Chuck has a haircut

May 24, 2007 Thursday

We had a really heavy rain last night, so it finally cooled off a little. Yesterday, the humidity was so high that the clothes never dried.

After my successful haircut, Chuck is very excited about getting his done and wants to go today. First we dropped off Chuck’s shirts. I had to explain that we are leaving on Tuesday and that the shirts had to be finished Monday. (Pointing to calendar saying “bye, bye Hefei.) Here is the lady:

She has been very sweet and helpful to us.

On to the haircuts. The people in the shop were a little amused to see me again so soon, but they readily understood that we wanted a dry wash for each of us and a cut for Chuck. It was even more blissful the second time, when I knew what to expect. My shirt got a little wet during the rinse. They were horrified and dried it and me with the hair dryer. Chuck’s hair looked good when they finished, we will see how it grows in. (4 flights)

The physics group had another dinner at a downtown restaurant as a goodbye for us. Hongfeng’s husband came. We were a very merry group. They had trouble getting taxis too. It turns out that 6:00 is the shift change, so a lot of cabs pass you by. We were happy to find out that it wasn’t just us.

The dinner was a little strange in that there were a lot things with a sweet taste and a lot of soups. A green one that looked like split pea, but was a sweet green bean. This one in the pumpkin bowl had gelatinous noodles and a quail egg:

Then there was a beige one with a mushroom and bird’s nest (cliff swallow) in a papaya. We also had a fish, some smoked meat and two mushroom dishes. This great presentation:

It was a carved melon. The little balls had shrimps in the middle. (One of the younger guys took home the melon – he said that his daughters would love to see it.

We had a dry sesame cake to finish and then of course the watermelon with pineapple.

They told a great story about someone stepping on a poisonous snake near the guest house. They said that he accidentally stepped on the head, and the snake then wrapped its tail around his leg. He called his wife on his cell phone and she came with something to kill the snake. I am going to have to revisit the snake story to make sure that I got all the details correct. It is hard to believe that someone could step accidentally on a snake’s head. (After that, the part about calling the wife is very easy for me to believe – after all, I am Chuck’s wife. I am safe – Chuck doesn’t have a cell phone – but I probably could hear him bellow all the way to the apartment!)

We shared a taxi with Xiaolian because she lives in an apartment near us. (4 flights)

When is 24 going to end? Now, they are going to blow a plane out of the sky with Jack on it.

8 flights - I hate stairs and always have, but I am beginning to look at this as a light day. By this time you would think that I could run up them, but no I still can't.