A Real Chinese

We're proud to announce the addition of two cellphones to our happy little family. Last Saturday, with Jerry's help translating, we managed to buy new and very convenient ways to communicate. Don is now addicted to texting. He is, as I write this, checking his phone. He will also be, as you read this, doing the same thing.

His students have now started to use the cell phone and the Internet as new ways of practicing their English. So, we get these short and sometimes long messages that we need to decipher. One of his most frequent email pals barely talks to him in person. It's all kinda cute. Oh yeah, and Don has loaded the Nickleback and Kid Rock version of "Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting" as his ringtone.

Cellphones are essential to the Chinese. As soon as we got our phones, we quickly added lots of people to our directories. Now, when a student finds out we have a phone, they usually grab it so they can phone themselves from our phone and get our phone numbers. Thank goodness service charges are low in this country. According to reliable sources, it'll cost us around $2.71 each for a month's service if we don't go overboard.

On Sunday, Don went to a football game with Rob and one of their students Henry. They are going to be season's ticket holders for $21. For that, they become fans of the local team and get a scarf, a t-shirt and entrance to all the home games for the year.

While the boys were at the game, Sunrise took me out shopping. Shopping in China had, until that day, been me speed shopping while men waited around and got bored. Shopping with a girl is much different. We browsed for clothes and she managed to haggle a good price on a jade pendant for me and another one for my new phone (which I'm holding in my hands in the photo above, btw). She even managed to get a silver chain thrown in. For such a young kid, she got the deal done. We were out for hours and had an enjoyable afternoon. I didn't manage to spend as much money as I had hoped because I am still so overwhelmed by the selection. I can only manage to take in small chunks at a time and then I'm on overload. It's like Christmas season every single minute of every single day here with the crowds and the information overload.

I successfully went on a shopping trip by myself this week while Don was working. I took the number 12 bus to a nearby and more importantly familiar department / grocery store. The bus ride is was 15 cents. The buses are old and very crowded but it gets me from point A to B without too much shoving and pushing. You don't want to ride the bus with your hands full, at least not as a newbie like me.

I even manage to bring some breakfast home from an early class now. There are some nice ladies just outside the gates who have a very busy take-out cart. They make these sandwiches with a fried egg or two, some pink "meat" product that looks like but is definitely not spam, some fresh veggies and some yummy sauce. All this for only 40 cents a sandwich. English McMuffins Chinese style.

As you can see, the cost of living has been quite economical so far. With the apartment being part of the deal, we are doing well financially in Chinese terms. Our only expenses being food, water and utilities. We are grateful for a roof over our head, food in our bellies and work we love to do!

We just came home from an English Speech Contest but I'll write about that in a separate post.

J