The Poncho Wearing, Bike Riding Locals

Unlike us Northwesterners, the Chinese are not as fond as pulling out the goretex rain jackets, rain boots and water resistant pants. In fact, since I have been here I haven't seen any rain boots and very few quality rain jackets. The Chinese prefer the umbrella, for which they have created contraptions to connect to their bikes in order to stay dry while riding. The Chinese also are quite fond of the poncho, but not normal sized ponchos, ridiculously large ponchos that are designed to fit over one's entire bicycle. Underneath these rain barriers people dress as they would for any other day. I see people dressed in suits, high heels, and dresses all braving the rain under their umbrellas or ponchos. This is the way of the Chinese when it rains. I remember experiencing these behaviors during our first rain in China, thinking these people were crazy as I ran around in my flipflops and tank tops, thinking I would never join these poncho wearing, umbrella carrying locals...
Well, today that all changed! After biking through multiple rains over the past week and sitting through several meals in wet, soggy jeans, I decided this gigantic poncho thing might actually make sense. So today after waking up to rain yet again, I mounted my bike and headed down to the corner store to buy a beautiful burgandy poncho.
I have already gotten my moneys worth out of it by cycling all over campus and all the way through town to the PSB. I am now a proud member of the poncho wearing, bike riding locals.

Today also brought the good news that I will be able to get a Visa (hence me biking across town) in time to meet Christy in Hong Kong next Wednesday! WOOHOO!

Embaressing moment of the day: Every once and a while I mix up my Chinese phrase, but todays case was probably the worst. While shopping and not paying attention to my surrounding I ran into a chinese girl who was quite startled by the intrution to her personal space bubble. In tending to quickly apologize I blurted out "Duoshoa qian?" (How much does it cost?) rather than "Dubuqi!" (I am sorry). This created a more awkward situation with nasty glares. Although I was rather startled at the time, I have been laughing about this incident all day long!