Tuesday 25th February, 2014                           1810

Well I forgot to mention something I saw on the bus. I may have mentioned the latest (idiotic) “fashion” which has still yet to disappear after more than a year, the practice of wearing gaudily coloured glasses that actually have no glass in them.

As I sat watching, a girl close by took out a container of eye drops and proceeded to drop them I her eyes through the frame where the glass should have been. I was left shaking my head in disbelief.

On Sunday Linda (who had cried off earlier in the week) contacted me to go to the Japanese place. Initially I agreed but then I suggested I surprise her. She is a native of this city and there was every possibility she was unaware of the Sichuan place and it’s always nice to show you know more than the locals, so that’s where we went.

Linda of course had to bring her cousin Anna (seems par for the course in China for them to come in braces unless you are really close) and for the first time I saw a menu - everything was ordered by others the first time. It is good that the menu is in English and Chinese as well as having photographs of the food, even if some of the translations were at times strange or even on occasion downright blue. I let them order what they wanted but for my part I ordered radish balls (nothing like the red radishes we know in summer) and foie gras. Which from the photo looked nothing of the sort, more a sort of deep fried pate. I thought I would give it a go but when it came, although the crispy batter was tasty, the inside was I think - and this is the only description I can think of that fits - goose gristle and knuckle joints. It was disgusting! I won’t ever order that again, that’s for certain, although Kevin (who went on Saturday after I told him about it) has recommended the dan dan noodles. I will be sure to order those tomorrow.

Anyway, the girls enjoyed the show and I have more or less figured out how during the Sichuan opera the performers manage to turn around swiftly and reappear with a different mask but the clown/magician has me foxed as to how he turns a burnt paper tissue into a dove, nor the rope trick.

Some minutes after the show a chap came and sat behind me at the next table and started talking to Linda. I looked at him - and Christ he is ugly - then asked what he was saying to her and who was he? He is the clown. Ah, an opportunity! Hopefully I have now arranged it so that Joanna will now be the volunteer on stage for the rope trick provided she doesn’t get stage fright. Tomorrow after we arrive I will get Yvonne to come with me to the front desk to get them to remind him - she will keep the secret.

Finally, in class today Mulan (the girl who changed major from Chinese to English) attended even though she is officially Kevin’s student now. She will in future come to one of my classes on Friday (in addition to her scheduled lessons) and on Tuesdays she wants to go to Ollivier’s class to start learning French. I admire her keenness and dedication to learning.

Also in class one of the stories a student told by way of a warm up for the lesson was concerning a dormitory mate who decided to drop out of school. She bade her farewells and her three roommates were apparently sad for hours after she left. Until that is, they realised they could now have more room in the dorm and promptly dismantled her bed and moved everything around! The student who left had a change of heart on arriving home at the weekend (or the parents went mad) and arrived back unannounced yesterday. The first thing she asked was why was her bed in pieces and folded away? Instead of telling the truth the others made the excuse that they were spring cleaning!