Saturday

Saturday I had a small class in the morning on Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) that started out chaotic but ended pretty smooth. I was then free for the the rest of the day and not quite sure what to do with it. So 2 other guys and I thought it would be a good idea to go to the village for some groceries and a mutton stick dinner. So as we're walking down the main drag through this tiny village (East Coast readers think Heidlersburg, Midwest: Harrisburg) we instantly become the center of attraction. One of the guys I'm with, Brandon, knows this little bike shop where he can get his bike adjusted, so we head there. A bike is a pretty useful thing to have around campus as it shortens the walk from the facilitator dorm to the classrooms by several minutes and in the course of a day, those add up. Plus, it's also useful to quickly get to the village if you want to buy some stuff. While the guy is fixing the bike, we decide to go across the street to this little diner to get some baoza which is like a dumpling filled with vegetables and meat. Really cheap, really good. They're also really spicy which is why its a good idea to have something to drink nearby and we tried to order a Coke in mandarin which sounds a little different here (bǎishìkělè) After mangling it a few times for the woman who ran the store and doing very amusing hand gestures, she finally got it and said. Oh, Coca-Cola! Score one for globalization, I guess.
After this tasty snack we head back to the bike shop where the guy has a choice for Brandon, tube one or tube two. he explains the differences between the two in rapid-fire vernacular so he might as well have been explaining how to fuel a nuclear reactor. Once again, our attempts at communication serve only as entertainment to the crowd watching. However the guy manages to get across that he can fix the bike, but it would almost be cheaper to get a new one, and what do you know, he sells them too. Brandon agrees to fix it but I wouldn't mind getting one, so i look them over. The first one he brings out is an older model girls bike painted bright pink. Pass.
The next one is a very simple black bike. 1 gear, good chain, good tires, very dusty. He asks if i want to try it, and I do, so with a dozen or so onlookers I bike out onto the main road trying not to figure this bike out while not running over everyone or into anything or being run over. Remember, this a fairly busy village and everything is right on the main drag there, so there's construction vehicles going through, trucks, cars, taxis, scooters, you name it. Also chickens doing their thing nearby large piles of feed or dirt or gravel and kids running everywhere. I take a quick loop and don't hit anything so as I'm coming back to the little shop, I go to slow down and discover that brakes are an option in China...one this bike doesnt come installed with. I manage to stop it with my feet and after more than a few laughs from the crowd, the shopguy takes it back, tightens a few things and gives it back, This time they work. So for a cool sixty kwai,(less than ten dollars) i have wheels.