Friends Around and All the Way Along

Part of the reason that I have been lagging behind in my blog posting is because the trail of visiting friends and friends’ friends never stopped since we arrived in Beijing a few months ago. I lost track of how many guests parading in and out of our “box house.” The hosting activities range from entertaining them for a dinner or accommodating them for a short stay. Friends joked that we must have unofficially announced to the world the opening of our family hotel business. Quite contrary, we are still officially in hiding as we didn’t tell any of our old friends that we have built another nest in this old and brand new town.

A few days ago, when the husband ran into a couple, our dear friends, on his way back from his rare outing on a bike ride, all parties were shocked by the dream-like encounter. People who know us know and forgive our style of making, treating and keeping friends. We don’t have much courtesy and ritual per se. But we draw people to us as much as we are drawn to them. We might have a higher chance of losing the air to breathe than being out of touch with friends.