Where the Heck Did Last Week Go?

Holy moly, it went by so fast....I spent almost all of my free time trying to help a friend, translating an extremely complicated introduction to Taiwanese opera into English. Thank goodness I had the help of two other friends, Aaron and Caroline, or it never would have gotten done! You would not believe how "flowery" Chinese can be, yikes. I had to have my friend give me a translation into simple, easy Chinese before I could even begin to comprehend the sense of the thing!

And then there was Valentine's Day. I loathe VD (my little pet name for the occasion). This year I at least got some chocolate - one piece from the teacher and one piece from a British classmate. And I got to go to the movies with Hiyoshi and finally see the latest Harry Potter film (at the cheap, second run theater). I also got a gift - a nice little cold. Tuesday afternoon, while hanging out at the arctic-chilled Dante Coffee waiting for movie time, my nose was beginning the itchy-drippy stage. By the time the movie was over, I was definitely feeling bleah. Took some Theraflu that evening (thanks, Steve, I was happy you'd brought that for me), and then stayed home on Wednesday to sleep, sleep, sleep. Unfortunately, I slept so much that I was up at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday!

By yesterday the cold was just about gone, yay! Yesterday was Charlene's birthday, and it just so happened that Mojo was having a performance, so we (Natari, Charlene, Caroline, and I) met up for a dinner of Indian curry (passable, but the Japanese curry at Aubergine is better) and then headed over to queue in line for 40 minutes, in the misty rain, waiting to get into the pub. During the wait, my phone rang, and I saw it was Dino calling. Huh, strange, why is he calling me? "Hello? Dude, what's up?" "Hey, hi, I want to ask you something." "OK, shoot, what?" "What did you put in your garlic bread last weekend? Carrie really liked it and wants me to make some." What?! You're Italian and you don't know how to make garlic bread? Whoa.... So, I gave him the secret recipe. "Fresh garlic, lots of it, and real butter." "That's it?" "Yeah, that's it. Oh, and sprinkle a little Parmesan on top." "OK, thanks." Too funny, really.

We had to suffer through another band before getting to enjoy Mojo. They were rather crap, I'm sorry to say, nothing at all special about them. They have a weird name, Rock Ben. I think maybe it's supposed to sound like "rock band" but they weren't rock. Thankfully, their set was very short. The place was totally packed, all Mojo fans for the most part, and we were squeezed onto small, portable stools rather than in comfy chairs at tables, but it was OK. Mojo started up, and a few people who had been there just to see the other band got up and left, so Nat & Charlene snagged a table, while Caroline and I stayed put. Then some guys came along and sat right next to us, and the girls at the tables on the other side of us kept turning and looking. Finally I looked and realized it was the guys from Mayday, come to give Guoxi a little support. He'd gone on tour with them to Shanghai and Singapore, and I thought it was nice they came to see him. There was a lot of banter between Guoxi and them throughout the evening, very fun. I know these guys are a huge success all over Asia, but personally I didn't care all that much for their music, just thought it was average. Eh.

Guoxi was my ride home, and he ended up having to stay and have a band meeting, so Caroline and I sat around drinking beer, chatting, listening to AC/DC blaring over the speakers (love it, love it, love it), and watching first a bad Steven Segal movie on Cinemax, and then a bad Mr. Bean movie. It was after 2:00 a.m. before we could leave, and Caroline caught a taxi back to Banqiao, and Guoxi took me and two other gals home. Got to bed around 3:00 a.m., and this morning the brats upstairs started their running (apparently with 10 pound weights strapped to each leg) at around 9:00. I gave up at 10:45 and got out of bed. At which point they quit running. Figures. Damned kids.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for Aaron's sister to emerge from the front door. She's getting married today, and a caravan of cars has come to fetch her. Tradition says that her family can't go past the front door, can't say goodbye to her, and her new mother-in-law will be throwing a fan, which Aaron has to retrieve (he can go outside) and give to his mother. The cars are decorated with bows, and as it's raining, everyone is hidden under umbrellas (I'm watching out the window). They all sound very happy, chatting away while waiting for the bride. I'm sure there's an interesting ritual taking place upstairs at Aaron's home, because I saw gifts being brought in, and I sort of remember some of what happens because I saw the video of Chuck and Justina's fetch-the-bride doings. All very interesting and complicated, and there's sure to be a nice feast at the end of the day for all involved.

Oh, I called my dad yesterday, which only costs me around $5.00 US for a half hour. He told me that last time, when he called me to wish me Merry Christmas, he got charged $5.00 US per minute! Crap, that is totally uncalled for. I told him to go see if he could buy an international calling card for cheap.

It's possible some of you might be seeing me in May. Maybe. We'll see.