Boyz n da Wu

I have really taken my time to write about Matt, Matt and Max's housewarming party last Friday but it was such a splendid shindig with lots of evidence that a student house in Beijing can just be as fun as anywhere else in the world that I just had to.

I tagged along with the boys as they prepared for their party which in itself was not an uneventful experience. First off, we went to the great saviour and haven from shoddily decorated Chinese apartments (fluorescent lights, linoleum flooring and damp toilets) that is Ikea. Of the many items the boys happily popped into their yellow Ikea bags, the decision on which standing lamps to buy was a tough one.

Matt: Doh! I forgot, I need something to go in my bedroom too.

Koren: Oh God you have hideous tastes

Max: Can we go get a jianbing now?

Matt: Come on Kong Ren, stay with me, you're flagging...

Koren: Whatever!

Me: Ooh look, a camera!

And after all that wrangling they settled on this outstanding symbol of male fertility and masculity. Sweet.

A quick stop home to drop off the purchases and then we were out again, firstly to lunch and then to the nearest Carrefour, which under normal traffic circumstances, would have taken us all of 5 minutes. But of course, we were in Zhongguancun and it was Friday late afternoon - the favourite day for a mass exodus out of the city with a corresponding rush of people coming to to spend the weekend in Beijing. I had the right side of my face properly roasted by the autumn sun and the joy of being stuck in one of those taxis that just did not, come hell or high water, believe in rolling up the windows and blasting out the A/C. I know it's gonna cost you a few kuai, gemen'r, but it sure as hell beats a lungful of noxoius traffic fumes and the noice of gridlock. Not to mention the disheartening sight of plain road stupidity. Can you believe these are the same people the traffic police let off to give ME slack on riding a scooter without a license?

With all that time wasting and Chinese shoppers trying to bump the taxi queue (*serenity now... serenity now...* Where do you think you're going, beatch?!) I never thought the party would take off but of course it did.

It took them a while but people figured out soon enough that this was where it's at... (that sentence can't be grammatically correct, surely?)

Matt gave all and sundry an intensive tour of the premises, leaving no stone or TV cabinet door unturned... ...while Matt Koren was slightly more self-centred, albeit deliciously so, and posed for the cameras...

...but even the beautiful people need a little help from their friends so Matt K roped Jia, who is probably the most delightfully insane Chinese girl I've ever met, and my good self for a little more camera action.

Now the boys would not have let me follow them around if I hadn't made some contribution to the housewarming party so I served up some of my famous fruit punch which went down, quite literally, very well. Observe the bloke in the background proper knocking it back!

The guy in the blue shirt seemed to have had quite a bit too...

... as did Matt...

Despite my heavy punch making duties and social butterflying I still found lots of time to share a quiet moment or two with Max. And then a camera appeared and my natural poser instinct clicked into action...

Echoing Matt's sentiments, I have a feeling that this is going to be a good year. :-)