Jackets

I didn’t bring a jacket to China—it was summer when I left and had been for months. I just couldn’t imagine cold. I don’t think I even owned a decent jacket at that point, just a sweatshirt. Well, the weather in Wuxi turned exactly on November 1. On Halloween night I was at Blue Bar, sitting outside in my shirtsleeves. The next morning I walked outside and it was freezing. So on November 3, I went out to find a jacket.

I rode my bike around Dongting, looking for a reasonable men’s clothing store. The best find was a place selling a cool-looking motorcycle jacket for 199.00. While I was in there, ineffectively trying to communicate with the salesgirls, three Tianyi teachers recognized me and came inside. “You are Bill!” they said, “We are English teachers at Tianyi.” They acknowledged that it was getting cold and approved of my plan to buy a jacket. “Will you bargain?” they asked casually. I hadn’t even thought about it. They noted that the jacket was “on promotion” and so I probably couldn’t bargain. I went ahead and bought it, completing my ensemble with a synthetic sweater and a pair of knit gloves from E-Mart.

The next day, I saw Jie and Helen at work. “New jacket!” said Helen. “Did you bargain?” said Jie.

About a month later, Helen approached me with a measuring tape. “I have to take your measurements!” she said. “Why?” I asked. “Because Principal Shen is buying down jackets for all the Americans!” Yes, it turned out that Principal Shen was worried that we did not like the climate in Wuxi, so he would buy us all jackets. Kind of a weird gesture, but I wasn’t going to say no—my sweater/windbreaker combo was turning out to be a little thin for those late-night bike rides home. A few days later she showed up with the jacket, brand name “Appeal” (the logo is an apple). It’s fantastic and I’m wearing it as I write this.