American Date Night in China

Where do you go on a date night when you live in Huizhou?   That’s right folks, Wal-Mart!  Like I said the Wal-Mart mall is HUGE!  It has tons of restaurants and a movie theater.  We went to see Sherlock Holmes.  We decided it would either be a cool new find or a funny story depending on what the movie was like.  Tickets cost about $8 US so not much different than in the US.  We memorized the Characters on the Movie Poster and matched them to the Characters on the movie schedule.  The movie started at 6:40 so we went at 6:20 because we knew buying tickets would be difficult and we wanted to beat the rush.  We bought our tickets and apparently we bought ourselves a VIP card (we have done that at a few places where things end up being about 2 RMB more than we thought…I guess they must think we are important…or they think they can charge us more).  We show our tickets (which have assigned seats) to the woman at the counter and she sends us to the waiting room.  Thinking the movie must start at 6:40 we tried 2 more times to get in before the lady actually let us through at 6:40!  We found our row and our seats (which was interesting because the only things we can read on the ticket are the numbers…and there were a lot of numbers followed by characters) fairly quickly and the movie started 5 min. after we were seated.  I kind of liked this organization.

The movie theater was very clean, no sticky floors, no wrappers or paper, no spilled popcorn and the seats were VERY comfortable.  Just when we started to think that going to a movie in China was much better than in the US the cell phones started going off, the people started talking and the children (yes there were children of all ages in the movie theater) started playing and crying.  I guess since the movie was in English and no one could understand the words they didn’t bother listen. 

Since earlier today we had some interesting breakfast and lunch ordering problems (I mean how many times can you accidently order a bowl of ice and a waffle).  We topped off our very American date by eating dinner at Papa Johns. 

I want a refrigerator with bling!

In every mall you can buy appliances, electronics, and groceries, lots of shoes, clothing and jewelry!  I love walking through the appliance section because the stuff they have here is so much cooler than in the US.  In the US we get excited about a stainless steel refrigerator and a red washer dryer, not that I had either of these but I did get excited thinking that someday I would own one, that was until I saw my new favorite kitchen item…sorry little red Oster toaster.  I have attached a picture below, and no that isn’t a glare it is bling adding detail to the flower design on the refrigerator.

I know what you are thinking but no worries there are air conditioner units, microwaves, rice cookers, sanitizers, water purifiers and clothes washers that match!

Now the only problem is how I convince Adam that it would be cost effective to buy a refrigerator here and have it shipped home…hmmmmm.

Shopping Here No Longer Scares Me

I am still a little nervous about actually buying something, but I am getting less intimidated by the sales girls.  Adam said I can buy anything I wanted, but I think he said that because he knows I am incredibly intimidated.  My goal is to show my face in as many malls and stores as I can so they get used to seeing me, then when we finally move into our apartment I will try to buy something.  My first two purchases will be a bedding set and a Chinese Tea set…I have searched for my favorite and of course a good price.  

I have been to most of the malls here, because they are usually in the center of outdoor walking areas and there are tons of restaurants to choose from.  One mall is right across from West Lake and I have spent a lot of time there taking pictures and just walking.  There are two big malls in the center of the city and although I enjoy walking through them, this small town girl hasn’t ventured out too far from the mall area.  The mall where Adam and I will be living has become my new favorite; there are lots of places to walk and tons of little local tea shops.

I have learned the character for sale, which tells you what percentage of the price you pay, not the percentage you save.  I have embraced the fact that everyone stares at me, and I just smile and wave like I am a movie star or Miss America. I have also learned to find the price on the tag, and I have learned to do all this without getting the sales girl to try to talk to me…SCORE!

The Scariest Thing I Have EVER Seen

A few entries ago I wrote about the driving and how crazy and scary it is to cross the road.  I always have in the back of my mind that they will always stop…I can’t imagine that anyone would actually hit you!  Adam and I joke about the driving a lot laughing off the fact that if we were in Taxi’s in the US we would be in accidents every day. 

Yesterday I even got excited when I found out that you didn’t need a license to drive a scooter.  I mean they have scooters here in every color and some can hold an entire family (mom, dad and baby)…and we make our children sit in car seats until they are 7 years old!  I could totally drive a scooter!

Apparently scooters don’t need to follow the laws either!

Today I took a trip to Wal-Mart, I had the most calm taxi driver yet (I don’t know if he was more careful because I was a foreigner or if he was just the best driver in China).  While waiting at a red light at a busy intersection I watched an old lady cross the road.  Since it was a busy intersection there was a walking signal and she was OK to walk.  When out of nowhere coming in the wrong direction a man on a white scooter hit this woman, she did a little flip and hit her head on the road.  Both my taxi driver and I had the same reaction (I was sitting in the front seat).  I figured someone would help this woman…we were all here at a red light!  No one did, I almost got out of the car to get her out of the road.  Unfortunately I don’t know the word for hospital, I didn’t have any idea where I was and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to move the woman.  The light turned green and as people made left turns they were careful not to run the woman over…but no one stopped!  This woman lying in the middle of the road (she never moved…I don’t even know if she was alive or conscious) was going to stay there for who knows how long.

Apparently this happens a lot and here it isn’t a big deal.  I called Adam as soon as I was out of the car because I was totally shaken up and I was mad at myself for not doing anything.  He mentioned to his co-workers and they shook it off as a daily event (apparently during the spring holiday over 700 people died in 1 week in traffic accidents alone).  I think though my Taxi driver was shaken up as well, I did notice he drove a lot slower the rest of the way to Wal-mart.

For our mothers and grandmothers who are now worried…we look BOTH ways before crossing the street, not just the way cars, scooters, carts, busses and other vehicles should be coming from.  We also try to cross when a lot of other people cross as well!

Take Your Wife To Work Day

Adam has wanted to take me on a tour of the new factory and I have been anxious to see what he has been working on for the past six months.  I got to tag along on a tour with a lot of other people who were visiting from Cree Durham and Cree Hong Kong and I took a ton of pictures for our parents and all you Cree people back in Durham…for all my SGE people this is where the light bulbs will be made!

Hopefully I will be invited back to take pictures of the finished product!

New Blog

Thank you to all our friends and family who have waited for more pictures and to hear our stories.  We have had so many issues with our other blog.  Adam has allowed me to come to work with him and try using a faster internet, he has found a way around the blocked sites, I have tried many different approaches to loading pictures and nothing worked.  I even worked all morning on it today and the few things I was able to do didn’t save before the internet crashed.
I have been organizing pictures and typing our adventures into a word document just waiting to find a way to share with all of you.

Well here goes nothing!

House Hunting Rewind

So we went house (well…apartment) hunting again!  This time we saw 8 places in 3 hours.  We saw six more in the same Liri complex, and two others were across the street.  Out of the six in Liri we loved the first one we saw (unfortunately I forgot I had my camera with) but can’t really remember what it looked like.  From what we can piece together it was the only place that we have seen here in China with a dishwasher!  The furniture had a lot of character and was also comfortable but neutral.  There were three bedrooms, but one of them was set up like an office.  We liked that there wasn’t any child furniture or decorations (many places we have seen have rooms set up for children…which I can deal with but in those places the furniture was covered in stickers…don’t they know not to stick stickers on furniture!).  It also had a nice view.

The next place we liked was about a ten min. walk from any shopping or dining (which could be a problem when our driver is off duty in the middle of the rainy season…or even now with the humidity it isn’t fun to walk long distances to find food).  What I personally loved about this place (as you can see in the pictures) is that it is brand new, no one has lived here and they were waiting for the tenant to sign the contract giving them input on the furniture selection.  The appliances and flat screen tv were still in boxes, and the bathrooms were western style (counter space, shower, toilet).  The best part about this place is that it has a wonderful view of the river and a little river park right outside.  The downside, there is no community…so far it is only two buildings…which means construction. 

After discussing our options one on one and even going through the pros and cons of the places we saw last week we decided that Location was more important than the view.  We were also told to be pushier with any changes that we want/need.  We compared this place to the Liri apartment we saw last week and we are much happier!  There is still the issue of safety netting…apparently it is so no one can climb in.