Saturday Night Flever

Good morning/afternoon/evening, whichever works best for you. Having two days off on the weekend when you are by yourself SUCKS!! At least we all have apartments instead of being trapped in a hotel. As of right now, it is only 3-days, 21-hours and 20-minutes until Mona arrives in Shanghai. Then there is the 45-minutes that it takes to go through customs and the 2-hour drive back to the apartment. I'm sure that after everything she has been doing at the house to get it, the cars and her ready to leave, not to mention the jet lag (figure 1-day per time zone), she'll probably just collapse and veg for the first few days, but I'll be glad to have her here. Jerry & I had dinner at the new Blue Marlin restaurant in our end of town tonight. Totally different than the one in downtown. That one is in an older building, is small and reminiscent of a pub, while this one is much larger, more open and nicer restaurant. Jerry, who is Japanese, was the only Asian in the place, outside of the staff. Quite a turn-around from the norm. Usually it's me that is the one that stands out. The food was tasty and it was kind of nice to hear English/German/Aussie/American conversations going on around us instead of Chinese for a change. One of those things that you don't really think about until you are in that situation. I've noticed that when I go shopping, a lot of people stop and look in my shopping cart. I don't know what they expect to see. Doesn't everyone buy a bucket, a half-gallon of corn oil, 10-pounds of rice, two pair of slippers, a jar of mayonnaise, coffee creamer and a pillow? Speaking of slippers, try finding a pair that you can get a US size 11 foot into - the ladies in the shoe department were trying to be helpful, but they still laughed when I held an extra large up to my shoe and it was about 1-1/2" short. As big as the industrial area in Suzhou is and as many westerners as I see, people still stare. Don't know if it my size, my gray hair, my big red nose or what, but something about me is interesting/funny/frightening. In the store, a little boy was slipping out of the cart, his mom was picking out some veggies and didn't see, so I straightened him back up. He took one look at me and screamed! The mother had seen what I did, smiled, laughed and said shi shi (thanks), but I'm thinking the kid didn't appreciate some big, gray bearded, white guy saving him. Oh well, guess I'm won't be getting that Santa Claus gig! Shopping when you don't have a car is an adventure/pain. I hate to call for our driver to come get me on a weekend. I know that that is part of what they do, but still, it just seems a bit much. So, I stop before I leave the store and repack as much as I can to get things into as few sacks as I can. Then you push the cart out until you reach the barricade, pick up everything and then grab a cab. You want to make sure that you can get it all in one load. Would hate to leave half of the groceries lying down in the garage while I go up to the 21st floor, drop off the first load and go back down for the rest. Did a little exploring in the apartment complex that afternoon. They have a nice little shopping mall with a convenience store, a laundry, barber & beauty shop, fruit & veggie stand, a restaurant and several things that I couldn't figure out as there was no English on the signs. The area is nicely decorated. We have a pond that winds through the courtyard, and several trees. Who in their right mind puts a wire across the walkway to hold up a tree, then puts a dark blue flag on it. In the dark, Jerry almost decapitated himself, but managed to see it before he hit it. Think that I am finally getting the chill out of the walls of the apartment. They are all concrete and about 12" thick and were cold to the touch when I moved in. Now they are just cool. Getting used to the appliances. I have gone around pushing all of the buttons and seeing what they did. Then I wrote it down on a sticky pad and stuck it to the whatever. Lots of little blue sticky pads. The washer/dryer (one machine) is big enough for two pair of jeans and a shirt. I usually run the wash cycle and add in the dryer cycle which takes about 3-hours. The clothes come out hot and really damp. Not wet, but nowhere near dry. The apartment itself is 150-sq. meters (a little over 1600-sq. feet) with three bedrooms, two baths, living room, dining room, kitchen and small, enclosed balcony/clothes drying room. It also has one large and three small AC/heating units, eight remote controls, 38-light switches & 107-light bulbs! The main light in the living room has 32 all by itself. The water heater is solar, and I'm finally getting a handle on it. I make sure that I fill it up in the morning, AFTER my shower. Filling it really drives the temperature down. On a bright sunny day, I've seen the temperature as high as 88C (190F) but it doesn't take a long shower to drain a lot of it off. Erik would not survive! If you shower late at night, don't refill it, or it will be a your morning shower will be "refreshing". Something about the amount of sunlight reflecting off of the moon doesn't seem to do much heating overnight. Note to men with not quite as much hair on the top of their heads as they used to have -- do not turn on both sets of heat lamps when you take a shower. Fitted sheets don't exist in China. Well, maybe somewhere, but I haven't found them yet. For you bed, you get a flat sheet that goes on the bottom, two pillowcases and a sack for your comforter. The bed is 208-cm X 220-cm (81-in by 87-in) and well into the extra firm range. Going to have to try to find a futon type mattress to put under the mattress pad. Speaking of mattresses, I think that it about time for me to use mine and you guys to get out of yours. Later.