I was surfing and found this excellent post about how to cross the street in Wuhan. It really does hit the nail on the head. I haven’t been conditioned to cross the street like a local still and I’m in my second year. I live right across the street from my school so I cross the street every morning. A vehicle could be 150m down the road going about 50 km/h, I’ll stop even though I know I can make it across in time if I walked briskly. I think I just hate hearing the horn go off.
Speaking of horns, I hate walking down Liufang, it’s “the village” just up the street from us. I hate it when I’m walking down the narrow streets and hear a van come down it while s/he’s blaring the horn to let you know that they’re there. It’s LOUD! Try standing at the bus stop and have a bus honk their horn 20m away. That’s even louder!
If there are others with me while crossing the street, I let them take the lead. I still hesitate when they decide to cross but I do my little freak-out skip across the street instead of the calm and collected prance of my neighbour.
I don’t think it’s a China-only thing. When I cross at a crosswalk in Toronto, I still don’t cross if there’s a car that looks like they’re still going 30 km/h and barely slowing down. I wait for them to come to a near stop before I walk out. I’d rather be safe than sorry. I can’t assume that they noticed the blinking crosswalk lights with all the distractions in cars.
I’m bored and without sound on my laptop. The sound card appears to have come loose or just went plop and died. No sound from the speakers, no sound from the headphones but I can use the microphone. Any guesses? Listening to your iPod over and over again just isn’t the same as having 680 News running in the background. I can’t watch my TV shows either and we’re at the end of the season. *violin plays in the background*
This week, I’m working on a project for my students. Little paper craft houses for our little town. I’m glad I have a small class just finishing up the last few and then I’m off to bed. Anyone want to purchase property in our little town of 12? Contact Karen Realty, you know where to find me.
It’s 07:00 in the morning and it’s pouring rain. Mr. Chen arrives in his van to pick me up to take me to the airport. It’s my bumpiest ride to the airport ever. The first bridge that we cross in Wuchang is all pot holes. There’s a pot hole every five centimetres, I kid you not. I don’t remember ever going over a bridge like that in Wuhan. The rest of the ride to the airport is smooth though. I am scheduled to pick up my paper ticket at the Ctrip Counter #38 between 08:00 to 09:00 in Terminal 2. I arrive on time. So good, so far. I stand in front of the monitors looking for my flight number to figure out which area I go to check in my luggage. After about 10 refreshes, I find it! Sections A08-16. I head there and find a tour group of 20 standing around in front of the counters in a haphazard queue, if any. Check in just opened, I have lots of time so I wait patiently behind them. It’s finally my turn after some random guy–not part of the tour group–decides to cut in line right in front of me. I keep my mouth shut, though my mind rolls its eye at him for being so rude.
My luggage is checked. I head to the waiting area but remember that I have a bottle of grapefruit juice in my bag. I sit down and finish my drink while listening to some music playing on someone’s laptop and watching whatever is playing on the huge monitor in front of me–it looks like some Victoria Secret fashion show of Santa lingerie. All done. I find myself a recycling bin and head to the “Safety Check Area.” No liquids? Check. No lighters? Check. Some man is boarding in 10 minutes, I let him go ahead of me. Carry-on scan time! “I have a laptop.” “Okay, take it out, please.” I walk through the detector, green light, I’m clear. I don’t have to take off my shoes this time because I’m wearing my Crocs. I pack up my laptop and head to the departure gate. I set up shop a couple rows from my departure gate. I’m in denial and think that Wuhan has turned to the light and decided to offer free Internet at their airport. No luck. The only unsecured wireless network is China Mobile’s and they require a CMCC account. It’s about 08:30 and my flight isn’t scheduled to take off until 10:20 so I end up listening to music until about 09:30. I look at the monitor above my departure gate: “ETD 11:50″ Delayed 1h20m! Fine. Listen to more music, stand up and stretch a million times, open up a bag of Chinese chip-style rice-cake-like snack to nibble on because I’m getting hungry. Read more
I’m bored and without sound on my laptop. The sound card appears to have come loose or just went plop and died. No sound from the speakers, no sound from the headphones but I can use the microphone. Any guesses? Listening to your iPod over and over again just isn’t the same as having 680 News running in the background. I can’t watch my TV shows either and we’re at the end of the season. *violin plays in the background*