So. Today was the crazy pick-up-dong-xi day. Dong xi means stuff. We walked to the tailor just outside Becki’s complex. This lady has two tables set up on the sidewalk. She has a sewing machine, an iron, and all sorts of seamstress-y dong xi. She’s the fix-it lady. Last week she sewed the strap back on to my backpack. Today, Becki picked up the curtains the lady sewed for her. It cost 30 kuai (not quite 4 bucks) for the curtains. Becki brought the fabric yesterday for five curtains, and today they were ready. This seamstress lady rocks!
After the curtains were safely in Becki’s backpack, we continued our walk to the frame place. It’s maybe a mile up the road. Not too bad, really, but it was wicked humid today. When we got to the place, our pictures were ready, and they looked so good! In fact, when we got back, other waiguoren (foreigners) saw them and asked Becki where we had them done. Not only did they do a great job, it was cheap. Now Becki’s wall has all sorts of lovely pictures hanging, including a cool photo of a leaf from Japan. (Danke, Maria!) Oh yeah, the curtains are up, too.
Our next trek was to the other two tailors. We got a taxi to take us to the silk tailor, which I was a bit afraid would be round two of a crazy experience, but it went ok. We walked in and the lady knew exactly who I was. She pulled out my completed outfit and told me (in Chinese) to try it on. But then she CLOSED the door to the back room where I expected to do so. This shop has three sections. It’s like the tabernacle. There’s the outer area, let’s call it the courtyard, where all the silk (with gold threads) is, and that’s where the work begins. The measuring, deciding on patterns, payment, etc. Then there’s the next room where the actual work happens. There is a sliding door that separates the courtyard from this room, but it isn’t exactly an exclusive room. At the back of that room is the inner room. This is the room that was closed to me. There I was, trying to figure out where exactly she meant for me to accomplish this trying on business. She kept telling me, “Mei you ren.” I finally realized she was saying “There’s no one here.” In other words, “Just get on with it. Right there will be fine.” Ooooookay? It worked out ok, and there really weren’t people around. It fit, AND it only cost 80 kuai to have it made!
The taxi guy that agreed to take us from there to the other tailor got lost. It was so crazy. Becki finally told him to call the place after driving aimlessly for twenty minutes. It turned out we were only three blocks away. One of my skirts was ready, but we had to rethink the other one. Becki’s needed a minor adjustment. These two skirts will be ready on Tuesday. All together, it was a great day. We paid ahead for the frames, I paid what I thought was a deposit on the silk, but it turned out to be the whole price. The skirts will be paid for when they’re all done, so I didn’t spend a cent today on all the dong xi!
