2005-04-20 - 2:59 p.m.

I am so busy I can't breathe. Tap dancing has taken over my life. I dream about tap, tap everywhere I go, and try to talk about tap with anyone who will listen. Mike hates tap dancing now, but I bet he could tell you a few things about it and even show you a few steps if you asked him. All my yappin just has to be soaking in!
Now, on to more exciting things- My near -death experience on Chinese roadways #346- Catching a taxi in Shanghai during the morning rush hour is exhausting. I know I've written about it before. You need months of intensive, football style training to successfully catch a cab. Old ladies will knock you down to get one, and not even look back to see whether you made it up off the street or were smashed by a city bus. It is brutal. I only lived in New York City for 4 months, but I think the taxi problem is worse here. I chase cars for 45 minutes in the morning sometimes. I even resort to crying. It never works. People are a little weary of foreigners in the first place (sometimes). Add tears and a little flailing about of the arms, and empty cabs will whiz right on by. My favorite cabbies are the ones who will pull up to me and stop, get a closer look, see that I am not Chinese, then wave their hand at me and drive away. Thanks a lot Mister. Or they will let me in, not understand my ABSOLUTELY PERFECT CHINESE directions, then physically push me out. Today I went a little crazy after chasing cars like a rabid dog for an hour, and had resigned myself to walking the 10 miles to work. A motorcylce pulled up next to me. I have no idea what he said or if he was an actual motorcyle taxicab man (they have those here- I don't think they are legal though) but I was desperate. I pretended that he said "Do you need a ride?" He pushed a nasty old helmet in my hands, and kept talking. I threw caution into the polluted Shanghai wind and hopped on, hoping that I would make it to school in one piece. I wondered if he was a serial killer and was looking for his next victim. (Hopefully he would just be a scary driver- if I had to pick just one bad scenario.) This man was a maniac. He honked his little horn the entire way to school. He weaved in and out of huge buses, cut off unusually large trucks, and I think he tried to mow down a few pedestrians for the fun of it. He did not obey one traffic signal, pretending to turn right at red lights, then weaving back onto the road at the last minute. He probably has bruises on his waist from me hanging on so tightly. I rehearsed my worst-case scenario escape plan as we sped down the street-if things go bad, jump off and run-if things go bad, jump off and run...To make matters worse, I have no sense of direction, and I sent him about 15 minutes in the wrong direction. This picture is a perfect example. Pretend I am the girl in pink. Only I was hanging on much tighter than that. She was probably born on a motorcycle... Buses, cars, bicycles,bicycles with babies strapped to the front and/or back, pedestrians, motorcycles, and NO RULES!(it seems that way anyway) Back to the story... We finally made it to school alive and well. I asked him how much (I do know how to say that in Chinese) and I think he said "You decide." So I gave him 20 RMB, which is about what my usual taxi ride costs. He seemed happy enough, and I was most definitely happy enough. That was my first and hopefully last experience on a strange man's motorcycle. Sorry, mom and dad. Seriously, though, ask anyone in Shanghai, there ARE motorcycle taxis. And they are only a teeny weeny bit more dangerous than taking a taxi cab. Actually, WALKING in Shanghai is just about as scary as taking a ride on a motorcycle. I think I miss Cabot, Arkansas. It's nice and easy to cross the street there. I could tap dance across the street in Cabot if I wanted. xoxo, Julie

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