Adventures in China

1. Gather all my things together: money, business cards, pocket dictionary, camera.
2. Walk across campus and wave to the guards at the gate. Sometimes I would have to try and explain where I was going which is a lot of me trying to remember Chinese words, then mispronouncing them, then not understanding what the guards say, then calling someone who speaks both Chinese and English.
3. Stand beside the highway and wait for a van or bus. Waive down the van or bus.

3. Stand (usually) in a very crowded van or bus. Pay 1 yuan for the ride. Get stared at for 5 long and bumpy kilometers.
4. Get off at the train station. Push my way past map vendors, taxi drivers, and van drivers trying to sell me tickets to the sights.
5. Walk about a half mile to the grocery store. Be stared at a lot. Be grateful that I haven't actually caused an accident, yet.

6. Check my bag at the grocery store counter by pushing through the crowd, get a basket and fill it with prepackaged goodies. Buy everything from excellent ramen to weird candies.
7. Go to the check out lines, have a girl ring up my purchases, spend more in a week than most Chinese would spend in a month, get a receipt.
8. Walk 5 feet to a guard, give him my receipt, walk out of the store.
9. Push through the line at the counter to get my bag. Pack most of my purchases in my backpack.
10. Walk another half mile to the farmer's market. Grocery stores only have prepackaged food while fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, and spices are bought at smaller markets. Some markets are covered areas and some are just on street corners. Most Chinese city people buy their food, here. It is cheap and usually close to home.

11. I walk up and down past the vendors to see what is available and who has the best looking produce. There are piles of veggies, tubs of tofu, and slabs of meat. The meat still has the skin on it and often it is still in it's original form, so there would be two halves of a pig under a blanket to keep the flies off.
12. Find something I want to buy and ask the price of it. Some Chinese people argue about the price (of each thing they buy), but I am too lazy to argue very much, especially when it is all so cheap. If I know I am getting severely overcharged, I'll move on to buy it elsewhere.
13. Fill a little bag with the produce. The vendor will weigh it on a scale, often filling up the bag with some more produce to make a full unit of weight. The scales are held by hand and the weight is moved along the stick until it balances. There are marks on the stick to show how much the object weighs.

14. Laden down with food, I walk until I find a place to catch a taxi. Usually this isn't too far, since there are taxis everywhere.
15. Dump all my stuff in the taxi and collapse into a seat.
16. Have a conversation with the taxi driver:

Me: To Kaitong School.
Driver: Eh?
Me: Kaitong School is near the airport.
[The driver nods, starts driving, turns the meter on.]
Driver: Where are you from?
Me: America
Driver: What are you doing in Luoyang.
Me: I teach at Kaitong School.
Driver: How old are you?
Me: 20 years old.
Driver: How much money do you make?
Me: Sorry! I don't understand what you are saying! My Chinese is not good!
The driver either stops talking, or tells me my Chinese is good and we talk about my favorite Chinese foods and how much I like Chinese people.

17. Get to my school, pay the driver, say "Thank you. Goodbye" and haul all my stuff into my apartment.

Elapsed time: 3 to 4 hours.