Back in the saddle and random kindness

I got a bike! Yay! It even has gears, not that one really needs those in Nanjing, but I am so used to using them, I didn't want to go back to a one-gear only bike (frankly, I don't know if I ever had one since I was 7 or so), and it was less than 600yuan. So far I'm rather happy with it, but I only took it out for a ride once. Funny thing, all the bikes here are sold with stands. There are usually designated "parking spots" for bikes. Not like in Montreal, where bikes are locked to every railing, lamp post or whatever is available. No wonder there are so many bikes stolen. The guy in the store I bought the bike at looked majorly confused when I wanted the biggest lock they had. He said it would be way too big for this bike. Well, yes, if I just want to lock the tire to the frame, but isn't tat kind of retarded? When I tried to lock my bike in front of a store to it's railing, I was told off by a security guard. So, it's gonna be a challenge to start a new trend here :)

Just about time, I get back in the saddle; it's starting to get cold here (I would have thought after three Canadian winters I'd never say this again, but 22 degrees feels kind of chilly), I have even seen some brown leaves on the ground, but there's no overall foliage change. It's just that every tree decides to throw off a few leaves. That's fall. And sunshine! Today the air was so clear, I could see the TV tower close to my boss' house as if it was just across the street.

Today I had a genuine shopping experience :) Man, I can't believe I have been spending all that money in the supermarket! I went to a home depot kind of store, because I needed screws and the likes, and above it there is a real Chinese-style mall. Instead of the western open-floor concept, it feels more like a market or bazaar. Every little stand has their own 2 or 3 walls. It's kinda crammed and hard to orient oneself in, but so cheap! I got a blow dryer for 20yuan! And the kind of foil I am using to "decorate away" the worst of my furniture costs less than a quarter of the supermarket price. Also got a bathroom shelf for about a quarter of the home depot price. Sure, it will rust soon and the foil doesn't stick as well as the other one... but I am not building a home for the next 20 years. So, whatever. It was a lot of fun. People there clearly don't get to see many westerners, I was not harassed at all with "hello lady!" (unlike in the fabric mall or western style malls downtown) instead there was a lot of giggling and hand-waving in the negotiation process (actually, most of the time I was so taken aback by the low prices that I couldn't even bring myself to haggle). I now also know where to get cheap kitchen ware. They actually had woks that are round at the bottom, whereas the supermarket only sells the flat-bottom variety. I wonder why - most people do cook with gas, as far as I could observe so far.

Speaking of cooking with gas - I think I mentioned the jet-engine style burners on my gas stove? Well, it turns out they are way too big to use the little espresso maker I bought at IKEA (for an insane amount of money - 250yuan?!), it doesn't even fit on the stove. I had been looking for a metal inset to use on top of the big grid, but no luck so far. I was told they only sell these together with stoves, not alone. So when I saw one in the home depot store today, I made sad eyes at the salesperson and explained that I don't need a stove I just need "this" (most of my communication consists of pointing and saying 这个"zhe ge" (this) and 那个 "na ge" (that)) and I asked her 可以不可以 "keyi bu keyi" (can I?) buy only this. She said she can't sell only this, but - looking left and right making sure nobody hears her - she can give it to me for free (good thing my Chinese vocabulary includes the term 送 "song" (to give as a gift)! She made me turn around and stuffed it into my backpack :) I thought that was pretty awesome. And the best thing - it even fits! I can now make coffee at home (well, still need to buy espresso coffee, but I know that one can get Lavazza here). As long as I can afford it, I will probably still have my daily espresso at my favourite cafe though (it is also the only place at the moment where I can circumvent the great firewall and post this, for example). It would be sad to give up one of the two places where they know me :) The other one being the bun shop I go to almost every morning for a stuffed steamed bun (with meat, veggies or sweet bean paste) and a soy "milk," which doesn't even remotely resemble milk and has nothing to do with what they sell in the west as soy milk - it's simply delicious. Tastes like soy beans, not like sugar and additives. Also, the consistency is not as artificially creamy. I always end up buying from the same woman (people here really work every day!) and today she asked me if I am here for long term. So, I'm getting somewhere. Maybe in a couple of months I can have an actual conversation with those people.

I also got to try the German bakery's bread today, because I bought a loaf for my boss. It's really not bad. So, even if I had an oven, I wouldn't be tempted to bake my own bread here. But to be honest, I prefer the steamed buns :)

So, that was my Sunday. Tomorrow it's back to the regular schedule of Chinese class, grant writing, giving lecture, doing physics (not sure where to fit that in yet!). Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you're having some ducks instead of turkey ;)