Family and cuddly sweaters

Last night I went for dinner with not only my usual companions, cousin Kelvin and his wife AnLan, but, for the first time, my entire family here: my two aunts Na Na and Neu Neu, my two uncles by marriage, and AnLan's father, Jimmy. I've been feeling homesick lately, and it was the best reminder I could have had that Shanghai isn't full of strangers. I didn't speak any Chinese the last time I saw my aunts and uncles, so it was really neat to be able to communicate with each other - they told me about their trip to Canada and the States (they were in Edmonton for ten days last month, and I never knew!), and I told them about my hopes for living and working in Shanghai next year. We had a fabulous Shanghainese dinner at a restaurant called 021; pig snout and eel were among the many dishes sampled - pig snout is a little chewy.

Na Na invited AnLan, Kelvin, and I up to her apartment after dinner to try on her endless supply of hand-knit sweaters, which she knits in her spare time and then stores in her closet, unworn. Apparently Na Na is quite famous for her knitting - she published a book about twenty years ago that was made into a calendar, she says, and I do remember her knitting up incredibly complicated sweaters for me when we were visiting Grandma Sue in Nanaimo at the same time. Anyway, I was deposited at home with a full tummy and a soft, fat, red-and-grey cardigan under my jacket.


Photos:

1. The fam in front of a rather dazzling "ice" castle, positioned imposingly in front of 021. From left to right - AnLan, me, Na Na & husband (name to be determined - I didn't want to ask), Jimmy, husband (also ntbd) & Neu Neu.

2. Sweater party! AnLan and Na Na wrestle approximately one-third of the collection back into its duffle bag, to be stored in the closet again; the closet door to the right is concealing three shelves of mohair cardigans and pullovers.

3. My SUPER-COMFY new sweater. Kelvin says it took Na Na about three days to knit. (In three days, I knit a dishcloth.)