Third Driver's A Charm, Right?

We have a new driver!  It happened very quickly and we are now being chauffeured by Ma, the former driver of another expat who recently left Shenyang.  He picked us up this morning, my first meeting with him, and right away we tested him.  We brought our wagon with us and it had a flat tire.  We had it all apart and just needed to get the tube patched so I asked him if he knew where we could go to get it done.  He thought it might be too early but said we would try.  It didn't take long to find someone to fix it.  He simply drove straight at an intersection just outside Eastern Venice where we usually turn left and we were on a street we had never been on before.  I wish I had known about it a few weeks ago - there were bike shops galore.  I probably could have gotten a good deal on a decent bike there.  Anyway, he saw one place but decided to keep going and instead stopped by a man on the street with a cart.  He said, "This man, small money.  That other one, large money".  Good enough.  I jumped out and showed the man the tube and within seconds he had an audience.  He was a good sport though and didn't just fix the tube, he insisted we get the wagon out of the van so he could put it back together.  We had brought the tools to do it, but since he was offering, we went along.  In the end he only charged the equivalent of $.75.  We were pleased!

From here Ma took us to the botanical gardens.  We had been here once last year but Mom hadn't had a chance to see it when she was visiting in October.  It was an absolutely beautiful day for the park and we were lucky to have Jessica, Samuel and Elijah join us.  The gardens turned out to be a lot more than they and Mom had expected and we had a fantastic day.  I will let the pictures do the talking.

Shortly after we got home from the gardens Sue the seamstress showed up with some clothes for Mom.  I had bought the material and ordered them before she came to Shenyang.  Thankfully everything fit and Sue was on her way within a couple minutes.  A little while later my Chinese teacher, Amanda, showed up to help me buy train tickets to Beijing online.  I had tried to do it myself but since it was all in Chinese characters, I was worried about making the wrong selection and ending up in Siberia instead of Beijing.  We made it through the selection process and entered all our information and attempted to pay with our bank card.  Unfortunately, our card isn't set up for that type of payment.  Crap!  Tim had just been dropped off by Ma so I had to quickly call him and ask him to come back so I could go purchase our tickets at the train station.  Tomorrow Tim and I go to Shanghai and return late on Tuesday afternoon, then Wednesday morning Mom, the boys and I go to Beijing.  The only day I had left to buy the tickets was today.  I could possibly have purchased them in Shanghai but I didn't want to chance it.  Ma returned and at six o'clock this evening we left for the train station.

It took almost an hour to get to the station and when we finally did we realized that the place was under construction and everything had been moved to a temporary site next door.  It was a little confusing but we made our way to the ticket counters.  As we waited in line, Ma tried to ask me something in English, but I didn't understand.  Then he said, "You buy chicken.  Like KFC."  Huh?  He could tell by the look on my face I had no idea what he was talking about.  He put his hands under his armpits and started flapping his arms like a bird and and going "Bock, bock, bock".  Realize that we are standing among 300-400 people, all Chinese, so I am already being stared.  Add to that a man beside me acting like a bird, and almost everyone was looking at us.  I said to Ma, "You want KFC?".  He said, "No, you want buy like KFC (again he acts like a bird) name.  Piao."  I just shake my head and laugh, not having a clue what he is trying to tell me.  The next time he does it he points to the ticket counter and says, "You want buy piao, chicken".  He's still acting like a bird but with the pointing and "piao" I finally get it!  I had told him I wanted to buy tickets and because his English is limited, he heard chicken.  He thought the word for ticket was the same as the word for chicken.  I had a good laugh and got my phone out so I could type in ticket, then chicken, so he could see the difference.  I was still smiling when we made it up to the ticket counter.  That took a while because there are people who like to butt in front and think it's okay as long as they have the correct money or are paying for their tickets with their phones (I'm not sure how they do that).  The girl in front of me allowed two men to cut in front of her but I stayed as close to her as I could and when she left, I jumped right up to the window.  I will tell you one thing, the guy that tried to cut me off regretted it.  As I knew it would, my ticket purchase took a lot longer than the average Chinese person's.  Amanda had written everything down for me so it wasn't too bad, but because they require id and the woman still had a couple questions, it was a slow process.  Ma was a great help though and the jackass that tried to cheat may have learned a lesson.  Next time he would be better off waiting in a line that has no white girls in it!

Two hours after leaving I was back home and ready to pack and get things in order for Mom.  I wanted to be in bed early but it's already too late for that.  I figured I would do a blog so I could get caught up before Shanghai.  We are looking forward to our getaway and a nice anniversary supper.

That's it for now!  I'll post from Shanghai...