When we were just starting out in Zhong Guan Cun and our little home consisted of only a few scattered pieces of furniture and randomly inherited kitchen appliances, we ambitiously decided to host a house warming party with a few of our new friends. Besides the catering to be done, and obvious lack of space, we did not anticipate the hassle it was going to be to lug 6 bags of heavy fruit and snacks from the closest supermarket to our modest home. You see the main difference here in China, which Kyle and I often forget about, is the fact that one does not own a car. Moreoften than not this proves a help rather than a hinderance - there is no stress of searching for petrol, no worry of theft or payments for insurance, and generally this is one of the pleasures of living in a city like Beijing. You are happy to handle the public transport because once you step off a smelly bus, you no longer have to worry about it. However when you have just done an extensive shop at the famous Carrefour supermarket and you get out the doors only to realise there is no boot to assist you; there is a dreadful moment when you realise it is only you, those bags and the dusty, chaotic, manic roads of Beijing. It can be disheartening to say the least. A sane person of course would just hop into the nearest taxi and speed off to your doorstep; but not my wonderful, ever mindful of our finances husband. No, to him getting in a taxi is a sign that the challenge that is Beijing has got the better of you, and he has only ever bowed to my taxi pleas a handful of times. So on this particularly hot day in Beijing, Kyle found himself alone and with a bit of a scurry ahead of him. He has stocked his bags full of juicy watermelon, beers, bottles and snacks that his wife has written on a comprehensive shopping list, and did this without ever anticipating the journey ahead of him. Another thing you must remember about life here in Beijing is that it is each man for his own. Survival of the fittest is the code by which everyone who ventures here willingly must live; there is no "neighbour in need" or "please be my guest" or "go right ahead" as we have cruelly discovered. You can be covered in sweat, overcome with fatigue and lying in a ditch somewhere, people are not going to lend a helping hand.
So with that in mind let me continue...Kyle set off on his (what should have been) 10 minute walk home with 6 bags in tow; and they were HEAVY, very very heavy. There was, at the back of his mind, that dreadful fear that under all this weight these bags wouldn't hold; so he decided, just to be safe, he would make a dash for home. He was sifting his way through the barrier of bicycles and other pedestrians completely ignorant of his presence, and running ahead of the cars on a busy main road when his worst fear did indeed became a reality and his bags did...yes...split. They broke simultaneously and all over the place and for a second he found himself frozen in time by the event that had just taken place. But then the hooting and flashing of lights started and he was in the middle of a bustling Beijing road with his groceries spewed all over the place for all the world to see! The watermelon was now rolling down the road and the crisps were in danger of being driven over, the beers were undoubtably fizzy from the drop and the kiwi fruits were now the juice. I would've picked up what I could and left the rest for dead, but Kyle frantically carried what he could to the pavement and went back into the road in search for every bit of rolling food. He then stuffed them into the 3 salvageable bags, tied new handles on, picked up the now heavier bags and continued the trek to Su Zhou Jie. Not a single one of the other pedestrians crossing the street in that instant stopped to help him - but you just know that on their passing they were thinking "stupid foreigner" and chuckling under their breath.
I don't know how long my poor husband went searching for the rolling watermelon but I know that he took it all in his stride, bruised ego and all, and conquered the trip home with everything I had asked for. The fruit was a little softer and dirtier than it should have been, and the beer was a little riskier to open but we had a great party. When he told me the story on our walk home from work that evening I was rolling on the floor with laughter, but ever so proud of his guts amidst the madness - this place is like a zoo - and he took it like such a man.
So with that in mind let me continue...Kyle set off on his (what should have been) 10 minute walk home with 6 bags in tow; and they were HEAVY, very very heavy. There was, at the back of his mind, that dreadful fear that under all this weight these bags wouldn't hold; so he decided, just to be safe, he would make a dash for home. He was sifting his way through the barrier of bicycles and other pedestrians completely ignorant of his presence, and running ahead of the cars on a busy main road when his worst fear did indeed became a reality and his bags did...yes...split. They broke simultaneously and all over the place and for a second he found himself frozen in time by the event that had just taken place. But then the hooting and flashing of lights started and he was in the middle of a bustling Beijing road with his groceries spewed all over the place for all the world to see! The watermelon was now rolling down the road and the crisps were in danger of being driven over, the beers were undoubtably fizzy from the drop and the kiwi fruits were now the juice. I would've picked up what I could and left the rest for dead, but Kyle frantically carried what he could to the pavement and went back into the road in search for every bit of rolling food. He then stuffed them into the 3 salvageable bags, tied new handles on, picked up the now heavier bags and continued the trek to Su Zhou Jie. Not a single one of the other pedestrians crossing the street in that instant stopped to help him - but you just know that on their passing they were thinking "stupid foreigner" and chuckling under their breath.
I don't know how long my poor husband went searching for the rolling watermelon but I know that he took it all in his stride, bruised ego and all, and conquered the trip home with everything I had asked for. The fruit was a little softer and dirtier than it should have been, and the beer was a little riskier to open but we had a great party. When he told me the story on our walk home from work that evening I was rolling on the floor with laughter, but ever so proud of his guts amidst the madness - this place is like a zoo - and he took it like such a man.
2 comments:
Kyle - next time take Meryl with you when you go shopping.... that way she can carry the bags! Hahahahaha
Hi, me again. Thank you for the "Whose line is it anyway" videos!
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