Ireland/China 2025, continuing (28)

[aadler]

Eighteenth day in China – July 8 Tuesday

I got up close to 9:00AM, Susan already up. Slow morning, nothing remarkable, breakfast and lunch without needing to leave the apartment.

In the evening, Mei‑li sent us a query as to how we were doing, and at that time we learned that they’d taken Ruby in to the hospital for a follow-up check; among other things, to assess her level of jaundice. (Pretty common among newborns, and of course it’s less visible on an Asian baby but still needs to be measured.) She was doing fine, we were told, and didn’t even need to be treated with a ‘bili’ light (to break down the bilirubin in the blood).

We went over to the Yins’ apartment, timing things to arrive about 6:15PM (since they start eating at 6:30, and we didn’t want to be showing up at the last moment). Tonight it was just me and Susan and Logan and Laura. The meal itself was the solid, tasty variety we’ve become accustomed to … but one dish tasted just like — and possibly was — ham hock with collard greens. Plain Southern cooking, in coastal China. Love the world.

Amber showed up at the apartment; she’d already eaten with her mother, but she’s actually been staying with her grandparents, and will continue to do so while Mei‑li completes her recovery. Kevin came in about 8:00PM, ate the bowl his in-laws had set aside for him, and visited with us for a bit. We were actually able to help Amber with some of her math homework, but other problems had two variables, neither of which was defined, and I couldn’t remember quite how to set up defining one by the other so we could produce a balanced equation that could be solved.

Kevin walked with us as far as the gate, then Susan and I made the rest of the trip to our apartment, arriving perhaps 9:15PM. We did our regular evening stuff — including a Rosary I’d meant to do earlier in the day, but time got away from us — and she went to bed a bit before 11:00PM. I plugged in Susan’s powered chair for recharging; then I called up my old Duolingo account, to begin some basic practice in conversational Chinese, and got in a few lessons before time to wind things up and get ready for bed myself.