Dodgeball - Only with Cars!

Oh, the madness. The absolute madness of drivers in China.

It's really prety understandable when you think about it. There are BILLIONS of people here. If they all obeyed the road laws, they'd never get anywhere. Basically, I've discovered - I think - that if you just throw out any idea of road laws and a sense of order, the system works. In fact, I do think it kindof works for them - because they all expect everyone else to throw rules out the window, too. Here, whoever is ahead, has the right of way. Pedestrians have zero right of way. And the bigger the vehicle, the more right of way you have.

Anyways, last night we ventured off campus with some fellow teachers, for the first time without the administration holding our hand off campus! I'm telling you, this is a milestone for me. After my walmart experience, it really hit home how much the language barrier is a part of this experience. I was never really concerned with it coming out here, but now I understand I need to learn Mandarin FAST! And always plan ahead. And get really good at acting :)

It took us awhile to get a taxi, and then we piled in only to discover that there are NO seatbelts in the back seat. The driver wasn't even wearing his! I thought that was a lovely combination - terrifying drivers and no seatbelts. Awesome.

Anyway, our school isn't very close to many stores or restaurants (just other schools and universities, mostly), but our road eventually turns into a very cool area. After a 30 minute walk you hit a McDonalds, Watsons drug store, and a bunch of other places I haven't checked out yet. The taxi passed that area and let us out across the street from our destination: Helen's Cafe, a place that serves Western food. When we got out of the taxi, I realized that we had to actually CROSS the street. That gave me pause! No street lights in sight in either direction of the long road - just lots, and lots of cars (and motorcycles, and scooters) showing zero desire to stop. I held Zac tight and we crossed with a group. I'm not going to lie, it was kindof scary!

I was feeling pretty proud of making our first successful cross by the time we sat down. I discovered a few things about eating in China that night:

• Food ordered at the same arrives at different times. I watched a few people eat before getting my own food.
• Food doesn't always come in order: whatever is ready first, comes out first. I ate chocolate cake before my pizza.
• The waitress or waiter gives you the menu, then stands at your table until you order.
• You pay when you order, not when you are leaving.
• The server doesn't come back to ask if you want anything else - they assume you ordered everything you need.

Another thing: Poor Zac couldn't handle it - we got to the restaurant just before 8pm and he slept on my lap through the whole experience. I'll take him back soon, now that I know where to go :)

Aaannnnnd, the entire night out (cabs, food, drinks) cost less than $10 Canadian. Woot!! :)