Day of Rest, Sunday, October 5

Day of Rest, Sunday, October 5

On Sunday morning Mark and I were both aching from our exploits. After having climbed up and down thousands of stairs, I painfully went up and down the 18 steps from our master bed to the kitchen. I began to think that we probably should not look at retirement homes where our bedroom is not on the main floor.

We had told Zhang to come at 12:00, so we felt honor-bound to go somewhere. We needed some food for the house, so we asked to be taken to Carrefour, the French supermarket. The one I had gone to with Jane is the closest one to the Waterfront, so I located it on a map, then pointed it out to Zhang. He wanted us to go to one of two for which he had a map and directions, even though they were much further away, but eventually he agreed to take us to the closer one.

Zhang parked on the third level, so we took the escalator down to the second floor, which has the groceries. I walked the length of the grocery entrance: everything was either exits (after paying the cashier) or else they were blocked off; I couldn't find the entrance. Eventually a store clerk took pity on us and let us in through one of the blocked passages. [Perhaps the normal way to enter the store is through the ground or third level, then take an interior escalator to reach the groceries. Or perhaps we were just missing something.]

We still needed lots of staples and sundries for setting up the apartment, but we hadn't made a list, so shopping was a bit helter-skelter. We bought some savory pastries from an interior deli counter. (The dumplings were filled with an onion mixture and were quite tasty. Another one was rather like a large English muffin with a bit of onion filling and a layer of scrambled egg on top. It was a bit dry and starchy - edible, but not something I'd buy again if there are other options. I didn't feel up to handling raw meat at this time, so we bought three small packages of cooked meat chopped into small portions: 1) duck, mostly skin and bone, including the head, but what meat there was was fairly tasty; 2) chicken, with slightly more meat than the duck, and 3) what looked like barbequed ribs, but turned out to be mostly bone and peppers.

For our first supper in our new apartment I fixed rice in our new rice cooker (turned out well), cooked kangkung [water spinach] in the wok, and microwaved the duck. It was all edible and we didn't get sick. Mark has been a good sport about eating my experiments.

Monday, October 6

This was my first day alone in the new apartment. Zhang came up to the apartment and knocked to see where I wanted to go at 9:00; I told him I'd go shopping again at 10:00. This was my first time alone in Carrefour, so I spent some time looking over what they have to offer. I still haven't found any salt, but I found a few other items I was looking for. There is still a vast array of vegetables, bulk foods, and condiments that I don't recognize and don't know how to use. I think I should probably relearn how to make basic meals before I venture even further into the unknown.

Fruits and vegetables come either bulk or prepackaged for a slighly higher price. Everything bulk must be taken to a weighing station to be weighed and labeled by a clerk. There were a lot of women crowding around it, and not willing to queue. In the end, I had to put my items on quickly before the person to my side did so, or I would be there all day. Eventually, I'll be able to buy fruits and vegetables at a local market for better prices, but I need to know the set prices of things first, since things which are expensive in the U.S. are sometimes cheap here and vice versa. The thin plastic bags for vegetables are free; there is a charge for plastic carry bags at the check-out stand, so I've been bringing my own carrying bags.

While in the store, I received a call from Pat, an American woman I had not met, whose husband works for the same company. She has been living in the Waterfront since April, and was glad to find someone else in the same complex. She invited me to eat lunch with her and Doki, whom I had met on the house-hunting trip.

Pat's apartment is at the top of the building opposite mine. She has a large "roof garden" about twice as wide as a regular balcony and running the entire length of her apartment. It overlooks the Waterfront grounds, so it was quiet. Her apartment is fully furnished and has some beautiful furniture and art objects. She and her husband have lived overseas for many years, including five years in Beijing.

Doki was getting her hair done, so by the time she came to pick us up, it was 2:00. We ended up eating at a small restaurant on the other side of the river, just across from the Bridge Restaurant. We got a bit lost going there; we could have probably walked as quickly. The food was excellent and cheap. We had the regional specialties of kung pao chicken, a tofu dish, and green beans with a sprinkling of mince pork and Sechuan peppers. I've had the latter dish in three restaurants now and have gotten very fond of it.

I had to cut our lunch short to get back to my apartment because our air shipment was due at 3:00. Pat came up with me to see the apartment. Three people were already at my door with the shipment. Pat came in, as did Robyn, who had been in the hall; they sat down and talked while I directed the crew on where to put the boxes and on opening them. Most of what came was computer equipment, but there were also additional clothes for me and enough dishes, silverware and pans to allow us to eat more or less normally.

Mark came home exhausted after a long day at work, tackling both work problems and moving problems. I fixed an adequate but uninspiring meal.

When I checked my e-mail, I found one to the International Women's Group asking for three or four "food-lovers" to join Lotus Travel in testing out the cooking classes for a new culinary tour. I wrote back, and was able to get in both the Wednesday and Friday classes.

Tuesday, October 7

I worked on assembling our computer equipment and getting rid of boxes. It's hard to keep the clutter under control even with as few things as we have here. Both Pat and Robyn have bought a lot of beautiful furnishings for their apartments, but I need to resist the urge to "fill" the apartment, especially before our sea shipment arrives - not that I'm particularly adept at interior decorating.