Ireland/China 2025, continuing (60)

[aadler]

Fiftieth day in China – August 9 Saturday

Up around 9:30AM, routine breakfast.

Kevin came by to help me get to the bank, put in a lunch order for us in the expectation that it would arrive about the time we got back. Unfortunately, I realized partway there that I’d forgot to grab my wallet. (I keep the Chinese cash in an envelope in a vest pocket, haven’t been needing the wallet.) Back at the apartment, yes the lunch had arrived, and Susan and I ate before Kevin and I started off again.

The first bank we tried — the larger one that had worked for us when the first one wouldn’t? — seemed to be out of cash at the ATM, all but one were shut down and that one wouldn’t even offer withdrawal as an option. Kevin called another cab and we went to yet another large branch. There, using both cards (me at one ATM with mine, him at another with Susan’s), we were able to pull out ¥19,000 before we ran up against the withdrawal limits.

Back at the apartment, Kevin hung around talking for a couple of hours before heading back to his home. We’d already told him Susan would be staying in today, saving all her energy for tomorrow’s Sunday Mass — Ruby’s baptism at St. Thérèse of Lisieux — so he said he’d give us a call in the later evening to find out what he should order for our dinner.

Unfortunately, he called back around 5:15 to say Logan had already been in the process of hand-making noodles for a larger supper when he (Kevin) got the word to him, and would it be possible for me to come to dinner and bring something back for Susan? I agreed to that.

Off at 5:55PM, stopped at the grocery store to buy a couple of two-liter bottles of diet Coke for myself. At the Yins’, I found that Logan had finished earlier than usual and was already serving the others, so dinner began essentially the moment I arrived.

(Mei‑li and the nanny were still there, along with Ruby; I think Mei‑li has essentially moved back in with her parents for the next few weeks, so in practical terms Kevin has his apartment completely to himself.)

Once I was done with the meal, I spent a couple of minutes regarding my sleeping granddaughter, then it was time for me to start back. Kevin and I went by his place first to pick up some yarn Mei‑li had ordered for Susan, and he walked me as far as the first street intersection before turning back.

Back at the apartment, I delivered the meal to Susan, who loved it. We read and watched video, made plans for tomorrow, filled out our day till time to prepare for bed.