Seventeenth day in China [October 17]

[aadler]

Neither Susan nor I rose in any particular hurry, and once we were both up I made some pork noodle stuff I’d bought at Walmart for a late breakfast. Whatever we did today, we had no plans to start early.

As it happens, though, Kevin gave us a call about 12:25, inviting us to meet him for lunch. We prepared quickly, went down to the subway, and rode to the Xixiang Metro exit. There was a mall-type thing upstairs, literally atop the metro station, and Kevin took us on up to a cheap Italian place a friend had recommended. Susan paid out of her accumulated cash, and we had a nice visit before Kevin had to return to his classes.

At the reverse of the subway trip (as in, back at the Bao’an Stadium area), I gave the apartment key to Susan and went the other way, to replenish some of our supplies at the Walmart there. (Along with a bottle of Chivas Regal for Logan, which we’ll pass along as thanks for his hospitality when we’re ready to leave.) That done, I went to rejoin Susan.

Our intentions for today had been predicated on Kevin’s being so busy at work that he wouldn’t be getting home till past our normal bedtime. As it happened, though, his afternoon classes had been rearranged as well. He came to the apartment and stayed with us for maybe an hour before time for him to go back … so, though we didn’t see him at all yesterday, we got two visits in today. By the end of it, Susan finished a sweater she’d been crocheting for Amber, and I sent a photo of that to Mei-li by WeChat; after awhile, she sent her happy approval.

I went out after dark to pick us up a small supper at KFC; I’ve learned how to say ‘takeout’ in Mandarin (wai-mai), which helped things along. The rest of the evening was taken up with a couple of the (few available that we’ve managed to find) English-language movies on Chinese broadcast TV.

Because she’d slept in so late, Susan stayed up longer, but I went on to bed somewhat after 11:30 PM.

Next day