I decided to buy a new bike.  After riding the really awesome bike not once, but two times and realizing the potential power one has with this sort of bike, I felt the need to have my own awesome bike!

One of the veteran teachers came with me and another teacher because we both wanted new bikes.  His Chinese skills were exactly what we needed to get a good price.  After trying out a few different bikes–some better than others–we both settled on bikes that we wanted.  During the bargaining, two other Chinese people came up to our ‘conversation’ with the bike lady and wanted to ride the bike I had chosen.  Now, a strategy for bargaining is not looking too interested in the object being purchased.  If the seller knows you want it badly enough, he or she will try to get a higher price from you.  This was difficult because I really liked this bike.  So, the veteran teacher told me to not look interested and to let the other guy ride it.  He then asked if they had more than one. 🙂  A thought popped into my mind that maybe these two people were actually employees of the bike place and were ‘playing’ us by pretending they wanted the same bike so that we would end up paying more.  In the end, they were actually just getting in on the bargaining so that they could get the best price also!  It was funny to watch. 

In China, a shiny new bike screams, “steal me!”  I should know this lesson well because of the incident from last year which will not be brought up again. 🙁  So, a way to combat theft in this country is to make something that is beautiful and shiny and new look like it is not beautiful and shiny and new.  After we purchased the bikes, the other teacher spray painted them and rubbed dirt in the wet spray paint.  It was a little sad to watch but also very entertaining.  We were drawing quite a crowd with this display.  Below are photos of the shiny new bike before and after the paint job. Enjoy!

The shiny new bike before it was defiled. It was a shame too because I really love red!

During the paint job.

...more during...

...after. He was pretty proud of the paint job!

Final product. Still looks new. Hopefully that won't be a problem...