Spain/China 2023, continuing (34)

[aadler]

Twentieth day in China – July 31 Monday

I got up at 8:30AM, let Susan sleep till 11:30. We had a light late-breakfast/early-lunch.

Susan had volunteered to pay for Amber’s birthday party (tomorrow), so I needed to get more cash from the bank. Given the roundabout way we got there before, I didn’t know the location, so Kevin agreed to take me there.

He showed up mid-afternoon, and we took a taxi. Unfortunately, his address app is in English, and he wasn’t sure that matched the address in Chinese, so he did the best he could and … we wound up back at the first bank, the one where the ATMs had been empty last time. When we tried today, there was only one that was working at all, and it kept telling me the amount I wanted exceeded the allowed withdrawal.

So, we again took a second cab to the second bank. Better luck there, but I still couldn’t draw out the amount needed (Kevin had recommended ¥10,000). Finally I tried going at it in ¥2,500 increments, and got two of those before the ATM decided that was all it was going to allow today.

A third cab back to our apartment building, and Kevin borrowed my umbrella so he could return to his office. It was late afternoon by this point, and Susan and I hadn’t had anything since breakfast. I took her phone, wrote out in advance the message I wanted to communicate, got it translated, then walked back to KFC.

I’m never returning there. The staff were still doing their best to deal with the foreigner who had no Chinese, and the prepared translation helped some, but there were plenty of other customers today, so only one of the staff could really work with me. We had to confirm every part of the message: two orders for two people, not spicy, drinks and fries, carry-out. That took some time, then payment got thorny; this time the total bill was ¥88, and I gave them ¥108 … and they had to call a manager and open the safe (a ten-minute process, it felt like) to get ¥20 change. It’s just not worth the work.

Susan and I did enjoy the meal, though.

Further on into the day, far enough along that it would count as today in the States, I posted cover art for my Summer of Giles story, and put it up at the Summer of Giles site as well.

In the latter part of the evening, while Susan was napping/sleeping, I walked four blocks to the nearest supermarket — more to choose from than the 7Eleven stores closer — and got some drinks and some small foodstuffs for us. Tried again to pay in cash, cashier said I was to pay with WeChat … she was busy with other customers (who didn’t hesitate to push in and want service even while I was in the middle of a transaction), and I couldn’t keep her attention long enough to tell her I needed to use cash; I tried Alipay (which I hate using because I’m never sure whether or not it will work this time), and it did, and I carried the stuff home and got it into the apartment’s fridge. I’m not sure Susan ever knew I was gone.

Reading and relaxing till bedtime. No, we’re not big party people, the two of us.