Real Life

April 23, Monday

The routine of everyday life is beginning. Hongfang brought a cleaning lady and introduced her and told her what she should do. We left her to clean while we went out to buy a calling card and to check to see where I should take Chuck’s shirts to be laundered. The International calling card had a face value of 100¥ and cost just 24. This was from the college book store – so no bargaining was involved.

I went home (4 flights) and waited until the Miss Hua was finished. This will be an interesting relationship, since we can’t communicate.

Chuck came home for lunch and after he left, I walked to the Carrefour which took about 40 minutes. This Carrefour has the Chinese version of Home Depot Expo in the basement. They had tons of bathrooms and kitchens displayed. Shower stalls, laminate floors, tiles, and light fixtures, some of the brands I recognized as major brands available in the States, others were strictly Chinese.

The main floor has a mall area with small shops (including a shop for each and every brand of athletic gear.) The supermarket itself has appliances and clothes as well as food. The third floor has a big food court, 4 or 5 restaurants and a fun zone with pinball machines, little kid riding machines, a roller rink and computer games.

The supermarket part is worse than Costco on a crowded day. There were blockades in every aisle. I knew that I had to get the vegetables weighed before I went to pay, but didn’t realize that I had to have the croissants priced also. So, I was in line and when the girl saw my bag of croissants she said “Whnn whnen” which I took to mean “Go back and get them priced. So I took my basket and returned to the bakery area and found someone to put the price on my bag. Back to the line. When it was my turn again, I was putting all of my things up on the counter and came to a dry salami. “Whnn whnen” again. *#@%#$! The salami, I wasn’t going to go back again. I motioned to leave it be and we continued until I was checked out.

I took a taxi back to the campus and hiked up. (4 flights)

Since Chuck is teaching from 7:30 to 9:30, we are eating at home. I warmed up the frogs legs, cooked some string beans and put out some cold spicy noodles from the store. As we sat down to eat, we realized that none of the light bulbs in the dining room work. We had a romantic dinner in the shadows with our light the spill from the kitchen.

Chuck came here with a plan to have the students take turns taking us out to dinner. We would pay, but they would choose the restaurant, get us there and choose the food. He came home from his class very excited. Our dance card is full. All of the students signed up for different nights. They are going in pairs – so it wouldn’t be such a burden of responsibility.

He thinks that his class is going well.