efficiency, kunming style

1:52 remembered that i need my passport to pick up an international package. ran back up 5 flights to our house to get it.

1:57 scooter fully charged, postal slip in hand, ready to find this place! excited that it’s not all the way to Beijing Rd. where we usually pick these up.

1:59 asked my first traffic cop if he knew the address on my package slip. his short and unhelpful response was, “nihojjrrrrrnnr”. after the third try, moved on.

2:09 asked two nice gentleman on the street if they knew. one pointed north and one pointed east. felt good that at least i had a quadrant. they could have pointed north and south.

2:18 chose north and lo and behold there in front of me was the post office! feeling good until i was told by the mail carrier that I should have gone east.

2:27 asked a grandma who knew the place. gotta be close now.

2:33 found the place and handed them my slip. was asked to show my passport and sign the slip. obliged and was promptly given new slip. asked where my box was. apparently the slip I had was only the slip to get my new slip.

2:39 back on the road, headed all the way to Beijing Rd. where we usually pick these up.

2:59 arrived at the Post Office and finally received our package...yes! back on the scooter, package in hand.

3:17 giddy with success, stopped to pick up cash at the ATM. card didn’t work. moved on.

3:25 home at last, package in hand, swimming in homestyle popcorn, riesens and coffee!

btw: thanks mom and dad!

the new "familiar"

We just got back from a quick trip down to Sapa, Vietnam. Many people in Sapa spoke English, but of course we also found ourselves in situations where nobody did. Naturally, we attempted our Mandarin on the Vietnamese people...didn't work so well. Just because they share a border with China, doesn't mean they all have to share languages. We laughed at ourselves as we continually thanked people, said hello and tried to get prices in Mandarin. After just about five months of living here in China, we actually feel like we're getting along really well with our language and communication. And although we really enjoyed the incredible time we had in Sapa (see photos...there was much to enjoy!), as we made the walk back across the bridge to the Chinese side, we felt a huge amount of excitement to get back where people could understand us. It was definitely good to be back where things are familiar...almost immediately got hit by a big gob of spit, the bus we wanted to take was broken down so we had to wait 2 hours for the next one and lots of people were staring and calling us 'foreigners'...home sweet home.