Today I'm having...

An "I Love China" day! Not every day here is one that makes us love living here, and we have to remind ourselves that we do love China. But today has been the kind of day that reminds me it's really true.

I decided to go to the flower market on my side of the river, only about 20 minutes away. I wandered around admiring potted plants and outdoor furniture before going upstairs, where I browsed stalls of glassware, oil paintings, and Chinese furniture. I stumbled upon a stall filled with grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, antique cameras and sewing machines, and-oh joy!-the antique style telephones I'd been wanting! (What an odd place to discover. In China. In flower market.) There were some beautiful phones, and I asked to see one locked behind glass. The vendor started to unlock the cabinet, and the lock broke off in his hand! I felt terrible, and I knew I was going to end up buying a phone after that. He started to pry open the glass with his hands, and I suggested he just get one of the boxes stacked on top of the cabinet instead. (LOL) He proceeded to put the phone together for me, plug it in, call his mobile using it, and have a forty-minute conversation with me through it all! He didn't speak any English, and I don't speak Chinese, but I found out he's been to several European countries, Japan, and Yemen. He used to have a car, but he got rid of it in 1995. His daughter is 18, and he thinks she'll go to America. He loves Celine Deon, and he thinks his tape player/radio is about the same age as me. It's 23 years old. :-) When we tested the phone, he walked away using his mobile, and I talked to him on the new antique. When he showed me how to redail, he said, "Mushi mush" and asked if I spoke Japanese! He carefully wrapped up the phone, since it didn't fit back in the box, and told me that if I had summa wen tie (some problem) I could come back. When I circled back past his stall, I heard him telling his friends about Jennifen. :-)

I wandered through the fresh cut flowers and saw that it was about to start raining, so I made a quick selection. I was five yuan short, and the vendor told me mei wen tie (no problem). How sweet!

I managed to catch a cab just before a torential deluge started. And when we arrived at my apartment, I paid and was about to get out when the driver asked, "You don't have an umbrella?" (in Chinese), got out in the pouring rain, opened his trunk, and came around to open my door and walk me up the steps to my apartment entrance!

I seriously need to learn how to say a stronger version of "Thank you!" And I really do love China. :-)