My list yesterday was this:
Withdraw money from ATM.
Buy computer cable.
Go grocery shopping.
Buy butter. (not the same thing as grocery shopping necessarily).
In America, the time to do that would be:
Drive to Best Buy--5 minutes.
Locate and buy cable--15 minutes. (If I struggled to find the cable--in which case I could ask in English for help).
Drive to Marsh or Walmart--5 minutes.
Do grocery shopping-30 minutes.
Drive home--10 minutes.
Total time: 65 minutes.
But, in China, here's what that looks like.
Walk to ATM location. 10 minutes.
ATM access sidewalk is blocked off. Walk around the building the other way. 3 minutes.
Go out the glass door to construction pit. Don't fall in the construction hole. Shimmy along concrete sidewalk remaining. ATM is turned off. Shimmy back along concrete sidewalk into building and give up on ATM errand for the time being. 10 minutes.
Walk to bus stop. Get on bus. Go to bus stop. Switch to another bus. {insert a meeting and lunch halfway through bus journey, not counted for errand time} Get downtown. 68 minutes.
Walk to computer store number one, involving crossing two busy streets without perishing. 10 minutes.
Inquire about computer cable (using Chinese). Discover they don't have it in the store. Ask about another place. 10 minutes.
Walk back across intersection of near-death, using Chinese guide to get across. Locate and find another computer store. 10 minutes.
Inquire about computer cable (using Chinese). Discover they don't have it in the store. Ask about yet another place. Nod without comprehending answer, inwardly giving up. 15 minutes.
Walk to import store for butter. 15 minutes.
Find that import store street is being paved, impassible. Walk different direction, hoping to come at it from the back side. 20 minutes.
Unable to reach import store, even from back direction. Fumble past more big trucks, and give up. 15 minutes.
Go to grocery store. Buy groceries, including standing in Saturday afternoon checkout lines (longer than any line I've ever seen in America except the Wednesday before Thanksgiving). 60 minutes.
Notice and go to computer store #3. Cross street again, go into store, inquire in Chinese, and SUCCESS!!! Buy the cable! 20 minutes.
Walk to the bus stop. 10 minutes.
Smoosh on a bus, so full that I'm upright but not holding on, yet just bounce into people instead of falling when the bus brakes hard. Ride to stop.
At this point, I stopped off to babysit for a few hours, then took a taxi the rest of the way home. But ordinarily the trip home would take about 70 minutes, so let's estimate that.
Total time: 346 minutes. And I didn't even do two things on my list: ATM and butter.
That's part of the cost of living overseas. But getting to share truth in this context, the underlying reason I'm doing this crazy life, is priceless.
Withdraw money from ATM.
Buy computer cable.
Go grocery shopping.
Buy butter. (not the same thing as grocery shopping necessarily).
In America, the time to do that would be:
Drive to Best Buy--5 minutes.
Locate and buy cable--15 minutes. (If I struggled to find the cable--in which case I could ask in English for help).
Drive to Marsh or Walmart--5 minutes.
Do grocery shopping-30 minutes.
Drive home--10 minutes.
Total time: 65 minutes.
But, in China, here's what that looks like.
Walk to ATM location. 10 minutes.
ATM access sidewalk is blocked off. Walk around the building the other way. 3 minutes.
Go out the glass door to construction pit. Don't fall in the construction hole. Shimmy along concrete sidewalk remaining. ATM is turned off. Shimmy back along concrete sidewalk into building and give up on ATM errand for the time being. 10 minutes.
Walk to bus stop. Get on bus. Go to bus stop. Switch to another bus. {insert a meeting and lunch halfway through bus journey, not counted for errand time} Get downtown. 68 minutes.
Walk to computer store number one, involving crossing two busy streets without perishing. 10 minutes.
Inquire about computer cable (using Chinese). Discover they don't have it in the store. Ask about another place. 10 minutes.
Walk back across intersection of near-death, using Chinese guide to get across. Locate and find another computer store. 10 minutes.
Inquire about computer cable (using Chinese). Discover they don't have it in the store. Ask about yet another place. Nod without comprehending answer, inwardly giving up. 15 minutes.
Walk to import store for butter. 15 minutes.
Find that import store street is being paved, impassible. Walk different direction, hoping to come at it from the back side. 20 minutes.
Unable to reach import store, even from back direction. Fumble past more big trucks, and give up. 15 minutes.
Go to grocery store. Buy groceries, including standing in Saturday afternoon checkout lines (longer than any line I've ever seen in America except the Wednesday before Thanksgiving). 60 minutes.
Notice and go to computer store #3. Cross street again, go into store, inquire in Chinese, and SUCCESS!!! Buy the cable! 20 minutes.
Walk to the bus stop. 10 minutes.
Smoosh on a bus, so full that I'm upright but not holding on, yet just bounce into people instead of falling when the bus brakes hard. Ride to stop.
At this point, I stopped off to babysit for a few hours, then took a taxi the rest of the way home. But ordinarily the trip home would take about 70 minutes, so let's estimate that.
Total time: 346 minutes. And I didn't even do two things on my list: ATM and butter.
That's part of the cost of living overseas. But getting to share truth in this context, the underlying reason I'm doing this crazy life, is priceless.
