Today Chuck and I went on errands and one of them took us to the flee market on Gongren Lu. Both of us got upgrades to our phones this month and the new phone we have allow us to access Google Translator. I was thinking I was being very proactive by getting my phone to say Olive Oil, I wanted to get that for my hair, I showed the phone to the clerk in the beauty supply shop and she reached over and got olive oil for me, the name is on the bottle in English. I felt silly! Sometimes it is funny how we don’t even look for things to have English on them or for a person to speak English. When in China speak Chinese right? That reminds me of what I was thinking as we rode our bikes to the market. When we first got to Zhengzhou City in August, we loved hearing American music coming from stores but there were also vans that rode around with a public address system on them making announcements in Chinese. I remember stopping and trying to find out where the sound was coming from and what it meant. I still don’t know what it means and I do wonder, however I think it is a testament to how human’s accept whatever our situation is because today I didn’t think twice about hearing Chinese spoken and truly get surprised when I hear music that isn’t Chinese. I’m also seeing that all three of us are getting more like Chinese when it comes to riding our bikes around. Just today a car backed out into the street in front of me. When we first got the bikes I know that I would have stopped cold and gotten upset that the car pulled in front of me and I had to get off my bike and wait. Well after having Chinese pass me and looking at me like I was crazy I’ve gotten the hang of how to handle that situation. I just steered myself around the front of the car since he was backing out into traffic. Now there are consequences of getting so comfortable with cars and other bikes and scooters and that is that you might get into a finder bender, but it is really surprising how few accidents we have seen involving two bikes. Bike and scooter riders here seem to have a 6th sense and the schools of bikes flow like schools of fish in a pond or ocean. It is wonderful advice to go when the Chinese go if you are walking or biking they seem to have that same 6th sense about themselves. Case in point, I was at a red light with Nate one day and there was a crowd of Chinese around us; the light turned green for us and every one of the Chinese around us waited and so did we. A bus ran the red light for him and made a right turn and had we gone we would have been under the wheels. After he passed we all took off across the street. Stuff like that happens more often than not if you pay attention to what is going on and follow the Chinese. Sound advice for eating from food vendors too! If you see a lot of Chinese at a cart or stall if in a market then the food is something that they eat and you are probably safe from getting sick. If you don’t see lots of people then perhaps thinking twice about a food cart is your best bet.
Nate decided to stay home while Chuck and I were out this morning. This isn’t a problem as he has his school work all listed and I instructed him on the fact that his laundry needed to be hung once it finished washing. We gave him lunch money and he was allowed to go out and get something for lunch on the condition that he would call us before he left the apartment and only go right out in front within walking distance of the apartment complex. He found a new drink at the store in the complex, Pineapple Fanta. This is his new favorite soda. I’m never left wondering if Nate will get his school work done, he is faithful to getting the schooling done. The promise that he can’t do mine craft or read fan fiction until school is done helps with that. The cats or Mao that Nate has adopted came to our door looking for him today. Ford, Arthur, and little Mittens came by the apartment to get scratched and to get food. They stopped by after Chuck came back from teaching his evening class. Chuck was able to hold the kitten Mittens too.
Nate decided to stay home while Chuck and I were out this morning. This isn’t a problem as he has his school work all listed and I instructed him on the fact that his laundry needed to be hung once it finished washing. We gave him lunch money and he was allowed to go out and get something for lunch on the condition that he would call us before he left the apartment and only go right out in front within walking distance of the apartment complex. He found a new drink at the store in the complex, Pineapple Fanta. This is his new favorite soda. I’m never left wondering if Nate will get his school work done, he is faithful to getting the schooling done. The promise that he can’t do mine craft or read fan fiction until school is done helps with that. The cats or Mao that Nate has adopted came to our door looking for him today. Ford, Arthur, and little Mittens came by the apartment to get scratched and to get food. They stopped by after Chuck came back from teaching his evening class. Chuck was able to hold the kitten Mittens too.