Always ‘Yesterday Once More’
We were on a mission to go to the school clear across town in order that Jed could talk with the increasingly avoiding Anna. I left the instructions written in Chinese in the hotel room but we suspected that all mini-busses go to the same places. We were right and an hour later at our destination. We were feeling really good about being just in time for lunch and when we walked into the hotel next to the school and got to room 302 we were pretty bitterly disappointed to find that no one had told us the office had moved from the hotel. We had no idea where to find anyone and Carlos’ cell phone was off. After hitting a net café to see if we might run into Scott or Carlos, (we didn’t), we headed back to the school and figured to ask the gate guard person. As I was miming the question she just pointed to the building behind her and signaled four, (si). We found them and had a bit of a bitch session that no one had told us but Scott indicated he had been there right around noon so we figure we must have just missed him. After gorging on lunch, (yeah, it was Chinese food), Jed resigned to not seeing Anna and we left to find our way to the Square to otherwise fill our hours. Since the school is at lunch for two hours there were a bunch of kids shooting hoops on a couple of basketball courts. I ended up playing for about 20 minutes until I couldn’t breath any more. They pretty much cleared out for me and one kid to go one on one. Now, I don’t have mad ball skills or tight handles but I had some height on him. It was playground ball with no fouls and as I gasped for breath I kept saying, ‘Wo shr san-shr-wu!’, ‘I am 35!’ but they didn’t seem to care. In fact when one kid got tired another switched in with fresh legs. Quite a workout and I feel it a bit today. It is intimidating sometimes when you consider that the impression you make is going to be somewhat representative of all Americans. I got run. As Jed and I left I was gasping for air long enough after that he offered me his asthma inhaler.
I was beat enough, and dirty from the court and the ball, that when the cab driver woke us to let us know we were at the Square, (we both fell asleep), I told Jed I was going to go back to the pad and clean up and chill for awhile. I grabbed another cab and stopped at the grocery store right next to the hotel to buy some Tide. I did shower laundry, a little Tide in a big bowl with some water and I just scrubbed the clothes against each other. Since it was my first attempt at shower laundry I only did a couple of shirts and a pair of dirty jeans. Looks like it worked but will take the rest of the week to dry. I even remarked to Jed how nice it would be to see a good old American style Laundromat, the kind we both laughed we wouldn’t use back in the States.
I headed back down to meet Jed at the coffee bar wearing my leather jacket with his on over mine expecting he’d be glad since it cools right down. Got some funny looks but he was glad I had brought it. We met with Qiaoping Bai or Ping as we’ve taken to calling her and decided we’d take her to the Black Bright. We went by cab insisting that he just let us direct him. Yeah, we knew how to get there but it turns out we went way out of the way but still managed to slip in a shortcut as if we were completely all over this town! A bit like going from downtown Sacramento to Arco Arena by driving through the Arden Area. Doh! Now we know. After a brief period there we decided to go find a bite to eat. She swore to us it was some kind of vegetable but it looked like tripe to me. I thought I was being fed Chinese menudo. It was really quite good and all three of us ate for Y4.5 or well under $.60 which can make a good meal a great meal. Since we were so close to Square with our new understanding of our world we decided to walk back. Quickly. Pretty funny. We came out a block and a half North of the Square near Datong Park. As we began to walk into the park there was a group of older ladies playing the feathered hacky sack game and we played with them for about half an hour. Even Jed who usually sits it out joined in. We had a great time and then headed off into the park which is a really nice addition to Datong as Ping indicated it is as recent as a few months ago. Since she had class in the morning we bid her farewell and what with being so close we decided to head to The Habitat where there was live music on a Tuesday night. We think the lead singer/lead guitarist looks like Tim Robbins. You know, if Tim Robbins was Chinese. They do a few songs in Chinese that we really like but it wasn’t long before one of the many servers was at our table asking us what we would like to hear on behalf of the band. You really can’t go anywhere. We started to write a couple of songs down only to scratch them out and write, ‘whatever you do well in English’. We thought we were being gracious and deflecting attention. Nope. It seems they read what we wrote just before they broke into ‘Yesterday, Once More’. Unbelievable. I even remarked to Jed that now I’ll have something to write home about. I don’t think I told you that on our last visit to Holly Sound Jed purchased a Carpenters Greatest Hits cassette since most busses and cabs have cassette players. You know, that way we can hear it everywhere we go.
We eventually, (two beers later; an early night), made our way back to the net café near the pad where we have figured out how to watch the Hollywood new releases. So as it eked past midnight, or 0900 for those of you on the left coast, Jed was watching Shark Tales and I was watching Jimmy Fallon in Taxi. Some of the taxi chase scenes seem intense unless you have ridden in a cab in China.
As simple a task as crossing the street in China is like a game of Frogger. You don’t wait for a light and then walk all the way across since the cars don’t seem to care too much about the lights. Instead you work across a lane at a time. As far as I can tell the key to being a good pedestrian in China is really a lot like being a good person; always move forward, make good decisions and never hesitate in such a manner as to completely disrupt the flow.
– O