Santa's Helper Takes a Sick Day

I planned to go Christmas shopping today, but those plans have taken a turn.  My 15 year old obviously doesn't believe in Santa anymore, but I haven't bought anything for my husband yet, and there is only one wrapped gift under the tree.  It didn't help that I was sick for about a week and a half.

I should mention that I did go shopping yesterday for one particular item, but wasn't able to find it.  I found a place that is an "art street" here in Wuhan, and thought I would buy my husband a piece of Chinese art for Christmas.  I thought it would be something nice he could take back to the States when we move back.  But when I got to the street, I found that they didn't really have much art for sale.  Most of what they had was silk embroidered pictures.  And they were quite expensive.  But that wasn't what I wanted anyway, so I came away empty handed.  Most of the shops on that street were fancy tea shops.  I haven't seen anything like those anywhere else in the city, so I had to wonder if they can really make a living.  I guess foreigners come to the street to shop, but there aren't that many foreigners here, and they didn't have much for sale except the embroidery and tea.  But it was fun to wander around through the neighborhood there anyway.  It is at the tail end of "Tailor street", and there are lots of little shops and food stalls all along the way.  I ate some potstickers, some steamed meat buns, and some won ton soup.  So see, my journey wasn't totally fruitless.  lol

It's quite a distance away from my house.  I had to ride a bus for about an hour to get there.  I think the return route is a little shorter, but it still took me at least 45 minutes to get back.  So now I know that Art street isn't all it's cracked up to be, and I don't need to make that trip again.

So after I got home, I got ready to go pick up my son from school.  It's hard to get a taxi at his school, so I get one at our house and go get him.  I stepped off the curb to hail a taxi and somehow twisted my ankle.  I still don't quite know how I did it.  I think the ground was uneven there.  I fell to my knees and hands.  But I was able to stand up, and the taxi did stop for me.  I sure was glad because I don't think I could have walked much further.  After I got home, my ankle got progressively worse as the evening wore on.  I sat down and put it up immediately, but it still really hurt.  I finally took some ibuprofen and that really helped.  It is about 50% better today.  I'm hoping that by Monday I can go out and do some shopping!  We gotta get this Christmas going!  :)