Apartment Hunting via Police Escort!

Friday after lunch Hannah, a Chinese receptionist at IAB, had made arrangements to take me hunting for apartments. We crossed the street and she began attempting to hail a cab. I am pretty sure that most of the time since my arrival I have been walking around like a lost little girl. The Chinese language is a constant flow around me, and I never have any idea what anyone is talking about. I now recognize 3 words in Chinese.

Suddenly a van load of police officers drove up to where we were standing. I got a little nervous when I realized one very official looking man was walking directly toward me and talking to me! He asked if he could help me in English. I dumbly pointed at Hannah who immediately started jabbering away to him where we were trying to go. He spoke to her for a moment and then walked several feet away to where the other officers were going.

Finally a cab drove up and Hannah, myself, and another new teacher all got inside. Hannah explained where we wanted to go, and the driver said he had no idea where that was. Sooooo, we all got out of the cab. After more waiting another driver pulled up. We all got in the cab, Hannah gave instructions, HE said he did not know where that was. A THIRD cab pulled up and Hannah explained through the window where we wanted to go. HE said he did not know where that was either. (We are talking about a large well know apartment complex not far away. Apparently taxi drivers sometimes play dumb because they know the fare will be quite small compared to a longer drive.)

Anyway, after the third taxi pulled away, the friendly Police officer spoke to Hannah. I did not understand the words, but Hannah laughed and spoke some more. Finally she said that the police officer had offered to take us in his police van. Soooo, that is the story of how I went for a ride with the police on my 3rd day in China. The adventures just continue.