My first week in Shanghai was mostly seamless. The school was incredibly helpful in setting up the important items. They provide my housing the first year, so I didn’t have to worry about finding a place to live or setting up and paying for utilities. They also took me to get my cell phone and had my internet set up within the first two days. It’s those small things that make transitions easier!

The apartment was furnished by the school with all the important items: beds, dining room table, couch, TV, etc. However, there were vital necessities that were still needed: towels, plates and silverware, pots and pans, etc.

IKEA to the rescue!

Now, I have a love/hate relationship with IKEA. They have a number of items with a clean, classic look. But, the minimalistic design can be boring. And honestly, you have to sort through a bunch of cheap “crap” in order to find items worth buying. Nevertheless, they are godsend to people like me, moving abroad on a tight budget.

IKEA and I were about to have an adventure together.

Now, I was gifted a bicycle from my predecessor. (I also bought her scooter, but that’s a story for another time.) As IKEA was less than 2 miles (3km) from my apartment, I figured I would ride my bike instead of take a taxi. This decision set the stage for the ultimate miscalculation…Here’s me before my ride out:

(Don’t worry, I wore my helmet!)

The ride to IKEA was wonderfully uneventful…well, as uneventful as a ride can be in Shanghai. I parked my bike with the CRAZY MASS of bikes and scooters, and went inside.

(If you ever get the chance to visit IKEA on a weekend in China, I recommend it…it’s a crazy experience not to be missed! But I wouldn’t recommend SHOPPING at IKEA on a weekend. Lesson. Learned.)

Previously, I was told that IKEA will deliver whatever you buy, which was perfect because I needed a lot! I grabbed a shopping cart and started checking items off my list. Pushing two carts by myself was quite entertaining!

(Why do these carts never move in a straight line???)

My new items were bought and next up was the assembly and delivery counter. The charges were incredibly cheap! Shockingly, I think I paid about $30USD to have my items delivered AND ASSEMBLED! As anyone who’s put IKEA items together knows the cost is worth it!

But there was a problem…

The lady working the counter told me that they only deliver items in boxes. As you can see, I had many items NOT in boxes. I tried to communicate that I needed all the items delivered, but she also re-iterated that they need to be in boxes. That was one important lesson I learned about China — you need to be explicit about what you need. I learned later that I simply needed to ask for a box to PUT the items in…I made the assumption that she would’ve offered me a box if that was all I needed to do.

So now I had a dilemma…I already bought all these items. I could do one of the following options:
1) Return everything I bought and come back another day
2) Take a taxi home, drop everything off, then take a taxi back to pick up my bike
3) Attempt to take everything home on my bike

I really didn’t want to do option 1. IKEA is mad chaotic on the weekends and I didn’t want to repeat the experience. Option 2 would’ve been fine, and probably would’ve cost me about $6-10USD, but that just seemed wasteful. So option 3 it was! I had two big blue IKEA bags and thought I’ll just put one bag on each handle bar. It’s a straight shot back to the apartment. No big deal.

(When I got home, I weighed everything because I was curious…that’s 50lbs/22kg of weight on those handle bars!)

It was a big deal. Because what I didn’t think through was the fact that the weight on the handle bars shifts the balance and makes it quite hard to ride! But, I was committed at this point and determined to see this decision through. (I told you I was stubborn.)

Slow and steady was the mantra, and I was doing great. I made sure I had enough time to stop at the intersections and worked hard not to make any sudden moves. It was going wonderfully well…

…Until I got near a bus stop.

A woman stepped right in front of me, which meant I had to swerve. It wouldn’t have been a big deal had I been riding without the bags; but swerving meant the bags started to sway and hit the front tire. Trying to get the bike under control meant I slammed into a nearby wall! I checked the bike and found nothing wrong; so I continued on my way, making it all the way home without further incident.

Amazingly, not one item broke. Not the picture frames, soap dispensers, or glasses I bought (thank goodness for towel buffers).

What did suffer was my shin, which took the brunt of my efforts to stop before I crashed into the wall–by slamming into the pedal. This picture is ONE WEEK after the event, so you can imagine how beautiful it looked earlier!

In the end, the battle scars were minimal. Hindsight teaches me that I should’ve just taken the taxi, but where’s the fun in that?!

ME: 1     CHINA: 1