No Such Thing as a Day Off

3.27.2008

A fellow teacher at ABC said it best: "There's no such thing as a day off in China."

We are alloted two days off a week, but in truth, everyday is packed full of things to do, places to see, people to meet... if only we could actually speak to people when we met them. We are trying really hard to learn words here and there, but the pronunciation continues to impede our progress. As Collin and I walked down our street today, we discussed how frustrating it is to be saying the word somewhat correctly, only to draw completely blank stares. We got to a main road and hailed a cab (we needed to go to WalMart to return and exchange some things... ha!). We jump in: "Ni hao."

"Ni hao."

Collin decides a cab driver in our 'hood should recognize 'WalMart' being spoken in English: "WalMart."

"Eh?"

"WalMart!"

Blank stare.

Collin unzips his bag, pulls out his notebook, flips to the page where our Chinese friends wrote WalMart in Chinese for us, points to it.

"Ahhh, WalMart!" the driver responds. We crack up and the driver chuckles along, with no way of knowing what could be so funny. It never fails to blow our mind how the tiniest inflection can matter so much.

Surprisingly, we managed to return the shower rod we bought (it had fallen apart as soon as we touched it). A very nifty Mandarin guide we own had these sentences: "This was broken when I bought it" and "I want my money back" written in Chinese. We simply pointed to the sentences, the customer service worker said something in Chinese to which we replied, "Uhh.. dui? (correct?)" and then we got handed 40 RMB and something to sign. Awesome. Now to exchange the cell phone, because it hasn't been working right. Not so awesome. Through hand gestures, 3 different workers (one who spoke a bit of English, thank god) and going back and forth between the cell phone counter and the customer service counter 3 times, we managed to leave with the broken cell still in hand and instructions to call the phone manufacturer to fix the problem. [Hmmm.. I wonder if we can 'press 2 for English' on that phone call?]

The funniest part of this adventure was me walking around the city for awhile with a shower rod in hand. Instead of feeling as though I stood out in the crowd, I actually felt like I blended in. Everywhere you look people are hurrying to and fro with the most random of objects. A dude biking by with 8 Dell computers? Why not. A girl cruisin' by on a scooter with a small child and a bag full of mysterious vegetables? Absolutely. The best is when they pile half of the world's garbage on the back of a tricycle cart. All over the city people are transporting anything you can think of on these trikes at all times of the day and night. We love to play the "Find The Biggest Load" game. The record holder (as of now) was a pile that was roughly 10' x 10' that we were lucky enough to witness on Monday. Imagine a pile of junk 10 feet high and 10 feet wide. Strapped to a tricycle. And someone actually riding this trike. Without it all falling off. It was 10:3o pm on a Monday night and this is what 'casually' passes our taxi. Only in China. [We tried to get a picture from the cab, but it was too dark, so you'll have to take my word for it.]
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In other news, Collin ate grasshoppers and worms. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so how about a video?




Or two?







I didn't do it because someone needed to be the videographer, right? Actually, I wanted to keep all the delicious food I had just consumed in my stomach rather than projecting it back onto the table, so I insisted on passing on the insect course. Collin and Kurt (fellow teacher) decided to sample these delicacies at a really fancy buffet where the three of us were eating. This place had salad, soups, meat dishes, seafood dishes, sushi, noodles, pizza, dumplings, fresh fruits, sandwiches, deserts-- basically anything you could think of-- and it was all you can eat. On top of that, it had juice, soda, wine and beer-- all you can drink. Insane! How much did we pay for this amazing, endless supply of food and drinks? 67 RMB a person (about $9.75). This place is a 3 minute cab ride from our apartment. Dangerous!

I am working up the courage to eat a bug. As one of Collin's friend's put it: "Well chickens eat bugs and we eat chickens, so it's all the same... right?"

Hmm... now that she put it that way, maybe I will get rid of the middle man and go straight to the source. Grilled Grasshopper comin' right up!

-T