I feel as if I’m always talking about traffic. Every time I write about traffic, I think to myself, okay, that must be all, what else could I say? And then I leave my apartment again…I’ve already mentioned how scooters are everywhere. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that these scooters almost always have small children on them with their parents. Sometimes, a child is standing while the parent places his arms around him to grab the handles. Sometimes, a baby seat is placed in the area meant for your feet. Sometimes, a child is simply sitting on the back as if they’re on a tricycle around the neighborhood block. This is equivalent to something like me saying “Hey Kennedy! Girl’s day out sound good? Let’s head on down to College Square. Hop on my scooter…and we’re off. Better yet! Bring Landry…there’s plenty of room here!”
Sometimes, scooters are transporting entire families at once. Sometimes, scooters have up to nine 20 liter water jugs tied up all around it. You know, the filtered water that’s in doctors’ offices? Well, that’s all we can drink here. When you run out, you call the water guy, and another one is delivered. In bigger cities, I’ve seen water trucks driving around, but in Ningbo, they just tie as many of these to the scooter as possible and hope none fall off.
The Chinese also have no sense of privacy, whatsoever. Maybe because there are so many of them? I’m really not sure, but in any case, this idea doesn’t exist. On any given day, walking down the street, you might run into a group of people standing in two uniform lines, heads up, not daring to move, while 1-3 important looking men stand in front of them, yelling at them. This honestly looks like a military scene more than anything, when in fact, it’s just the boss getting upset at his employees and wanting the whole world to know about it. This angry/disappointed conversation doesn’t happen in a private meeting room, or as a private conversation between the boss and the aforementioned employee who did wrong by the boss; it, instead, takes place in broad daylight, out on the street, for all the passers-by to see, listen, and watch. It’s so odd. I think I feel more uncomfortable walking by this scene than the employees who are actually in trouble.
Undiscovered Sunsets 