Sept 19 2013

Mid-Autumn Festival!

No, we didn’t exactly find celebrations. We found something else.

Quiet.

It sounded as though the world had ended and no one had the decency to tell Katie or me. The streets were practically empty, there were no honking cars… Katie finally found the Tai Chi women outside her window still practicing/performing.

Oh, and our electric had been turned off.

No lights, and my computer didn’t stay alive long after that. It took us a little while to remember our fridge, but hey we needed breakfast. Unfortunately, I had another two yogurts which I most likely will not be eating now because we didn’t have electricity for at least 5 hours if not more.

It wasn’t too hard to handle. We had books to read. But then I finished mine. Luckily, I was still tired so I went back to bed for another hour. After that, we were done. We were SO done.

Within ten minutes we were dressed and walking out the door.

We walked down the nine flights and went to the outer door- which does have a key pad thingy. Someone had propped the door open, so we didn’t have to worry much- at the moment. But we did test it and it beeped so we figured we might still be good if the electric wasn’t on by the time we returned.

Then we walked down another four flights down to the street level, and hurried our way over to the noon bus. We were lucky it still stuck around for a bit, and we grabbed seats in the back. Slightly air conditioned, our backs were still sweaty by the time we eventually got off.

Did we have any idea where we were going? Not really.

But we were out of the house and in the middle of town! We’d ridden for at least 30 minutes, and finally called it good. The bus had just stopped when Katie said, “hey, let’s go here,” so we bustled off and entered the street. Immediately our eyes peered around for the shops!

Through the busy intersections, they either make walkways above ground or under- beneath there are usually shops, and they also do a ton on the above bridges but mostly only when they’re covered. Apparently they’re not completely legal…? It was fun wandering around, though.

Katie had four people, throughout the day, shout “Hello” her way. I was a red head with a red face- definitely a hot mess that may not have looked too friendly. BUT it’s a lot of fun when they say it. They always look so pleased with themselves, and nudge their friends and get the biggest grin on. It’s kind of funny. Our ears are always waiting for any English words to hear.

Anyways, lots of wandering around. Lots of stairs- too many stairs, and I told Katie so. Eventually we stopped, but the pathway never did. Since it was beyond lunch time we started looking for some street food and of course it had to be random and sudden as is our ways here in China. Katie pointed out a stand suddenly, and we stopped. There was a huge bowl with sliced up potato pieces covered in spices and powder.

The lady let us try one each with a little stick skewer, and we liked it! So we bought one bowl for five. The bowl was bigger cardboard than a Cold Stone large, I think, and she put it in a little bag to help us walk with it. We skewered the spicy potatoes and enjoyed the bowl together. Seriously, they give out so much food in one serving, we can usually share things just fine. And it saves us money- this cost us just less than 1 USD. And hopefully we can find it again! Although in the seasoning, there was the numbing things… I couldn’t really tell until I was done eating them, since they were spicy enough  to make my nose drip a good bit. Luckily the numbing didn’t last long and we still loved them.

And we kept shopping! I got an ice cream bar not too long after, chocolate on the outside, vanilla inside, and oatmeal in the center. Kinda funky, but very tasty! I really enjoyed it! Throughout all this, we were wandering through stalls [especially of shoes], avoiding live chickens [poor Katie], looking for funny pajamas, and trying to avoid the sun [that was mostly me].

It took us forever to find anything.

Oh, although shortly after getting off the bus, we crossed the street [with a crowd, because that’s smart], and came upon what looked like something very Chinese. Stone steps, greenery garden. There was a statue thing of an opened book but strangely enough it wasn’t in English, so we went past that, saw another similar artpiece, and then climbed all these little dinky old stairs that made me regret I can even walk at all, to the top of this bridge thing.

There was a Chinese shaped building next door but we couldn’t really get in [trust me, we looked], but the bridge was pretty cool. One side was the building and the other led into this ghetto alley with lots of people walking to and fro. We love finding these little spots around China, of what it really looks like through the cracks. We stuck around for a bit, enjoying the sites, before heading down and back to the streets.

We went down a final alley full of food [these are everywhere, so we will never starve!] and Katie got a basic Guiyang dish of the rice noodles and stuff, similar to last Saturday with Nancy’s family- that famous Guiyang dish. Except the lady layered on a ton of chili sauce, and it wasn’t as well done. But it only cost 4, and was still delicious. After Katie secretly tossed out most of her chili sauce. “One, two, three… drop. Oops, my bad. One, two, three… another bit! These are so slippery. We’re such silly Americans. Oh, and some more! Drop, drop… okay, I think I can do the rest of it.”

Shortly after, we ran into a black guy! I know, another. And we even saw 4 at the bus stop this morning. Crazy! Anyways, his name is Tim, he’s a teacher as well. But he’s not with any program, he does them all on his own and makes his own contracts. We walked and talked with him for a bit [turns out the Hospital was in the opposite direction, where he was trying to go, and this is why we don’t let me choose directions very often], and traded info to chat again. He seemed swell!

While we talked, we ended up walking past about 4 bus stops, but when we left him we just kept walking even though by then my feet were killing me [and I can walk for a decent while, but this was wearing me thin]. But we figured we might as well try to find the next bus stop so we kept walking ahead.

There was a bus of ours that stopped inside an overpass, which we were not about to walk into [our moms taught us better!], so instead we started up on the sidewalk above it… and then the moment there weren’t any cars we walked in the middle of that for a while. I totally saved Katie’s life once, but then we were good and let a bus go by that almost scratched us, but we were good. We crossed in the middle of that during a stop of cars, and then crossed over onto an actual sidewalk. Laughing, we continued downhill at our good luck and our stable lives as we continued down the street.

Eventually we came across this partially built Chinese building that we always pass on our bus route, and always catches our eye. The guard-man was dozing off in the shade, so we walked through the open gate and up a few steps. If you ignore the top half of the building which turns into concrete and a billboard, then it’s a Chinese paradise! There’s a little bridge over a koi pond with trees, grass, a waterfall, and big fish that could nibble your toes off. It was very beautiful! We crept closer to the building and stepped in.

Definitely fancy. We didn’t see anyone, just glanced around. Lots of portioned off sections with tables and chairs, and there was a structure of mini buildings far off. And some sort of desk around some pillars- with beautiful chandeliers up above. We had no idea what that was for, no idea if we were even allowed in, so we stepped back out [though big fancy doorways like that always have a… it’s not a step, but the door is off the ground a good foot to keep out rats or something] and went back to the pond to admire it some more.

Some Chinese lady came and tried talking to us, but alas, we know no Chinese. So we waved and headed out. This led to the discussion that we could probably do a lot of random things here in China and they’d just react like “hey, these are silly Americans who are smiling and not knowing they are trespassing so we must let them go,” and hopefully we get out of this mode before we get back to America- or there might be a bit of trouble then! We’ll see.

Also, we DID buy something, before I forget. We found this little clothes outlet with a sale- all ladies sweaters for 49 Yuan. Our money was burning in our pockets, so we ended up getting two sweaters each! Very cute, and though we didn’t try them on in the store, we tried them on when we got home and yes they fit and yes they’re adorable.

Finished with that faux Chinese palace, we continued our walk home. Which turned out to be a lot longer than I had supposed. It went through a few empty but ghetto streets, curving around downhill. Definitely cool, though, and Katie could check it off her China bucket list that began when she stepped into the country. We had to walk in the street a time or two because the sidewalks would suddenly shrink into the wall. Katie tried talking to me once, turned back, and ran right into the wall. It provided me with a good laugh and taught her not to turn around on a short sidewalk.

I have no idea how much we walked. I just know I should have had more water or at least had a break because we’d gone around straight for about 3 hours through the smells and bacteria of this country. My stomach is having a hard time adjusting, which is lame. I hurried home as Katie grabbed more ice cream.

When I came down to let her in, there was a cute little girl with her mom and grandmother, I think they were. She had pigtails and a Mickey Mouse sweater on. And she was so precious! The mom nudged her and she said “Thank you.” It was so cute! I replied, and stepped right out the door, waiting for Katie, when the girl added “Hello!” And man, she was adorable, so precious. I waved them good bye and then Katie was there.

Oh and electricity was back on!

Yay! We came in, rinsed off because we had sweat through all our layers and more, tried on our adorable sweaters, and sat down with our cold treats and drinks. It felt so good to finally relax- I’ve been off my feet since.

For a few hours, we read, watched Despicable Me, and read our scriptures. It’s barely 10 PM but I think Katie just dozed off and I’m heading to bed myself! It’s insane how we’re always going to bed early. A little ridiculous, even. But I figure we need the rest with all the adventures we’ve been having!

Unfortunately today we did NOT have our camera, which is terrible! We’ve got to work on that. There are little sights here in China that we just love. Two old friendly men carrying a big bowl together wearing flip flops and torn up jeans. Women with their heavy baskets selling celery and fruit. Younger women with beautiful carriers that carry adorable babies on their back. Watching little girls and boys all dressed up and playing around. Seeing the buildings, the food, the crowds playing Chinese games on the streets, all of it! There is so much life and culture here, and everyone’s such a part of it. It’s incredible to be seeing them for myself, breathing them in, and just being a part of it myself. China is amazing, and Katie and I are so blessed to be here!