Bikes!

We finally got our bikes . . . we would have bought them last weekend, but we ran out of money :) and it took this long to find a CitiBank.

Talk about freedom . . . they are amazing. We made our way over to the Giant bike store on foot, but we were returning by wheels. Actually, it was pretty funny trying to buy bikes in a language you can't speak. I found my bike (the only girl bike without flowers on it) and went up to the girl and said "Wo xiang buy a bike." Translated: I want to buy a bike. Unfortunately, my vocabulary does not include "to purchase" or "bike" yet. So, after a while, Denis and I were the proud owners of two bikes, baskets, and locks!

(How could I not choose my bike--it was called "Story City Bike" You gotta love China)

Too bad we had to ride home.

I was deathly afraid of that part . . . I will have Denis take a video of the main road one day so you can see what I mean. Riding your bike in some areas is definitely putting your life into the hands of others. On all roads, there is a huge bike lane, but motorcycles, motorized bikes, rickshaws, regular bikes, and stopped cars all have to share it. I am okay with this set-up, minus the parked cars. Once they show up, you (and the 100 people around you) have to swerve into the road and face the moving cars, buses, and trucks. Aiya!

But we made it, and we love it! It was hard to ride at first. Not only because I haven't ridden a bike since seventh grade, but because there bikes are different. I can't explain how, but the steering and such isn't the same. We practiced around campus a bit (I used the basketball hoops as a slalom course to help me work on my turning :) until we felt confident that we wouldn't make fools of ourselves riding to work on Tuesday.

Then we did the unthinkable . . . we went running. We haven't done ANYTHING (except a short treadmill run at our hotel in Pudong) for over two months. So this was quite a feat for us. We ran ass slow and did so for way too short of a distance, but it was a start. A little start :) If we can, we are going to do the Shanghai half marathon at the end of November. I kind of doubt we will get there, but hey, it is a goal at least. The picture is of the track--it is right next to our building, so at least that is less of an excuse to not go . . . but I am sure we will come up with some good ones still.

After some much deserved rest, we headed over to Gubei. I will unabashedly admit that I love Gubei, foreigner land :)

This is a completely random side story, but it connects, I swear. Okay, so when we were in Japan, store after store was filled with amazing stationary. It was a wonderland of fun office products. So far, China has been the antithesis of a stationary wonderland (unless you are looking for the most random Engrish notebooks and pencil boxes). So I when I saw one of my students with the pens I like to grade with I (literally, I am embarrassed to say) ran over to her and demanded to know where she got them--GUBEI! She was nice enough to pick some up for me (ugg, I still have to pay here--it was during the "I have run out of kuai" stage) and she gave me the store's card, so now I can find it myself :)

Back to the real story . . . so Gubei is really fun--there are a lot of nice, clean Chinese stores and restaurants, as well as a lot of nice, clean foreign places. Our favorite is the Carrefore there--in the basement there is a wonderland called Food Republic. It is this huge food court filled with amazing choices, and best of all, there are English menus for each stall! Yeah, English! So after stuffing our faces at Yoshinoya, we hit up Subway for dessert. That's right, Subway. Do you have any idea what it is like to go months without a proper cookie. I don't think you could even fathom it (especially for someone like me, who is obsessed with cookies). Now I am not talking about those hard little chips ahoy things. I am writing about big, warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies. Subway delivered.

I only at one and a half . . . the other one and a half were for Denis :)

But after gorging ourselves, we went food shopping and found the ONLY box of dryer fabric softener sheets offered in the entire store--at least they smelled good. But it was a fun night. I don't really feel like having the weekend end yet, but at least I finally have our Golden Week trip planned. The Wongs are going to Singapore (and are very excited about it)! I can't wait to speak English to everyone and get to eat lots of lots of delicious food. Okay, I should finish grading my essays now.