It was always our intention for Marisela to come and visit me in China; it was just a matter of when. When I told her I'd be heading to Indonesia in August, she bought the next reasonable plane ticket and made a visa run to London, and we squeezed in a week-long survey of my life in Hengyang by the seat of our pants. Lucky for both of us, she's more intrepid than wanting to see the typical tourist attractions most visitors plan to do.
It all began with a quick jaunt on Changsha's new Maglev train, connecting the airport to Changshanan, the fast train station. Then it was the Gao Tie and bus 148 to my apartment. (All this after a series of transportation legs for her on the other side.) Jet lag did NOT sink in right away, and we immediately set out for a first dinner of xiao chao rou and qie zi (with complimentary cups of soup) at the yellow clay pot restaurant, followed by my favorite xi jiao across the street. Marisela approved. The first bite of real Chinese food is usually a happy memory. And what crazy person wouldn't adore xi jiao? (We even ran into Kitty and Boston taking their evening walk along the way, and Marisela was instantly approved of, the key to a good time in China.)
Sunday morning was a lazy morning due to time zone differences and a chilly drizzle, so I brought ban fen and xiao long bao for breakfast at home. We headed to the train station for a bit of souvenir (and tea paraphernalia) shopping at my favorite stalls. Dinner was a big event, two huge platters of delicious frog at Wa Lai Da with Adam and Alexa, Tom and Jelly and Theo, and Yucca and Swift and Tony all squeezed around a small table. Appetizers, side dishes, and beer were also had. The owner gave Mari the best souvenir of all, two enamel mugs with the restaurant and Chairman Mao emblazoned on the side, just for asking if we could buy them. Partly through, we got a call from Kitty inviting us (read: demanding us) to come to a wine party at the Vice Headmaster's tea shop afterwards. We sat at under the umbrella at the VIP table, with Rioja and sherry, watching a show we didn't understand. What a way to celebrate Todd's birthday :)
On Monday, we enjoyed tang fen for breakfast at the usual noodle place. It was nice enough weather to sit at the table outside. By afternoon, we still didn't know if we were having an office meeting or passing out fliers at a middle school; it turned out to be the latter, with the addition of speeches for all and the alarmed faces of passing primary schoolers at the sight of three foreigners at the podium. For our effort, we were all treated to a nice round table dinner, with a kitchen in the room that they didn't use, and a plethora of delicious dishes and welcoming hosts. Dinner was followed by tea at Kitty's house (Kitty, Boston, Marisela, and me, later joined by Kate and Simon), the best way to end an evening, and the surest sign of social acceptance of Marisela. It was a typical day in my Hengyang life.
Tuesday was a busy day. I had Marisela as a guest speaker for the two International classes. To prepare, we had brunch at the Spring Restaurant across the street from school (si ji dou and kao ya), and got our hair washed and styled in the Chinese manner at the salon that Ann first took me to (she has since moved on). It was Marisela's first experience of miming not working at all, but otherwise pleasant. She was a big hit with the students, impressing them with her knowledge of Angela Baby and Black Dragon drinks, thus incurring extra conversation from Mirrors, Sunny, and Afrax in Class 3, and a mix of intelligent and random questions from Class 2 ("What are your favorite British brands?" "How do the English eat potatoes besides fried?"). Naturally, photos followed. Afterwards, the two of us went to Dong Bei Jiao Zi, Olivia's mom's restaurant, for a selection of northern Chinese dishes and leftovers. Tea was not neglected; we brewed it ourselves on my best tea table and stayed up much later than planned catching up on deep topics and doing Asian-style sheet face masks.
Wednesday was the hottest day Hengyang had seen in a while (really, I had been wearing my furry shirts until the end of May). We slept in too late for Nanyue Mountain, but indulged in some cold fruits and vegetables at home and the snack street in front of Nanhua University. We missed the bus stop for the riverside temple and Wild Goose Pagoda, ending up on the other side of a bridge spanning spaghetti strings of potential exits. We elected not to walk back and searched for a deserted underpass to cross the street to the next bus stop. The pagoda was essentially gutted, with loud children running around, but the temple was quiet and peaceful, full of red and gold paint, Buddha statues with offerings of incense, and one lone monk wandering around. We refreshed ourselves with lemon green tea (scaring the server when we asked for no sugar) and took a harrowing mototaxi ride to Shigu Academy, an ancient Confucian prep school for the Imperial Exam, where some young giggling girls called us "Auntie" and tried to practice their English. We washed the sweat off ourselves and made an attempt to have dim sum at Lao Guangzhou for dinner, but they had elected to hire costumed characters as a lure for Children's Day, and we couldn't tolerate the commotion. Instead, we got twice too many dishes at Xin Cheng Lao Wei (including the iconic Hunan cauliflower sautéed in pork fat), and had leftovers again. We ended the day with a double anmo at Tian Gong, a thorough massage filled with passive yoga poses.
On Thursday morning, I had class, and Marisela met me for a military-style lunch in the school cafeteria, a cultural experience in itself and a far better meal than any western school food. Afterwards, we went shopping at BBG, and bought shoes just in time to witness the staff meeting right in front of our faces. For dinner, I treated the "brothers" and group of friends to a round table dinner at Lufu, complete with snake, pig's feet, three bottles of Zinfandel, and lots of toasting the newest guest. Marisela was also popular here, securing another invitation for tea at Kitty's afterwards (new best friends and good conversation), and dinner plans from Tony and Mr. Jiang the following day.
Friday morning I had class again, and a few errands to run afterwards. I went home to pack for my trip with Kitty and pick up Marisela, and then we joined the Senior 2 English teachers for lunch. The food at Da Zui Ba was good, but it was obnoxiously noisy and the ladies were mostly interested in talking about prices of things and current pregnancies, so we chatted briefly with Peter about Thailand. Afterwards, we rested for an hour and met up with Yucca, who dropped us off at a Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic for a blind massage and an herbal paste, which we had to cut short because things were taking longer than expected. (It was confirmed that, like me, Mari has poor circulation and too much dampness in her body.). The nurse deposited us in a taxi and we sped off to Da Bu Tong, where Robert treated us all, and a few additions, to a huge spread of local dishes and Spanish beer. Our backs were still hot. Marisela sat in the seat of honor between Kitty and me, opposite the door, while the host actually sat on my right. Mari had her first and only shot of bai jiu with Mr. Jiang. Mr. Teng, pink-faced, came over with his phone translator and wished Mari "Deep feelings of a stuffy." Photos exploded. We spent a short time at our usual teahouse, in the fancy room, and were given bricks of tea, but then we sped off to midnight snacks on the sidewalk. We got home late, after stopping in to say hi to Kim. It was a good last night.
Saturday came around again, and we had chang fen for breakfast and took photos at school with Kim. When Kitty finished class, Boston dropped us all off at the Gao Tie and away we went to Changshanan, where we said goodbye for now - Marisela to the Maglev and the airport, and Kitty and I on another train to Xiamen. Hugs weren't as sentimental as usual, as I'd be in England in a month, but we wished to all three travel together someday. Who knows?
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