Nicholas Quirke was feeling extremely pleased that his visit to the Exit/Entry Bureau on 11 December 2020 resulted in him fulfilling his desire to spend a year in China with his latest extension taking him to 16 January 2021. He had left the UK on 12 January 2020 and to date the experience had exceeded all his expectations. He still felt he was pushing the boundaries of what he had anticipated particularly now that he had some employment but the question continually was how much longer would Chinese officialdom extend their munificence before they tired of his presence. The omens on his way to the office were good as for the first time since the had been here he spotted a variety of uniformed officials travelling the subway. Indeed, from having his photo taken, completing the form and queuing for the meeting was relatively stress free, though there was an awkward and confusing moment when they said he would only be given till the 10 of January but he was more confident and politely argued till they eventually looked at his visa and the expiry and they realised they had made a mistake. It was a happy man that cycled to U-town mall where he would spend the rest of the day till it was time to work at 3.30. He had started the week in the mall and not by design, he was finishing it there. The ice rink that had been set up inside was more populated, and he couldn’t help but film the poor girl who attracted his attention and amusement as she had seemingly stepped onto the ice of her own volition but was so scared that she moved at an absurdly slow pace. He had a short conversation with Chinese gentleman who wanted to practice his English in the mall toilets, was accidentally head butted by a young child on his way to the school and was greeted effusively by the neighbourhood officer at the school building. He was very upset to see his student, Yuda, dissolve into tears as he hadn’t completed his homework but the twins had and also done it really well with some very sophisticated vocabulary. It was a long time since he had seen such huge big tears roll down a child’s face. Fortunately the class was fun and the boy soon forgot his failure. Both classes proved to be entertaining and he left feeling satisfied but tired. He had a message from Peng who had been out for dinner with friends to meet him at a pastry shop near where he worked. When he arrived there was a long queue for the store, Peng had been waiting 20 minutes already. They got the pastries and took the subway home. It was late, it was cold and he was tired and took to bed when he got home.