There's been so little going on in my life lately, I'm elated
to finally take to the keyboard again! I have something to write about!!!
YAY!!!!
On Thursday, Summer sent me a message. Vanessa, whom you
might remember from the entry Another Side of Hangzhou I Did Not Know (posted
November 2014) was breezing through town on her way to her village to attend a
wedding. Might we get together? As I was answering Summer, Vanessa herself
chimed in with the same information. How could I resist Summer and Vanessa,
former classmates and students of mine, and both of whom were my constant
companions through my head-bashing event a couple of years back?
Via text message I agreed that spending a day with those two
would be the height of joy for me, and we made plans to dine out at a
restaurant nearby. That plan changed the next morning because of a downpour of
rain. Crutches and broken legs don't do so well in the rain and it is
impossible to hold an umbrella with both hands engaged, so I texted Summer that
we would eat at my house instead. Now the only question was: what to prepare?
And the other question: why is it, whenever Vanessa is in the
picture, there is rain? When I bashed my head in, while in Hangzhou and again
today. That's one of those questions that make me wonder...
Shortly after arranging things with the girls, Julia, a
colleague currently on detail to a translation firm texted. Might she and her family
come over this evening? We would only need about two hours for visiting, and I
shouldn't prepare too much food because they too would bring something.
Suddenly I found myself with 2 meals to prepare!
You might think that would be easy: simply prepare enough for
2 meals at one time, and reheat the second meal for the later guests. I was
able to do that with some of the dishes I prepared but not all of them. On the
menu were: quesadillas, a Mexican inspired food; pizza, deviled eggs – American
fare; mashed potatoes, veggies with sausage, tomato/egg dish, grilled chicken
wings, and, of course rice, fruit and a soup. A variety of beverages, from tea
and coffee to colas and milk were also available. Knowing that a good hostess
in China serves more food than her guests could eat, I was determined to show
face and feed my friends well.
Summer, Vanessa and I enjoyed a long, lovely visit. Summer is
a bit lovelorn, having just broken up with her boyfriend. Vanessa, the epitome
of progressive young womanhood, is busy doing her thing, taking no time for
love for fancy. Our conversation ran from reminisces to philosophy,
interspersed with a great deal of laughter. They left at 5PM.
That gave me 2 hours to prepare things for Julia and Company.
I prepared more chicken wings, reheated the half pizza I had saved for them,
made more quesadillas, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, veggies and tomato/eggs.
Right on time in the pouring rain they came, with a plate of potatoes. For this evening meal I added home made peanut
butter cookies to the menu. The girls had each gotten a gift of cookies, so I
didn't include them on their menu.
Their son Eddie, 3 years old, was afraid of me on crutches
and did not want to come in. I sat down so that he wouldn't be so scared. Finally,
with coaxing from his parents he dared enter, and found I would not beat him,
eat him or otherwise mistreat him. Soon he was playing, as he always does when
visiting here. Because the hour was relatively late for a Chinese meal, we
tucked right in to dinner, with Julia chastising me for having prepared too
much food. I took that as a compliment. It was a good thing there was so much
to eat because my guests were hungry!!! Little Eddie loved the quesadillas. So
did his dad. There were few leftovers. I shared them with my guests; they took
home a plateful.
Through the eating and chatting, and wine drinking - for
these older guests I offered wine, I gained an opportunity for some part time
work as a French translator at Julia's firm, and an offer for Chris to drive me
to the wedding I was to attend the next day. I accepted both gratefully. In
turn, I promised to teach them how to make cookies. Again: a lot of laughter,
goodwill and toasting with our wine. Then, they too took their leave.
It was 9PM. I'd been cooking since 10AM, and up since 7AM. I
was exhausted! I rinsed the dishes Chris and Julia had carried to the kitchen
for me (a bit hard to do that on crutches!), but was too tired to do the whole
cleanup. After all: it was every single pot, pan, glass, dish and chopstick
that I'd used to put these two meals together. No way would I stay up for an
hour, cleaning!
I'd been looking forward to Stephanie's wedding since she
invited me, a month ago. Not because I was elated at her nuptials. I find it hard
to describe in civil terms the disdain I feel for her choice of mate. I missed
my little Vixen, as I had nicknamed her. Since she'd fallen in with that... so
and so, we'd not visited or played at all. This would be my first chance in
nearly 2 years to see her again.
On Saturday, after Chris ensured I was at the right place he
left, vowing to pick me up after the shindig was over. How kind! I thought I'd
taxi back home. Now in the custody of another former student, a classmate of
the bride, we made our way to the hotel, chattering away. When I lay eyes on
Vixen, that beautiful bride, I started crying. So did she. Disregarding custom,
she rushed across the lobby from the
receiving line and threw her arms around me. We talked about how much we had
missed one another and how glad we were to see each other again, and then she
had to go receive other guests.
It was the saddest wedding I'd ever been to. Her father was
so opposed to the marriage that he didn't attend. Her mother was there, but
refused the groom's request for her daughter's hand, sobbing all the while. The
bride, also in tears, could not bring herself to utter the emcee-prompted
phrase: “Father, please drink tea! Mother, please drink tea!”, the custom of
offering a drink to the new in-laws. She went so far as to push the proffered
microphone away.
After the formal ceremony was finished, I had occasion to
talk with both mother and daugher. They were sad, regretful... but what could
be done? The girl is 4 months gone with child. There must be a wedding, or they
must bear the shame of illegitimacy. Come time to leave, Vixen walked me out.
She assured me she would not lose touch with me again and offered me honorary
grandmother status. I was touched.
That sad event left me wrung. Still worn out from the day
before and now emotionally battered as well, I took to the computer to share my
feelings with my best friend stateside. By the time I was done it was nearing
8PM. The kitchen is still dirty and I've not eaten a bite. To that end, thank
goodness for leftovers. I went to bed early again enduring nightmare fraught
sleep, no doubt caused by the wedding and possibly by my filthy kitchen, and
waking up at the ungodly hour of 5:45AM.
My weekend doings take longer to tell of than I had
originally thought! Obviously, this will be a two-parter. See you next time!
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