pukou living

I haven't talked much about my neighborhood lately, so I thought it was time to let you in on the inner-workings of life in pukou.

Word has gotten out (it took awhile for everyone to get the message, I think. but never fear, it'll get around) that I live here. I'm no longer *really* stared up and down when I go into suguo to get some groceries. The mazda drivers don't gawk at me before I hop a ride to school. And when I'm walking through Pudong Hua Yuan (my complex), no one really takes a second look. But then there are the random folks....

On Saturday, I couldn't find a mazda driver outside my gate to take me to the school to meet Raul, so I had to start walking toward the opposite end of the complex, where a bunch of them usually hang out closer to the university that's nearby. Why they don't split and hang out at my end is beyond me. Anyway. So I started walking. And they're doing some construction on the main sidewalk, the whole stretch of the complex. So I had to walk in the bicycle lane to go past. As I'm approaching, my radar goes up. A construction worker spots me. I count in my head, like usual "1-2-3", and before I know it, he's gotten his buddy to notice me, too. As I get closer, 5 of them are standing in the bicycle lane, in a row, ready to watch me walk by. Feeling extremely awkward, I take out my cell phone, pretending to send a text message, and hang my head as I go on my way. What would you have done? Believe, this, and worse, happens on a weekly basis.

But there are some nice people. All of the mazda drivers who hang out around the school (even the ones I've yet to meet) know where I live. It could be scary, but I think I'm just at ease about it (they don't know my apartment number, and besides, everyone in my complex knows where I live). Yesterday, a new guy was first in the mazda line, and as I got in, I told him "pudong hua yuan"... "oh, I know I know" he replies in Chinese "building 14 right?" Yikes. Yeah. Word spreads about the foreigner.

Some pukou perks: We're getting a massive, city block-long mall that starts at the bridge and goes for quite a way toward my complex. It'll have a Wal-Mart, I'm told. When it will open, I have no idea. :) And B 'n Q...I'm waiting for it to open any day now.