Chinese Lesson and Training

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On Tuesday we arranged to meet an NV for our Chinese lesson at her flat (as she recently broke her ankle when she fell off her bike on the ice). We received directions from another NV but nothing is ever straight-forward in China. After following the directions we called her but our info must have confused as eventually our NV had to send her brother to meet us! In the afternoon, with Sabine safely at work, I and an NV visited a new restaurant to organise Sabine’s surprise birthday meal (Sabine hates surprises). It took longer that anticipated so soon after arriving home, after having chosen a cake from the local dangao dian (cake shop), Sabine arrived home. I announced I was taking her out for a birthday meal so she quickly got ready and we walked up town. When we arrived the giveaway was the 20 or so chairs arranged in one part of the restaurant. However, fortunately, the other guests soon appeared to ‘surprise’ us and an enjoyable meal/evening was had by all.

After the meal, our NV received a call from a ‘colleague’ inviting her to join him at a KTV (Karaoke) joint in town. She was reluctant to go but the five or so of us left agreed to go with her for support. We all dived in a taxi to the hotel laden with all of Sabine’s presents (one of which was a rather large, bright cuddly bear) and walked into the lobby. There were some odd signs (everyone was wearing slippers or dressed in ‘sportswear’) but we didn’t pick up on them at first. The ‘colleague’ had said to just come on up (to the floor where it was happening). If we wanted to go up, the staff told us, we must get undressed and duly handed us each a towel (more akin to a flannel), a locker key and some slippers! Now we were suspicious. No, we decided very quickly, we didn’t wish to venture upstairs. Our NV called the ‘colleague. He appeared from upstairs a few minutes later dressed in a large grin and pajamas! Okay, we got the picture. We said our thank yous and good byes and beat a hasty retreat. We later learned this i.e. visiting a ‘special’ hotel for ‘special’ services is quite a popular pastime for men with enough wonga or a special relationship and the inclination.

On Wednesday we repeated our English pronunciation training to some more primary English teachers. Although it started late as half the participants were the same ones as last time! They were just told to be there at a certain time but not told specifically why - this is China.

The end of the week saw us at Chinese Corner then a spot of shopping on Saturday with a Chinese friend, Paula. This turned out to be quite an interesting afternoon. We visited a tea shop and were treated to the full tea preparation and consumption experience. We even received some gifts from the shop.

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