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Published: March 1st 2008
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So we are two weeks into our new country and still having a blast! Today was another Saturday shopping trip to continue outfitting our new apartment and checking out the city. Today's trip took us into the center of Han Kou, the business and major center of Wuhan. It took about an hour and a half to drive from our apartment block to where we were dropped off, which gives you some sense of the scale of the city. The return trip took about half as long as we took another route and bypassed the worst of the traffic. The city covers an area of 8500 square kilometers which is quite impressive. We have two organized "shopping trips" every week, Wednesday night and Saturday. This gives everyone a chance to get to different parts of the city in a simple way to shop in larger international food and department stores or just walk around for a few hours until the bus returns.
All parts of the city contain a mixture of old and new, Mercedes jockey for space with 30 year old motorcycles and bicycles. Street vendors peddle their wares outside modern flashy malls containing the latest in designer fashions
and international names. For the first time, we broke down and had a McDonald's lunch just for fun. And had to order in Chinese as always. The fact that I was able to do it and tell them to include fries and drinks and, to have a plain burger only for Nancy, shows how far we have come in two weeks with the language! Later in the day we had to get a gift for a fun party tonight and we also managed to do that and discuss the price as well. It is hard to believe how quickly you learn a language when necessary. My major step this week was learning to count to 1000 and learn a little more shopping lingo.
If life ever slows down, which it hasn't since we accepted this job, we will have time to visit some of the historic sites and museums in the area. It is difficult to describe the vastness of the city and the number of people that are always around at all hours of the day and night. We are getting to know our way around our little area and slowly learning the names of some of the
streets. Last night was the first night we had a difficult time getting back home in a taxi. I described where we wanted to go but the cab driver had no clue where it was (it is a fairly new area). He ended up dropping us off in a totally wrong spot and we were basically lost. We talked to the security guard of the wrong apartment complex and he hailed a taxi for us and explained very clearly where we needed to go. With the little Chinese I have learned I knew that he had said everything perfectly clear as well as tell the guy how to get there. In any case, he had a very difficult time as well and ended up stopping in the middle of traffic and jumping out and getting more directions. We finally got home in a very roundabout way. We decided there is something to be said about getting a scooter to get around on.
And I managed to film a short video out the bus window of the craziness involved with crossing the streets around here. As I have said, there are no rules. I just read on the internet that
there are three basic rules for driving in China; 1) Don't hit anyone 2) Don't get hit by anyone and 3) Keep moving at all times.
It is a great group of people I am working with and we had a pot luck tonight with a dirty Santa gift exchange. You could steal others' gifts and we ended up with a beautiful tea set from Thailand. Most people shopped for stuff during the winter break while they were travelling around since they had this party planned before they left. It also ended up being a surprise birthday party for me and one other person who had a birthday as well. So I got to eat yet another birtthday cake. Which brings me to yet another story...The service over here is incredible. We took a short bus trip to a bakery to pick up a birthday cake a couple of days ago. We had to order it and it was ready within half an hour. But here's the crunch..The custom decorated cake came with number candles for my date, a cake knife, two plastic forks, napkins, and paper plates. The whole thing was packed in a beautiful box tied with
a ribbon all for the grand price of 60 yuan (less than $10) . Wherever we go, whether it a restaurant, department store or small street shop, people are bending over backwards to serve us. It is a refreshing experience. The other night we went to a store that has elevator "girls". They were dressed in outfits similar to the stewardesses of the fifties, complete with little cap, and actually rode in the elevator and pushed your floor number. Talk about a blast from the past.
Anyway, that's the latest news on the Chinese front. Stay tuned for more life with Steve and Nancy as we continue our adventures.
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coolrosetti
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cool malls
Steve, were those malls actual photos or postcards, no people. Gord