Sunday 30th September, 2012            2300


Mid-autumn day and a lazyish one - as indeed I hope the rest of the Golden Week will be for me. I did though go out this evening. Earlier, Kevin and I sat and chatted over a drink in the warmth outside the shops, and there was a slightly odd couple loitering nearby. The male was too old to be a student but the female was hard to tell - Chinese girls often look incredibly young for their age. Anyway, she seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of photos of us on her phone. What prompted me to think they were odd was the fact that whenever I glanced at either of them all I got was a smile, with no attempt to communicate in any language. Eventually though, the girl - encouraged by our smiles - became bolder and indicated she would like photos of us with the man and then her. At this point a child of about ten arrived and still no communication apart from a little squeak from the boy. This confirmed my suspicion that the girl was deaf, as indeed were the rest of the family. They are surely also mute, probably as speech training for the deaf doesn’t exist in China unless you are very wealthy.

She showed us photos on her phone along with short videos she had taken, it looked as if she had a job in an office somewhere (although quite why they were on campus was unclear, they may have been collecting a student relative to take home for the holiday) and she patently took pleasure from the simplest of things, something I found endearing. And then she dropped her phone onto the concrete. The back came off and the battery flew out. I found myself praying she hadn’t smashed the screen or done irreparable damage to it - for some reason I desperately didn’t want anything unhappy to happen to her on a day she seemed to be taking such a delight in. With an anguished moan she picked it up, re-inserted the battery and then struggled to get the back on. I asked Kevin to do it for her (he’s good with such things) and asked him to check the screen. I discovered myself to be enormously relieved when it was intact and even more so when it worked perfectly after she switched it on. Eventually they took their leave.

Kiki had agreed to come to dinner and Kevin was keen as well so we tried out the new “western” restaurant. Kevin had struggled to find a “date” but at the last minute found one of his students - Leaf - who hadn’t gone home. Apparently the place does pizza, just not on the day we turned up. I ordered a chicken burger, a beef burger and some French fries, the others ordered fries with either a burger, a wrap or chicken wings and Kiki can’t resist custard tarts. I have to say I was left singularly unimpressed with the food (for starters the fries were overdone) although the wings went down well with the girls. But it wasn’t cheap at 140y for the food, three beers and a lemonade. It filled a hole for me but that’s about as far as it went. Whether I go again to see if their pizzas are acceptable is open to debate.

Then we went upstairs to the new bar. We played mixed doubles at pool for one game before Kiki decided she was useless and quit as my partner and this time it was spoilt by a crowd of Chinese boys who wanted to watch but we had to keep shooing away from the table as they were leaning on it and putting us off. This time of course we had to pay, and three beers plus two Bacardi breezers and ninety minutes of pool cost a staggering 116y! No wonder the kids don’t drink when they are there, and to be honest I won’t be going very often at those prices - we could all have gone twice for a prawn hotpot and beers for the money we spent this evening. The teacher/owner really needs to take a long hard look at his beer prices , I realise the imported spirits will always be expensive but Chinese beer doesn’t need to be 20y for a very small bottle - especially when you are trying to attract a student clientele.

Monday 1st October    1100

China’s 63rd birthday.

When we got back last night thankfully Robin decided to sleep at home, possibly because she had injured a front paw. Hanging on my doorknob was a small bag containing two moon cakes and an apple. It can only have come from the young mum in 304 (although I suppose it could have been the girls in 303 and 305!) because she had mentioned she would give me some cake a couple of days ago. I had said I would make her some more bread and indeed as I type there is a cinnamon and raisin sweet loaf in my machine which will be done in a couple of hours. It’s another glorious day outside but I don’t intend straying far, indeed I am considering baking a loaf for myself and having leftover chilli for dinner with lovely fresh bread and butter instead of rice!

2100

Well Kevin took one of his students for dinner tonight to the restaurant with the awful burgers. Ok, so I did hint when he said he was going there to at least try the pizza even if he ordered “safe” Chinese food as well, simply so if the pizza is garbage I won’t waste my own money finding out! I will report on his Egon Ronay entry in due course.

I have animal food on the go, a chilli I may have just made a lot hotter waiting in the microwave and laundry that now needs hanging to dry. Goodnight people and keep safe.