After the sun goes down in Wuhan, it's still in the high 90's and very humid, but occasionally there is a breeze. I walk the mile to the taxi stop and take a taxi two additional miles. I love the taxis here. There is no tipping in the taxi business. The meter is clearly displayed, and you pay exactly what the meter says, plus .5 yuan (about 8 cents) as a fuel surcharge. I ride in taxis everyday. I often ride alone. It's perfectly safe day or night.
I return to CarreFour and locate the four soup bowls and one soup ladle I was unable to buy this morning. I select only pieces that have intact readable barcode labels. I'm assuming that's what went wrong this morning. I am already dreading a 45 minute wait in the checkout line, but Hallelujah, I approach the checkout area from the other side this time and there is an express lane that is manned, "5 items or less" with about 20 people in front of me. Human nature being what it is, people in the "5 items only" line have between 1 and 10 items. In the "15 items or less" at Safeway in Tucson, someone always has 20+ items.
This is fantastic. I wait about 8 minutes, and I'm checking out. I hold my breath as the clerk scans my five items. Everything passes muster. I've forgotten to bring my own shopping bag this time, so I pay 3 yuan to buy one. By now it's 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night. This entire part of town is rockin'. Thousands of people. I can't get a taxi. Usually it takes 5-10 minutes to find one that's available, but tonight, the taxis are all full. I decide to walk home (about 3 miles). Unfortunately, I'm wearing pretty shoes, not functional ones. [I told you earlier that backless shoes weren't permitted in the classroom. Wrong. I wear backless everyday and so does everyone else. This is a country with a lot of rules, most of which are not enforced.] After about a mile, a taxi comes out of an alley and voila, it's empty. The best 7 yuan I spent today.
I return to CarreFour and locate the four soup bowls and one soup ladle I was unable to buy this morning. I select only pieces that have intact readable barcode labels. I'm assuming that's what went wrong this morning. I am already dreading a 45 minute wait in the checkout line, but Hallelujah, I approach the checkout area from the other side this time and there is an express lane that is manned, "5 items or less" with about 20 people in front of me. Human nature being what it is, people in the "5 items only" line have between 1 and 10 items. In the "15 items or less" at Safeway in Tucson, someone always has 20+ items.
This is fantastic. I wait about 8 minutes, and I'm checking out. I hold my breath as the clerk scans my five items. Everything passes muster. I've forgotten to bring my own shopping bag this time, so I pay 3 yuan to buy one. By now it's 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night. This entire part of town is rockin'. Thousands of people. I can't get a taxi. Usually it takes 5-10 minutes to find one that's available, but tonight, the taxis are all full. I decide to walk home (about 3 miles). Unfortunately, I'm wearing pretty shoes, not functional ones. [I told you earlier that backless shoes weren't permitted in the classroom. Wrong. I wear backless everyday and so does everyone else. This is a country with a lot of rules, most of which are not enforced.] After about a mile, a taxi comes out of an alley and voila, it's empty. The best 7 yuan I spent today.
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