The Dangers of Shanghi

So life here is pretty uneventful, until I decide to go to IKEA.  My husband and I got into a taxi on Monday evening.  We decided to get a few more items for our apartment.  You know how you look at your closet sometimes, and just think I gotta do something.  Well, that is how we were feeling.  We weren't even 3 blocks from our house when the unimaginable happened.  Taxi drivers can drive crazy out here, but our driver wasn't.  He simply stopped behind traffic at the stop light.  The baby was in my arms sleeping, and my husband and I were talking about vacations, money, and life in general.  Life was good.  Then all of a sudden my body jerked forward, and I realized that we had been rear-ended.  I  was shocked, pissed, and worried about my baby.  After a few seconds I tried to gain my composure and stepped out the car, yelling of course.  My husband took a photo of the car that hit us.  Clearly the guy was talking on the phone, sleeping, or just being the typical idiot driver that you encounter in China.  Seriously, the driving out here is scary.  We were advised to just leave the scene of the crimes.  I guess expats get cheated out of there money in these types of situations.  My neck was hurting, and I really didn't wan't to just walk off, but into another taxi we went.  I had just told my husband that I need to buy life insurance, and here he is already trying to kill me.  Thank God for the IKEA food court.  I got a slice of apple pie, water, and hot tea.  I really had to compose myself because I wasn't feeling myself and not really in the mood to pick out stuff for the house.  So I've survived my first taxi accident in China.  Its really sad that foreigners don't trust the Chinese to handle that type of incident fairly, but I guess their government doesn't worry about impressions of the average expat.  If you happen to see the driver above watch out!!

I thought I'd been through enough for the week, and then on Tuesday night came the typhoon warning.    My gosh!  I just can't get a break!  Lots of rain, really a wasted work day.  The country totally over reacted to the typhoon threat by shutting down schools, but can't seem to get people to obey traffic laws to save their lives.  Oh well, I'm still here, and that's all that matters.  I'm back to work tomorrow, my neck isn't hurting nearly as much, and I'm thankful to be alive.