Holy Cow (pt.2)

So, on to Tuesday. We decided to try our hand at real Chinese bargaining by heading to the Pearl Market. We asked the hostel how to get there and attempted once again to navigate the bus system. This time it was a bit confusing and the directions we were given were not right. So we tried to ask some people on the bus and they told us we had to get off and transfer. The hostel said nothing about transferring so we hesitated. But next think you know we're at a bus stop and the guy we asked for help starts shouting, "GET OFF THE BUS!!! CROSS THE STREET, TAKE BUS THREE - SIX!!!" Laura tried to clarify and said, "bus thirty-six?" and he goes, "NO, BUS THREE SIX!" So we get off and find our way to the stop for bus "three six" and we get on and start moving. We try to ask around but no one speaks English but finally we get to a stop and a little old lady points to a building across the street and then to the bus door. So we get off and look around and sure enough, we're at the Pearl Market.

Don't let the name fool you, the first stand when you walk in is pearls, but the other billion (ish) stands on 4 different floors sell EVERYTHING. I would like to take this moment to warn you though, if you ever go to the Pearl Market in Beijing, be sure to eat something before because it is exhausting, and you must have a strong front, these people are relentless. When you walk in they start in on you, and looking western is even worse. White means money to these people and they will do anything rip you off! We wandered a little and talked to some people, who were all asking outrageous prices for their products, when Teresa met a woman at a scarf stand. This woman was a flight attendant for Air Canada and shared some wonderful advice. She sent us to her friend Steve who worked an electronics stand. She told him that we were friends with her and he should treat us well. I was looking for some portable speakers to use so I could play music in the classroom and Steven said 40RMB. The first stand I asked at said 200RMB!!!!! This guy was too good to be true. He helped us with a few other prices that we should accept for certain products and was just wonderful with our questions. While we were shopping there, another couple from Air Canada told us to go to Shanon's stand on the 2nd floor for clothing. Just tell them that we are friends with the Air Canada people and they will give us great prices. So we went up to the second floor and found the women who ran the stand, and they gave us amazing prices on all sorts of clothes and accessories. It was quite a relief after trying to bargain our way through everything else. I was beyond exhausted by the time we were done.

We got back to the hostel to pick up our things and went to get a taxi to the train station. Unfortunately, it was rush hour and no one would take us because of traffic, so we start speed walking because we were already running late. Finally some pedi-cab driver says he and a friend will take us and we climb in with all our stuff and speed off to the station. We paid an obscene amount of yuan, but didn't really have time to argue because our train was about to depart. So we're running through the station and we get to our platform as they are starting to pull the little ramps away. We had to cart our stuff through 3 cars to get to our bunks, but we made it! It was ridiculous. As expected after a whirlwind 3 days, I slept through the night on this train, and woke up when we arrived back in Xuzhou. We decided to tour a little bit there and went up a mountain to see a temple and some other sights which was really pretty, but by the afternoon Laura and I were ready to head back to Siyang. So, we got to the bus station, bought our tickets, and were on our way. After about 3.5 hours, the bus stops on the highway and the driver comes to our seats and tells us to get off... We had no idea where we were but he points to the forest and is like "Siyang, Siyang". We get off and get our bags and just stand there, unsure of what was going on. Some taxi driver takes us and we show him the address for our apartment and he starts to drive. For the first 5 minutes of the ride, neither of us recognized anything in the town, but finally I saw a kid in a uniform from our school so we knew we were in the right place. It was a bit unnerving, but we finally got home. When we got to our apartment there was a note, in English, taped to our door. Apparently there are other foreigners in our town, and word got around to them about Laura and I. This guy, Anthony, found us and left us his information so we could meet up. He is from the UK and knows 2 other guys, from Africa, that are teaching in Siyang. So we are finally going to meet some foreigners. It will be weird though because Laura and I have found a weird sort of comfort in our life as the only foreigners, but I suppose we're still the only Americans, and mid-Westerners at that, so we have our niche.

Anyways, that brings us to the end of the fall holiday after quite the crazy ride. In the 3 days since we've been back, the stories have started to accumulate, but I think I'll save those for next time...