So we came back and dumped our stuff and decided to swim, but I needed to sleep so I told him to give me ten minutes and I quickly zonked only to be awakened in five minutes by the room service lady holding a small ladle of ice saying something in Chinese. I just said no and she left. I guess someone ordered ice. No ice machines so you have to ask for it. There is also a minibar with overpriced water, beer, Snickers which I will have to hide since I am guessing the three YO will have it all eaten/drunk (literally) in ten minutes. Actually yesterday we had another delivery problem as I told them I needed another blanket but I gave them wrong room number. When we came up there was a woman waking by us with a blanket and I said that was for me and she (I think she has no English) said no no no disapprovingly and went on down the hall only to return in five minutes with the same blanket for us. I tipped her extra.
Pool trip 2 was fine, Duncan loves it there and the pool is nice. They give you a key to a locker and you can put your stuff in there and in there is a set of flip flops to wear and you have to walk through a COLD 2 inch deep bath on the way into the pool. The pool itself is nice – a little cold and the room is too hot but the pool is tiled with little blue tiles in several shades and there’s stuff made out of wood – big rectangular chunks, sawed off pieces of logs, etc. – all around it as well as some 12 inch dolphin – looking – like metal pieces hanging from the ceiling on fishing line. The pool is on the fifth floor and usually there’s just a couple of other people there or no one. We played some ball and he used the mask, which he was happy with since his mother told him the water will make him so sick if he gets it in his eyes or mouth.
After swimming we went back to the room and then back up to 30 for more free pop and then out into the humidity. He wanted to go to KFC to eat and it’s like 1 block away by the train station and the previously-visited McDonalds. He got popcorn chicken (yes, some gluten) and fries and I got wings. Fries were just like McDonalds – good – and the chicken was good with a hint of spice. Then we walked back past the train station towards the store we were at last night because he wanted to see a plane they had (and secretly the toy electronic flashing knife holding machine gun he wants – but NO WEAPONS). Also they had some samurai swords he was eyeing up. After some over-the-counter examination we determined them to be umbrellas, which caused him to loose interest.
We headed through some plastic hanging strapping and on to an escalator up into something that looked like a million shops. A million camera shops. Probably the best place in China or maybe the world to buy any camera thing but there were no toys and he was not interested (nor I, really, though I did entertain the thought of how nice it would be to have a nice, fast digital camera) so after one floor then another we decided to bail.
On the way to the down elevator we saw her. Or I did. Inside a shop window with two others was a young woman in a ripped t-shirt that said “(Some words behind her hair I couldn’t see) MEADVILLE PENHSYLVANIA”. It actually said “WHERE IN THE HXXX IS MEADVILLE PENHSYLVANIA” though I am still not sure about the HXXX part as it was covered. I pulled out the I-Phone camera and lifted it. She hid. I then went into the shop and, in my best non-existent Chinese supplemented by hand signs explained that that was where we lived (well, close enough, and Drew does sell real estate there and you used to live there). The young man there seemed to get it and after some quick discussions we agreed that I could photograph the girl’s shirt, but not her face. Mission accomplished. That one’s for you Drew Staudt.
Then we walked out and back towards the hotel, with further negotiations about the need to swim again. We stopped in a C-Store (convenience) and got some pop and each an ice cream. Adventurous Pete got a plum soda (by Pepsi, interesting) and a cube-shaped orange and yellow popsicle thing (mango and lemon I think, looked like a stack of flat ice cubes in alternating colors. I am always a sucker for anything orange.) Not so Adventurous Duncan splurged on a Sprite and a cup of chocolate ice cream for which he was given a paper-wrapped “spoon” that was the size of half a popsicle stick. Some spillage, but he ate it all. They sold dumplings, hot dogs, and other things and had a little eight seat table so we sat and ate there. I did not opt for the ever-so-tempting “Black Fungus Juice” in a convenient 8 ounce can. Really it was there, next to the Diet Coke. Ewww.
Heading closer to the swimming pool we passed the Pacific Department Store and I dragged him in. We went to the basement, which promised TOYS! Though I was scouting out the boys clothing. Despite the moldy-food-basement-type-bad grease smell we did not find any particularly appealing clothing. It all seemed to be overpriced and seedy. They did have a large display section of clothing called E LANDS that looked suspiciously like Land’s End, even including the large vase filled with oars. They were probably higher priced that Lands End stuff in Sears (this of course rely’s on my ability to mentally divide numbers I see on price tags by 6.5, which I round to 6)(alternatively I pull out the rough conversion sheet I made for Duncan but then took back and haven’t returned).
Duncan (!!!) found a Lego set he REALLY WANTED. It was 499 RMB and he had 50. We talked about saving our money. Not happy, he looked around with me at other kids toys a bit. Then we walked to the escalator out of the store (of course the path was to the far escalator which took us past the kitchen stuff – doesn’t hurt to look).
It is amazing what a country can do when it has 1.3 billion people. The first hint was when we went to the restroom at the airport. In a relatively small restroom there was an attendant with spray bottle and squeegee in hand cleaning up after each patron. Amazing. And there was also a sign to “take a step closer” to the urinal. We need that at home. Also, at the Toys R Us and really at most stores there are a zillion employees. At the TRU, which was maybe the average size of a US one, there were probably fifty employees on the sales floor. They were showing people things, organizing things, and even one whose only job was to mop around a little water river toy they had set up for the kids to play with. It’s like 1960’s customer service. Though its hard to understand them as my Chinese is a bit rusty.
Finally we made it to the hotel and went back to swim. Remembered the coins this time to dive for. Swam about a ½ hour then came back and changed and ran up to the dinner/desert which again we missed the dinner part and had some brownies and pastries. We talked about eating more (out) but I think Duncan was not really hungry and getting tired so he played ten minutes of Miniclips on the PC up there and then we got your SKYPE call. So cool is Skype.
Tomorrow I am not sure if Sundays are different (I suspect not) so I think we’ll do some more Metro riding and try to get to Nanjing Rd. a famous shopping place and also see some other sites - do things that would be better without Kai and Finn.
Speaking of Sundays, it’s interesting to note that this, I believe, is the first hotel room I’ve ever been in without a Bible. And it’s a Marriott, which also means there’d be the Book of Mormon too. Neither. Guess China’s not ready for that yet. It’s a fascinating place, a mix of new and old, a communist controlled country with rampant commercialism. Ours is a very nice hotel, downtown, close to a number of other nice hotels and large office buildings and apartment buildings. Beside the hotel (and viewable out our window) is a large vacant lot maybe 10 acres and next to it is another area maybe the same size that has a mix of old decrepit houses which are inhabited, vacant houses which are mostly in disrepair with crumbling walls, no roof, etc., and vacant lots. How can there be such a dichotomy?
I continue to think that this is so amazing – everything – it often feels like a dream. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be here and to be doing this and to be living a life that every day I am amazed and think how could I ever have fallen into the amazing life that I have fallen into.
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