Yesterday afternoon I went to Cheng Dong Primary School and caught up with Qiao Ping and Xu Xiao Xing. It was the winter solstice which is an important festival here. Most people have a big meal with family and it's important to eat a type of dumpling which is filled with sweet black sesame. Very delicious, but it means after you eat it you are one year older.

Qiao Ping, Jimmy, Miss Liu and I went to a restaurant for hot pot together, their families live a fair distance away so it was impossible for them to go home. During the meal Fish and Steele telephoned me to join them, I thought this was a little odd as earlier in the week Fish had told me about the family gatherings and I was certain he'd be with his family. Not to be, the one thing that outranks the family in China is work and your boss and Fish's boss, Miss Tao had come from Lishui, so the education office were out to a fancy dinner.

I agreed to meet them an hour later and and I pleaded for Jimmy to come along with me. We arrived and I expected an older crowd, but infact there were only a few people there and they were chatting friendly. Qiu received an award for the best English teaching essay so it was quite a formal but friendly occassion.

After that second meal for the night - Jimmy and I headed off to another party. There will be a special event next Thursday which I haven't quite ascertained the whole deal, however Jimmy will be a model. We went to his modelling practice session which was a lot of fun. Many donkeys will take part in the event, so the crowd was young and happy.

Modelling practice finished and we all headed off to Er Zheng's home. By now Er Zheng's home should read Party House. We always seem to end up there and have a great time, until very late in the evening. At quarter to ten, I tried to leave so I could catch the last bus home, but this just created a bigger party atmosphere and we all piled out into the below zero night to find a BBQ place.

About 10 people came along to the "Little Fat Pig Restaurant" by the river and ate heaps of kebabs and drank a mixture of warm coconut milk with egg, Bu Ping drank rice wine with egg in it YUK YUK YUK!!, and Er Zheng, Jimmy and I stuck to beer.

I arrived home around midnight after having one of the best nights I've had in Qingtian.