March 13-21, 2010

March 13-21
For the first time since being here I have decided I REALLY miss traffic lights. As much as I like being able to cross the road wherever and whenever I want, I do miss being able to cross the road with no fears of being hit by a car, bike, bus, wagon…well you get the point.

I've heard that the traffic in Wenzhou is worse than many other cities in all of China. I 100% believe it. I took a taxi home the other night and half my trip was spent on the sidewalk or in the oncoming traffic lane. As thrilling as this sounds, I must admit that I am getting used to it being a part of their culture and barely blinked an eye when he proceeded to take his bizarre route to my house.

Ha ha, one of the things I find humorous are the street cleaners. These trucks play an elevator-style-music as they creep along the streets just the same as an ice cream truck does back home. One of my friends was explaining to me that they do this as a warning to anyone in front of them so they can get out of the way before being sprayed. I guess he's seen some people get sprayed by the truck because they couldn't pedal out of it's way fast enough.

As crazy as the traffic is here it seems to work. Everyone is aware all the time and are ready for anything to happen. So instead of slamming on your breaks if someone is crossing the road and creating a traffic jam, they just go around. It sort of reminds me of the way a river moves around a rock that's sticking out of the water. No one is skittish and they will drive around you if you're going to slow or will squeeze into a spot in the next lane. The buses are the same way. They are pretty aggressive and have no qualms about cutting anyone off to get where they need to go. Riding a bus is funny because I feel like a giant. The roofs are lower, I can reach the handrails that hang from the roof, if I'm sitting my knees hit the seat in front of me and if you're sitting in the back of the bus the windows open right down to the seat and are wide enough for you to fall through if you are too careless.

I've been to a few more massages and am going to find it very difficult to go back home and not be able to do them on a weekly basis anymore. They're reasonably priced and a cool way to hang out with friends. When you first go in for your massage you tell them what you want and they will bring you to an appropriate room; there are different sizes of rooms for different types of massages and different sizes of groups. We usually have two to four in our groups. They bring you tea and fruit and you can request other things to eat and drink as well; like sweet dumplings mmmmmmm. Our particular room had three beds lined up so that there was enough room for the masseuses to work and three sinks at the end of the beds so they could wash your feet for you too. We didn't get that done though, just our backs. It's fantastic.

I got my hair cut. It's just above my shoulders and I have bangs that go straight across my forehead. It's funny because it's a very typical hairstyle you see here and it makes me look twelve years old. Ha ha ha.

Frances is finally moving out, I'm not sure on the exact day but a whole bunch of her stuff is packed and sitting around the living room. I don't think she's too happy with me because she was so nice and told me I could use anything and make myself at home etc. etc. etc. and I still went ahead and asked Romanty how the apartment search was going. When the answer pretty much came back that there wasn't any yet I asked how I would go about looking for an apartment instead then and by the end of that same day Romanty was calling me back saying Frances would be out by the end of the week. Either way, I'm happy because this means I can have private lessons at my house instead of running all over the city to do them. :-)

My Chinese has kind of come to a stand still. I haven't progressed much further but have noticed I've been able to pick out a few more words here and there so that's reassuring.

I started Tai Chi; I've done three classes so far. The instructors say that within two months I should be able to do all the steps and by the time I go home I should be able to teach it. ^_^ I'm hoping I stay dedicated enough to follow through till the end. I wake up at 6am so I can be there for the 7:30am class and head to my classes to teach afterwards.

Ok, maybe that's enough to read for one blog.
Until next time…