In Which We Have Visitings (Qi)
The sole downside to being an active and sociable hobbitses with lots of things to post about is being too tired to actually post! So there's three posts in succession catching up now :)
I had fun the weekend before last when my Chinese penpal Qi came up for a visit! We've known each other since I was a teenager and joined one of those penpal clubs (I think the internet has made that sort of thing redundant, pretty much), and there were flurries of long letters back and forth for years, vivid memories of sitting on the bus heading into college and eagerly reading what he had to say. He came over to the UK to study in Liverpool, unfortunately when I was still at St Andrews, my final year, so we only spent a bit of time together, oh and Christmas, but my parents took him under their wing and he'd often come over for Sunday lunch.
Ok, that's nearly 20 years ago and he's over again, doing an MLitt in Applied Linguistics at Oxford and now he's settled in and got a handle on his workload I finally got to meet up with him again - contact's been a bit sporadic over the years, emails on occasion, until he asked for help with a project last year and we talked a bit more. Nothing beats actually being in someone's company though, and despite my fears that the snow would interfere (positively blizzarding the night before he was due to travel), all went well. As the native guide I got to pick the hotel, so chose the Holiday Inn Express at Albert Dock, a friend gave it a good review a while back, plus with all the cafes and restaurants there, and being all under cover, its ideal for bad weather, but still within walking distance of the city centre. I am genius, after all. Its a lovely place too, his room was on the top floor of what's basically just a sympathetic conversion of one of the old warehouses, with the same big windows and lots of space and the brickwork left as is in the wide hallways, but nice modern rooms - and look at the view from his window, wow:
So Saturday afternoon I hopped in a taxi (crunching cautiously over the snow) and headed down, a bit nervously. And we got on great, didn't feel like 20 years had passed, though obviously we're both older, though I don't think either of us look our ages (discounting my grey hair, of course), one hug, a bit of awkwardness and then we're chatting away like old times about all manner of things - he's matured a lot, and done many things, run his own business, travelled a lot, studied and read widely so there were plenty of topics of conversation. He thinks I'm amazing, which is always flattering, he has a high opinion of my intelligence and talents (ok, I'll admit to the linguistic skill but not so sure on the rest..) and it was lovely to have such in-depth conversations at a high level cos I don't get that much these days.
It was fun playing native guide and teacher too - I'd checked out various restaurants and we ended up going to Miller and Carter, a good-looking steakhouse that turned out to have a relaxing cocktail bar attached, the kind with big squishy sofas and a good atmosphere, so we settled in there while waiting for a table, and I got to advise him on tipping (he's more used to the US way of things), and suggest a non-alchoholic cocktail, pink and fruity *g*, and then we chatted non-stop over a rather marvellous dinner. I mean, duck pate to start, then fillet beef wellington, which they serve with a choice of sauces (red wine and shallot went well), and iceberg lettuce wedge with a choice of dressing, and onion loaf, and a baked potato, and then we both had a half lobster tail on the side.. wow. Amazingly tasty food, some of the best I've had, and he very sweetly treated me which made it even better. We got on so well we decided to meet up next day, which was just as much fun. I suggested he go to morning mass at the Cathedral which was a huge hit with him, he was in architecture til he retired and so likely appreciated the rather unusual "paddy's wigwam" even more than most people, was blown away by the light streaming down from the ? over the circular main area, and the various coloured robes, the singing the organ, really a highlight for him. I don't *mind* mass at the cathedral but wanted a lie in, so we met up in time for lunch at the Pan Am bar (so-so - they had weird rules about where you could eat the carvery so we had sausage and mash which was.. ordinary) and then a cab into town for some shopping. He really wants to know more about British culture so ended up with dvds of Monty Python, and then in the bookshop he was interested in Oscar Wilde and was impressed by the only two quotes I know, but then left with a copy of Hitchhikers Guide - the vital things in cultural knowledge, dontcha know *grin* I was going to suggest a poetry anthology but they had a copy of Poem for the Day Part 2 (part 1 is a cherished friend to me) and only *one* copy so I nabbed it. Well, Qi treated me - he really responds to "bright eyes" as he calls it, a look of passion and interest about things and the way I was cuddling the book delightedly I think gave him a clue :)
It was a gorgeous day, bright sun and blue skies and lovely down by the river waiting for the cab, though the rain had hit in by the time we headed back to my house so he could spend time with mum and dad. He fondly remembers mum teaching him about puns (there's always silly wordplay round our house), and he holds my dad in high esteem and was bowled over when dad gave him a signed copy of the poetry anthology featuring some of his poems. And we chatted for ours again, after looking round to see all the changes upstairs - we'd only just moved in when he was last here and a lots changed in just the past couple of years never mind 20, come to think, and of course I'd explained to him the importance of "ooh, shiny" (bought a shiny beaded bracelet in town already) and there's plenty of shiny things to spot, with the various shades and the dangling baubles and jewelled things and crystals... It makes a nice contrast to in-depth discussions of history, politics, religion, the current state of China and the like, after all.
I love having visitors and it was such a treat after so many years to find we hit it off so well, hopefully he'll come and visit again and we can explore more of Liverpool together, he loves the city and really appreciated the many changes since his last stay, plus he's mad about food so there will likely be more good restaurants to sample, yum :)
I had fun the weekend before last when my Chinese penpal Qi came up for a visit! We've known each other since I was a teenager and joined one of those penpal clubs (I think the internet has made that sort of thing redundant, pretty much), and there were flurries of long letters back and forth for years, vivid memories of sitting on the bus heading into college and eagerly reading what he had to say. He came over to the UK to study in Liverpool, unfortunately when I was still at St Andrews, my final year, so we only spent a bit of time together, oh and Christmas, but my parents took him under their wing and he'd often come over for Sunday lunch.
Ok, that's nearly 20 years ago and he's over again, doing an MLitt in Applied Linguistics at Oxford and now he's settled in and got a handle on his workload I finally got to meet up with him again - contact's been a bit sporadic over the years, emails on occasion, until he asked for help with a project last year and we talked a bit more. Nothing beats actually being in someone's company though, and despite my fears that the snow would interfere (positively blizzarding the night before he was due to travel), all went well. As the native guide I got to pick the hotel, so chose the Holiday Inn Express at Albert Dock, a friend gave it a good review a while back, plus with all the cafes and restaurants there, and being all under cover, its ideal for bad weather, but still within walking distance of the city centre. I am genius, after all. Its a lovely place too, his room was on the top floor of what's basically just a sympathetic conversion of one of the old warehouses, with the same big windows and lots of space and the brickwork left as is in the wide hallways, but nice modern rooms - and look at the view from his window, wow:
So Saturday afternoon I hopped in a taxi (crunching cautiously over the snow) and headed down, a bit nervously. And we got on great, didn't feel like 20 years had passed, though obviously we're both older, though I don't think either of us look our ages (discounting my grey hair, of course), one hug, a bit of awkwardness and then we're chatting away like old times about all manner of things - he's matured a lot, and done many things, run his own business, travelled a lot, studied and read widely so there were plenty of topics of conversation. He thinks I'm amazing, which is always flattering, he has a high opinion of my intelligence and talents (ok, I'll admit to the linguistic skill but not so sure on the rest..) and it was lovely to have such in-depth conversations at a high level cos I don't get that much these days.
It was fun playing native guide and teacher too - I'd checked out various restaurants and we ended up going to Miller and Carter, a good-looking steakhouse that turned out to have a relaxing cocktail bar attached, the kind with big squishy sofas and a good atmosphere, so we settled in there while waiting for a table, and I got to advise him on tipping (he's more used to the US way of things), and suggest a non-alchoholic cocktail, pink and fruity *g*, and then we chatted non-stop over a rather marvellous dinner. I mean, duck pate to start, then fillet beef wellington, which they serve with a choice of sauces (red wine and shallot went well), and iceberg lettuce wedge with a choice of dressing, and onion loaf, and a baked potato, and then we both had a half lobster tail on the side.. wow. Amazingly tasty food, some of the best I've had, and he very sweetly treated me which made it even better. We got on so well we decided to meet up next day, which was just as much fun. I suggested he go to morning mass at the Cathedral which was a huge hit with him, he was in architecture til he retired and so likely appreciated the rather unusual "paddy's wigwam" even more than most people, was blown away by the light streaming down from the ? over the circular main area, and the various coloured robes, the singing the organ, really a highlight for him. I don't *mind* mass at the cathedral but wanted a lie in, so we met up in time for lunch at the Pan Am bar (so-so - they had weird rules about where you could eat the carvery so we had sausage and mash which was.. ordinary) and then a cab into town for some shopping. He really wants to know more about British culture so ended up with dvds of Monty Python, and then in the bookshop he was interested in Oscar Wilde and was impressed by the only two quotes I know, but then left with a copy of Hitchhikers Guide - the vital things in cultural knowledge, dontcha know *grin* I was going to suggest a poetry anthology but they had a copy of Poem for the Day Part 2 (part 1 is a cherished friend to me) and only *one* copy so I nabbed it. Well, Qi treated me - he really responds to "bright eyes" as he calls it, a look of passion and interest about things and the way I was cuddling the book delightedly I think gave him a clue :)
It was a gorgeous day, bright sun and blue skies and lovely down by the river waiting for the cab, though the rain had hit in by the time we headed back to my house so he could spend time with mum and dad. He fondly remembers mum teaching him about puns (there's always silly wordplay round our house), and he holds my dad in high esteem and was bowled over when dad gave him a signed copy of the poetry anthology featuring some of his poems. And we chatted for ours again, after looking round to see all the changes upstairs - we'd only just moved in when he was last here and a lots changed in just the past couple of years never mind 20, come to think, and of course I'd explained to him the importance of "ooh, shiny" (bought a shiny beaded bracelet in town already) and there's plenty of shiny things to spot, with the various shades and the dangling baubles and jewelled things and crystals... It makes a nice contrast to in-depth discussions of history, politics, religion, the current state of China and the like, after all.
I love having visitors and it was such a treat after so many years to find we hit it off so well, hopefully he'll come and visit again and we can explore more of Liverpool together, he loves the city and really appreciated the many changes since his last stay, plus he's mad about food so there will likely be more good restaurants to sample, yum :)