I lost the battle, but I will win the war

Warning: Slightly gross pictures ahead

So as many of you know, I ride an ebike around Zhenjiang. It is nice, because there arent many buses that run out by my school, and the ones that do run close early in the evening. When I say ebike, I am really talking about something similar to a mo-ped. There are millions of them over here, only the super rich own and drive cars. 

To ride an ebike in China and actually get from point A to point B, one must be a little gutsy. Otherwise you will forever be waiting for a gap in traffic, or expecting someone to let you in. This is just not the case in China. In my head, its all just a giant game of chicken. "Oh yeah, you'll stop for me" kind of thing. And for three months, this logic suited me just fine, no problems at all. Until yesterday that is....

Someone crashed into me on their ebike. Hard.

 Like BentTheFrameCouldntMovePedals hard. 

Like BumpMyHeadPossibleConcussion hard.

 Like LuckyToHaveAllMyTeeth hard. 

I think you get the picture?

Overall it was a slightly traumatic experience. One of my worst in China to be honest. Not my actual injuries, physical pain doesn't really bother me, unless we're talking nausea then I am a big fat baby . Its the angst and emotional scare that was hard for me. We created quite the crowd when we collided, and the lady refused to get up, even after I tried to help her. Granted, I was operating on auto pilot myself" anything broken? no, okay. pick the bike up. put the things back into the basket. etc." But still, I felt like the lady was just trying to milk the situation since I was a foreigner. However, here was why I freaked:

- they wanted to call the cops (what exactly were THEY going to do? you dont need a license to drive an ebike in China)

- ONE person spoke VERY POOR English, so I was very frustrated that I could not explain the situation thoroughly and honestly, and my liaison was out of touch

- they wanted to take me to the hospital ( so not needed)

- I did not have time for ANY of these things because Kaylee was waiting for me at the train station. I was heading to Shanghai with Kaylee on the next train out so we could go to the airport. Kaylee has only ordered bus tickets, and didnt know how to buy train tickets, and she was depending on me. 

So after I thought through all my options, I made sure she was alright (well... I mean as alright as I was) and then drove away. It was AWKWARD driving away. The man with poor English wanted me to stay for the police, but I said I could only wait for 5 minutes then I had to go. I realized that there was really nothing they could do, so even though it was scary and I felt like a rebel, I just drove away.

I met with Kaylee and the train station, my adrenaline rush going away and hysteria started to kick in. I mean, being in a foreign country where you dont speak the language and possibly needing to speak with police? Pretty scary. She asks if I am alright, and after I said yes she starts snapping away, saying " you are going to want these pictures!" So yeah, that's the story of how I lost a battle in China but I will win the war!

Right after Kaylee made sure I was okay.

I cant remember what Kaylee said but it was funny!

I ripped a few small holes in my shirt from hitting the pavement so hard, and this nasty stain wont come out so I am going to have to chuck it in the garbage.

It burned! Oh how it burned. I was a baby and Kaylee cleaned all my wounds up while we waited for the train.