Happy New Year's Eve Eve Eve

I went to 'Auntie' Xiao's place across the way from my flat, today, to see if she might take me back to the 派出所, haven't spent the remainder of Valentine's Day trying to calculate my losses and next moves if I had to move out of the flat and back into the dormitory.

She called up Estate Agent Pan, who had acted as agent for finding this flat in the first place, explaining that 'Auntie' Pan used to work at the police station. Mr. Ming's comments the previous day suddenly made sense and Auntie Pan reassured me that because it was the holidays soon so she'd take me on the 8th day of New Year in a couple of weeks.

Seeing my distress, Auntie Xiao reassured me that everything was okay. I told her about the experience of one of my classmates in Shanghai, who had been fined 500RMB a day and been detained at the airport, missing her flight, for not correctly sorting out her visa. Auntie Xiao laughed off the story saying that Harbin was not Shanghai, and that things were more flexible here.

I hope she's right, and that I don't get fined or deported. The Chinese concept of 关系 or 'connections' is a crucial one in greasing the wheels of commerce, industry, and bureaucracy, and I hope that it doesn't let me down in this case. I don't really see any options now but to wait a couple of weeks and trust in Auntie Pan.

As I left, Auntie Xiao asked me what I was doing for New Year. The answer being "Nothing at all" she invited me round to her place. As I hesitated, she hurried to add "There'll be Russians there. My friends! Their Chinese is very good too. Oh, and I'll have plenty of food". Sold! I said I'll see her in a couple of days.

In a class with Paul, the topic of alcohol came up.

"Harbin is the heaviest drinking city in China" I volunteered as he struggled with the English phraseology.

"No, no. How do you say 慕尼黑 (Mu Ni Hei)？" He asked.

I hazarded a guess. "Munich?"

"Right! Right! Well, Munich is the heaviest drinking city in the world. Harbin? Number two!" Paul beamed.

I ran this over in my mind as I went shopping for some Rice Spirit as a New Year gift for Auntie Xiao. I'll be drinking with some of the hardest drinkers in the world (Russians), in one of the hardest drinking cities in the world (Harbin), on perhaps the hardest drinking festival in the Chinese Calendar (Spring Festival). Better eat a big lunch!