Learning the ropes!

The first two pictures are of Ezra and I on a Gondola ride in Hong Kong. The last one is a picture of the Admiral City Mall that we live right behind, it's the shorter building with the circle. Ezra's work is the tallest building in the middle- floor 24. On the far right is the marriot and Walmart is on the left underground. If you look really hard you can see KFC.

So here's the story- I'm finding myself with ample time to blog and ample experiences to blog about. So if it seems like my posting has become a bit obsessive. Don't judge. It's keeping me sane.

 

My English teaching wishes haven't quite worked out. Between my "never know how I'm going to feel pregnancy" and all the traveling we've been doing it just hasn't been practical.

 

I once mentioned that my friend Ashley is all about getting the best deals. This week I learned where the best deals in Nanning are found. Ashley took me to a HUGE "shopping center" where most everything is sold wholesale.

 

I would rather take a big whiff of sewer (which we often do while out and about) than smell what was coming from some of the food stands in front of the entrance to this shopping center. I have no idea what they were cooking, but it is incomprehensible that anyone would ever want to eat it!

 

As we boarded the elevator I should have known it was not going to be a five star shopping experience. But I didn't care, I was ready to shop! Never have I seen so many clothes for sale. Each floor of the building was dedicated to a different group- mens, womens, kids, etc. It would literally take weeks to get through everything.

 

As we made our way around I began to feel like a very small mouse in a very very big maze. I stayed close to Ashley because I was terrified of getting lost, everywhere I could see, things looked the same. It was a ginormous indoor market and there was no sign of an exit.

 

I was so overwhelmed by the sheer mass of goods that did not buy a single thing. The fact that this place seemed to have no ventilation and was hotter than haiti's, might also have played a role. Once I had shed most of my appropriate layers and was feeling like I could no longer breath, we decided it was time to leave. When we passed by the food stands once more and I really started feeling awful, like I might pass out, awful.

 

That is when the real fun began. Rush hour in China makes rush hour about anywhere else look like a day at the park. We were going to have to find a taxi. The only problem was, it was time for the shift change. At this time of day 5-6 o'clock taxis are scarce and drivers will only take you in the direction they are already headed. Buses are out of the question because they are PACKED to the brim with people. In the US a bus is "full" when all the seats are taken. In China a bus is "full" when the driver can no longer close the door.

 

Ashley and I began to pray. We stood on the side of the road waving our arms like maniacs. After about 20 min of this I started to feel faint so she found me a seat in a nearby shop and told me she would call to me when she found a taxi. I watched her run back and forth across one of the busiest streets I've ever seen. (Only native Chinese have the ability to do this and not get run over.) After about another 15 minutes she finally found our taxi, now the only problem was that I was on the opposite side of the road. I was going to have to cross by myself!

 

The typical technique is to cross through one side of traffic and wait in the middle of the road til the other side has an opening. I rushed to the middle and then realized a huge bus was coming in the opposite direction, as it veered to avoid the taxi I was forced out of the middle of the road into on-coming traffic, cars were now veering to avoid me!

 

I was not feeling very confident. Unfortunately another huge bus was right behind the first so I just stood there with nothing more than a foot between me and all the vehicles rushing by. Not Good! Behind the second bus there was a band of scooterists. I figured that the scooterists were more agile so I pretty much closed my eyes and mad a run for it. I got honked at but at least I didn't get hit.

 

I never thought I'd be so happy sit my bottom in a dirty little taxi. Ashley told the driver where to drop her off and gave him directions to Xianxieli (my apartment complex.) After a few minutes Ashley hopped out, said goodbye, and told me to call her when I arrived at Xianxieli.

 

As we drove NOTHING was looking familiar. There is a main drag called Minzu Da Doa that leads to our apartment, he was not on it. I started to freak out just a bit and decided to call Ezra. I told him that nothing was looking familiar and for all I knew the taxi driver could be abducting me. Ezra gave me a few self-defense ideas and told me to call him back in a few minutes.

 

Soon my surrounding started looking familiar and I was able to calm down a bit… that was until my driver said, "we're going to Xianxieli, right?"

 

My eye's about popped out of my head. This guy knew English! I felt so dumb.

 

"Oh-yeah, by the way, I really didn't mean all that stuff about you abducting me."

 

Woops!