Bring on the Night

10th July 2007 Yilan

Wrote a bit about yesterday in the morning. We got up at 7am and C saw an opportunity to go for breakfast at her parent’s home. This interrupted my plans for doing all of the writing about yesterday, but no sweat, I weren’t far behind anymore.

We walked to her parents and I had a steamed bread while C went at some soup and bread. I’m not big on breakfasts already, so my stomach issues haven’t exactly contributed to my eating powers. A bread and some cold water was enough for me.

After a brief sit-down and some talking, we decided to go hunting for some new shorts for me. The ones I were allowed to bring by C, needed washing, and since its 30 degrees here, long pants just wouldn’t do for an entire day. After visiting some shops we headed home again. I had bags with a new pair of sports shoes, while C had some shirts and some joggers pants. Better yet, I had finally found a jacket that I liked at a reasonable price. It’s pretty cool if I have to say it myself. All black with tiny stripes of orange on the side. Half the front in grey, while the other half is black with gold broidered dragon. Can’t buy this shit in Denmark. The quality seems top-notch and it’s not too colourful to be classy. It’s price was 300rmb, but C got it for 260, because she went there on our return trip home and left me out of view. That’s a freaking classic these days. Weiguren = full price or more. No weiguren = cut off the initial price.

Back to C’s parents to eat some lunch. Great food as always and this time I was allowed to split a beer with C’s father. Normally he would have me drink both beer and liquor, so I was let off easy today. After dishwashing (which I am still not allowed to help with), I lay on my back for 30 minutes and then C and I decided to head home and relax a bit. The warmth here is pretty tiring and we haven’t got much to do.

This evening we will be eating at C’s parent’s home. C will prepare the food though, as she promised her family to make her famous Coca-cola chicken. It’s a great Chinese-western combo dish. It consists of chicken pieces fried on the bottom of a pot. Then, if I remember correctly, you add garlic, ginger, water, anis seeds, salt and pepper and last 0.25-0.5litre of Coca-cola. Let it all boil at low heat for about one hour and serve it with rice. May seem a bit on the sweet side when you hear the description, but it’s a real homerun. I look forward to seeing C’s family’s reaction.

The reaction has to wait. C’s dinner was cancelled, as we instead were invited to a restaurant by C’s stepsister. Things change fast here.

We arrived at the restaurant exactly on time. C’s family didn’t which to me is annoying. I am used to an appointment being an appointment and a time being a time. I have to bite it in me, but sometimes it’s hard. I just have to remember that I’m the guest here and I have to change. Not they.

When all people were there a lot of food was carried in. As always there were plenty and as of recently they were all very tasty. This is a recurring incident. Not that the dishes are tasty, because most Chinese food is, but that I like them all. I’m not fooled to believe this is luck. My every move with chopsticks is followed closely. The dishes I eat most of, are the ones that I will most likely see again soon. The ones that I keep off will soon only be a distant memory. This extreme politeness is very helpful in my task to be polite, but it also lets me feel like a burden.

We digged in and had the expected round of ganbeis. When asked a bit earlier what wanted to drink, I said tea. Still I got beer. It’s hard for my stomach to recover with this pace of drinking. Only the morning lets me eat and drink what I want. At dinner I got compliments on my handling of chopsticks. Well, I guess it was kind of a compliment. It was actually only a “whoa? Your husband can use chopsticks?”. I’ve been waiting for that line for some time now. Now I think I got them all: The “Hello”, the “Laowai!”, the “You can use chopsticks!?” and of course the infamous “Your Chinese is excellent!”. Ahh I’m almost a like real expat now and feel ready for the cycle of funk.

There were 6 or 7 adults and 3 children. Who made the most noise? Lets just say that I am now aware of the “little emperor” syndrome. Things are different here in China. You can’t have more than one child pr. family, unless you flip your wallet big time. This means that most families treasure the one child they get, which I can actually understand well. To a Dane watching this spoiled child show, it is just difficult to grasp at times. In Denmark all children will be told to be quiet when the grown-ups eat, or they will put in another room. Violent behaviour and crying by the child to get its way is punished. The child is not comforted like here in China. I watch the show and smile politely. Inside I’m a big question mark. Things are just not like in Denmark, but that’s really my problem, not China’s.

Pretty comfortable pace with the toasting let me off the hook this evening. I had time to relax, eat and concentrate on observing. It was a good dinner and I left there pretty full. Not stuffed like most other days.

We broke up with C’s family and C asked me to go for a short stroll. I love walking and observing here, but on the other hand I was also full and tired. I hesitantly accepted as it would only be a short walk. Before I knew it, it had turned to a shopping spree instead. C had 2 new pairs of shoes for about 110rmb and I was getting involuntarily annoyed. C wanted to go on, but I felt tricked into shopping. I don’t mind her spending money, as it is good things she buys, but I’d really just like to go home as we planned at first. So after a long whining on my part, C accepted and we headed home to catch some sleep.

I got us a taxi. This time it was neither a 3 wheeled car, nor one of the taxi bicycles, but something in between. A 3-wheeled motorcycle built with a row of seats behind it. A bit faster than the bicycles and with better view than the 3-wheeled cars. Also you automatically are cooled by the fresh air while driving. The driver was a woman. The first I’ve seen here yet. She was very polite and C got her phone number. This way we can always call her when we need a ride. Not that there aren’t plenty of other taxies (way too many if you ask me), but C liked the woman too and found her trustworthy. I’m not about to ague with Chinese money handling, so I just said: “cool” and it was.

When we got home I needed a bath terrible and so did C. As mentioned earlier, we’re not going back to the same public bath again, and it was too late this day to look for another one. So we ended up boiling some water and hand washing home (in her sister’s apartment). This was extremely odd to me. I haven’t bathed like that since I was a boy scout, but in the end we managed fine. No strange Chinese dude to harass me and I still felt clean afterwards. Guess that’ll be done like that the rest of the time while we are here in China.

The whole washing deal makes me think how dependant we Danes are on our showers and fully equipped bathrooms. Not that I didn’t know we were spoiled, but when it comes to our lives vs. some foreign countries a wakeup call is needed from time to time.

Tags: China, drinking, family, food, restaurant, shopping