The other
day I bumped into Ollie on the stairs of my building. He lives in the complex with
another English teacher. We crossed paths again at my first school yesterday.
We took the same bus back towards home after our lessons and he showed me to a
dumpling restaurant he knows. We also picked up Casey (potentially Stacy, I can’t
remember) who’s still in training and will most likely be assuming my classes
once I leave. Ollie is from Edinburgh. He’s wide and thick with brilliantly
blue eyes and short brown/ grey hair. He’s good natured and smiles often.
Casey/ Stacy is from Yorkshire and has only been here for a few days and is
still taking it all in. It was a delightful little lunch and we made plans to
meet up for dinner at seven that evening with anyone who’s free.
Seven
rolled around after a long day of lessons, and another encounter with Auntie
who came to steal Gavin and I’s passports, and we went down to find Ollie with
his roommate Jonathon. Jonathon is from Australia and has a sort of dopey look
about him and seems to be perpetually pitched forward but is easy going and
good natured. We went to Niko Niko Do (a huge mall that serves as a convenient landmark)
to meet Kristy, another English teacher, not our boss, who’s been here for a
year already. Kristy, another Australian is twenty one, from Tazmania and
appreciates a dark stout.
Kristy, being the most knowledgable
of our surroundings, led us to a group dining style restaurant with English
menus. It was fantastic. We had fish with honey glaze and lamb with cumin and
these pumpkin French fry things and Hoisin pork with a hunk of bread (real,
crusty, French bread), and a few other dishes. It was wonderful. We chatted all
across the table about our various countries of origin and how they relate to
China and one another. Australia has waterproof, plastic money. Who knew?
After a pleasant and leisurely
dinner we went our separate ways (as much as can be said, four of us living in
the same complex) and retired early.
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