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Getting Lost in China Again!
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As if getting lost in Shenyang once was not enough, I accidentally tried to do it again! About two weeks after my last adventure as described in yesterday's blog, I had another invitation to go into Shenyang to visit a friend. The trip, like other events involving Shenyang, had an ordinary coincidence. The first time, I was invited to Shenbei. This time, a different friend and her husband invited me to the north side of Shenyang and gave me directions on how to get to the store where she worked. Things went well and I arrived as expected, again taking the bus and subway to get to the north side of Shenyang from Shencai on the west side of Shenyang. However, when I arrived at the store, I realized I had been at this exact location a couple weeks earlier during the earlier adventure. The bakery was very small and she and her sister operated the store. Because it was small, and because I was by the bus 382 route again, I decided to walk north along the bus route to Shenbei. An hour later and perhaps 3 miles farther north, I thought, "Well, I should just get on the bus and go visit Shenbei again but on my own. The weather gave me a nice morning and soon I rode the bus to Shenbei where I spent the day exploring alone.
When it came time to go home, I knew exactly where to go. I walked to the bus station, hopped on bus 328 and soon was headed south again. However, I quickly notice the bus was not going the same direction I had arrived in. It was only later that I realized I was on bus 328 and not bus 382. My dyslexia had helped me again! I was on a new adventure! One solution would have been to get off the bus at the next stop, ride the next north bound bus to Shenbei and hop on bus 382 in the right direction. But that was too easy! If I was going to get lost, I need to do a good job of it. I knew the name of the subway station, named after an east/west road. I thought, "I'll just look for a bus stop at that road and follow the road to the subway station, no knowing how far I was from the station. It turns out that buses 382 and 328 run parallel routes. I have a good sense of direction so I knew I was going south on the bus, just farther east than I wanted to go.
However, as the bus continued, I did not see the name of the road I needed on any signs. So, I simply got off the bus. I would find my way west independently. As I started walking west, I realized I was on a college campus. The few students I talked to had very little information of us and I didn't keep asking people. I just walked west. How far could it be? A couple miles? I didn't know and was unable to find out how far I was from the subway station. If I could get to the subway station, I could walk to my friends store easily.
As I walked, I came to a park. I decided to just stop in the park and practice my use of Chinese. I had all afternoon to work with so I was in no hurry. I enjoyed the afternoon, talking to the locals in only Chinese. A woman worked at a desk taking blood pressures so I stopped and had my blood pressure taken. I had texted my friend but I was not due to arrive until late in the day when the store closed, so I was in no hurry. Finally, it was time to get back. Getting back was easy. I hailed a taxi and used Chinese to say I wanted to go to the specific subway station, which turned out to be about 5-10 miles away (8-16 km), farther than I really wanted to walk that day. It went well and soon I had returned, my adventure complete, using only Chinese to get myself out of a pickle. What do pickles have to do with it? That's an idiom. Having a problem and solving it is "getting out of a pickle." Did I get myself into a pickle? Yes! But I got out easily!
