China #7

Nihao,

Today we went shopping, seems like we do that a great deal.  What can I say, we live here so we have to get stuff.  

Speaking of stuff,  'A slow boat to China' has arrived!!  Now hopefully only 2 to 3 weeks before we get our things.  Customs officials now get to touch everything we own....eeewwww!!

Back to shopping.  Olivia needed a few things so we had the driver come and get us at three.  We ended up getting Olivia a new bicycle among other things.  Mind you we only have a car so Mike chose  to ride the bike back to the house, otherwise there was a delivery fee for what is a 10 minute car ride.  Olivia and I went in the car.  Mike got home 15 minutes before we did!  Granted he went a different way, actually the way we had come to this particular shopping area, the driver decided to go another way.  I don't think he will ever make that decision again.  We got around a corner, the last point at which we saw Mike, and sat and sat and sat a while longer.  It happens like that, you cannot guarantee you will be anywhere on time unless you walk or ride your bike.  You can weave in and around cars but they get stuck when something breaks down.  Any way, we got home and Mike got in the car, Olivia got out and we went back shopping at the same place.  We had never been there before and had only gone in one store, sporting goods.  We couldn't go into anything else because of the bike.  

Mike and I wandered around and found a grocery store and picked up a few things.  Pretty close to home and a nice big store.  then we headed home again.  We were going along nicely, just the way we came when all was stopped.....who knows why, you rarely know why.  So in an effort to get somewhere...so they think.....they turn a single lane into three.  There is almost always a bicycle/scooter/oddball vehicle lane along roads and when things get backed up cars and trucks start going in that lane and making even another lane.  The cars are so close together you could stick your arm in the one beside you.  Nerve wracking for those used to a bit more order on the roadways.  The car our driver had today was not Mike's and it had an alarm that sounded whenever another vehicle was too close.  I guess Wang Cheng didn't know how to silence the warning sound so it was beeping like crazy.  The reason he wasn't driving Mike's car today was it was in the body shop being repaired....someone had run into the back corner.  Brand new, only have had it about 4 weeks.   Such is life I guess.  The more we go around the easier it is to understand why GE does not want us to drive in China.  They think nothing of passing on the right or when there is a huge truck coming at you in the opposite lane....they can just move over into the bike lane...heaven help the bike rider and scooter that are going along in that same bike lane at the moment!

Just a bit crazy, come and visit, we'll take you for a spin!

Love, fondly, sincerely,

Zaijian,

Ramona