Ireland/China 2025, continuing (41)

[aadler]

Thirty-first day in China – July 21 Monday

Kevin came by around 8:30AM to see if he could use his phone to call the international number for our bank and find out why my debit card was suddenly not working. Susan had hoped that an international number would be given 24-hour coverage … but nope, it was “call back during our regular banking hours” (which weren’t provided). He hung around a while to visit, then headed out for work.

Susan went back to lie down. For myself, I made one more editing sweep, then posted my finished fic — “the Body Politic” — to LJ, and then a note at summer_of_giles that it was up.

We had our lunch, and did some other things. Susan and I both rested awhile in our own rooms; later, I went out and picked up some minor medications at the nearby pharmacy. When I returned, the door code wouldn’t work, and after several tries it locked me out entirely. Fortunately, the apartment wifi reached to my phone, and I was able to phone Susan by WeChat and get her to let me in. Deciding this had probably happened because we’d been here a month already — and, to the best of my memory, we paid in advance for that first month — I posted a message to Kevin and Mei‑li that we needed to get with the company and pay for the second month.

Kevin and Mei‑li both made inquiries, and Kevin texted us a new door code; the management said they had to have cash as payment for this month’s rent, because the individual transactions by card had international fees that were too high for them. Kevin said he’d go by and talk to them to find out what the options were.

I went down to 7‑Eleven to get something for our evening meal. After we’d eaten, Kevin called to say he’d gone to the office to speak with the people there to see what arrangements could be made; they told him they were okay with stretching out the payments according to how long it might take us to get the cash from our accounts. He arrived at the apartment shortly after that, and after a brief consultation with us, he and I left to go to the bank.

He chose a different (larger) branch of the same bank that partners with mine, and to my surprise and delight we had no problems at all. (Still don’t know what was the issue at the first bank.) In a series of transactions I pulled out ¥13,500 from the ATM, of which ¥13,000 was the rent for the coming month. A cab back to our regular neighborhood, and we went around the block to the management office and paid the cash for the month. (Got a receipt, and Kevin took a photo of it to relay to Mei‑li, in whose name the apartment had been rented.)

Kevin hung around a while to visit, then left for his own home. Susan and I said our daily Rosary together, after which we were free to make our preparations for bedtime.