Ireland/China 2025, continuing (51)

[aadler]

Forty-first day in China – July 31 Thursday

It was 10:45AM before Susan finally woke me up, so my ‘breakfast’ came more toward 11:00. Consequently, when Susan wanted lunch, I wasn’t hungry.

We went out together; Susan wanted to find out about a tea house called Chagee. (The company logo was so similar to Starbucks that I’ve several times wondered if the two companies are affiliated … but, no, Wikipedia says that it’s just a conscious imitation.) She liked their milk-tea, but found that they didn’t sell any food to go along with that; so, while she sipped the tea, I went over to 7‑Eleven to get her a chicken sandwich and some chips.

About 1:40PM, Mei‑li sent us a message that the building management needed to do some minor servicing for our apartment. I let the serviceman in, and he installed some kind of control box … but, honestly, when he was done I couldn’t figure out what was different.

Susan and I said our Rosary in the general neighborhood of 4:00PM, and then started off from the apartment just after 5:00. We went to visit with Mei‑li and Ruby first. Purely by luck, we picked a good time, when we went in the baby had just come awake, and I got to hold her for a few minutes. Then Ruby decided she’d had enough of that, wanted something to eat, and I had to step out of the room while her meal was taken care of.

We went from there over to the Yins’, and had the normal dinner. Amber was there, and she and Susan started watching My Little Pony cartoons (in Chinese) while we waited. This was briefly interrupted by something I’d not only never seen before, but never heard of: a barber who goes door-to-door, showed up to give Logan a quick haircut (this is apparently a regular deal with both men), and Logan covered the cost of Susan getting a quick trim as well. Me, I didn’t need one.

Kevin showed up maybe 8:15 or thereabouts, and got his own meal. (Noting my attention, he told me he’d read the story and had a few recommendations.)

Once he was done eating, I got with him in the kitchen while he was cleaning up after the meal. According to him, I’d made no actual mistakes in the story, but there were a few clarifications he could make about life and behaviors in China. Some of the things he said, I’d already known about; others, I knew I would be able to adjust with very little effort. Good to have that settled.

Back at our apartment, I was able to adjust the story within about half an hour of light work. I’ll post it tomorrow … after Amber has seen it for her birthday.

Once that was done, there was nothing to prevent Susan and me from getting ready for bed.