It’s about Christmas time and I need more gifts. I went online and bought some American stuff and had it shipped to the parentals domicile. But I figured I should find some kind of Chinese gifts too.
Problem is, stuff here is not only about as expensive but can be more. And to boot the quality of the items really make you say, um for that price I can go to Ross and get name brand quality versus the lack of quality and interesting style here.
That is why I went to Kunming again. Figured I could find more options. I did find a few things. So mission accomplished.
I may try and find some of the horrible English translation t shirts too. Cliff hanger
I woke up at quarter to five am to catch first bus to Kunming. Once I arrived I wanted to try and take bus to the hump hostel versus a taxi. I mean I had time to kill and nothing pressing.
I wondered around found it and I knew from google I would take it a while. Got off where I thought I should, by a Walmart but then I got turned around, grabbed a bus and it took me a few blocks north of where I needed to be but from last trip here, I knew my surroundings. (went to Walmart and got a coffee pot and some creamer. The prices seemed to be about the same as normal stores for products, go figure).
I check in, get my free coffee coupon, and call Kurt who is a chiropractor in Kunming now.. no longer where I live, finalized details for dinner and take a nap.
Suddenly the inevitable happens, another guest shows up in the room and wrestles things around. I’m debating to sneak a peek or just wait and sleep. Peek I did and hooray it was a foreigner like me. Later I found out she looked to see if I was local but my hair gave me away.
She just got there from a few day stay in panda land Chengdu and had to tour so she was happy too. We hit it off and decided to go shop together.
Based on conversation, she got invited to have dinner with Kurt and I and the crew. We took two buses and 1 hour later we arrived at the little hospital tucked away in a big apartment complex. Honestly I was surprised she wanted to with the very limited time she had but like me she wanted to experience the real culture.
Ended up being ten of us for dinner. John Bo from yuxi was there unexpectedly and I was able to repay him for the Hong Kong flight. Even got adjusted and this clinic now has the sigma pro adjuster equipment. Which everyone is learning how to use there.
(work peeps and i cooked dinner the other night. The two in middle thought I didn’t like them and I thought they were indifferent to me. Isn’t it nice to actually bridge and remedy such things )
The girl guest is from Israel and my age and attractive (8 guys at dinner who all appreciate that of course, not in a weird dogish way). After we got to hospital and we were catching up and introducing and being slightly more formal.
She was kind of like..dinner with a bunch of doctors.. this could be a stuffy crowd, no laughter, talking shop. Yup ,she was wrong.
Boss bought the 1700rmb 52% white wine so yeah this was a fun and laid back meal.. sometimes they can be a little boring.. not this time. Heck me and her even got to order extra dishes.. two of which were bread desert type dishes.
She said later ,in private, that this was one of the best evenings she had in China. Which I can understand, I mean it was fun (two or three locals could speak English), but if you came to experience the people, customs, traditions … no better way than with a big round table meal with locals. … Plus you get to see the hierarchy of people status (boss, his boss, translator, traditional Dr, two foreign Dr, and a very attractive female guest just in town for the night) how do you eat, toast, sit ,stand, drink or fake drink (the booze was um strong and less than yummy) etc.
She took a year of Chinese so she had a leg up.
Obviously I was happy that the evening went well and everyone enjoyed themselves. Great catching up with Kurt too. Lucky him, he gets four weeks off for the holidays. I don’t see him enough maybe we can Skype. We can share and be a united front about management ,issues and it’s nice to keep prospective on life here. W
hen we are together I make off the wall comments or dry witty humorous comments. (those who know me well I’m sure that comes as a huge surprise) and his responses just fuel me to do more of them. Some are funny just because you wouldn’t say it if all spoke same language.
Based on the classic comments made to me out of her ear shot, I’m guessing I will be hearing about Ms Israel next time we have dinner. Nothing like providing something for them to gossip about. Lol no big deal actually.. they will be disappointed in my straight lace and platonic ways.
