I Spy

Housekeeping You Shouldn’t Have

So, it’s Saturday night here on Shaiman Island and we have our first group dinner at a Thai restaurant. Yes, that’s right I said Thai. I haven’t written much about food yet, but let’s just say finding a good alternative to Chinese at this point is always a welcome prospect. Our dinner is really good and it is nice to meet the two new families who had traveled to other Provinces and our now joining our original group of five for the last leg of the journey.

At the end of dinner Jerry decides to invite two of the couples over to share some Chinese wine at our place. Since our original group is now split between two different hotels there has been some curiosity over which hotel is the better deal. Normally I would be happy to have these new friends over for a visit, but in this case, our hotel room is a mess and I have yet to unpack our bags. We’ve had the unfortunate luck of being assigned a suite with an intense mildew smell. So far my requests to relocate have fallen on deaf ears, but I keep hoping they will soon take mercy on us and move us to someplace more desirable, like a FEMA trailer.

Anyway our friends and their kids join us for drinks and some laughs. They don’t mind the mess and everyone agrees the room smells. Today also happens to be my birthday. Jerry’s idea for an impromptu party actually turns out to be a good distraction for me. Spending my birthday in China and away from Emmett has made me even more homesick, if that’s possible. Mid party a beautifully decorated cake in a beautiful box replete with candles and matches is delivered. I open the card and as it turns out, it is not from any of the people we spent the last five minutes guessing it might be from. The card reads:

Dear Pit Patrick Christine Carr

Happy Birthday

Love Housekeeping Department

Everyone loves the cake, especially the babies, who are likely having their first ever birthday cake. Now we are really having a party and I am actually finally enjoying myself thanks to, well my friends in Housekeeping. The low point of the party comes when someone mentions that while fun and delicious the cake is also a bit creepy. We debate how they new it was my birthday, but decide the delicious cake was well worth any monitoring device we may have eaten. After all most honorable American tourist has nothing to hide.