More Fun

This morning started with breakfast on the river again. This time we saw a whole group of swimmers--not so sure I would be getting in that water. Then we were picked up in a taxi by a young Chinese man who works at the hub. We were talking on the way there and I asked him if he was married, at which point he looked at his watch--we were all very confused and he realized how funny that must look to us and he started to giggle. He explained that he would be getting married very soon. They would be taking an hour off from work to get married and couldn't take more than that because business is too busy! The picture of the sign is from the back seat of the taxi. It reads, "The average taxi ride is 17.4 minutes. With nothing to do but look at me. Lucky You!" The other pictures are of apartments on the way to the hub--we really don't know how lucky we are--and our hotel room and bathroom. Every evening when we get back, my cosmetics are neatly lined up on the counter, sitting on a clean towel. We met with a bunch of different people and then proceeded to get to work on the scales. It was pretty hot in the hub, but we were able to get a lot done. About 4 we went back to the offices and were offered a ride to the airport, where we could catch a taxi back to the hotel. The man who drove us there didn't speak much English, and we were pretty sure the taxi drivers wouldn't--so they sent along a darling Chinese girl to help us navigate and give instructions to the taxi driver. On the way to the airport we see a lot of housing--high rise apartments mostly and plots of rice or corn. Today we rounded a curve and came VERY close to a water buffalo grazing by the side of the road--Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore! Just as we were about to get in the cab John handed me a Fairbanks pen to give to her (they are very big on giving gifts). She was so excited and turned to me and exclaimed, "this is gift for me?!" On the way home in the taxi John told me that one of the Americans, who has been over here for an extended length of time, is making arrangements for one of his employees to take us to Beijing Road market this weekend. His aunt owns a silk and jade shop and he can get us in the back where she makes "special deals". There is a whole different way of shopping here, but I'm catching on! Anyway, I'm really excited to see what she has! He will also take us around the rest of the market and then bring us back to the hotel--it should be a lot of fun and I can't wait. We spent some time just relaxing when we got back, and met Steve downstairs at 6:30 to go to dinner. We ventured out of the hotel tonight and went to a Thai Restaurant. I did, eventually, find something I could eat....here were some of the choices--roast pig neck meat, spicy and sour intestines, double boiled pig tripes, vermicelli with minced pork intestines, squid salad, boneless chicken feet salad (I really want to know how they do that!), steamed fish head, fried ostrich kidney with baby corn, steamed goose hand (maybe they meant head?), or steamed pigeon (there was a picture of this--they really give you the entire bird, head and all!). After thinking long and hard, I finally settled on the baked rice and shrimp! Now it's early to bed, as there is a training class at the hub all day tomorrow.