the dirty old boat man hooks a brother up

despite his relentless dirty-old-man-ness, the dirty old boatman proved useful.  as we were pulled over to the side of the river, snacking on our newly-purchased barbecued chicken, a couple of girls pulled up beside us.  one got off their raft, came over next to me, and ordered some stuff from the lady there.  just as she got done ordering, the dirty old boatman yells over that we should buy her something to eat and go on a date.  then, to her, he shouts, "american guys are good-looking beyond compare! you should let him take you on a date!"  we both chuckled awkwardly at his attempts at matchmaking and started chatting while we stood there.  finally, as we were getting ready to go, i suggested that she and her friend split up and finish the rest of the river trip with greg and i.  everyone agreed and we spent the rest of the trip chatting about home, work, school, teaching chinese (turns out that's what she does.  she teaches chinese to foreigners in shanghai), etc.  all-in-all, it was a pleasant trip...that is, until my toenail got ripped off and shi jie (that's her name) had to dig through her bag for some bandaids!