Fourteenth day in China [October 14]

[aadler]

Some days just don’t have that much to report, and this was one of them.

In the morning I went down to McDonald’s to get Susan some breakfast, decided to vary the routine just for its own sake, and went the other way around the block, to see what might be there that I hadn’t seen before. Even so, I managed to get … not lost, exactly, but for a few minutes I didn’t know where I was. (See, normal route to McDonald’s would be turn left, go half a block, turn left again, go a full block, cross the street and there you are; reversing the directions would mean turn right, go half a block, right again, then two blocks before I’d be at the right corner. I forgot about that extra block.) And that was the morning’s adventure.

Mei-li and Laura came to pick us up maybe 10:30. I’d thought we would go straight to their apartment — as we’ve done almost every other day — but instead they went to an Ikea store. Yes, though I’ve been hearing about Ikea for years (if not decades), this was my first time in one. Shopping with three women in a furniture store … not exactly my idea of purgatory, but a ways yet from heaven. And when they’d found what they wanted, Mei-li and her mother treated us to lunch at the Ikea restaurant. (Susan had Swedish meatballs; I went for the smoked salmon. We love Chinese food, but they keep fixing us western dishes or taking us to western places.)

On to their apartment, where we read and interacted some with Amber (who still has a mild temperature but is still showing no other symptoms). Kevin didn’t come in till the evening; we had dinner, and then the Yins brought out his birthday cake. Yes, his and mine are only a few days apart. He’s farther along than I was at his age, though, and a source of high pride.

We got back to our ‘home’ apartment a bit later than usual. I went on to bed at 10:00 PM, but Susan stayed up quite a bit later than usual.

One thrill and then another in the mysterious Orient.

Next day