Taxi!

Late last night there was a loud and flashy thunderstorm! It was still going strong at 5:30am when I woke up this morning. I decided I would take a taxi to work and sleep in a little. At 7:15, I strolled out of the house with my Nature Conservancy umbrella displaying some great illustrations of wild-eyed birds! Taxis usually wait right outside the university gate, but today there wasn't a taxi in sight. I started to walk thinking I would encounter a taxi down the street. On any given day, when I am walking on the street, taxis will slow down and pull up beside me. I say "Bu yao" (don't want) and shake my hand, then off they go. I think they must assume foriegners don't like to walk. I can see where they get that idea; most of the foriegn teachers around here take a taxi if the journey is over a half mile. Most days, every taxi in a 50 meter radius from me slows down or stops until they are sure I am not looking for a ride. Anyway, as you can probably guess, today every taxi that drove past me--splashing gallons of gutter water up onto me-- was full! Before too long, I gathered that I would be travelling to the S. Campus on foot in about half the time that I usually give myself. Anyone who has moved on foot with me knows that I am no slow poke. My normal clip is a speedy 3.5 miles per hour. In order to make it to class on time, I knew I would have to step my canter up to a trot. I arrived to class five minutes late soaked to the bone! It made for an exciting story for the students and I was able to introduce vocabulary like "flustered", "soaked" and "splash".
Today, we integrated short class discussions about stereotypes with segments of a movie called Crash. I was really pleased because they liked to speak up about the topic of stereotypes, and ultimately I am here to faciliate the speaking of the English, so it felt like a successfull day of classes. They were very amused when I told them that a common stereotype of Chinese is that they all know martial arts, play violins, and are good at math! And I was rather shocked where I heard some of their stereotypes of Taiwainese and Japanese. The important thing is that we all agreed assuming makes an ass of you and me.
On the way home, I took a different bus that would deliver me to the Carrefour. We needed another weeks supply of tofu and I wanted to surprise Josh with some chocolate frosted donuts he was eyeing over the weekend. They even have sprinkles. Afterward, I discovered an enormous flower market. It was, needless to say, heavenly--and the best part: it smelled sensational! I think I may pay it a visit every other day. I came home with both fists full of flowers--some of which I will give Mei tonight for her birthday, and most of which I have arranged around the apartment. I imagine that if I had purchased that amount and those kinds of flowers in the US, it may have cost me near a hundred dollars. Here, I paid about $2.50---20 yuan. I really have to stop with the converting business and drill it into my head that my salary is yuan, not dollars!! In any case, they were well worth it. After I put some on the coffe table, I was inspired to take some updated photos of our living room.


















We get the China Daily every few days.


Mei's birthday dinner was lovely. Liam and Wong, the two students who showed us around Jinan when we arrived, came along. We ate sweet and sour chicken, oyster soup, and dozens of delicious joudza.