Spain/China 2023, continuing (23)

[aadler]

Ninth day in China – July 20 Thursday

It was noon before Susan woke me up (again I came awake last night, couldn’t get back to sleep, read for a couple of hours). Showered, shaved, made cup-of-noodles for … well, lunch by now.

We did this and that throughout the day. Several times I checked my BoA account online, found the “Processing” transactions were still in that status. I scheduled a payment for two of the four bills that aren’t on automatic withdrawal … but found that I couldn’t connect to the sites for the other two, apparently they don’t like trying to work through China.

I did a few small additions to my summer_of_giles story, as things occurred to me, but I’m trying to avoid re-reading it till it’s had time to recede from my immediate consciousness; that will make editing easier when the time comes. Even so, I’m enough ahead of schedule that I may check with SoG, see if it’s okay to post on one of the blank days. (I did that once before, got approval for an early submission.)

With one thing and another, Susan realized suddenly that it was almost 5:00PM, by which time we’re normally on the way over to the Yins’. We started that way; when we got inside the gate of their overall complex, and partway up the sidewalk, Amber ran up to us, and Laura joined us a few minutes later, they’d come to meet us after Susan texted Kevin to let him know we were on our way. Rather than just let us sit around inside, Laura thought it would be a good idea to have a pre-dinner outing, and we all went down to Dasha River Walk (a set of within-the-city canals, on which Amber watched the Dragon Boat races from the window of their apartment about a month ago). The three of us took turns pushing Susan’s wheelchair; temperature and humidity was a bit lower than previous days, which was good, because we were out for around an hour, and I had built up a sweat by the time we got back.

Dinner served almost as soon as we got in, and as usual Kevin joined us right after mealtime started. Today it was noodle soup, which he particularly loves. (I liked it okay, but honestly the rice-and-accompanying-dishes is easier to eat, and tastes just as good to me.) Mei‑li was absent, they said for a yoga session.

Once dinner was done, Kevin raised the matter of further payment. I took another check of my BoA account online, which I could do through a phone app using the Yins’ wifi, and found that the “Processing” transactions were now recognized as approved. Kevin and I took Susan back to our apartment, then he and I went to the office with her phone, and used her Alipay to make another couple of payments, totaling ¥4,000. That only leaves ¥3,850 to go, and the woman at the office said she could come by the apartment tomorrow to get the remainder.

Linda was already down for bed by the time I got back. I spent some time reading, then to bed myself by 10:00PM.