A Trip to Tianxin and Back

Saturday, October 25. I get up early so I can go to the big stationary store near the hotel before meeting Tara. Find lots of little things I need: markers, small stapler, paper clips, highlighter, ruler, safety pins (!), Scotch magic tape and dispenser (for when my disposable ones run out).

I'm supposed to meet Tara at 10 to go to big German supermarket, Metro. However, she doesn't show (turns out she's sick) and for some reason I can't put a call through to her from my phone. So I call Suzanne to see if she can reach Tara; turns out Suzanne is in Changsha too to go back to the hospital to see about her pneumonia. After waiting a little longer, I decide to go on to Metro.

Metro. This is one big place. Think big box store. Think BJs. One half has home furnishings and household goods; the other half is a giant supermarket. You can get almost any Western foods here if you're willing to pay for them. Betty Crocker pancake mix: 30 yuan; maple syrup: 65 yuan (I decide I don't need to spend almost $15 for pancakes and syrup). Goat cheese: 120 yuan (I pass on that too). I spend an hour wandering around and finally settle on the following things: canned tomatoes (for making soup), 2 cans of Progresso soups (New England clam chowder and tomato basil, the only ones they have), a bag of Muesli, a bag of Barilla pasta (small elbow macaroni for soup), Monterey Jack cheese, a real honest-to-god cushion for my desk chair, a fitted sheet for my bed. Fantastic stuff!

So what happens next? Think of this as a scene from Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow playing me!

Scenario 1 (or what could have happened): From Friday at about noon until Saturday at about the same time, Janet has a wonderful time in Changsha, getting books from WT office, going to Provincial Museum, having dinner with friends, and sleeping on a bed with a real mattress. At 12:15 p.m. Saturday, upon leaving Metro, Janet takes a taxi to the hotel where she reads quietly for almost an hour until it is time to take a cab to the train station. She gets on the 2:28 train, arrives back in ZZ at about 3:10, takes a cab back to her school and is home a little after 3:30 p.m. She has taken an early train back from Changsha because she has a list of things she wants to get done this afternoon and tomorrow. She tackles her list, feels a sense of accomplishment and gets a good night's sleep.

Scenario 2 (or what actually did happen): At 12:15 p.m., Janet is in the cab from Metro to the hotel when she happens to notice a message on her cell phone from Suzanne saying "don't leave Changsha without calling Chris or me." So, fearing something unfortunate, Janet immediately calls Suzanne. Suzanne says she is being admitted to the hospital and could I come there. So instead of going back to the hotel and without asking "why," Janet goes to the hospital. At the hospital, after a brief conversation among Suzanne, Chris and herself, Janet begins to understand that they are expecting her to go back to ZZ, go to Suzanne's apartment in Tianxin (which is a long way from where Janet lives and where Janet has never before been), pack up a few things and take Suzanne's puppy to the vet to be boarded there. Continuing to smile, Janet is thinking to herself "They're kidding, right?" But no, they aren't. So, ever the trouper, Janet agrees.

But then the ordeal begins. She and Chris leave the hospital to find a taxi to take Janet back to the hotel to pick up her suitcase and then to the train station. There are no taxis to be found near the hospital so they walk a few blocks in the pouring rain to another street. Still no taxis. By this time, Janet's clothes and backpack are wet. On top of which, she is carrying two heavy bags from Metro. After conferring with Chris, Janet takes a bus, which drops her off about three blocks away from her hotel, to which she has to walk in the rain, trying to hold the umbrella as well as the two bags. At this point, it is clear that Janet will miss her train and must go to the bus station to get a bus to ZZ. At the hotel, she repacks her suitcase so she will have only one Metro bag to carry and tries to dry her clothes a little with the hand-dryer in the ladies' room. Leaving the hotel, Janet walks back in the rain (now with her suitcase, one Metro bag, her backpack, and her umbrella) to where she thinks she will have the best chance of finding a taxi. Fortunately, she does and the taxi takes her to the bus station.

At the bus station, while dealing with her suitcase, the Metro bag, her backpack and her umbrella, Janet buys a ticket (24 yuan) and puts the change and the receipt into her little orange zippered coin purse and puts it back into her backpack. Then she goes outside where she finds that there is a bus to ZZ leaving almost immediately. Unbeknownst to Janet, someone apparently manages to slide her little zippered purse out of her backpack, taking more than 60 yuan in cash, the bus receipt and her school meal card. Having no knowledge of this, however, Janet struggles onto the bus with her suitcase, Metro bag, umbrella and backpack. Fortunately, the driver helps her because the steps onto the bus are too high for her to manage her suitcase alone. The bus arrives in ZZ and makes a stop. Some people get off the bus but not everyone. Janet doesn't know whether the bus continues on to another city after ZZ and, of course, she can't ask anyone. Because of the rain, the windows of the bus are steamed up so she can't tell whether they are at the bus station, so she figures she had better get off. She struggles off with her suitcase, Metro bag, umbrella and backpack to find that she is in the middle of some random street in ZZ. Fortunately, she is able to find a cab to take her to Beishida Fuzhong. Also fortunately, it is not raining in ZZ. Unfortunately, in the taxi, Janet realizes she is missing her zippered purse and has to pay the driver with a 100 yuan bill (which she keeps in a separate place in her backpack). Janet arrives home at about 4:30 p.m., about an hour later than she would have if she had taken her scheduled train.

At her apartment, Janet changes into dry clothes, grabs a banana (having had no lunch) and heads out to walk to Yandi Square, about a 15-minute walk. At first she can't find the bus; she calls Suzanne who tells her there is another bus parking lot on the far side of Yandi Square. So she walks to the other side, finds the Number 35 bus which leaves Yandi Square at about 5:15. Janet shows the bus driver the note that Chris has written which says "first stop in Tianxin." Suzanne has told Janet that, depending upon traffic, she might be in Tianxin in about 15-30 minutes. However, at 6:00, Janet is still on the bus, has no idea whether the bus driver remembers where she wants to get off and has no idea where she is. And again, she can't ask anyone. She is fearful that she will be riding the bus to the end of the line and then will have to turn around and come back. And of course, now it is almost dark.

Fortunately, the driver lets her off at what she hopes is the right place. By calling Suzanne, she is able to confirm that, in fact, it is the right place. So she continues walking for a few blocks, finds the "rubble pile" landmark and Suzanne's apartment building. By now it is completely dark. Janet walks up to the fourth floor, where it is so dark she can barely make out the apartment numbers on the doors. She finds Suzanne's apt at the end of the hall and lets herself in. The apartment is pitch black and she can't find the light switches. At that moment, Suzanne calls and tells her (1) where the light switches are and (2) to get her passport and where it is. Janet goes around the apartment gathering together passport, underwear, shirts, pants, pajamas, phone charger, e-book charger, dogfood, shuts down Suzanne's computer and packs everything into a bag. Then she lets the puppy into the apt from the balcony. The puppy, naturally, is very excited, and Janet has a hard time getting the leash onto him. Interspersed with all this have been numerous phone calls with Suzanne about where things are, where Angelica (Chinese English teacher at Suzanne's school) will meet Janet, where the vet's office is. But finally she is ready and leaves the apt to go downstairs to wait for Anglica.

Angelica arrives and they walk with the dog to the vet's office back towards the bus stop, then take a left and walk to the top of a big, long hill. Angelica arranges everything with the vet and they leave, having dropped off the dog and the dogfood. Janet walks back down the hill and back to the bus stop. She waits about 10 minutes for the bus and, after another long bus ride (during which people on the bus are smoking) arrives back at Yandi Square a few minutes before 8 p.m. where she meets Chris. After the handover, she decides she wants something warm to eat so heads down the street.

At this point, she is feeling some combination of pride at the fact that she has accomplished all this but also anger, frustration and sadness (at the loss of her little orange Herve Chapelier coin purse, bought as a small indulgence in Paris). If no longer wet, she is cold and tired, and fervently wishing that she had never asked Suzanne to try to reach Tara because otherwise Suzanne and Chris would never have known Janet was in Changsha! However, an angel in the form of Ashley appears on the sidewalk! She and Caroline are having dinner in a little street food place so Janet joins them. After a completely fried dinner (fried lotus on a stick, fried potato on a stick, and fried cauliflower on a stick) and a mango drink, and after being cheered up by Ashley and Caroline, Janet feels much better. So she walks back to her apartment, arriving at about 9:30 p.m. It has been a very long day!