I’m not sure what the long term sleeping arrangements are here. There was talk of the son sleeping in the same room as me on a cot or something, but as I said before he slept on the couch. The glass window that is cracked open in my room facing the foyer/dining room seems a little strange too.
I woke up and ate a good breakfast. Rice porridge, some leftover dofu/veggies from dinner, small dried scrimp, peanuts, egg omelet, bread & jam & ham, and milk. I was surprised again. I don’t think I’ll go hungry here!
The weather good here. Quite different from the drenching humidity of the summer. Highs are in the 60’s Fahrenheit. Lows about 50 Fahrenheit. Clear skies.
I learned the family owns a swimsuit factory in Guangzhou, China. They sell to parts of Europe and Russia. That explains why this family doesn’t worry about money constantly like the last family I stayed with.
I found out the son is in High School (I think equivalent of 11th grade) and wants to attend an university in the USA. So maybe one of the reasons they want me to stay here is so he can improve his English before then. But I don’t feel a constant pressure here to teach English directly (again differing from my last experience).
The mother took me to the police station to get a "Registration Form of Temporary Residence." Now that the police and government know where I live, I can extend my 30-day Visa. I need to get at least 60 days. I noticed this home is in sort of a Russia-town area. It is really strange to see all these shops with Cyrillic script and Russian people walking around in the middle of China’s capital city.
In the evening, we went to a Chinese restaurant because it is the father’s birthday today. Unfortunately in the rush to leave, I forgot my camera. I think it ended up being 10 or 11 people there sitting at a circular table with another rotating circle in the middle. In a traditional Chinese dinner, you don’t eat your own dish, but you eat a little of many shared dishes. In the center was noodles & chicken which was very similar to that big (18") plate I had in Korea (except not as spicy). Around it there were another 12 or so plates of food. Some were whole fish (with the head and all), mushrooms, vegetables, dumplings, salad, other seafood. Plenty of good food and I had my fill.