Days 124-125: The Weekend--Xinnian Kuaile!

Saturday was pretty dull. I graded the response papers for my Honors American Literature class. Kerry and I also made some food for Guillermo (leftover spaghetti, mixed vegetable salad) and brought it to him. He seemed grateful: he told me on WeChat that he liked the spaghetti. Beyond that, nothing much really happened today. Kerry told me that he wanted to go to the Westin Brunch for New Year's Eve day--so we decided to do that!

Sunday focused on the brunch. Very high pollution day today: AQI got to 285, the worst we've seen it. In some places, it was worse: Mark said it was in the 300s in Nanjing. We got to the brunch a bit later than we thought, partly because, instead of taking the side roads as most drivers have done in the past, our driver decided to take the expressway, and it took about 50 minutes and cost 20 RMB more than usual. Plus he kept talking to his friend on WeChat and laughing the entire time. Very annnoying. But, fortunately, the Westin kept our reservation, and even let us have some drinks beforehand: I had eggnog and Kerry had a ginger ale-type drink with a splash of alcohol. However, for the first time, we opted not to get the alcohol-based brunch; honestly, I didn't miss the champagne much. I'm not a big drinker. The food, as always, was tremendous: Beijing duck, guacamole and chips, shwarma with hummus, oysters, clams, all kinds of cheeses, turkey legs, ribeye, lamb, gnocchi, bean salad, caprese salad, and all sorts of ice cream and chocolates for dessert (I had black sesame and strawberry ice cream). Near the end of the meal, I started chatting with people at the tables near us. At the table next to us, an older couple was celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary. They were with their daughter and her husband. It turns out that both the daughter and husband, who's Arabic, are English teachers in Suzhou. The daughter's name is Mary-Beth; she even game me her WeChat ID. She seemed pretty cool! They were all from Canada. At the table next to them, I met a couple from Scotland who were visiting. The (rather portly) guy told me all about the couple's travels; they had a baby girl in a baby carriage (she dropped her bunny at one point and I gave it back to them). It was fun chatting with Westerners from different countries!  Eventually, Kerry and I decided to leave; we chose to take the subway home in spite of the pollution. On the way to the East Nanjing Station, we saw a bunch of army men get out of army trucks, line up, walk in unison, and then run quickly across the street. Unusual sight! The trip home was long: Line 10 to Line 8 to Line 3 to Jiangwan Town Station, and then a 20 minute walk home. Sometimes I REALLY, REALLY wish we lived closer to a subway station. When I was in England as a graduate student in 1995, I was about three blocks from the Russell Square Station: it was very convenient!  The remainder of the evening, Kerry and I stayed in and rested.  Later on, I rang in the New Year by listening to a lot of music (mostly electronic music) on YouTube: Madonna's Like a Prayer, Peaches, Deadmau5, lots of Bjork.

Pics from the brunch (and the trip home):

The orchestra at the brunch (Kerry got on the 2nd floor to take this shot).

Dessert! That's black sesame ice cream, along with truffles, strawberry ice cream, chocolate, watermelon.

Kerry outside the hotel, safe from pollution in his Vogmask.

Chinese army men running across the street.

The crowded escalator: East Nanjing Subway station.

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!  I will have some downtime until the 10th, when I give my Final Exam for American Literature. My grading frenzy will likely be from January 10th-19th.  And the 20th we go to Tokyo! We return on the 25th, and leave for the USA on January 30th.