Well it all started the day before, and it was all over in a day! Just when you think you've got the hang of Jiangkou, it surprises you!
I met this woman whilst sitting at the table eating sunflower seeds and oranges. We swapped wechats and she immediately got talking to me. I eventually worked out that she was the cook at the local police station.
She invited me for breakfast, which also turned into a lunch
invitation. She is a lovely lady! I gave her a big hug and she
accepted. First one she has ever had... or so she say. We got on
really well. One of the Police officers came, possibly to check me out. I got on well with him too! Apparently, she lives in a dormitory in the Police station. I gathered she was really poor.
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| friend and grand child |
Eventually her friend arrived with her grand child and we
started trying to communicate! They are both dialect speakers. They
showed me some videos they had made and asked did I want to take part in
one. I did. The video consisted of her miming to a video about she
loved me and me miming back. I don't have a copy of the video. It was
all good fun and we had a really good laugh. They were salt of the
earth.
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| The view from the kitchen to the back yard of the police station. The tricycle is his bin lorry! |
The binman then arrived with a fan he had salvaged and some sort of deal
was made and he was given a huge bowl of noodles. They then asked if I
wanted to go up the mountain with them. I had not been up the mountain
before so I agreed. In return I told them that I would invite them
back to mine and order in some food. We struck a deal. So off we went, supposedly to the mountain. However walked off into town. I tried to work out where they were going but could not, and neither could they. They had a location on their phone, but could not work out how to get there.
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| waiting, eating oranges whilst they worked out what they were doing. |
Eventually we got 'somewhere' and they said that the boss was not there. I couldn't understand what they meant. It turned out that that on the way to the mountain they had been told of a 'deal'. They had gone to teh deal instead of the mountain. I am getting used to this change of mind thing but it still annoys me a bit.
They eventually found out where they were going, a bathroom shop, and we sat down and had tea and discussed things. Eventually we left. I was expecting them to come back to mine for buy in food, and was quite looking forward to it!. Half way home they said something to me, but I couldn't understand it. So they sent me a wechat message and I translated it. They said they had changed their minds and they were going out for a drink with another friend. I got a bit angry and told asked them why. They just lokd at me and waved their had at me "Go!". Whilst this is extremely rude in English manners it is appears that this happens more frequently over here and is not as rude as it seems. However, it really pushes my angry button. I shouted back a bit,, but not too loudly or too bad, but just got the wave of the hand 'Go!". I went...pretty miffed to be honest!. Later that night I got a text from the lady in black. The people form her unit, place of work, had seen the video we made earlier and had 'scolded her'. I am not quite sure why, but it seems that I had been alone with her (in the kitchen) and that was a breech of unit rules. I gather that video was also deemed 'inappropriate'. The long and short of it is/was that regrettably she could no longer be my friend, and in particular I could not visit her at work as she works alone. I don't quite know what happened but hat is the result. Maybe I am seen as a danger because I got angry? Maybe she is not allowed to be alone with 'foreigners'. I don't know. But I do know that is is strange! China still surprises me at times! It upsets me too! Not only have I lost a potential new friend for unknown reasons, she cooks the best noodles and jiaozi I have tasted in China... and her kitchen is only ten minutes form my house! Damn!
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