From Lexi:

Schools out! In the past, this time has always been one of the best times of the year; no more homework, beginning of summer, time to hang with friends. It’s awesome! I was surprised how different the end of school and beginning of summer is here in Kunming. Most of the foreign kids left the day after school was out to head back to the USA, Australia, Korea, Britain, Malaysia, or wherever their hometown is. I, however, stayed. I must confess Kunming is a raining, thundering, and lonely place for a foreigner in the summer.

I have however, had a few adventures I could share with you while I still have time left in China this summer:

The day after school was out a few people were still here in Kunming. There is a sort of “cooking club” I’m a part of here that set a date to meet the Friday after school finished for dinner, dessert, and a movie. When we had decided what we wanted to make (tacos) we split up the four of us who were there already and went off to shop for the ingredients. I and my friend Kevin headed towards the garage for the bikes we would ride to our twenty minute destination. Ironically, we both commented on the hot weather when we came out of the house. It was a cloudy day but neither of us could have guessed it would rain…pour. After some difficulty with his bike’s gears, we headed out. No later than five minutes on the road the sky opened up and hailed sheets of water on us. I have never been in so much rain before. It literally felt as if someone was pouring a bucket of endless water on me. We were soaked to the skin, our clothes heavy with water that we’d squeeze out one second only to have them soak up even more the next. Our hair was dripping wet and our faces peppered with drops of water we didn’t even bother to wipe off. At first it was funny; we both looked comical soaking wet and dripping. But it wasn’t so funny when it only started to pour harder and our skin started to sprout goose bumps from the cold.

When we finally came to the shop, we parked our bikes and went in, quite embarrassed, to the foreign food shop. Kevin grabbed ingredients while I stood there making a puddle of water at the entrance. The Chinese women who ran the shop looked at me with amused and pitied expressions. They asked us to sit but we thanked them and communicated we had another shop to go to in the area. We got our last ingredient and headed back towards our bikes. Huge pools of water surrounded the area and were quite entertaining to splash at one another; it wasn’t like we could get anymore wet. One woman at a Chinese restaurant offered to give me an umbrella, however, I had to refuse it after trying to bike with it. The bike I was borrowing was very tall and I could barely touch my toes to the ground when on it. As a result, I had little control of the bike and couldn’t maneuver it single-handedly. They did eventually give me a very long blue poncho that is common for moped and bikers to wear in China. We reluctantly started to head back, shivering and barley able to see through the sheets of rain.

We were two minutes back on the road when the inevitable happened. As we approached a driveway that had a pool of water a couple inches deep, I lost complete control of the bike. The handle turned all the way left and straight for Kevin. He let out a loud cry when he saw the movement and tried to maneuver. Somehow my bike slid under his and I slid under my bike. My knees made the first impact with the ground with a loud splash in the pool of water. The rest of me followed with the final thud of the bike on top. I slowly pushed the bike off and sat up. Kevin somehow stayed on his bike and was turning to come back around at that moment. I must have looked quite comical, sitting in a pool of water, soaking wet, wearing an oversized tarp-blue poncho.

Cold, wet, shivering, and in aching, throbbing pain, I somehow made it back to the house. Kevin’s older sister, Louisa, made sure I had a hot shower and provided me with a complete set of warm, dry clothes. Even in steaming hot water, I was still shivering and it took forever to feel the least bit warm again. When I had finished, wrung and hung up my wet clothes (it was amazing how much water I squeezed out of them) I proceeded downstairs on achy knees and sore feet. (Did I mention I had been wearing sandals??)

Except for the throbbing pain I felt, the rest of the evening was quite pleasant and fun. The tacos were delicious and dinner was delightful. After watching a movie and battling each other for about ten minutes of video games, we said our goodbyes to those who were leaving for summer the next day.

I have some interesting bruises up and down my legs from the trip that like to spasm with pain now and then. Yet although at times unpleasant, it was an amazing day I wouldn’t have missed for anything. Thank Gd for the friends and adventures He has given me in China.