Julian and I were having tea by the river the other night and he offered to help me practice for picking up those guys in search of a trophy wife at the Ritz bar. Unfortunately, things devolved into a sunflower seed fight, but if someone is looking for a playful trophy wife (what's more fun than being kicked out of your hotel?), I'm the girl.
Actually, I'm quite disappointed that Mom has already made some reservations at decent hotels in China. It's really not "China" if you have a toilet in your room and real mattresses and a competent concierge. Fortunately, there are a couple of nights that remain unaccounted for. Of course, I will have to make sure those nights are *really* bad to make up for the relative presence of comfort on those other nights. Stone slab in a hut anyone?
Right, the reason for the money is that I bought plane tickets for my parents and me for our intra-China travel and it cost a heck of a lot. Since the Bank of China wouldn't take a Visa debit card, the school loaned me a lot of money. The school said I can wait until after vacation to pay them back, but I would rather take care of things now.
Mid-Autumn Day was last Thursday. It's the day of the full moon sometime around now. People eat "moon cakes" and look at the moon. It's very romantic (note lack of enthusiasm). Moon cakes are one of the most vile foods known to man. They are little round pastries, maybe about three or four inches in diameter, filled with either a gum-drop consistancy fruit flavoring (along the taste-lines of a Jolly Rancher) or meat, which consists of pork, fat, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and possibly dried fruit. Now, why anyone would make a holiday celebrating one of the most vile foods known to man escapes me. I had dinner with the family I sometimes have dinner with. They made Beijing Roast Duck, which makes me happy. Then we had moon cakes. The egg-yolk ones are edible, but the others aren't. I had to refuse the meat ones. After eventually leaving (it's hard to get away here), I went over to Julian's and we went down to the tea/beer place by the river. We asked for a knife, they brought a meat cleaver, and we tasted the moon cakes that the family gave me. Then we threw them into the river when no one was looking.
I leave for HK in one week. My parents leave in a couple of days. There is a mosquito stalking me. We should have a fabulous time. Through an ingenious combination of convincing them we will be staying in shacks on the mainland, SARS discounts, and blackmail, my parents have made reservations at the Ritz. It's really the perfect place to find that husband to keep me in the lifestyle to which I hope to become accustomed. And I'll bet they have good croissants. Either one. We will be making a day trip to Macau, a former Portuguese colony, which means they probably have great food. I'm a little excited about eating more than Chinese food. I love it, but I've been eating it for nine months straight.
I also plan to buy shoes. In China, my feet are freakishly large. I haven't even gone into a women's shoe store, b/c I know I would be laughed out, so I have no dress shoes.
Anyway, I had to put in a fair amount of time at dinner, as compensation for an anticipated favor and it's late, so I'm going home.