I guess I must have known that it was going to be a late night as we really sort of regrouped today. Had a leisurely morning around the house with a brief stint to get breakfast...this morning it was steamed dumplings, custard baozi, some "pastries" similar to puff pastry one filled with a savory mixture and the other filled with a sweet paste of some sort. We also had "tea eggs", jidan...hard boiled eggs in tea, soy sauce and spices...pretty good. We shopped for veggies and let's just say that we had a hard time spending money...things are ridiculously inexpensive. Rebecca is patient with me as I practice learning how to count out the change to pay for my purchase, but I'm awful! She gets frustrated with the Chinese who tell her her Chinese is good from cab drivers to vendors, because she thinks that she does not warrant such praise, but I'm sure they are impressed by this foreigner as am I. I asked Rebecca about the children we see when we are out... always with grandparents. The grandparents take care of their grandchildren or grandchild mostly, although that is changing--the one child policy--dependent on a couple of factors. -And...take note Matthew and Rebecca, adult children are obligated to take care of their parents as they age. If they do not, then the parents can sue the children. Somehow I don't think that would fly in the U.S. The rest of the day for us is spent emailing, reading, writing, and cleaning the apartment and doing laundry. Even though Rebecca cleaned before I got there, we both like to go barefoot in the house and there is a fine layer of Shanghai silt that covers the floor each day which is why you see shopkeepers constantly mopping their floors in a wasted attempt to keep them clean. Late in the afternoon I fall asleep for a long nap. The humidity and jet lag have a narcotic effect and I wake up later feeling almost hung over. A cup of tea helps to rejuvenate me and Rebecca and I prepare dinner together in our kitchen. The kitchen is good sized, long and narrow with ample cabinets a refrigerator freezer, double sink and a two burner stove. There is no oven, which evidently is fairly typical. The two burners are large and the grates over them are higher to accommodate a wok. Cooking is quick in a wok especial with these burners and we fashion a tasty dish out of chicken, green beans, garlic, onions, ginger, spices and peanut butter over jasmine rice...more Thai than Chinese, but we can buy Chinese food...We relax a bit before Rebecca gets the word that her friends will meet us at an English Pub on the other side of town and we freshen up a bit before hitting the town. A half an hour cab ride later, ( about 4 or 5 bucks) and we are at the Pub. It's about $7 to get a bracelet for "all you can drink"...they will come out ahead on me for sure. We meet her friends...Niamh, Ciara, Guy, Louise, Sue Anne, Pierre, and several others. They are all great fun and I do my best to tease Rebecca in front of them. She's a pretty good sport to take it just as she is nice to let me horn in on her activity. There is a beer pong sign up and the Wentworths are on the list. Guy agrees to be my designated drinker, which works out all the way around. Our game comes up and we go against an American guy from the West Coast and another girl and let's just say that our start is inauspicious. The other team is smoking us, but I come through first for team Wentworth followed a little later by another score. Meanwhile, the other team only has to get one more shot in or we lose and the guy is talking trash to Rebecca who saves the day by sinking 3 in a row to leave us tied. We lose at the last, but make a respectable showing nonetheless. There is talk of going to a dancing club and Pierre is going back to the apartment and Rebecca encourages me to go with him as it is around midnight, but her friends prevail upon me to come out some more and I go. Rebecca is convinced that I'll hate this place, but in fact I don't. The music is loud and pulsating, practically reverberating through my bones, and the atmosphere takes me back to the days of disco. The place is jammed with affluent Chinese and foreigners drinking and dancing. There are cleaning ladies who push their way through the throngs to mop up the spilled drinks and garbage and we are packed inside like sardines. The difference here to when I was young...texting. Even while they are grinding the the music, they are communicating with their friends and it makes sense as the music is so loud, I can't even think. I get separated from Rebecca and hang out with her friends until they are leaving and when I try to find Rebecca, I lose them. So I call Rebecca and miraculously she picks up. She has gone to get a snack and tells me that I can catch a ride with her friends, but I can't find them at this point. I tell her that I'll go get money from an atm, but she'll have to tell the cab driver where to go. That seems to be a good solution, but then I realize that she has the only key. When I call her back after getting cash, I let her know that and she tells me to hang on that she be back shortly. She comes to my rescue and we head home in the cab...the metro doesn't run after 10 pm, and arrive at the apartment at 3:30 am. More tomorrow...I am tired.