Dinner with Dan, a late night visit to the bank, tea with Pi Kuan and yet another free meal!

I have been using WeChat for a few years now and have got quite used to it.  There is a section called 'moments'.  This is where people's personal posts appear, and WeChat notifies you of new posts from friends.  I was looking through these and noticed that Dan, a friend of my best Beijing Friend's Little sister recently had a death in the family.  I commented that if she wanted to talk, I was willing to listen. Later I got a message taking me up on the offer.  I decided that as she wanted to talk, I would invite her to mine and try and cook some food and make similar to the locals.  She accepted the offer and we both laughed about the food I would cook!  this would be the fires time I had done something like this!  So after school on Friday I set about doing it.   I prepped it all cooked it, let it cool and then put it in the fridge.  It was my plan to microwave it when she arrived.  she arrived early and I showed her to my apartment.  She laughed as there was no food and offered to help me cook it.  I told her to sit down and Id get it done.  Within ten minutes it was done and on the table.  She was impressed.  not only did it look like the local stuff it tasted  very similar too!  Not quite sure how I did it....just good luck I suppose!  Out came her cameraand the food went onto social media!  Yikes!

me and my food and my chinese/uk flag arrangement as it appeared on social media!

Dan and me, with a bit of food on my bottom lip and manic eyes!

We finished and despite protests form Dan, I washed up.  she asked how my knees were, as last time we spoke she gleaned that they were not good.  I explained.  She jumped up and said " Let's go to my office, I have some medicine for you!"  So up I jumped and off we went.  Dan works in a bank and is at a senior management position.  We drove off, went the wrong way for about a mile, I really don' t know why, and then headed back into town and her office.  She parked in a nearby underground car park and walked to her bank.  The security guard let us in and we walked up to her office.  It felt quite surreal wandering around a bank with her at night time!  We got toe  her office and she sat me down on the settee.  It was a nice office.  I sat there a little [puzzled because I was not quite sure what medicine I was going to get.  She went over to the cabinet and pulled out two packages.

Dan's office in Jiangkou

Dan and the medicine.

It turned out to be something a sticky patch medicine that smelled something like 'deep heat'.  She applied it to both knees.

One medicine patch in place (FYI, I am not trouserless, I am wearing shorts!)

So she asked if I had other pain, I told her about my neck and she applied a patch there too.  She then made me some green tea.  I drank it.  She asked sis I like it and I said yes.  So when went over to the cabinet and brought me out a bag of it adn a packet of the medicine. My presents.  " Would you like to go for a walk or shall I take you home?"  I fancied a walk, so we walked dover to the park.  As we arrived, she got a message from Pi Kuan, a friend of mine and hers.  She took a picture of me and sent it to him.  He invited us for tea, and off we went back to the car and to Pi Kuan's Hotel.  The car park of the hotel was being resurfaces so we had to go under the bridge to get to his hotel.  Id never been this way at night before and was amazed at the lights on the bridge.  It was like Christmas!  The photo does not do it justice!

The bridge at night, complete with lights!

 When we arrived, he was siting in the back at his tea table!  We went out and drank tea and had some snacks...not sure what they were!

Dan at Pi Kuan's tea table, his hotel in the background.

Me and Dan at Pi Kuan's tea table, hotel in the background.  It is a really lovely hotel!

Pi Kuan is always busy when I visit him, so he is not in this picture!  He was off doing business!  He eventually returned and brought one of his gadgets....a cassette player and a modern old-time radio.  It took him a while but he got it going and played some cassettes!  Then he left to do business again.  We sang along with the tunes and in particular we sang 500 miles.  When Pi Kuan returned, I took out my harmonica and attempted to play the song.  I had not played this one before.  Dan Jumped up and started to video it!  Yup that too is on social media!  Somehow Parklady got hold of a copy and we had a short text conversation.  She invited me to her home to play a duet she too is a self-taught Harmonica player, just  unsure how my Key of A harmonica will match her Key of C harmonica!  We shall see!

After the harmonica playing Pi Kuan went again and I got talking to Dan.  She cracked and began to cry.  Just as the tears started to flow, she did what most Chinese do when emotions surface...change the subject!  "Right I need to eat meet" she said, jumped up and said "BBQ are you coming?"  Well I couldn't say no!  She found Pi Kuan and off we went.  We found a small roadside BBQ place and and parked up and got out.  Picked our stuff and sat down.  It was not to be a quiet meal!  The guy in this

photo spotted us.  He is a teacher from No.2 Middle school and teaches football, or so I found out later.  His name is Yang Deng Jie.  Yang Deng Jie was drunk .....and everyone was his friend!  He came over and sat with us.  Dan looked a little bit uneasy, but I have dealt with drunks in both police

Dan at the BBQ table.  These tables are often very low!

and as a Street Pastor, I was ok!  So, Dengjie sat with us and ordered more food.  He wanted to be my best friend and insisted on paying for our food.  We chatted and he kept buying me soft drinks, and I kept drinking them and eating the food!  Some of his friends came over.  They were sober and were amused by his behaviour!  It was fun.  He desperately wanted me to commit to going out with him the est day to eat fish etc, but I politely refused.  Then he wanted me to go to his school and chat with the, I couldn't  do that due to my working regulations as a foreigner, it didn't stop him asking! He wanted to take me back to my apartment, "because that is what best friends do!".  I told him Dan was taking me back.  He wanted to know if I was her boyfriend!  I told him I was not.  Dan had finished eating and looked like she had had enough.  I told him that he was one of my best friends and that if he still wanted to take me out then he could contact me on WeChat.  We went off to Dan's car. He followed and insisted on opening the door for his new foreign 'best freind'.  We drove off and Dan took me home.  We said goodbye, had a giggle about at Dengjie and I went up to my flat.  Another interesting evening and only my second dealings with a drunked Chinese person!