I'd wanted one for a while and when Sherree (Kiwi teacher here) said she'd been to a good place nearby we couldn't resist. We had been advised not to go unless a Chinese student came with us as a chaperone - we even got phone calls on the way to the market reminding us not to go alone - so that we would be offered a fair price.
The bold laowai's went forth, however, and bartered the socks off the traders (this may be more or less accurate, as by the time they'd thrown in bells, locks and ownership documents, we ended up paying the original asking price, about GBP20...) Oh, ownership documents, a little green 'Bike Passport' that no Chinese person has ever seen before/ is obliged to carry, but strangely costs 10RMB.
Anyway, they're well cool, and we've already seen loads more of campus and wil probably use them to ride into the city tomorrow. Exclamation marks!!! Time to brush up on my Highway Code...
Speaking of seeing more of campus, there's a mortuary in the Medical School, right in the heart of campus. This is, perhaps, of little interest, and the babies in jars or skeletons with veins in acid baths are, perhaps, a little repulsive, but the really interesting thing is that it's al outside, in little more than a garden shed. We stopped by on our new bikes - I'm thinking of starting a biker gang, Hell's Laowai - as apparently there was a corpse left out on the stands of the football stadium, the stands being above the mortuary sheds, but it had gone. The power tools, forceps and hacksaw on a plywood examination table had not gone though.
If for some reason I go missing/ am kidnapped this year, please search the football field first.
We chavved a dining table, four chairs, a coat stand and bedside table (which is actually next to the sofa now) for our apartment, and some old chairs and desks for the common area we've created at the end of the hall. I think there'll be many an evening of mahjong, cards and Scrabble - we played last night and I beat Anna! - in the winter so that area will be nice.
Going somewhere new for dinner this evening, and then back to Be There Or Be Square to meet some other foreign teachers from CouchSurfing and that we met at the Karaoke (KTV) place last week.
Hope all's well, and that you're super-proud of our acquisitions today :) xx