If I haven’t been Blogging recently, it’s only because nothing, apart from the usual, has happend.
Today, however, was a landmark day. First of all, it poured today, with snow. Yes, the snow came down so hard, I could hear it on the rooftop of the dining hall. The dining hall’s rooftop is some thin sort of fibreglass construction, which I can imagine does little more than keep the water out. But still, to hear snow fall says something about how the snow is falling.
Anyway, apart from that, it’s also the end of the term and the end of the year for many Chinese companies. From now on, it is school holidays, until god-knows-when. Nobody told me.
So I cut it a bit close. About two weeks ago I commited to the school’s ‘event’, which thankfully started at 4pm. A few days later I also commited to The Restaurant’s event, which thankfully started at 9.30pm. As if by design.
At the school’s event, there were a lot of dancing and only a little singing… I managed to convince King, the King of Song, to sing with me, even though he was conducting non-violent protest action against the school for not wanting to pay what was due to him. The Karaoke CD I gave them was up to shit and it turned out to be a big mess, skipping and jumping all over the place. But we’re foreigners singing a Chinese song, so we could do no wrong and received warm (fake?) applause from the crowd.
King departed before dinner, leaving me alone to toast the entire school staff, kids and important people, leaving me slightly pickled by the time I left for gig number 2. I took the bus over to The Restaurant, where they immediately knew I was pissed. Was it the dilated pupils, or perhaps the watery appearance of my eyes… or perhaps the stench of Bai Guo on my breath and person?
Nevertheless, the Bai Guo had worn off a wee bit by the time I got there, leaving me with a nice buzz of Dutch Courage. Just what I needed for my performance in front of 600 people.
Lara looked positively edible in too much make-up, wearing a top-and-skirt combo that actually made me want to jump her, even more so in my intoxicated state. That little detail I kept for myself.
I was wearing only 2 layers today, even though it snowed. Not sure how I pulled that one off, but everyone seemed surprised (usually I wear as many layers as can fit under my jacket). So whilst Lara was shivering back-stage, I offered her my jacket, and she sat there cozy, covered by her own jacket and mine. I felt like a hero.
Our number came around by the time the auditorium had emptied out a bit. My fellow South African (and random worker in Shiyan) whistled loudly and gave me a boost of courage. Lara and I pulled off our number famously and received a loud applause from the remaining crowd. Afterwards my Bai Guo buzz was enhanced by a shot of Whiskey, curtosey of Uncle Wang. Cheers.
Today is more of a dairy entry, really. I’m a little bit pissed now and wished I had some movies to watch, as I’m really not sleepy. But alas, I’m the last person awake in Shiyan.