transport fun in China

After almost a month of blog-silence, I am back.  I'm safely settled again in China, after a 3 week Christmas break in Germany and a week of jetlag coupled with frantic teaching prep - at the mo I am under a fuzzy blanket under the ceiling heater in my apartment, drinking a nice cuppa.

First things first - I left you with a question about what the chubby-curvy pink things at a banquet were...No, they were not pigs' tongues, which was my initial guess.  In fact, all they are is peeled, diagonally-cut weiners.

Soon after that banquet-cruise it was time for me to head to the airport in Shanghai for the break... En route, because I had been talkiing too much to people on the subway car, I missed which stop we were arriving at (no signs as you come in to a stop - just an announcement, which, once missed, is over), I got off a stop too early.  No prob, but by the time I realized that I needed to get back onto the train I had gone up an escalator and there was no 'down' - just stairs.  Now, my luggage was HEAVY:  close to the 50 lb max for the large and prob at least 30 lbs for the carry-on (I figure that as they don't weigh it I can put bags of cement in if I wish).  Because of the weight and the awkwardness I did not want to clump down the stairs and along a long tunnel to go that one further tube stop.  "Catch a cab like the experienced expats do!" I thought to myself.  So I tried, but to no avail.  Cabs already occupied sped past, and I was stuck with more saavy (=pushy) cab-seekers who I knew would snap up whatever lone cab might finally pull up. Now, during this time of my frustrated hailing and cussing a scooter driver kept waving to me and pointing at his scooter.  Right.  I kept shaking my head, pointing to my luggage and shrugging my shoulders.  Idiot, I thought.  Well, in the end, I went for it - a friend of the driver's loaded us up and oh-my-god off we went.

Be aware that that 50 lb piece of luggage is delicately balancing on a small footpedal and I am holding on to it for dear life - while the man is going at speed...Whatever you do, do not try this at home.  The final point about this saga is that though my beloved purple suitcase (newish, such a great colour and by far the best piece of luggage I have ever had) survived that little jaunt unscathed, here is how looked after the return flight on Air China:

My return to the school complex was interesting:  I got from Frankfurt to Bejing to Shanghai, across town to the long distance bus depot, and to the little bus station in my village. When the little red 3-wheel-covered- motorcycle-cab (aka 'tin can') turned into the driveway we were almost taken out on a blind curve by a truck driver going at speed.

Here is what happened several days later on my first scooter ride out to pick up some supplies:  The school is doing some major building at the front gates.  The sun is going down into my eyes and I cannot figure out which is the new way to go when I end up driving onto some wet cement - and sinking fast!! 

 I spun wheels and pulled and swore frantically - all the while waving at the workmen at the other end to signal "I am sorry!!  Help!! I am an idiot!!"  I got out, wiped the cement off my shoes and the tires and wondered if I could get fired for doing something so idiodic.  But then, several hours later, I happened to bump into the principal of the school, and I admit to him what I had done. Good guy - he just laughs and tells me about seeing a car doing the same thing on a stretch of roadway.  The point is, I guess, that with no markings of any sort, pretty well anyone can miss the glean of wet cement looming ahead - and you don't have to be a complete idiot to do so.  I did feel bad for the poor workmen, however, as it was even more heavy work added to their burden.

So, business as usual.  

Karen