fireworks and bike shopping

This weekend was a semi-uneventful weekend due to the fact that we teach two weekends a month, and this weekend was one of those weekends. I only had two classes though, so it wasn't bad. 

We did have time to go and look for bicycles though! While shopping, I like to make decisions quickly, I know what I like, so I can just get in and get out instead of lingering over things. This is not always a good thing, but its the way I generally make decisions. Brady on the other hand takes his time making decisions. Which is a good thing, just hard for me when I am used to making them quicker. So now we  have looked at bikes for about 3-4 hours combined. Still no bike. I probably could have bought 5 different bikes by now, but Brady was unsure of which one to get, not that he ever stopped me from getting one, I just didn't want to end up with a horrible bike for more money and have him find a sweet bike for really cheap.  I appreciate this because I know I will end up with a better bike, but last night while we were shopping, i hit my point of being done and just needed to head back.

The good news is that while bike shopping, I made some Chinese friends. They did not speak any english whatsoever, but I pulled out my handy-dandy Mandrin book, given to me by the lovely Leslie Ballantine, and i was saying phrases with them. We were laughing quite a bit because my Chinese is so poor, but I had fun nonetheless. There were two Chinese women that kept talking to me even after I said "wo bu mingbai" which is "I do not understand." I laughed a lot and they just kept taaaalking and talking. I like the people at Wanda (the huge shopping mall across the street.)

You may be wondering why fireworks is in the title of this post. Something to note if you ever come to China. There are fireworks that are shot off at the oddest times. One Tuesday morning, I was woken up to fireworks at 5:30 am. It was not a holiday, it was just a tuesday. I am convinced that Chinese people just sit there and when they decide they don't know what to do, they think "maybe I should light off fireworks." And that is a totally socially acceptable thing to do that early in the morning. And at night, and mid-day. It is just a regular part of life.

This weekend I also went on a cleaning-spree. The chinese standards of cleanliness are nothing like the American standard. When I got here I was trying to take everything in, so I did not notice the nastiness of my apartment, but man did I ever see it this weekend. I am quite confident that this place hasn't been cleaned in about 10 years, so me and my roommate are trying to bleach the whole apartment. We got quite a bit done, but it takes time! I got some floor cleaner last night and some window cleaner, so hopefully this place will be a lot cleaner in the next few days!

I also tried playing Badminton. This is a funny sport. I was playing with the only other white lady here, Olga, who doesn't speak English. There was tons of wind, so no matter where we hit it, the ball-type thing would go flying. We were laughing SO hard. All the asian students were standing around watching us and I have no idea what they were saying, but I was enjoying myself. Then I went to play basketball with some students and Brady. Everyone was really into it. When people get competitive in sports now, I just can't get as into it. So I was not a valuable part of my team. I did have fun though! I accidently scored a point for the wrong team. Oh well haha. There was another girl playing, and she was funny so we would just laugh together.