China - Day 15, Wednesday

Today was Daniel's first day of school. He met the bus for 6:55am. Unfortunately there seems to be mostly Middle and High school students on his bus. There is a 5th grader, but Daniel hasn't met him yet. I met his mother. We will try to meet up so they can get to know each other. He lives in the building next to us so that would be great for Daniel to have a playmate so close.

With Daniel off to school (and not complaining about shopping) Amy and I headed shopping. Today we finally made it to IKEA. I was in need of some household items.

I found the address on the Internet on my phone and showed the driver the directions. I was so proud of myself! Well part way through the trip he has me call a number that gets me to an English speaking operator. I tell where I would like to go and she in turn tells the driver the address. Figures I get a driver who can't read!

I did not ship a can opener figuring ours was old and needed to be replaced anyway, I would just buy it here. Silly concept I know. After looking in 4 other stores for one, I finally found it in IKEA. Apparently they don't use can openers here!

The other thing I needed to buy was an ironing board. We have one in the apartment that is just long enough for Randy's shirt. It was kept out on our laundry room and the smog has made the cover very dirty. They do not seem to sell replacement covers. Plus the board only came up to the top of my thighs. I was hunched over trying to iron. I found a normal size and bought it. I had looked in 3-4 stores for a normal board before finding one at IKEA.

I also bought fitted sheets for each of the beds. I needed an extra set because when I wash them, it takes so long to dry the cloths that they might not be dry for bed time. Plus the other sheets I bought the first night were not fitted. So I eagerly opened the package and put it on Daniel's bed to find out that it is too small for his mattress, not because it is the new deep mattresses, but because the mattress is too wide. Frustrating! Not a standard twin size mattress.

Daniel arrived home at 3:45. He enjoyed his first day of school. Tomorrow he starts swimming in PE. He has another Daniel R in his class so he has to sign his whole name or RAC. That is unusual for him.

OK so I have decided to start a new section called: Frustrations or Cultural differences 101. Each day (or as often as I hit one) I will talk about a cultural difference or frustrations of living in China. These are some of the things that will require me to keep my sense of humor!

Today's FRUSTRATIONS/CULTURAL DIFFERENCES 101: Walking in China can be very interesting. Crossing streets can also be very dangerous even at cross walks. Pedestrians DO NOT have the right away even when crossing at a crosswalk with a green walk sign! The cars taking a right hand turn will toot at you to get out of the way. At some intersections the light going the other direction is green so a car that is turning will drive around you or honk for you to get out of the way even though you have a green light to walk! Very interesting!!!