A Little Travel, A Little Trouble

Ben's studying hard.

The first three weeks of the summer, Ben has been doing Master’s coursework in Beijing.  It’s intensive, and includes a lot of work in a short amount of time.   I joined Ben for this last week in Beijing, but for the first two weeks of the summer, I stayed in Qingdao.  I worked on my own coursework for the program I am in.  I also cleaned up the house a bit and spent quality time with people who were leaving our community.  It was a very blessed time. 

One of my goals for those two weeks was to literally get lost.   I wanted to explore areas of the city that I am not normally in by myself.  I feel very safe in our city, especially during the day time.  It is not too big, and if I get too lost, I can always take a taxi back to my house.   Unfortunately, I didn’t get time to do this in Qingdao.  Fortunately (maybe), I found myself lost in another way!

I had planned to visit my friend, Tricia on Thursday the 19^th, so that we could catch up while both of our husbands were in BJ. I left my house, got a taxi, went to the QD train station, and waited for my train.  I don’t travel by myself since I’m usually with Ben, other staff members, or with students.  So, I was hoping everything would go smoothly.

By train, it's a 4-5 hour ride, about 350 miles.

I got to my first class ticket, and I had plenty of space to relax, sleep, and do some work.  At one of the stops, a young Chinese man and his mom entered the train and asked if I could switch seats so they could sit together. He had great English and we talked for a few minutes. He asked me where I was going, so I told him Tianjin, and then went back to my work.  Well, as we came closer to Tianjin, I called my friend to confirm which train station to go to.  She confirmed that the south station is not correct, but rather the main station is much closer to her house.  Little did I know that my train only went to the south station.  As we stopped at the south station, the kind English speaking man asked me if this was my stop.  While I got my ticket out, I let him know that I believe it’s the next station.  However, after a quick look at my ticket, I realized that THIS is my stop.  Just as the doors were closing.   Sigh.  I asked one of the train staff what to do, and she said, “Mei You Banfa.”  (There’s no solution.)   Well, great. Thanks. So, I missed my stop, and was heading to Beijing.   Sigh.

No worries. I just have to catch another train going the other way.  This would be a piece of cake… if I spoke better Chinese and was familiar at all with the train stations.  This was a great time to call my Chinese teacher and friend, Susie, to help with translation.

As Susie talked with the train staff I found myself able to understand most of what they were saying.  They confirmed that I could buy another train ticket back to Tianjin, and gave me a few options of train numbers.  Okay.  At this point, I wasn’t worried so much as upset at myself.  Susie made me smile when I text her to tell her thank you.  I said that I was so silly for missing my stop.  She replied.  “No, sweet Amy. You are not silly. Ni shi congming.”  (You are smart).

As the train approached the Beijing South Station, a man who was sitting in the back convinced the train staff lady to help me get to where I need to go.  He said, “She doesn’t speak any Chinese. You need to help her.”   I’m glad he said something because I don’t think she would have helped me otherwise.  We get off at our stop, and then some official people were clearly annoyed at me, my situation, and how little Chinese I spoke.  Well, I knew enough to understand they didn’t want to deal with me.  Oh, the life of a foreigner!  

They filled out some random paperwork, which seemed unnecessary at the end.  I just had to go to the ticket booth and buy a ticket back to Tianjin.  My guess is that they were going to have me take that paperwork as my ticket, so I didn’t have to buy one.   No such luck in the end.  It’s okay, it was only 8 dollars to get back on the train.  I bought my ticket (which I’ve never done before, and was really proud I figured it all out). 

Once back on the train, it was only a 30 minute ride back to the Tianjin Main Station.  The funniest part of all of this is that I think I spent less money missing my stop and taking a new train than I would have if I stopped at the Tianjin South Station and took at taxi to my friend’s house.  The taxi ride from the South Station would have been very expensive.  The main station has a subway that costs pennies in comparison!   So, I took the subway from the main station to near Tricia’s, which was much easier than expected.  

I got to her house about two hours later than I was hoping, but once I was there, it was all worth it.  We had a fabulous couple of days to hang out, and then we traveled together to Beijing.   

Celebratory Selfie! We made to to the train!

On Sunday, we left the house by 8:15 in the morning and we were fortunate enough to get a taxi right away.  It was a short drive to the nearest subway stop, and we took the subway back to the train station.  We got some train tickets, hopped on the train (just 5 minutes before it left!).  We got off the train in Beijing, but where our husbands were staying  was nowhere near the train station.  We headed to the subway and had to make a few changes of lines. 

The best part of this trip was how much dongxi (stuff) we were able to handle.  Tricia has a one-and-half year old (adorable!) boy.  So, she pushed him in the stroller and had on a large backpack, a purse, and a back of snacks.  I had her suitcase (which was pretty huge) and then my smaller suitcase, both with the 4 wheels (which I highly recommend for lots of travel).  I also had a backpack and a purse.  

Now, the sidewalks, streets, and subways are not like in America.  They are not meant for easy travel.  They are uneven, broken, with lots of stairs and no ramps.  The subways are packed full of people, most of whom are pushing to get through. It’s in the heat of June, and AC is not a common thing.  If you are imagining this comical, sweaty, muscles hurting mess with all of our dongxi, then you have about the right picture.  It was insane, and hilarious, and an adventure. 

Getting some good food and time to chill in town.

Tricia’s husband met us at the end of the subway line, to which their son was so excited to be reunited with his daddy.  I was excited to see him, mostly so he could take some of this luggage!  We then headed to the bus stop, stopped at a mall for lunch, and then hopped back on the bus for a 30 minute drive.    

SHEESH!!   Tiring, and awesome, and memorable.     

Ben’s plane was delayed that night from where he was at (another whole story with that one), so I didn’t get to see him until 1:30 in the morning.  We’ve been here for a week now, and we’ll be leaving to the States tomorrow!!!   Exciting, but ...sigh… more travel.  :)