It's Raining, It's Pouring
Trip Start
Jun 18, 2008
1
22
46
Trip End
Sep 04, 2008
Beijing,
China
Thursday, July 31, 2008
First, I crashed my bike. I was riding home from the Internet cafe after doing all my intensive blogging, and I was deep in thought about whether I should get a big or small bottle of water at the shop in our building. As I made the turn on to the bridge, I immediately noticed the man on his bike heading directly for me. I didn't have much time to react and I slammed on my brakes as we swerved into each other colliding front tire to front tire. Stunned, I hopped off my bike to assess the situation. I muttered dui bu qi, or I'm sorry. Still on his bike, the man looked at my bike then his and rode away.
As I began to walk my bike the short distance to my building, I had a lot of trouble and then realized the full extent of the damage. My entire front wheel was bent and will have to be replaced--not repaired. Fortunately, Adam happened to be on his way back as well and helped me to carry the bike home. I was still in shock and replaying the accident in my mind. When I told Adam about it, I told him it must have been my fault because I was the one who got flustered and couldn't yell out "Stop! Get out of the way!" in Chinese. Adam pointed out that it was obviously the other man's fault for riding on the wrong side of the road. However, because I'd said I'm sorry, I had accepted blame for the situation. Saying you're sorry is not used so casually here in China. To do so is to admit that something is your fault.
Secondly, I cried at dinner. It's still painful to talk about but the gist is I was chewing when I bit down hard on a canker sore that had been torturing me on the tip of my tongue for days. My tears (sobs) were completely involuntary, and I was really embarrassed as I tried to ignore the confused/concerned stares of the four boys I was eating dinner with and all the other Chinese diners.
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But I'm ok now. It's the final week of teaching the first session, so I've been more relaxed since we completed all the lessons. In fact, tomorrow is our last day, and we will probably play just games the entire time. The trick is to tell them that if they speak Chinese they lose points while I "keep score." But tomorrow I may actually bring candy for the winners to get them to have good last memories of their favorite short, little English teacher.
Lately it's been raining pretty heavily in Beijing. When it rains here, the streets flood because of the inefficient sewer system. There's all this talk about the Chinese using cloud seeding to control the weather. But I don't think it's begun yet. However, the Olympics are nearing as it will be August 1 tomorrow. My co-workers who are jaded ex-pats remember a time when all the countdown clocks read 1,014 days.
Yesterday, I got soaked after leaving the massage parlor after deciding I could afford to make massages a weekly habit here. However, I went without Adam and naturally had some difficulty communicating with my masseuse. First off, I don't recommend going to a massage parlor, where you are not supposed to get naked, in a skirt. This can present awkwardness. I was a little tense about having a male masseuse because I don't understand him, he doesn't understand me, and the horror stories are a dime a dozen. Anyway, there was one moment of confusion, but it was really just another wonderful 50 RMB massage.
I have to finish up since my time will expire soon at this internet emporium Adam has found. There are at least 150 computer stations, and I'd be willing to bet that at least 85% of the people here are playing computer games. And of that 85 %, 95% are playing World of Warcraft.
Oh, and I'm happy to report we are back in our original apartment. I discovered that if I sleep in an extra 45 minutes and wait to take the bus later in the morning, not only is it less crowded, but I get a seat. And there's less traffic. An all-around win. So, I'm definitely changing my morning routine, though I'm glad I got to experience the average Chinese commute because it made me feel, in a small way, less like a foreigner.
