FRIDAY-MONDAY
The dads came in on Friday and for the first time in 72
hours, I was able to go home where I found a very lonely cat and a very messy
apartment. Everything in a state of half organization, which is to say
everything was a total disaster. On Sunday a troupe of friends came over to
help me decide what to keep and what to throw away. It was a real life version
of Hoarders but minus the mouse feces and plus a lot of mini food erasers.
By the time the movers came on Monday, I was already picking
out items in the Throw Away pile and moving them to the Keep pile now that my
friends from Sunday, i.e. voices of reason, were not there to stop me and the
friend who had come to help me was very lovely and enabling. Look out 2013 - Hoarders: NYC Edition!
By Monday, Alex’s oxygen had been reduced and he downgraded
from oxygen mask to breathing tube. His platelet count was back to normal as
were his kidneys. He wanted to “neaten
up” his beard in bed. As I stood there holding a water basin for him like a
butler as he carefully shaved, it struck me that the sheer vanity of the
request was really the true indicator of him feeling better. The thought was an uplifting one for a
multitude of reasons including the realization that I probably didn’t need to
be so cheery all the time anymore. All
that niceness was wearing me out.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas Day was spent in a 5-hour ordeal at Bank of China,
which involved 3 trips back to my apartment to retrieve various official
documents. Lesson learned – never,
never, never misplace your bank booklet right before you plan to leave China
forever. At one point, I asked the
teller why he needed my work permit when he already had two passports to which
he answered, “There are too many people who look alike so we have to be sure.”
Even to Chinese people, Chinese people all look the same.
That evening I rushed to my favorite chicken woman on
Wulumuqi Lu – the one on the corner near Fuxing where she dunks whole roasted
chickens into vat of sizzling oil - pure deliciousness for only RMB30 and my
dad rushed home and made the Ouyang Christmas favorites – Chinese food. With
both in tow, we rushed back to the hospital in time for a Christmas dinner.
Alex’s x-rays had come back much better and his vitals were
stable. That night, my dad, Alex’s dad and I sat around Alex’s bed ate our
holiday meal with paper plates and plastic utensils. It was a weird and sentimental at the same
time.
Dengue Fever - bringing people
together for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteشركة تسليك مجاري بالقطيف
شركة تسليك مجاري بالدمام
شركة عزل اسطح و خزانات بالنعيرية
شركة عزل أسطح و خزانات بالدمام