Hong Yan invited me over for lunch.Once again they made a vegetable and tofu hotpot and it was really good.I practiced some Chinese with them, saying the food was delicious and that I was full up.After lunch, Hong Yan asked me to go to town with her while Liu Le Xuan went to her dance class.We walked around town for nearly three hours.Hong Yan asked me when I want to get married.I told her I am too young.She told me she got married at my age and had Liu Le Xuan a year later and she said that marriage is very important to women in China.

We went to one of the big department stores and she said it was 'five star' but still she got quite carried away buying Olay products and scarves.We found some recliner chairs and sat down.She asked me what I thought about the prices in the shop and I said it was just as expensive as a shop in England.She fiddled around on her phone trying to find a word, and then she showed it to me.The translation for what she was trying to say was 'slap up' which made me giggle.I've heard people say 'slap up dinner' but I've never heard it used as reference to a slap up shop!

We started to head back to Liu Le Xuan's dance school but we got there early so we sat in a cake shop and Hong Yan bought us some strange pastry things to eat while we waited.When we went to collect Liu Le Xuan the class had over-run so we were able to watch them practising.There were lots of young Chinese girls dressed in flowing Chinese tops and matching trousers, and they gracefully danced their routine to some Chinese music.It was really cool.