Thank-you for your prayers for Julia. She is doing much better, and on her way to a full recovery.
It has been a little while since we have updated. I had wanted to write a blog about our scooter for a while, but I have let trying to learn the language so that we can you know buy groceries get in the way. But really, we are very much enjoying the adventure that has been Lijiang, Yunnan, China! I have such an amazing wife that God has given to me!
Our first experience with a scooter was that Brother Dom let us borrow his to ride around in his complex so we could get some practice. If you could see the driving here you would understand the deep fear and trepidation that flooded my heart when I contemplated taking my lovely new bride out on that abyss of certain death they call a road! Well actually they call it a 路, but I used a translating app to figure that out. I got on and opened the throttle. Centrifugal force took it’s natural course, and I was able to drive around without too much trouble. In fact, I was pretty good at this scooter thing. With my new assurance Jewel hopped on the back and we started to take off. I say started because we really didn’t go very far. The distance from the road to the light pole on the side of the road was quite limited. Good news was we, and the light pole came away without too much damage!
For the next few days we would go out and drive the scooter trying to get used to it. When we got our own place, Brother Dom told us that we could borrow the scooter until we could get our own. So, I took my first drive out on the real road. It was pretty invigorating, and further proof that I was born to some day drive a motorcycle. (Of course, my wife and mother would debate this point heartily so I may have to settle for a Vespa eventually) I arrived at our apartment safely, and felt pretty comfortable driving it.
So after a few days of being light-pole free, we were excited about getting our very own scooter. We went out with Ian and looked, and found our beautiful Lorem Somnium (or LS for short) It was a gorgeous shade of midnight blue, and we just knew that it was the one. So the next day I went back with Ian and picked it up. Now, Lijiang is not HUGE, but it is big enough that it has different areas with more and less traffic. Where we live, for instance, is about 10-15 walking (moderately) distance from the school. It is the south of Lijiang, and it is not busy. Where we bought the scooter was somewhat closer to the heart of Lijiang. The fact of the matter is that this was more traffic than I had ever driven in. Good news, things can’t get any worse *cue rain*… Now, I speak about these things as if they are bad, but I do hope you can catch that I really just find this kind of thing funny, and driving in the rain was actually kind of neat!
I forgot… Before we could buy a scooter we needed what might be considered a learners permit. Translation: Jewel, Aunt Missy, and I sat through about 3 hours of someone explaining the rules, regulations, and dangers of driving a scooter in a class entitled. “Lesson in Blood” (at least I think that was the title) Sound long and arduous? Well don’t forget that this 3 hours was nothing but Chinese (and a few american songs that played during commercials that had German subtitles) so, after swearing into whatever it was that we swore into when a man came into the room yelling. I think it was the part where the guy comes in and says, “Many of you are only here because you continue not to follow the rules, and you are terrible drivers… etc. etc.” His shouting sounded all the same to me, but suddenly everyone around us shot up and to attention. We followed suite and quite literally laughed our way through trying to repeat after what this man was saying. We did end up receiving our little scooter diplomas though, so that was nice.
So after buying the scooter, it was straight to the DMV for registration. Ok, I know it’s not the DMV, but I am totally ignorant of what I might even try to call it, so we’ll pretend together. The first step is going into the building to show our paperwork, then it was out to the scooter man to get some paperwork filled out and the bike weighed, then it was back into the building to get the weight recorded, and some more paperwork, then it was back outside to get a picture taken of the scooter, then finally back inside for the license. (that sentince meigh bee rong grammatically) Point is, it was a lot of steps and a lot of time, but finally I was licensed and the scooter was ours for much less expensive (I guess) than it normally is. Freya, whom without it would have been next to impossible to get through this process, kept saying that she hated us because we only had to pay like 100 Yuan. (Oh, and we also got a free pressure cooker with purchase of our scooter :) )
Now, we use that lovely thing every day to get back and forth to school, to the grocery store, and out on dates. It is a wonderful device and I am starting to get the hang of driving in China. I guess as long as I don’t get too comfortable we will probably be ok.
