Resting – massage – dinner – sadness
Jul 29th, 2007 by Peter
26th July 2007 Yilan
C woke me with some insane coughing and moving around in the apartment. She started munching down sunflower seeds and as always never closes the door to the bedroom. I later found out it was 5.30am, which to me is way too early. I was not to decide though, and soon I was awake.
Tomorrow is our last day here. Well, half day here. So we agreed on moving all our stuff to C’s parents and start packing everything today. After eating some meat/vegetable filled bread C’s sister brought, we called our taxi girlfriend and went to C’s parents. I would be relaxing and writing a bit on the laptop, while C decided to go hunting for a shop that could make digital pictures into hardcopy ones. I got this idea that C’s family would like some of ours, and C agreed.
I used most of the morning playing Football Manager 2007, as there weren’t much else to do. C went shopping with her mother and later returned in time for lunch.
The afternoon didn’t start off much different other than I fell asleep about 1 hour and woke up sweating like a pig. Also I could feel C’s nephew staring at me. He just arrived and may have thought I looked funny in my sleep. At 3pm we walked to the computer school where I hooked up with the Internet the last time here. Tried to call my parents, but they were unavailable. Instead I had a short time to post a few entries from the last days, so it wasn’t worthless.
C’s brother-in-law, who was at the school too, heard about us wanting to get a massage, so he decided to take us to his favorite spot. We arrived and found the entire staff sleeping. C’s brother-in-law woke them, and they looked pretty confused to find that there was a weiguren inside their shop. After a few minutes they seemed to be well awake and started treating us. I got a full body massage, then a feet massage and at last one of the famous cups-sucking-on-your-back treatments. C got a foot massage and a few cups too. C’s brother-in-law got the same as C.
I never tried the cup-thingy, but it was cool. Didn’t hurt or anything, but just felt strange. Like many small fists holding tight on your skin. The one on my right shoulder turned out most blue/red/black, which apparently indicates that I have problem with that shoulder. Not sure about the whole cup-thing, but sure had my problems with that shoulder ever since I wore down a bone in my neck doing Tae-Kwon-Do in my twenties. I’m not sore at all after the treatment. More from the massage, which was just splendid. The massage guy was only 16years old, but he gave the massage like a real pro. C told me he had been attending school for 3 years, and that showed.
Since one of the employees is a student at the computer school, we also got a discount. The treatment for the 3 of us was only 50rmb. Very cool.
After the massages we walked to a restaurant where all of the close family would have our last meal together. The food was excellent as always and I had some liquor and a little beer to show my gratitude and respect. I hadn’t been drinking much alcohol since I got ill, so it seemed a nice gesture to toast again the last evening here.
C got a necklace and some earrings from her family. Very nice gift and C was happy to receive it. C picked up the pictures that we sorted for her family, and it brought lots of smiles. I think this was a excellent gift. This way her family will have even more pictures to their now small photo album, but also they will have a chance to remember C (and me I guess) better if they miss her too much.
The dinner was over and I made the family pose for a last family portrait. An employee at the restaurant shot it for us, and even though her ability was doubtful, it still turned out acceptable.
When we walked towards C’s parent’s home, I could feel the mood change. It was like the end was finally near and the sadness couldn’t be suppressed anymore. Especially C second oldest sister was a bit sad. I couldn’t be helped but feel a bit blue myself.
At C’s parent’s home we sat half a hour. The pictures I’ve taken went around the table again, and I could see C’s father smiling while watching them. He is a man of few words. His actions speak for him. He is always polite and very friendly to me. We can’t say much to each other, but I never doubted that he would do his best to make me feel welcome. This means a lot to me, and I hope he feels that I return the favor by being polite and friendly too.
C and I went back home. We were both too tired to go bathing. C especially, because she is pretty ill. Every night she coughs a lot, and I fear that her pneumonia may conflict with our return trip. C says she feels fine, which I believe in the daytime. The night is another story. She coughs a lot and sleeps little. I don’t either of course, but I won’t complain now that I actually feel fit again.