Yesterday we explored the neighborhood some more, and took another trip to the bike shops on Recycling Road. We didn't like what we found, let alone the prices, so we decided to keep looking 今天. (jin tian, or, today) Before finishing up the day, however, we stopped for a drink at a place called Hump Cafe, bought a few things at a little Korean grocery that specializes in rare imported western items (i.e. ketchup and maple syrup), and browsed the titles at a DVD shop. Believe it or not, illegal DVDs are still available in China, so if you'd like a copy of "Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix," "Knocked Up," or "Die Hard 3," I know a place that sells them.
It took a little longer to get home than we expected because it's impossible to hail a taxi during rush hour at the intersection of Chengfu Lu and Xueyuan Lu. Indeed, even during non-peak hours, Katie and I often get kicked out of taxis when we do manage to hail one. We couldn't figure out why, so we asked some friends at the lobster brunch. They told us that some drivers don't like foreigners, some don't want to go out of the way at the end of their shift, and others simply can't understand our beginner's pronunciation of where we want to go. (Pointing to a map doesn't work either--trust me)
One would think that this would not happen in a city that's geared its entire existence to the 2008 Olympics. Indeed we thought that all of the taxi drivers were learning English in order to get ready for the upcoming games. But guess what: it's not working. By "learning English," I think they are referring to a prerecorded message that says "welcome to Beijing taxi" when a driver starts his meter, and another prerecorded message that says, "please pay the fair!" when the driver stops the meter.
But it's not as if Beijing taxi drivers should have to learn English--after all, there's 1.4 billion Chinese and only 300 million Americans. If anything, we should be learning Chinese, not the other way around. But with less than a year remaining before the Olympics, someone has to step up. For us, at least, we're trying to learn Chinese, and can just about pronounce our address so that we can get home. Almost.
Today, however, after a lunch made from two bags of mystery items from the frozen food section, we headed out for a second attempt at e-bike shopping. On our way south down Xueqing Lu, we discovered a Wu Mart (not to be confused with Wal-Mart, which is pronounced wa-er-ma) hiding in the basement of a nearby apartment complex. In other words, we had been dragging ourselves across Haidian looking for fresh groceries for a week when, buried in a building across the street from us, was a supermarket. It even has Katie's favorite feature of Chinese groceries: live fish that you can pick out for dinner that evening. And by "favorite" that I mean "least favorite," particularly when one of the selections attempts to escape and ends up flapping on the floor for a while.
But after discovering Wu Mart, we hit pay-dirt. Katie bought her new ride, a smaller Peerless model, at a shop located just about a kilometer down the road, and for less than what the folks on Recycling Road wanted. It goes about the same speed as a normal bicycle, but without all of that inconvenient peddling. And it will go for a couple of days before you need to recharge it. The only drawback to the new rig is its size, in that it weighs a lot. But it got us home safely, and we have the first of two locks we're going to buy for it. Now to find helmets, and to return to the Giant shop to pick up my ride.
The Giant store had the right model for me, just not the right color. We're trying to get less flashy models so that they don't get stolen, and only bright pink and metallic blue were available. They told us to come back tomorrow, though, and that they would have something in a better color. I suspect that they're just going to spray-paint the model I want and slap some fresh stickers on it, but that's fine by me--"Yan Maikun" loves the smell of Krylon in the morning.
Speaking of "Yan Maikun," here's our new Chinese names, which will be going on the back side of our business cards:
- Micah: 燕迈锟 (Yan Maikun)
- Katie: 燕凯汀 (Yan Kaiting)
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