Dragon Boat Festival Weekend

Well, this weekend was the Dragon Boat Festival.  I had Monday off, so today is the first time I've had a chance to post in a while.  I thought I'd share a few things I saw over the weekend.  No, I didn't see any dragon boat races.  I didn't know how to get to the park where they were being held, and also, it was raining most of Monday.  I didn't feel like trying to find this park with a large lake, only to stand out in the rain to watch a boat race with a bunch of strangers who don't speak English and would probably be staring at me.  I've seen dragon boat races in Seattle.  Instead, I went to the Holiday (Asian) Plaza, the mall, and the market, all within walking distance, and let the people there stare at me as I walked around and conducted my business.

I am on a continuing quest to find one or more Chinese shops that sell knitting needles and crochet hooks, and, hopefully, other knitting and fiber arts tools.  I know that they exist, because I have seen Chinese women knitting, and, therefore, they must have somewhere to purchase their tools.  Before this weekend, I had found a shop that sold yarn (only, no tools, apparently), and another shop that apparently sold hand-knit garments.  (I say apparently, because language problems make clarity difficult to achieve.  There was yarn there, but not really on display for sale, and the primary activity seemed to be centered around making sweaters.)

Last week, my colleague, Amy (the erstwhile cookware consultant), told me that she had seen a shop in the Holiday Plaza (a.k.a. Asian Plaza) which sold knitting needles.  So, on Saturday, after I had done some shopping for necessities at Carrefour, I decided to go to the Holiday Plaza and scour every part of it for this reported knitting shop.

The Holiday Plaza consists of three main circles in a gentle arc, connected by breezeways, and arcs that go on either side of this main section.  Thus, it is a bit of a maze, with many establishments having access from both ends.  There are Chinese, Korean, and Japanese restaurants and bars there, and several massage parlors, especially on the second level.  There are also clothing stores, bakeries, even a brewery.  I went past every shop, looking in windows and doors to make sure I knew what their business was.  (I only look at signs when I can't see inside.  As you might guess, signs are often difficult to read here.  I'm starting to learn what it's like to be illiterate.)

Finally, after having scoured most of the plaza, I saw something on one of the side arcs.  It was the backside of a shop, and there was something interesting inside.  Not knitting needles, not really, but something interesting enough that made me want to look at it from the front side.

When I rounded the front, and counted shops to find the right one, I saw this shop:

The Chinese characters are actually much redder than shown in the picture.  The translation underneath reads, "Weaves the woolen sweater".

Not that I was looking at the sign, of course.  Inside, I saw lots of women's clothes and handbags, some shoes, and something on the counter that looked suspiciously like knitting needles!  Of course, I went in.

On closer inspection, it was clearly some kind of thrift shop or second-hand store.  Not sure if it was connected with a charity or run for profit.  I did see several containers with various long, skinny objects, mostly chopsticks, but some double-pointed-needles (DPNs).  Of course, she didn't have any 10 mm (US 15) needles, the size I was looking for.  So, I continued, to browse, and I found a package of 10 pairs of chopsticks.

Package of 10 Pairs of Chopsticks

I verbally confirmed that the price was 3 RMB (very pleased that I was able to do that in Chinese), and, since it seemed like a pretty good deal, and I wanted chopsticks, I bought it, and walked out, pausing to snap a photo of the shop for this blog.

Then, on further reflection, I re-entered the shop, approached the counter, and began to take the DPNs out of their container and sort them.  The woman at the shop (who knew some some numbers in English), began to help me.  There were several different sizes, and they were not all in packages.  Some were packaged in sets of four.  (I prefer to use 5 DPNs to knit in the round, but I was in no position to be choosy, and I didn't have enough language skills to negotiate.)  After some sorting, I selected these:

Three Sets of 4 DPNs each:  6mm, 5mm, and 4mm.

I bought them for a total of 30 RMB.  I don't have any plans to use them currently, but I never know when I might need them.  They seem to be made of bamboo, decent but not particularly special.

On Sunday, it started to rain after church, so I decided to stay home and knit.  Then, when it cleared up, I thought I'd go back to the Holiday Plaza.  Sometimes they have dancing there in the evenings.  Also, I wanted to check that thrift shop again, to see if they had crochet hooks.

When I started out on my trip, I saw something new on my usual route.  I had seen before that many of the trees appeared to be hung with something that I didn't inspect closely.  I suspected it was some kind of light.  On Sunday night, my suspicions were confirmed:

The trunks of the tree were festooned with these bluish-white lights.  Apparently they illuminate them for special occasions, like Dragon Boat Festival.  There were other festive lights as well, some color-changing light poles that would take a video to capture properly.  When I got to the Holiday Plaza, however, I saw something more video-worthy.  There was indeed dancing, in three different spots.  One appeared to be some kind of traditional dance set to modern music.  I took a video, and I finally got it to upload:

After I watched the dancing for a little while, I went on to find the thrift shop again.  I looked at the picture on my camera (not aware that the color balance was off), and started out.  I ended up having to pretty much retrace my entire route through Holiday Plaza, coming upon it from the back side first, as before.  When I got there, I noted the difference in color between my picture and the actual sign.  I saw there were two more ladies in the store.  One was trying on some retro-fashion shoes, and the other was admiring them.  When I entered, and approached the counter with knitting needles, the shop owner apparently told the customers that I was a knitter.  (I had confirmed that, in Chinese, in response to her query the previous day.)

As she waited, I got out my pictures of crochet hooks that I had printed out for an earlier phase of my quest.  She looked at them and said no, she didn't have any.  I thanked her and left.

On Monday, I decided to search the local mall.  I had seen someone there with a plastic store bag of what looked like yarn, but, unfortunately, she was unable to answer my question.  Since I can't read the map of the mall, I had to walk through the entire mall, looking into every store, to see what they were selling.  This mall is on four levels, and several of the escalators are only one-way.  Since it's new, many of the storefronts are empty or under construction.  Several others were in business, but apparently closed in observance of Dragon Boat Festival.  I went there just after 10:00, planning to walk as much as I could.

First, I went to the main entrance, and drew maps of the four floors.  Then, I filled in the parts that I knew I had already traveled.  Walking the mall, I continued to fill in points.  I also looked through the larger department store, Parksons's, to see what they had.  (Typical department store, mostly clothes.  One section, interestingly enough, on Harry Potter themed clothes.)  The only craft store I found, in the entire mall, was a counted-cross-stitch store, which is apparently fairly popular here.  From the third floor, I was able to take a good picture of one of the amusements they had in the central square of the mall:

This looked like nothing so much as an inflatable playground.  Looks like a lot of fun for a little kid.

On the fourth floor, I ran into a guy from Texas who, it turns out, is opening an English school there.  He's starting with Kindergarten, and he's apparently recruiting teachers.  He gave me a few of his cards.

By the way:  If you plan on using the toilets at a Chinese mall, bring your own TP, and be prepared to squat.  You might want to bring your own soap or hand sanitizer, as well, and be prepared for a unisex washroom outside the toilet area.

Knitting
This weekend, I inadvertently left my helmetliner and primary toolkit in my desk at school.  So, I only worked on my brown cardigan.  I don't have any pictures to show you, unfortunately, but I have finished with the buttonholes.  I did use the YO K2tog style, and I think they will look good once I get buttons to fit them.  The button band isn't sagging, either, which is good.  It seems to be pulling in a little bit, but that's OK.

Prayer Requests
Thanks to a friend I met at church, I may be buying a bike soon.  Also, another friend from church has offered to loan me his spare cell phone (which he keeps for out-of-town visitors), to use to stay connected until I can get my own.  Praise God for using the Body of Christ to meet my needs!  Also, please pray that I will make the right financial choices, not only about the bike, but about other things as well, like Internet access, mobile phone, and sending money back to my U.S. bank account.

That's all for now.  I need to go talk to my boss about something before the end of the school day.  I don't think I'm in trouble, but it wouldn't hurt to pray for that anyway.  Blessings to all.