Great Ending to 2009, Part 3

My parents' visit seemed to be cruising by without any hope of slowing down. Their second week here went by just as quick, but with a little less stress or maybe more wine. The girls have been introduced to "cocktail hour". Now, don't get all worried. They enjoy the hors d'oeuvres and legal libations while providing the rest of us with entertainment. As mentioned, one of their favorite activities is playing America's Next Top Model, complete with wardrobe changes, makeup and poses. When we're quick enough we sometimes catch these moments on film, which is what the girls want all the time. They also want us to pick a winner, which is just their way of setting us up for torture and torment. There is a fine art to convincing them that they are each a winner in a different category, but inevitably someone's ego gets bruised and the catwalk is closed for the evening.
Monday was an adventure. Cindy took us to Pearl City. All nine of us piled into our van. The twins rode in the way back on bean bags. Yes, highly illegal in the US, but here...not so much.
Cindy was a huge help in finding the vendor with the best price and interpretting what we wanted. We left with plenty of pearls and already plotting a return trip. The pearls here are gorgeous and cheap. They are freshwater pearls harvested in right here in Suzhou. When we come back to the U.S. I'm definitely stocking up. We decided to get lunch before our next stop, which was to the tailor's. I wanted to get long winter coats made for the girls. We picked up Cindy's two girls (yes, that makes eleven in the van) and had lunch at a Japanese-run Italian restaurant. They actually have really good pizza. Ten of us ate for less than 250RMB (@ $40).
The tailors/fabric sellers were in the old town on the second floor of what looked to be like a warehouse...a really old warehouse with few windows, damp floors and no heat. Most of the businesses do not have heat even the major ones. The different fabric vendors sat huddled in their cubbies and were not as intrusive as the fake market vendors, but the feeling is very similar. Cindy did all of the talking once we found some fabric we liked. Prices jumped around and one tailor even upped his price once he saw the "mei guo ren" (American). Finally, after almost two hours, we decided to get one coat made to ensure the quality. I am hoping for success because I'd love to get some clothes made for Katie...and the rest of us. When we left we came down a different set of stairs into a street market. If it hadn't been so cold, we would have investigated further. It looked like you could buy anything from dishes to clothes to cleaning supplies to pets/dinner.
Wednesday we went back to Pearl City. It's so easy to get overwhelmed and forget any plan you may have had before entering therefor necessitating a second trip or you may just want to buy more. I bought some earrings for the girls and two necklaces and a bracelet for myself while Mom and Dad loaded up on more baubles. Later, we went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch, Casa Zoe. The food is not outstanding but we kind of pretend we're at Los Amigos back in Seneca. Actually, the food is better than Los Amigos. The wait staff loves the girls...big surprise. One of the waitresses saw that Katie had gotten her ears pierced and gave her a pair of earrings, the ones out of her ears...kind of weird, but sweet. The shopping bug had gotten hold of us so we headed to the old town as Eric told Larry of a shop that sold watches, purses and all. Mr. Liu found the shop and we were immediately taken up a private set of stairs to a stocked room. Haggling and bluffing ensued. We learned the shopowner only sells to foreigners, which we took to mean he jacks his prices way up. He tried to tell us it was the best quality, which by the looks of some of purses held some truth. We all walked out and started across the street and the owner called Larry back in. We checked out the DVD store across the street and found good ol' Spongebob Squarepants' entire collection for $10. Larry came out with three purses, and three watches. I still don't know what he paid, but the raspberry Coach purse won me over.
Larry had been teasing my mom all week about taking her to an authentic Chinese restaurant. She was not amused and was dreading the inevitable. We invited Eric and Grace as a thank you for the beautiful necklaces Grace had made for the girls (out of the seashells from Hong Kong) and mom and me. They made reservations for us at Song He Lou, a very popular and old restaurant known for its Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, which a chef supposedly made for the emperor. We were taken to our own private room. The menu looked a little scary at first and I could see mom's eyes bugging out at some of the pictures. Eric and Larry ordered and we prayed. The dishes immediately started arriving. Everything looked beautiful and nothing had too many eyeballs. When the famous fish dish was set on the table, we all kind of stared. Larry'd had it before and assured us it was good. In fact, it was quite tasty. Sydney was the most adventurous, trying a bit of everything, while her sisters made do with the fried rice. The price was extremely reasonable as it's a local establishment. We actually ate for less than we did for lunch and had two more people and more food.
Larry invited all of his co-workers, families and drivers to our house for New Year's Eve. He also invited Carl (from the golf tournament) and his wife. We spent the day preparing food and readying the house. Everyone started arriving around 6pm. Shots started around 7pm and a couple of our guests spent the evening toasting everyone who walked by. Chinese wine or maotai will put you on your behind quickly. I mistakenly ordered it once thinking I was getting white wine. Well, it's white, but tastes more like grain alcohol. Stories started being spun and drinks were flowing. The girls, all squealing six of them, were off "filming a murder movie", complete with costumes, props and a script. They only showed themselves for food and drink. We never saw the finished product, it may end up on DVD over here, who knows. Around 10:30pm we had Cosmos, which I was surprised when many of the wives said they'd never had. The drivers had disappeared for about an hour, but came back fully armed with the largest block of fireworks I'd ever seen. Champagne in hand, we toasted in 2010. Fireworks could be heard all over the city. We added to the noise for a good ten minutes. After the smoke cleared and everyone had left, Katie and her father had a quiet moment together. I snuck a picture as father and daughter celebrated the New Year in China. Who would have thunk it?