the newly finished floors needed at least 24 hours before we could walk on it, so the prep work wouldn't happen until sometime after noon at the earliest. christina's mexican coworker paula came to pick her up so they could go shopping for groceries for their trip to maine later today. while she was gone on this saturday morning, i fixed myself a english muffin-egg-ham sandwich. when she came back she told me they went to this crowded supermarket on somerville avenue not very far from where we live. it appears her friend took her to market basket, and on a saturday no less, to experience it at its craziest.

i was going to go to the cafe at 1pm to do some prep work for the painting that would happen in the next 2 days, but when i called my mother, she said my father had already gone to the cafe. so i left, leaving cristina at home, where she'd go with paula and paula's boyfriend on a 3-hour drive to spend the labor day weekend up in maine, where paula had a friend with a lake house. said friend was both gluten and lactose intolerance, so all their groceries had to reflect the friend's restrictive diet.

my father, my sister, and i started putting down paper to cover up the new floors so it'd be easier to work. we didn't have too much, and by the time we ran out, i went with my father (2:20pm) to go to the airport to pick up the latest chinese astrophysicist living at my grand uncle's rental apartment, while my sister went to go buy the paints and additional supplies (floor paper, blue tape).

we arrived at logan airport around 2:40pm. my father drove to the cell phone lot and walked to terminal E to look for the astrophysicist. his hainan airline flight had already arrived, but he still needed to go through customs and then pick up his luggage, so i knew there'd be a wait. originally my father was going to call me so i could go pick them up from the terminal, but he told me later that it was just a short walk back to the cell phone lot so they'd meet me at the car once the astrophysicist was ready.

i waited with the windows down even after it started getting cold, since i was too stubborn to roll them back up. i checked my pokemon go app a few times, but there was nothing in the vicinity. i ended up passing the time reading the way of the panda: the curious history of china's political animal by henry nicholls. i started getting sleepy, and a few times almost nodded off. my father and the astrophysicist didn't show up until around 4pm.

the young astrophysicist had a small travel suitcase for his one month stay, along with a camera bag. i asked him if this was his first time in boston. "it's my first time in the united states," he replied. originally from hubei, he went to university in nanjing, and just started graduate school, working his way up to a phd. he called my father at the airport, which surprised my father because it was from a boston area code. apparently he managed to get a US SIM card prior to his arrival, with an introductory plan of 1 dao for the first month (that's perfect for him, since he's only in boston for a month). but we were confused by something he said, dao. turns out dao is slang for "dollar", i guess it's what all the young chinese people are calling it these days.

once we arrived at the cafe, my father took the astrophysicist to his apartment while i went back into the cafe to continue my prep work. by then it was already 4:30pm, i wasted 2 hours at the airport. my sister had bought the 2 rolls of paper so i could continue covering up the floors again. after that was done, i patched up any holes in the walls and sanded down any rough spots. i also taped any edges that i didn't want to get paint on.

we worked until 7:30pm. i was ready to return home, but my mother called, asking us to return to belmont, where she already made dinner and was waiting for us. i left a few minutes on the motorcycle, ahead of my father. dinner was just some salty fish friend rice. i returned to cambridge after dinner and took a shower. tomorrow's the real work day so i made sure i didn't stay up too late. i was still a bit hungry, and ended up heating a box of jalapeño poppers in the oven for a late night snack.