Suzhou - Day 2

Another day gone by in Suzhou and I’m still trying to adjust. Waking up every morning at 4 am isn’t helping the adjustment very much. I hit the wall in the afternoon and just can’t seem to get to even half speed. I can fall asleep okay but when 4:00 rolls around, I am awake for some reason.

I was taken to Bar street last night to an Italian place. I figure I would enter the Chinese food thing a little at a time; lunch was enough for one day. The food for dinner was good, not the same as say Olive Garden, different cooking techniques but both good. I ate at an Italian place in Germany which was very different from any Italian place I’ve ever been, all 3 Italian….all 3 different….all 3 good. Anyhow, I’m about 10-15 minutes by taxi from bar street (not the true name) and it’s only about 15 RMB for the cab ride so it’s very cheap. Along the way you get the thrill of an amusement park ride. Describing the taxi driving is difficult but I’ll just say that it’s almost like we’re trying to escape from a ticking time bomb that will go off and destroy everything within 100 km of the blast. The rules of the road are mere suggestions, we’ll blow through red lights, pass in the oncoming car lane, drive in the bike section of the road, pass using the turn lane…whatever it takes. It’s like these street racing video games were based on driving here. The kids will probably get a kick out of it; it scares the heck out of me. Bar Street is a long street of bars (duh), shops, restaurants, etc in the old part of the city. It’s got something for everyone and we took a short walk to look around after dinner. Some of the Chinese craft shops had some pretty amazing stuff, all for a cheap price. There was a DVD store with every movie you can imagine even some that are still in the theatres (Grand Torino). The clothes shops had the latest stuff all for much less than in the States, this place is like crack for shopping addicts.

There are 5 channels for TV in English. CNN (ugh), BBC News, CNBC, National Geographic and finally HBO (without the late night, um, mature shows just the family fare shows you know with the bad language and excessive violence). Sorry, 6 channels, there is a local news channel in English, just found that one. For the first time in my memory, I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. Too bad the Steelers won but my brother will be happy. Tammy gave me the play-by-play text by Skype for the last 3 minutes of the game (still better than Al Michaels). It’s very strange, I’m a football nut but somehow I didn’t miss it that much. It’s more about being home, the pizza, wings (or even better the Buffalo Chicken Dip), beer and sitting with the family to watch the game. Jacob has become a football junkie this year, he would watch any of the college bowl games just to see football. He’d drive me crazy asking questions, why, how, why, why, why, how, who, why, why, but he’d sit there and watch (and critique like all other fans but then he'd tell me the play he would run on Madden that would've worked). If he saw it when he was surfing, he’d stop and watch it. Even I had to tell him enough with the football (there’s just something wrong with that blue turf).

The good thing about being outside of the US is that I don’t have to watch the 24 hour daily love fest with Obama. Yes, yes, I know he’s the President, okay I get it, history, change, blah, blah, blah, enough already. I pray the decisions that he makes will be the right ones and things will begin to turn a corner. American has become so celebrity worship crazy that if that a washed up, old boa-wearing wrestler ran for Governor, of like Minnesota….……uh, nevermind. I was always taught to look at a person's actions over their words but that lesson is not being taught much anymore (last word on this, sorry). The internet is the lifeline; I’ll surf the web for while and pick up the news and then I’ll do something else. By the time I call home on Skye, it’s bedtime anyhow. I know TV withdrawals are coming, perhaps that is why I’m waking up at 4 am (turn on the tv, turn on the tv, you know you want to).

Stay tuned as another day unfolds....