Last Night in Yuquan Lu

When I moved to China, I had no idea what I was doing. I had rarely left the States, and a couple of trips to Canada and a honeymoon to a Four Seasons Resort hardly count. I did little-to-no research. I didn't even buy a guide book for Beijing. I can't describe to you just how naive I was.

There is one thing I paid close attention to: in-flight reading. I did know the flying hours I was up against, and I went to Powell's in search of the perfect book. I wanted something that was dense and meaningful, but it couldn't be too academic or obtuse. I needed it to last, and hold my attention, and distract me from the inevitable dark moments. Oh, and I waaay prefer fiction to nonfiction.

This is not an easy book to find.

But I persevered. And there, in the fiction room, I saw it: Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving. It was (is?) is newest.

A friend of mine turned me on to John years ago when I asked for summer beach reading recommendations. I think that's when I read A Prayer for Owen Meany. And it went from there. Irving remains one of my favorite authors for just the kind of reading I was looking for: dense but pleasurable, with strong characters, intricate plots, and a hefty page count. When you add in a setting that usually includes New England, you have a winning combination.

Having read enough Irving, I know that he has some favorite tropes: prep schools, wrestling, the aforementioned New England towns, tattoos, and bears. I love him just for the bears alone. (Although it's good not to read too many in a row for fear of accusing him of repetition, and I would hate to do that.)

Book in hand, along with a pile of luggage and a growing sense of dread at the unknown I was heading for, I boarded the plane.

Irving did not disappoint. LNiTR opens in a New Hampshire logging camp not all that far, or really that much different, from my hometown in Maine. The rivers featured in the book run through Maine. The characters spend some time in Maine. And there was a bear in chapter one. Scared, alone, nervous, and flying into the unknown, I had Irving to ground me.

I landed in Beijing and quickly fell in with the best lot of mates a girl could ever hope for, and certainly better than she'd ask for. You've been reading the blogs (I assume), so by now you know just how important the Boys and my Handler have been to me for the last two years. You know how difficult life in my very Chinese neighborhood sometimes was and how they have gotten me through every one of those moments.

They have shared successes and failures, Thanksgivings (even though only my Canadian really understands the holiday) and Christmases, in-jokes and bad jokes (you don't want to hear about two nuns in a bath), cheese and chocolate, and pint after pint of shitty Chinese beer. They have forever changed my idiolect (as I'm sure you've noticed in my writing — or maybe only noticed me bitching about it). They've introduced me to "Delilah", rugby, and more uses for the word piss than I ever imagined existed. They can describe me to a T (when pushed) and know my preferred McDonald's breakfast order (as I know theirs). What I'm getting at is that they've had my back from day 1. If I ever needed something: a beer, a couch to crash on, someone to listen, a laugh, or even a pair of glasses, they were always there. Always.

Now I am moving on to a new posting. Although I am staying in Beijing, I am moving schools and neighborhoods. So while it's not a compete good-bye, it will be a change and I've been feeling a little nostalgic.

So on Tuesday evening, we went out for our last night in Yuquan Lu. A number of the Boys are also moving — some willingly and some not so much. It rained. Sweet Baby Jesus, did it ever rain. The heavens opened up and it poured buckets. I still had a ton of stuff to do (I was wearing my Handler's old glasses since I'd demolished my own, just for a hint of the madness level). And, well, what was it going to do? Rain on me? I still had the key to my apartment, spare clothes, electricity, hot water, and a towel (a froody dude always knows where her towel is). So I got wet. I slogged through ankle-deep shitty water (and I mean that literally although I'm trying not to think about it).

We all did.

We sat outside and drank pint after pint. We swore each one was just "one more". We laughed. We joked. Sometimes, we yelled. We sang "Delilah" to Mr. Smashing — it was a little premature but we had to get it done before he left for the airport. We took silly photos. We toasted. (We skipped the baijou, thankfully.) We went pee in an absolutely filthy toilet with limited running water and no bins. It was the Yuquan Lu.

The YQL was tough, no doubt about it. It's not always pretty. It's not always nice. But, it was where I lived. I'm going to miss it.

- Do you really care this was posted using BlogPress from my iPad?

Location:Yuquan Lu, Shijingshan District, Beijing, PRC