Necessity is the mother of invention

                                           
It may look stupid to you, but everyone in China is singing the praises of whomever thought up the "e-bike jacket." If you ride through the streets at 30-40 mph, you kick up quite a wind chill in the winter. It is unbearable, and it makes you want to stay indoors all winter.  But NOW! Mine is midnight blue. I get out much more now than ever before.

Daily life

A lady barber cuts hair on the side of the road in north central China. It's common to see sidewalk barbers in China.

The energy-sapping humidity of summer has finally relented and gone away. I couldn't be happier. Now I can get out on my e-bike and explore this beautiful city!

Most of my trips are across town. My physical therapist's office is roughly 12 miles away, and it takes 45-60 minutes to get there by e-bike, depending on whether traffic is bad or ridiculously bad. I have PT once or twice a week. It would be a beautiful drive if I wasn't always having to watch out for the other guy.

The part of town where the Brazilian PT works also is home to most expats in town, so there are American-style grocery stores and American-style restaurants there. (There are also German restaurants, Italian ones, etc.) After PT, I generally go to a grocery store and stock up on enough groceries to fill two reusable tote bags and I carry home groceries on my e-bike. All summer long I couldn't carry home butter, because it would melt, but now I can buy butter too. I don't buy a whole lot of American-style goods though. A can of Campbell's vegetable soup costs over $6. I sometimes buy tortilla chips, pickles, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and canned beans. The stores are not large.

I'm also attending an expat ladies' Bible study in that part of town on Tuesday mornings. It's held in an upstairs coffee shop of a ritzy hotel; the coffee shop is seldom used by others. The expat church is also on that side of town, but even further away. My e-bike can't make it as far as the church, so when I go there I have to go by taxi.

The Tex-Mex restaurant and my hair dresser are over there, as is my regular doctor. I suppose it would make sense to live over there since I go there so much, but I live in an interesting part of town too. My apartment, if in the expat part of town, would cost twice as much, and I would have to downsize and have poor quality living conditions. I get to know the entire city better than most by having to traverse it as I do. I live in the historic district, and it is beautiful.

I'm afraid that when the north winds start to blow, I may not be making as many trips to that part of town. But for now, I'll enjoy it as much as I can. If not for PT, I'd like to explore other directions in town.

Footnote: Pray that I'll be able to get more range of motion in my neck and right arm/shoulder. That's what I go to physical therapy for. My pain level will go down too if I can get these damaged neck and arm muscles stretched out. They were damaged during surgery a year and a half ago, and radiation "cooked" them so they are not normal anymore. Nothing is impossible with God, so I have great expectations for good. My PT is a believer! 

I love Jesus

Today I was on my e-bike, and I passed by an old tired-looking Chinese guy on the sidewalk wearing a white t-shirt that read, "I {heart} Jesus." It had a big red heart on it.

I thought about running over to talk to him, to tell him I love Jesus too.

Then I realized that he probably doesn't know what the English words on his t-shirt even mean. His wife probably found the shirt at a thrift shop, a discarded item left behind by some zealous foreign tourist who visited here.

I didn't go over to talk to him. Frankly, I would have caused a wreck in the e-bike lane if I had tried. But I was glad to see Jesus' name proclaimed even if no one knew what the shirt said but me.

A little freaky

My e-bike seat has storage room underneath it; it's good for storing a rain poncho, the battery charger, etc. I haven't been able to close the seat for a few weeks though. I can still ride it, but if anyone noticed the seat wasn't latched properly, they could steal the stuff inside.

Today I went to the retail place where I bought the e-bike, and they couldn't fix it (although they can usually fix things). They told me to go to the company that makes that particular Palla brand of e-bike to get it fixed. They gave me a business card with the address of the place. It was quite a drive to get there ... nowhere near where I live.

At Palla, about 5 or 6 men, most of them smoking and just hanging out at the shop, came to have a look at the problem. They probably didn't even think I could speak Chinese or understand them, but were discussing among themselves that I had a Palla bike and wondered where I'd purchased it. Then one of the men said in Chinese, "She bought it in September 2012."

My jaw dropped. Even I can barely remember when I buy things, but he is exactly right, I bought it in September 2012. He saw the look on my face and started laughing. He happened to have been in the retail shop the day I bought the bike. And he remembered the date.

That, my friends, is a wee bit freaky.