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Showing posts from January, 2018

The 1930s Shower

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Yuan has a 1930s shower in her 1930s home. Her home is in the center of Qingdao – Huangdao Lu district, the old quarter. There is an apple tree in the yard and a beer bar on the other side; this is the house where her father was born, where Yuan grew up, and owned by her grandfather, a prolific writer. She gave me the remains of her grandfather’s writing paper – he was a researcher for the municipal government as well as a writer, circa 1955. It has this smell of damp yesterdays and is wafer thin, yet strong, and can soak up the ink without bleeding. The day I leave I will take the last reams and two ceramic soup bowls that her grandmother gave away. I don’t need silk scarfs or jade as my Chinese memories, I want a little piece of my friends’ lives that smell of Qingdao. Lin and Yuan  1930s 1930s shower  Yard  “I have to take a cold shower each morning.” Yuan does not have the money yet to fix the shower with hot water and a tank. “What should I do if I w