Spain/China 2023, continuing (25)

[aadler]

Eleventh day in China – July 22 Saturday

Up 8:00AM, showered and shaved. Susan slept in somewhat longer.

I did further work on my summer_of_giles story. (Honestly, it could probably go up now, but I still have to wait till the 25th because that’s what I agreed to.) Susan and I had the last items in the apartment — bread, fruit, a few pieces of cheese — for a light lunch while we waited for my bank account to finish moving the last Alipay transactions out of “Processing” status.

Kevin came over a bit before 4:00PM, and walked us over to the Yins’ apartment. Mei‑li’s brother Jack was there (the first time I’ve seen him in five years, and Kevin himself hadn’t seen him since before he and Mei‑li left for Spain). We waited, talked, watched the first 30-40 minutes of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on the Yins’ big TV. Mei‑li was around as well; Laura was out with Amber at the girl’s swimming lesson, and Logan was in a back room practicing the flute. Retired or not, he keeps himself occupied.

Laura and Amber returned, and Kevin turned off the movie in case any of the supernatural-action scenes might give Amber weird dreams. Dinner was served shortly afterward. Once we were done eating, Jack and Logan broke out the baijiu, which I haven’t had since I gradually worked my way through the bottle Logan gave me the last time I was here. I had a tiny thimbleful, but Mei‑li made such a fuss when I was going to go for a second one, I had to give up on the idea. (Seriously, you have one little heart attack and people get all strange on you.)

Kevin took us by a corner supermarket so we could do a little more widespread shopping, but we basically wound up getting what we did before: cup-a-noodles, Coke Zero for me and bottled green tea for Susan, a few candy selections. Alipay went through okay, and we don’t have to do any more large transactions for the rent, so we should be good now.

Kevin only hung around for a few minutes after he got us ‘home’. Susan went down for the night, I did some reading and some internet stuff, didn’t get to bed till nearly 11:30PM.