A friend of mine recently bought a new car. Yesterday she called me up and asked if I wanted to join her and her husband to go antique furniture shopping. Well, that’s something I never pass up, so I said sure. We arranged for a place for her to pick me up and she told me to watch for the "sea foam green" VW Golf! She’s what the locals call a "xinshou" or a "new hand." The best translation is "rookie." What she neglected to tell me was that even though she’s had her license for a few months, and has owned the car for a few weeks, she really doesn’t know how to drive! 30 miles an hour — tops– on the fourth ring road! The cars whizzed by like bullets, all honking madly of course. Twice she stopped in the middle of the Third Ring Road to try and read the signs. The cars whizzed by like bullets, all honking madly, of course! Then, after we had done our shopping, and had loaded her car with MY purchase (a small Qing Dynasty night table—very nice!), I discovered that she didn’t have a clue how to back the car up so as to get out of the courtyard. Let’s just say I was very glad to make it home in one piece.
