Tuesday 3^rd April, 2018 1430

My chilli turned out well last night for the first time in Lanzhou. First I figured it was because I had added the onions after browning the mince, which did once make it taste overpoweringly of the bulbs, they are in fact quite strong here. Frying them got rid of the oniony taste but there was still something unpleasant. I was using a different chilli oil to the one I could get in Chizhou so thought maybe I was buying an oil with something else added. I couldn't tell as the label was all in Chinese.

Finally I got to the bottom of it last night. It was the fresh chillies! That was the last culprit I expected given the name of the dish. Dispense with those and rely on oil alone and it produces, if not perfection, a decent plate.

The abscess is proving rather stubborn so it seems as if I shall have to buy another pack of pills tomorrow. I'm wondering if the cause was my being run down because I have certainly been sleeping a hell of a lot the past few days. While I am at it I will see if the China Tobacco shop near east campus has had its annual delivery of my cigars, failing which it means a special trip to the big one in town.

Last night (aside from Annie last week), Alice informed me I have no lessons on Thursday or Friday and the Friday classes need to be made up on Sunday. A Peace Corp volunteer and a student. Not a murmur officially from the school. If nothing is said tomorrow it would be tempting indeed to simply stay in bed on Sunday morning and play dumb. I would be quite within my rights, I have no access to the school website any more – for some reason the URL can't be found any more and if it's moved nobody has told me.

But then I would be dropping Janet in it, she's supposed to keep me updated and anyway as an old China hand the school probably thinks I should have a crystal ball for these things. As it was, I was expecting to make up classes the weekend before or after the holiday, it was a perfect opportunity to give the students a five day break instead of four. Sometimes there is neither rhyme nor reason. On the bright side, it's my huge lunch break day so maybe I will finally get to see what Pizza Hut bacon, eggs and French toast is like.

Wednesday 4^th 1915

A normal, tiring day today made worse by my waking far too early at 0353. Janet did come to tell me about Sunday classes so better late than never. She also promised to give me a list of all holidays and any make-up dates – that would be very nice.

I managed to give away the 999 TCM cold remedy, one of my students had a really heavy cold so I deemed her a deserving case. At lunchtime I went foraging for cigars and as usual that particular China tobacco had none. That's over a year now since they last stocked them and it is irritating because it's a ten minute walk from from east campus and would make my life much easier. If there are the massed hordes queueing for buses tomorrow I will go to the big one in town, they must surely have new stock now.

While I was having my lunch (sadly McDonald's) I noticed it becoming slightly gloomy outside but put it down to the tinted windows. It wasn't. It was the worst sand/dust storm since I have been here. It seemed as though we were importing the Gobi desert. I still have some up my nose.

On the bus home at times visibility was down to a hundred yards and I had to smile at the unfortunate coincidence in timing. Tomorrow is a public holiday, Qing Ming or Tomb Sweeping Day. Tomorrow they are supposed to clean the graves of their ancestors and offer food, drink, burn money and generally ward off evil spirits but the reality is, most people will have done it today so they can simply enjoy the time off tomorrow. All the nice, clean tombs will now have a decent deposit of sand all over them. Somehow I doubt many will be returning to do it again on the morrow!

Adriana wanted to come and sleep here tonight but she learnt that there will be no bus from her school after her late class. I am glad as I will call it a day early and I was never going out to a bar with her tonight after a full day at work anyway, feeling ill or otherwise.

I am guessing she won't want to accompany me if I do go for cigars (I don't even want to go) so we will probably meet up in the evening. I might take her to Subway, I discovered the 66 bus stops nearby so it would save a taxi and from there after eating we can walk to the bar. A taxi back of course and she can sleep the night here. The bonus is of course that if Subway run out of bread before we get there I now know a decent little restaurant nearer the bar. I just hope I have the energy.