New Suit

Today, Monday, was the first day of our Western New Year vacation. We had Sunday off; however, we had to work on Saturday. The reasoning behind that was that we only, officially had Tuesday and Wednesday off. So, in order to have Monday off, we worked on Saturday.

It makes some demented sense. The fact that we even have a Western New Year holiday is new to this year. The Chinese government is trying to bring about a change and go away from the Chinese system of a few long holidays, where the entire country shuts down for a week several times a year, to the Western model of several short holidays. How well it works out is something that only time will tell.

At church on Sunday I had noticed the suits that both Mark and Joe were wearing. Both were somewhat similar and tailored to fit them. In further discussion they told me that they had been made locally. The process is somewhat simple and we decided to go on Monday and see about having a suit made for me.

After church I spent the day trying to get all of the data files moved over to the new computer that the college had issued me. After that I had my violin lessons.

The lessons are going pretty well, the teacher speaks pretty good English and comes over to my place once a week and gives a lesson. She is very fixated on teaching songs, somewhat before I have even gotten the basics down cold; however, I am learning some. He Zhi Qing also comes with her in order to help with the lesson. Seeing as she is, for all intents and purposes, taking part in the lessons, I have already decided that I will give her this violin as soon as I get a better one. This one is fair, but not great, when I got it I really did not know what I was looking for. Now I have a much better idea and, after my vacation with Zeneta, it is due for replacement.

Monday I called He Zhi Qing, arranged for her to come along, and the minor confusions ensued. About forty-five minutes later she called to inform me that she was waiting at the main gate. I then told her to come up to my flat while I lit a fire under Mark and Joe. I had spoken to them about an hour prior, about going, and they had said that they would get ready. Well, they were still lounging about in pajamas.

About this time Rachel, a Chinese Tourism student, arrived to help them during the day and they started moving. We then went down to find a cab and realized that there are four seats in a cab, and with the two girls, there were five of us. The good thing is that neither Rachel nor He Zhi Qing are very big and we had no issues with a couple of pretty girls sitting on our laps ( to give you an idea, next to He Zhi Qing [who, by Chinese standards, is not small] Debra looked like a giant; and, as you may recall, had giant sized problems finding clothing to fit).

We went to a clothing market that neither I nor He Zhi Qing were familiar with. Outside the shops were large bolts of fabric with the better fabric inside. We wandered to the shop that Mark and Joe had previously gone to and I looked at the fabric and pointed to a long bolt of a Grey wool. At that point the haggling ensued; little details, like the material and cost of the liner, for the coat, had to be discussed.

I will say that Rachel did an excellent job of working on the price. So, the first thing I did was to purchase the cloth. Then I was measured and arrangements were made to phone He Zhi Qing if there was a need for re-measurement. At that point the fabric was packaged for a courier to pick it up, by motorcycle, and take it to the tailor who is to turn it into a coat and pants. The total cost is 450RMB and the current exchange rate is about 7.6RMB/1USD. I have to say I am very curious how it turns out; if I like the end result I will probably order more.

After that we (Mark, Joe, Rachel, He Zhi Qing, and I) wandered for a while, until Mark and Joe saw the electric massaging chairs in a shop. At that point they were lost into their own little land of bliss and He Zhi Qing and I wandered off.

Those ain't sheep