I mentioned that we took our suitcases to the apartment the first night before dinner. Somehow Liang Liang, the deputy director of the Hangzhou library, ended up hauling my 48 pound suitcase up 6 flights of steps. Sailan carried her suitcase and I skipped up the steps with only a backpack. Since I was the oldest in the group, perhaps I was seen as the revered elder and who should not be doing heavy lifting. Hey, maybe I should milk this for all it’s worth. I might try saying, “The revered elder would like to eat the last piece of fried daikon on the plate.” Or maybe, “The revered elder could use another cup of green tea and make sure it’s hot this time.” I’ll let you know how that plan works out.
We have a two bedroom apartment overlooking a pretty busy street. Except for a constant ding-dong doorbell sound that rings incessantly in the morning, it is very comfortable. The library staff left a beautiful flower arrangement and a huge fruit basket in the apartment for us as well. We have been eating that fruit for days. Most of it I have never seen before. There was a Chinese grapefruit the size of a small ham. It has skin that is about a quarter inch thick so you really have to put some muscle into cracking it open. (I let Sailan do it.) The sections look like our grapefruit but are bigger and less sour.
Here are some pictures of the apartment and the view out our window.
The view from our apartment. Notice the separate lane for scooters.
—Ann
