I saw a WALMART!!!

its true... but i will tell more about that one at the end of today's blogness.

so i didnt' post yesterday (but don't worry... nothing much really happened... just the same stuff day to day) but as for the news of yesterday, there was some cool stuff. i have managed to figure out a daily routine so that i do not feel as if i am bored and alone in my hotel room all day. just the little things are keeping me busy and i only get about 1-2 hours of boring time every day... which i think is a success! soon i will fill that with learning chinese, once samuel helps me figure out how to use this chinese program we got.

I have had some interesting experiances the past couple days with my taxi drivers. i got yelled at for the first time for trying to use my seat belt. we were told by the other interns that you aren't allowed to wear your seat belt in taxis... (which seems stupid b/c i have never seen such crazy drivers) ... but i always start to put it on out of habit.. and then remember and let it go. Well i got yelled at as soon as my habit kicked in... it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what he was yelling at me for... b/c i remembered on my own, and while i was un-putting on my seatbelt i was like "what is he yelling at me for??" hahaha! then the taxi driver started to worry me! every day i have been teaching the taxi drivers take me to and from the place i teach at the same way... well i got in one cab and he starts going in the opposite direction. i start freaking out.. pointing the other way. Worried he is either going to kill me and at me for dinner (ok... not really) or try to take me a really long way and rip me off! well after a while, with the help of some made up sign language, i understood he was going around traffic, and actually got me home 10 minutes earlier than usual... cost the same though b/c he took the highway... but i got home early! i also had a taxi driver who started trying to teach me chinese while i was in the car. he would point to busses and say "BLAH BLAH BLAH" and make me repeat it.. and other things as well... it was really funny.

Then we come to yesterday, Samuel call me in between my teaching jobs and informs me that his department wants to take us to dinner... they get off at 5... but i work till 6. Luckily i was able to get out of work a little early and my student didnt have a lot of homework. So i called samuel as i was leaving, and got in a taxi and handed my cell phone to the taxi driver (can i tell you how glad i am we got cell phones) and one of samuel's co-workers starts explaining where to go to my driver. Now i am starting to trust taxi drivers... only in the sense that they know where they are going and the quickest way there... but i was nervous b/c i dont carry a lot of money with me... i only cary a little more than what it cost to take my taxis back and forth (in case of a bad traffic incident) so i was nervous i wouldn't have enough to pay for the taxi ride. but off we go and i start watching the meter run... and run... and run. I had 49.5 yuan with me (luckily more than i thouh) and when the meter hit 35 i started to get nervous. i had no idea where we were and where we were going... but we eventually made it and it was only at 41.2 yuan! and the taxi driver only made me pay 35 yuan!! i was way excited for that!

so then we ate dinner with his coworkers... who all commented that i smile a lot (or maybe they thought too much... since chinese people dont' smile) and that i had really long eye lashes (the girls were jealous abou that) other than that... i have no idea what they talked about all night, besides some bits that samuel translated for me, so i sat in quiet eating all kinds of random sea food (i would try to stop but they would tell me to eat more.. and i can't offend samuel's coworkers) so i ate crawdads (spicy and gross) crab (parts were good... other parts i dealt with) ome white fish that had no flavor, squid... YUCK... it was way to chewy, and some other stuff (we had no idea what some of the dishes were). And then they gave me this red drink... samuel thinks it was blood oranges... but whatever it is... it made me want to throw up. luckily they had some chinese orange juice... which tastes like flavored water with pulp, but it was better than nothing (funny though b/c we have it at the hotel and i wont drink it... but i was in need of something that was semi normal... and the fake orange juice did it!) so i ate silently, tried to look interested in what was going on (even though i couldn't understand anything) and watched them all get drunk! When they invited us to kareoke though... i played sick (a room full of drunk people smoking and trying to get me to sing would have made me sick for real and i wasn't comfortable doing it). So finally we got to go home.

on our way home is when we saw a Walmart Supercenter!! now... who knows what is inside... but the sign made me smile. and i saw a Starbucks... my favorite hot chocolate ever. But i dont know as if we will ever find either one again. It did storm last night. so i was hoping for a clear sky today.. but it is grayer than it was yesterday! at least it is friday though... YAY!

oh... and we saw our first accident yesterday... or maybe the day before... either way, it was about time! i can't believe we dont see more with the way people drive around here. My driver yesterday was on the wrong side of the road for a while pretty much trying to play chicken witht the on coming car so he could pass someone (ok mom--- it wasn't that bad... he cleared with plenty of space... the pedestrians scare me the most... i worry more about them hitting people than other cars)

i'm out though... LOVE YOU ALL!!