Only in China
Today I went to the karaoke contest. To be sure there were times there when there was no doubt I was in Asia. Overall it was quite fun though because some of the songs were current pop songs and some were the Chinese version of children's songs.
I was trying to think of other only in China stories but the rest are from a while ago. In my second week here I made the mistake of riding the No. 5 bus downtown. We happily got on at the first stop. With each stop, it seemed like half of Beijing was trying to get on the bus. Finally towards where we were supposed to get off, I started saying "Xia che! (getting off the bus)" but to no avail. One man did say something to the effect of "You should have said something sooner," but he was less than polite about it. So we miss our stop. At the next stop the woman in front starts yelling "Xia che" so I latch onto her. It turns out the woman behind my friend also wants to get off too. In the end we followed out the path the woman in front made while being pushed out by the woman in back. I don't think I'll ever ride that bus again.
The third week I was here, a friend convinced me to ride sitting on the back of his bicycle. We did a test run in the school where there is less traffic. At the point where I was supposed to get off, we made the critical error of trying to dismount while still going too fast. Anyhow I tripped over my sandals, did a couple of rolls on the ground and ended up with my head cushioned on the curb. Three friendly Chinese women walked by and laughed at me.
I also complain about things here I never thought I would. The most obvious is that the staff in my dorm won't let me hang up my clothes line in my room. First of all, I never thought I would own a clothes line, much less complain that I wasn't allowed to use it. (I even have one of those circular things with lots of clips so you can hang up small things like socks and underwear.) But they were right to be nervous. They said in the note which I could barely read that they were afraid the curtain rod, to which I had attached my clothes line, would break under the weight of my clothes. The rod looks pretty stable to me but the day they wrote the note happened to be the day that I washed nearly all the clothes I have here and it did look pretty heavy. In any case, when I need to use it, I just sneak it up when I know they won't come in the room. At least Beijing is really dry so clothes dry quickly. Last time my underwear only took 4 hours to dry!
I was trying to think of other only in China stories but the rest are from a while ago. In my second week here I made the mistake of riding the No. 5 bus downtown. We happily got on at the first stop. With each stop, it seemed like half of Beijing was trying to get on the bus. Finally towards where we were supposed to get off, I started saying "Xia che! (getting off the bus)" but to no avail. One man did say something to the effect of "You should have said something sooner," but he was less than polite about it. So we miss our stop. At the next stop the woman in front starts yelling "Xia che" so I latch onto her. It turns out the woman behind my friend also wants to get off too. In the end we followed out the path the woman in front made while being pushed out by the woman in back. I don't think I'll ever ride that bus again.
The third week I was here, a friend convinced me to ride sitting on the back of his bicycle. We did a test run in the school where there is less traffic. At the point where I was supposed to get off, we made the critical error of trying to dismount while still going too fast. Anyhow I tripped over my sandals, did a couple of rolls on the ground and ended up with my head cushioned on the curb. Three friendly Chinese women walked by and laughed at me.
I also complain about things here I never thought I would. The most obvious is that the staff in my dorm won't let me hang up my clothes line in my room. First of all, I never thought I would own a clothes line, much less complain that I wasn't allowed to use it. (I even have one of those circular things with lots of clips so you can hang up small things like socks and underwear.) But they were right to be nervous. They said in the note which I could barely read that they were afraid the curtain rod, to which I had attached my clothes line, would break under the weight of my clothes. The rod looks pretty stable to me but the day they wrote the note happened to be the day that I washed nearly all the clothes I have here and it did look pretty heavy. In any case, when I need to use it, I just sneak it up when I know they won't come in the room. At least Beijing is really dry so clothes dry quickly. Last time my underwear only took 4 hours to dry!
posted by wchien at 6:53 PM
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