我的第一个中国发型。(wǒ de dì yī gè zhōngguó fǎxíng : My first Chinese haircut).
Thanks to YY!

YY had invited me for a meal today.  When I arrived to meet her at the metro station near her house, her mother was having her hair washed at her local hairdresser, and so YY asked me if I needed my hair washed too!  As it happened I did need a haircut, so I went for my first Chinese wash and cut – kindly paid for by YY’s mum!  It is unbelievable that the 5 star service I received, I was told, cost about 29 yuan (between 3 to 4 pounds, depending on the exchange rate).  A simple cut alone where I come from in England costs at least 12 pounds.

We then went back to their home for a short while.  YY’s mum is trying to learn English, but on seeing the English homework her teacher had given her, I was somewhat shocked by the mistakes in the teacher’s English!  I didn’t have much time to talk it through with her though, as we had to get to the restaurant for the meal.

So YY, with her mum and dad, took me for a very “Hangzhou style” meal, along with another couple of their friends, who YY said she had invited because they speak good English while her parents don’t.   We had a lovely meal, which included “Beggar’s Chicken” (叫花鸡；jiào huā jī) – a whole chicken, traditionally roasted in caked mud, but in the restaurant they used a metal tin – and some other items on the menu that the translator had given up translating.

After the meal, YY and her father took me to see the spectacular musical fountain show at West Lake.