around to change direction in the process. It was only after I'd had enough that I realised I had no idea how to dismount, so I quickly put one foot behind me and the other went shooting off in front leaving the rest of my body to obey gravity and plummet to the ground. I banged my ankle and landed on my right wrist and back of my head. I think the fact it was all three places somewhat buffeted the fall a little, but I was in a bit of shock.
Leilei getting better on the swegway
Xixi also gaining in confidence
So I popped back to the house, leaving them to happily practise. Today is gui jie, which translates as Ghost Festival, of which there is no equivalent in the UK, not even halloween, as I had been wrongly told before. The most important thing about it is that the family eat together, so I knew I'd be back soon. Yang Haiwei called me to eat later and of course I said I'd be at Waipo's but he asked me to call when I was finished there anyway. Fair enough.
On the way back to our house I couldn't help noticing this anti-Japanese sticker on a (Chinese brand) car - a sad reflection of how many still think
After Waipo's meal I duly called Haiwei around 6 and he sent me a WeChat location. I had to ride a couple of hundred yards in the wrong direction before I knew it was indeed the wrong direction as the blue dot that represented me was a fraction further away from the destination red dot. I realised I was not close, and spent a good 10 minutes finding my way to the west side of Pingguo and eventually his mum's house's complex. As I entered I heard the security guard shout at me and then realised it was my neighbour, who asked for my phone number so we could arrange to meet up soon. Then Haiwei rang to ask where I was and after a bit of fuss because the red dot wasn't exactly where he was, I found the place and was welcomed in to the family meal as if I was one of them.
The main reason for me coming was because Haiwei's first son was going back to school tomorrow. Even though it's in Pingguo he sleeps there except for the weekend. His English is relatively good and I had been drafted in to help him. It had actually improved significantly in the last two years, and he's quite a bright lad so it wasn't as boring as it might have been. We had semi-conversations about football and English culture, with frequent translation breaks for the rest of them.
Yang Haiwei's family meal: Haiwei, an uncle, a brother, Haiwe's actual brother, Haiwei's second son on a Waipo's knee, a Nai nai, and Haiwei's first son with whom I was speaking English
There had been no beer at Waipo's so it was fine to perform a few gan beis with the family. Even the resident Nainai gan beid with me a couple of times. These sorts of family meals are my favourite, as you know the blokes aren't going to get stupidly drunk as they have the womenfolk and babyfolk around. After a couple of hours though, it was declared that we were to go to bbq. We went to the place near our house, and another family turned up with their daughter, who could also speak some English, then another girl turned up who was a "sister" and spoke very good English, albeit with that American twang many speakers have. It transpired she'd lived or studied in the States for a few months.
One thing I've noticed is that there appears to be an inverse colleration between foreign language ability and good looks with women, and possibly men too (though I would be an obvious exception). I suspect this is quite natural, as those more favourable in the looks department don't need to make so much effort to find a bloke or work. It probably applies to other aspects of education too. Of course it's a sweeping generalisation but there's definitely something in it.
The English speakers then left and I was left with Haiwai and his second son as his wife took elder son back home. Haiwei was faltering and I left him to sleep in his chair as I went for a walk around the other bbq places with second son and we talked for a bit but he is only six and didn't understand about sometimes slowing down when using more complicated vocabulary. So we woke up his dad a few minutes later when wife was back, and she took them all home in their car, which meant I could go and find the kids who were still at Waipo's.
I dared not have another go on the swegways, despite their appeal after a couple of 2.5% Snowflake beers, so took them home for a shower instead. I still had well over two and a half hours before the footy but was managing so far. I took the bike out for a late night run and decided to see if Luwen was in. I couldn't be sure where his office was, but I happened upon three blokes drinking beer at a tea table. I asked them if Luwen's office was nearby and they looked at me as though to say "why the hell would we know who he is?" for a minute before inviting me to sit down for a beer. Oh well, why not?
An enjoyable hour or so with these guys
I probably spent an hour there chatting and sipping and sometimes gan bei'ing and sometimes cai ma'ing, as the blokes took photos of me with them and sent them to their social networks. It's like having your own personal CCTV service with you at all times - I've barely travelled a mile without someone taking a photo of me, and it's even more intense for the kids.
By the time I left it wasn't that far off 2am so I got home to catch up on the Olympics and some pre-match chat. This is one of the most important matches this season; lose this qualifier and that's it for the Champions League. And it's only the second game of the season, we have injuries, and the side is yet to gel. A big banana skin if ever there was one. But we played brilliantly, albeit partly because Steaua weren't really up to it, and the 5-0 away win with two missed penalties helped me easily to stay up till gone 4.30am.
We got one more later too - well worth staying up for
