Oh the joys…

Written November 15th, 2009

So after being in China for about 48 hours I have already managed to find myself in a few awkward situations and a few frustrating ones. Since traveling around in Europe in the summer and then SE Asia the only clothes I had coming here were summer clothes. I figured China has great cheap clothes so I would do a bit of shopping in my first few days and be fine. So I figured.

I got off the bus arriving in Hangzhou in the freezing cold with only my sandals on. As soon as I stepped off a crowd of people gathered around me and literally covered their mouths with one hand and pointed at me with the other hysterically laughing at the stupidity of my footwear choice. Suddenly it felt like I was in grade four again after Jennifer whats-her-face peed on the slide and tricked me into going down after. I don’t know why but it was so freakin embarrassing.

I got the hint and decided the next day I would wake up bright and early to find myself a pair of shoes. The only problem was when I was walking around that evening one of those pedal bikes that is loaded with boxes as high and wide as a large vehicle (literally, it really is amazing) ran over my freaking foot and broke my sandal. My foot managed to escape in one piece but me and my broken pride were left walking around China with one sandal in the freezing cold. Imagine my sheer joy when I woke up the next morning preparing to sneak off to the market when I began to hear the sound of pouring rain. My only option was to sport my mighty sexy bright pink and red striped slippers out to the streets in the pouring rain. I thought it was bad with my sandals debacle but imagine a little blonde girl moseying down the road in the pouring rain wearing her sobbing wet slippers without a bloody umbrella. Quite frankly I am sure I just looked down right pathetic. Thankfully I met a really great girl on campus and after a few minutes talking and a few awkward glances down she offered to take me up to her dorm and lend me a pair of shoes for the day…ah at last!

Thankfully I am now a proud new owner of a great pair of boots and some nice and cheap shoes (remind me how excited I am about my new footwear when I try to stuff them all in my backpack). What I did learn was that shopping for shoes at home and shopping for shoes here is a much different experience. Do you know how much work went into finding those shoes?? Starting with the impossible task of having to find a shoe store that actually carries a size 7.5-8, then you have to swallow your pride and actually ask for that size since they look at you like your some abnormal giant. Oh but wait, you actually need to find your way there first. Taxis here are a decent price, to go from one end of the city to the other is probably about three Euros tops but since traveling I can still count on one hand how many times Ive used a taxi and I would like to keep it that way. Yeah they are handy and they make life a lot easier to travel around especially in a country where you don’t speak the language but its really not my thing. The bus is way cheaper (by a long shot) and its actually quite enjoyable. Plus I think if I knew the language it would be a pretty easy system to use, the only problem is I don’t know the language, at all. So what normally would take me twenty minutes on a bus right now averages out to about two hours, and that’s just an average sometimes its still way more. The busses are packed with crazy amounts of people and there is no heat so in this cold it gets a bit ridiculous after a few hours. I ended up on a freaking bus for almost four hours the other day because I refused to admit defeat and grab a cab. Tip number one, stubborn plus terribly humbling traveling circumstances do not mix well.

So yeah, my first few days in China have been a bit frustrating at times. But still I am having so much fun. I really really enjoy this country and I cannot wait to see more of it. Frustrating experiences and all I cannot believe how much I am enjoying this place and I am already getting sad to be leaving it behind.