It all started...

It all started with a trip to the Coffee Beanery. When I got there, they were filming something. There were lights and a bunch of cameras. The director even had a little hat and he would yell "ACTION" and "CUT" in English. It was all in Chinese. I knew it was a big deal when I saw this car:



I really wish that I would have gotten a picture of the Chinese people who were pretending to sit on it while they took pictures. I always feel weird taking pictures of other people, although, they are never shy with their cameras around me.
After I spent a significant time at Coffee Beanery (they have the best peppermint mocha in town...probably best in China.) I went over Chrissy's. She had made some chili and invited me over for that and maybe a movie or two. We needed some sour cream, and knew that that in itself might be a challenge. Sour cream is one of those things....seems simple, but in China, it could be almost impossible to find. We decided that we would go to City Shop (one of the import convenience stores, it has random products from the US that you can't find other places), then CarreFour, and then our last stop would be Pines (the biggest import store around, but often has completely empty shelves...). Sounds simple...right? If only we had known, that our night would be very different than planned...
Not even 100 yards from Chrissy's apartment, her scooter had a flat tire and a dead battery. We knew the battery might die, but then a flat tire? So she pushed the scooter to the Community Center and then we walked to my house to borrow a bike. She says that she "knows" the way to the City Shop through a short cut in my neighborhood, we end up riding around what I'm sure is the biggest complex in China for a while....eventually we find the store. They do in fact, have sour cream.
Then, we were off to CarreFour. Chrissy wanted to get a manicure set. We succeeded in finding that as well. We had almost everything. We had sour cream, PLAIN (not a hint of lime) tortilla chips, cheese, manicure set. Chrissy heard about this sparkling wine, and we knew we could get it at Pines. Rule of thumb for China, you almost NEVER are able to get everyone on your list when shopping in China. You always always always end up not being able to find at least one thing.
BUT, we found the wine. We found every single thing we had sought out to find. Three hours, a dead battery and a flat tire late, we were ready to eat chili.
After dinner we went to get pedicures. Turns out the wine was a little stronger than expected and the pedicures were a LOT of fun. We read seventeen magazine and found out "How to catch the perfect guy" and "What jeans look good on your figure." Half-way through I mentioned something about wanting to cut my hair, and mabye get 2 or so inches cut off. Chrissy said that if I did it, she would get bangs. So, we asked, and they had openings. We asked for prices and they said "Hair cut and shampoo: 60 kuai, Haircut and shampoo AND shoulder massage: 70 kuai." For those who don't live in China, the exchange rate is 7 kuai for 1 US dollar, so basically, for a $1.50 more, we could get massages. Uh, of course we said yes.
Well, a couple Celine Dion songs later, we each had new hair. Chrissy got bangs and about an inch or so off, and I got about two inches off. I'll take pictures of my new hair soon. It's nothing too different. Just a little change. There's nothing like a brand new haircut. It really is a form of therapy for me though. And, who can say no to a pedicure, hair shampoo/cut/style and a shoulder and head massage, all for less than $25.
It was a lot of fun. It wasn't a Saturday I ever thought I would have, and we had a lot of fun. Only in China could a day starting with a movie filming and a flat tire be so promising.