Bring on the Night

When it rains it pours!

The first week in Shenzhen offered only great weather. Well great in the sense that it wasn’t raining. The humid and extreme warm climate that had greeted me the first week really was not the most comfortable for a “great” Dane like me. Suddenly this changed. You really never can tell when this is going to happen (well, at least I can’t), because the sky is mostly clouded anyway.

I had the day all to myself, because C. had to work. This morning I woke up, and took my time getting done with the daily morning routine since my arrival. First of all try to sleep as long as possible. Around 10.00 get up, and open the curtains and get a view of the outside. As always the sky was cloudy so it looked like one of those days again: The City’s sweating championship, and I am the unparalleled master.

Watched the usual 1 hour of non-understandable television, and dragged myself to a long bath. Dropped to the bed and waited for my body to re-gain the normal temperature and think about what to do with a long day without C.

As always one thing was certain: I could always go to the net café and check my mail. Maybe even send a little mail to friends and family to assure them that I was okay. Then maybe check out the nearby Wall-mart in good time. I did need to refill my water storage so it sounded like a plan.

Well, I put on a shirt and shorts. This had felt the most comfortable clothing the last days, and had just come back from the hotels laundry service. On my trip to China, I only brought 2 pair of shoes. A pair of brown leather shoes both presentable and durable for long walks. Also I brought my brand new babies: a pair of black suede sports snickers. I decided on the new beauties since they did not feel so warm and was perfect for a relaxing stroll.

Stepped outside only to be met by small drips of water and the usual warm humid air. Hmm A little water never damaged anyone, and could prove a tactical manoeuvre of genius covering my maybe soon-to-be sweaty shirt. No worries, this was to my advantage. I went to the net café and did my stuff.

Walking outside I found that the rain had increased, but still not alarmingly I thought to myself. I would be much wiser 5 minutes later.

Confident in my decision, I headed towards the Wall-Mart to shop. Very soon I found out that it was not just a bit of drizzle, but an entire carpet of water coming down on me. I may have been halfway to the store, when I was completely soaked. Deciding on the thin shirt and suede shoes proved to be really stupid. One thing is to carry a gallon of water in each shoe, another to walk around feeling almost naked. Well, this was almost true. My thin shirt made me look like something that stepped out from a Mrs. Wet T-shirt contest (and I could have been a hard contender to gain spectators choice for the freak prize). My shirt was completely see-through and I was now really proving to look the stupid foreigner.

The first days in Shenzhen I experienced a huge amount of people walking around with umbrellas. See, many Chinese feels the opposite of what I am used to in Denmark, and do not like to get suntanned. In Denmark I am often told that I am kind of pale in the summer, which has a natural explaination. I tend to get sunburned even though I do my best to not overdo the tanning. So when I went to Shenzhen I brought a bottle of powerful sun blocker, as I did not want to worry about this aspect of my trip. Secure in my working sun block lotion, I couldn’t help but laugh a little inside when I saw the many umbrellas. First of all I am not that big on umbrellas. Ok, when it rains heavily I surrender and use my “men’s umbrella” in black, but else I kind of find using an umbrella a bit feminine. Hey! – My hair is short, and not permed. A little rain will not destroy my day. Therefore I did not buy an umbrella to guard me from the sun, and since I somehow never imagined it could rain, this was not a reason either. As always this is the time fate decides to hit you hard.

I was halfway to Wall-Mart and an option of buying a saving umbrella, and I was also so soaked that I was past the point of caring. I almost smiled at my own stupidity as I splish-splashed my way through the already gathering water pools. I must have looked kind of poor, because a friendly umbrella-carrying lady offered me shelter. I declined politely since it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. I was soaked to the bone.

Finally I arrived at the Wall-Mart. This particular Wall-Mart was located in the basement level of the street, and you had to use an escalator to get there. As always a lady from the shop stood at the entrance and shouted something in Chinese in the a microphone. I never found out what, but I always had an idea that she said something about me. This day my best bet would be that she said something like: “Dear customers, please look the other way. I can see a fat foreigner coming this way, and he is only wearing a thin piece of linen to cover his upper body. I am pretty sure I can see his nipples, and I suspect that he has some kind of wet hairy animal clutched to his chest. All mothers please cover your children’s eyes! This may even be the big infamous Yeti we are facing!”. She could easily have said this, because I didn’t understand one bit.

What was really embarrassing was that she this particular day was handing out small plastic bags to cover the visitor’s umbrellas while doing your shopping. Neat gesture, but I guess the main reason was that they didn’t like wet umbrellas dripping inside the store.

There I was. I had no umbrella, and I was in one single person as wet as the entire load of umbrellas that had entered the store. What to do? Well, really there was nothing I could do, but just walk slowly unto the escalator and disappear into the store with her and a bunch of puzzled customers staring at this big pile of wet without being able to stop it.

This day I didn’t use much time in the store. All people stared at me, and I even made a man cramp up in laughter at the line for the counter. Nothing like a good laugh, and I must admit that I must have looked like a big joke, so I couldn’t help but smile a bit too. Hurried home and had a bath, and some fresh clothes.

This just goes to show you that sometimes it is wise to look at the locals. They may do things for a reason. When in China, do as the Chinese do (or something).

As usually I am the first to feel the grim revenge of fate. If there is a god I am sure I am his favourite mocking object. If not, I am just cursed by bad luck. I tend to believe the last.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to buy an umbrella in the store.