Our driver, Mr. Wu, has Sundays off. He drives our car home with him on Saturday night and doesn't return with it until Monday morning, so we have to rely completely on our bikes for transportation on Sundays. This morning Scott and I rode to Carrefour to get a couple of things for our big Sunday breakfast. We made our way through the throngs of shoppers buying mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival with our bacon, juice, and various items for this week's school lunches, and emerged from the store to find it was a complete downpour outside. It was dry when we left our house, so of course we didn't have ponchos with us (actually, I am quite sure Scott has never worn one of those ponchos anyway). Scott had most of our purchases in a backpack, and I carried the rest in a plastic grocery bag, which I tied shut before we emerged into the rain. Had to find our bikes in the line up of hundreds of others, undo the combination locks, weave through the taxi line, and ride the three blocks home in driving rain. We didn't race home, we just rode at a regular pace. We were drenched to the skin by the time we got home and had to call in the front door for Seth to bring us towels. No big deal, with a hot shower and yummy breakfast at the end. Made me feel like a kid.
It was kind of fun, as I think about it. Kind of an OIC (only in China) moment. Of course I could be caught in the rain on my bike anywhere in the world, I know. But today it happened in Shanghai, and we didn't have a car to use if we'd wanted to. And we don't drive in China. OIC, Baby. :-)
8 comments:
I'm just wondering why you do not use Taxi's? It is only $1.25 for you guys to get back home? And I thought I was cheap:)
Lisa
Love it. Wish you could have snapped a picture. But then you would have had to wait in the rain for someone to fetch the camera.... :)
You know why I don't use a taxi, Lisa. My Chinese is so bad... I'm just not confident. I do it if I must, but I prefer not to. I'd rather ride in the rain! :-)
Lynne, what a fun experience, especially if you can look at it that way! Mom
thank you for the OIC stories...enjoy them very much. Eat a mooncake for me :-)
What a great post. We had similar ponchos in Germany and remember getting caught in the rain without it quite a few times!
She's so cute! What a great story!
You're just as good a me, Lynne. I could not remember what street you lived on, it was only pongbian jinqiao jialefu and yougui/zougui from there on out. But as of right now I would give anything to ride a bike to the store,even in the rain. I miss it.
Lisa
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