5 December 2009
Today I woke to a strange light filling my bedroom. I think it’s called sunshine? After a foggy and gray week, we finally got a little relief in the form of a cold front. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the blue sky. The DH was at work bright and early this morning since good weather = flying. Yeah, he pretty much works everyday. All day. And sometimes nights, too.
I set out for downtown early as well. I needed to get out and enjoy the sunshine and I needed McDonald’s coffee. I got a ride to People’s Square with my Chinese Grandpa, AKA a gypsy cab driver who hangs out in front of our apartment complex. It’s not legal, but everyone does it and I don’t think there’s a single law being enforced in Linyi anyway, so… Chinese Grandpa drives a tiny little Chevy Spark and has covered the dashboard with a wonderland of plastic toys. As we accelerated I was delighted to find each one features a bobbing part – the head of a doll, the leaves of an apple, the eyes of a strange, alien-like creature. Only in China can you expect to see cartoon characters and toys decorating a grown man’s car. Incidentally, the Spark is taking over the roads of China. These things are everywhere!
Tragedy struck at McDonald’s when I discovered they were out of English muffins. Have you ever had an egg McMuffin on a hamburger bun? It is horrid. Never try it. Never. I ran into one of my work colleagues at McDonald’s (it’s ground zero for expat sitings) and we chatted a while over our coffee, mostly about how we spend too much time at McDonald’s. Then it was out into the big city for some Christmas shopping.
My first stop was the bank where I was turned away. Seems they don’t exchange money on the weekends. Luckily, in China there is a bank on every corner and I was successful at another branch. Outside the bank three workers were putting up an artificial Christmas tree and arranging fake deer around it. One of them nearly fell off his ladder when I said “hello” to him. The other two doubled over in laughter and shouted “how are you?” Sometimes I like to mix it up by preemptively shouting hello to potential happy gawkers.
This past week I mostly spent my time planning for my upcoming trip to the US. I can’t believe I leave next Wednesday. Due to my procrastination issues, I’ve been trying to do something everyday to get ready. I really want to avoid my usual full on panic packing mode come Tuesday. (Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen without medication.)
In between shopping, washing clothes, ironing, backing up my computer and other chores, I’ve had the chance to enjoy a few nice dinners with the DH and friends. Now that we’ve got nearly freezing temps in the evenings, it is the perfect time for hot pot and this week we had a fantastic tomato soup based hot pot at our favorite restaurant. We also hit up a local joint (and by local joint I mean a mom and pop style restaurant located in our ‘Wild West’ neighborhood) where the two waitresses, cashier, cook and owner all crowded around to see what we would order. They were pretty amazed that we were able to order at all. (After four years in China I certainly hope we would be able to manage this necessary feat!) I love the food in China and for some reason it all tastes better in the winter.
Speaking of food, it is now 6:30PM and I need to put on my coat and furry slippers so I can make some dinner in our freezing kitchen. The DH is flying a cross-country flight to Jinan, (the capital of Shandong Province), this evening so it looks like it will be an easy sandwich and a few episodes of Law & Order for me.
Hope you had a great week!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I know how you feel about the packing for a trip issue. I hate packing. Never know what to bring or not.
The food: You made me hungry and I just finished my morning oatmeal! I’ll have to look up some easy Chinese recipes now (are there such things? Easy ones, I mean?
.-= Miss Footloose´s last blog ..EXPAT STORY: LITTLE KIDS, BIG WORLD =-.
Stay tuned, Miss Footloose, and I’ll show you how to make the DH’s famous fried rice. It is our back up plan should the aviation gig not work out – we’ll get a street cart and set up shop. Joking aside, I have not managed to learn any Chinese dishes, mostly because I am not a cook but also because it is so easy and cheap to just go to a restaurant. I’m a little concerned about that day when we leave China, though, so I think I need to learn a few things.