Weekend roundup
(with apologies to Joel Sax, who has the original, more interesting roundup)I've got too many little tidbits to report, so instead of trying to invent blog posts for them all, I'll just give each a brief mention.
On Monday, we finally went down to the police station to get registered as foreign residents. (It took awhile to get all of the paperwork assembled.) What was kind of funny was when we drove into the station parking lot, a number of officers were exercising in front of the building--jumping rope or whapping a badminton birdie about. Somehow I just can't picture American cops doing that. One thing we did discover is that bureaucracy is universal. They had raised the fee on the registration process and we were told that they wouldn't be done until Tuesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, I successfully withdrew money from our bank account (for the fee) and mailed some homemade cards to my parents and sister. (China has yet to get the Hallmark thing. Instead, every grocery store seems to have an aisle devoted to gift baskets.) At the post office, we saw our stalker from a few posts back. He saw us first and waved. I, being a lot more laid back this time, waved back and said "Ni hau!" He came into the p.o. and as we were just leaving, dramatically motioned for us to precede him out. Or so I thought. He stayed in the post office, so either he's bored with us or just had business of his own to attend to.
On Wednesday, Yau Neih did her first "English corner". Word of us has spread around campus somewhat, and some students had asked her about my role in schooling the kids. After Yau Neih explained, they said, "We do not have that condition in China."
On Thursday, ... ah, Thursday was boring. No, wait. I should mention that my previous assessment of the home schooling process was somewhat, ah, prematurely optimistic. Ga Dai and I have had a handful of disagreements over the past two weeks. Apparently, I'm a real hard-nose when it comes to teaching.
On Friday, we saw our stalker again. This time he greeted us and slapped me on the back. I'm expecting a dinner invitation any week now. He followed us for a few blocks for old time sake, then dropped out as we walked over by the street dancing. Did I mention the street dancing? Almost every night, a few blocks from campus, people gather at an intersection and do circle dances while somebody blasts recorded music. Friday night we sat and tried to watch them. I say tried, because as I attempted to take some low light pictures, a few little kids jumped in front of my camera. I amused them for a bit by taking their pictures and showing them the image on the camera back. Then we amused them by trying to talk with them and generally laughing at their antics.
Oh, I also found out that Thad and his family enjoyed our "pig-bread". Of course, I also found out that the baker all but ignored Joan's instructions. Oh, well....
And that's that. The third hike and the military invasion of the campus I'll write up in their own posts.
posted by John @ 4:11 AM
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