First (full) day in China [October 1]

[aadler]

Susan and I both got up fairly early, but didn’t yet really know what the local times were, so I’m not sure when that was. I showered and shaved, picked out what we would wear for the morning, and then used WeChat on my phone (Kevin gave me the password to his wi-fi, remember?) to send him notice that we were up. He sent back that it would be about an hour before they were ready to pick us up, but went online to order breakfast for us. There’s a McDonald’s right around the corner, and they deliver, so that was easy enough. Shortly thereafter, Mei-li sent us directions on how to buzz in the delivery guy, and that part went without any particular difficulty. (Well, there were two coffees, and I never drink coffee, but that was as far as problems went.)

Kevin showed up at the door to escort us down; Mrs Yin (Laura) was driving, and took us to their apartment, which we had of course visited several times during my last trip here. (And Susan again when she made her solo trip for Kevin’s and Mei-li’s official Chinese wedding.) Mei-li’s father and brother (Logan and Jack) were out fishing, but all the women of the family were there: Mei-li, her mother, and an aunt who had moved in with them to help look after Mei-li and the baby.

Oh, yes: Susan and I finally got to meet our baby. Our granddaughter, Amber Li.

That child is smothered in love, she never has fewer than two people serving her at any given time. For some reason she was less fussy when I was holding her than when Susan tried it (the family theory is that she — Susan — was sweating more, and the baby didn’t like being wet), but in general she was active and good-tempered and just plain beautiful.

Kevin tried to put on a movie for us on the living-room big-screen TV, but we ran into the same problem as during my last visit. I think now it may be a matter of acoustics; speech and other noises in the room carry better than does the sound from the speakers as they are currently placed. Whatever the explanation, we just couldn’t follow anything that required us to understand what was being said onscreen. Laura and Auntie put out snacks for us, and then a bit later there was a light lunch. Susan passed out some of the presents she had brought (she could probably give one per day while we’re here and still not run out), and she in turn was given several gifts; books, mostly, and most of them were crochet patterns, but also yarn, since Mei-li knows Susan loves to crochet.

The best present, though, was a bit of Amber’s hair, sealed in amber and decorated with a little filigree representing a lamb (Amber’s family name is Yang-yang, which means lamb when you use the right tones), and put on a braided string for her to wear around her neck as a pendant. Yeah, Susan will have that on her till the day she dies.

They had a room set aside for Susan and me to nap. (I asked, and apparently the nap is part of normal rhythm around here.) I dozed for a bit — hour, maybe two, don’t recall — but we had to rouse Susan toward the early part of the evening.

In the meantime, Logan and Jack had returned from their excursion; they’d caught thirty fish, and two of those were added to the evening meal. Logan also brought out beer for everyone who wanted one; Budweiser tall-boys, and I’m afraid mine had got a bit warm by the time I finished drinking it.

They started another movie, but mostly it was all visiting and talking. After a bit we were driven back to Kevin’s apartment; by now, Kevin had given me his old iPhone so we could call or text for easier contact, and had also provided the password for his apartment’s wi-fi; additionally, the plug he’d given me for the iPhone charger included an adapter that my laptop plug would fit into, so we were basically set for everything we needed.

Some internet set-up and browsing, some stuff on the television (that was mostly Susan). I went to bed before she did, but she joined me eventually.

Next day