September 19th, 2009
Well the day started off kinda rough. We had hard a pretty hard week and just wanted to get out and go somewhere fun. The plan was to go to New World Center and eat fried rice and shop at the really good international store there. But when we left the apartment, things went bad pretty quickly.
All we wanted was to get a bread loaf cab (really small van the shape of, well, a bread loaf). We went across the highway to where we knew there would be several to choose from. As we tried to decide, we felt that we were kinda being made fun of by a group of drivers- kinda taken advantage of our ignorance of how much a cab should be to that area of town. So we walked away from the first set of drivers. Walked on down a bit and found another driver who had a sweet face, so we asked him. He gave a better rate and didn’t laugh. But when we got to where we were going, it was not where we were going…in other words, we were lost. He took us to the New World Tower, not New World Center.
Now it is very hard to get a cab for six in the busier city area- you pretty much have to take 2 car cabs once we get to the Hanku district. So we were really worried about getting into 2 cabs and be taken to two different places. So we wandered down the road to a large hotel, hoping for help there. Walking across the highway, I reminded G-D we were going to need some help. So glad my boys heard me saying that. As we walked into the hotel, the stares began. It is a constant thing, but more noticeable in some places. So we went up to the desk and asked for someone who spoke English. They must not have had one, so I call my teacher assistant, Julia, to translate. She talked to them about getting us to where we were trying to go. After an 8 minute conversation between Julia and the desk clerk, I was back on the phone with Julia. She assured me the desk lady was going to help us get a cab. Once again, I had an outloud conversation with the L-D. We stood there for another 10 minutes while different bell hops came up, listened to the desk clerks story, kinda chuckled, and looked like they had never heard of the place we were trying to go.
Well right then I remember thinking, why is it they all laugh at us? Chinese people are not very compassionate. This is so frustrating. Then all of a sudden, this young girl, maybe 20 years old, and a guy about her age appear. They look at the directions in our cab book and talk to the clerk for a minute. They didn’t work for the hotel, looked to be college kids, and seemed to really want to help. Then she turned to me and said in English, “This is where you are wanting to go?” We were so excited. She continued, “I will help you get a cab.” So we all paraded outside- weird white people with too many kids, and the young Chinese couple.
We crossed the highway again and stood at the corner to flag down 2 cabs. When the first one stopped, Bob and the boys piled in. And then, surprise, she got in too. Ok, that was kinda strange, but this is China. Then we get a cab and the guy gets in with us. He speaks no English, so very limited conversation.
I called Bob on the cell to see if he found this strange that they were going with us. He was like yeah, but couldn’t say too much with her right there in the seat behind him.
We get to the plaza and walked to the store to find Bob, the boys, and the girl. As we walk along through the plaza, I see her up ahead waving for us. We follow her into the store to the very back where there is a small café. Bob is sitting at a table with the boys, having been served nice glasses of cold water. I thought “UhOh what is going on”. But the couple made sure we all had water, took none for themselves, and started kinda backing away. Bob turned to offer the girl money for their time, trouble, and cab ride back. She refused it, looked at the guy, and they practically ran to the front door. Now the door was a good 25 feet from where we were, but in a wink, they were out it and gone. It was like I looked at Bob and said, “ Did you invite them to dinner?” He said, “ I didn’t get a chance”. We turned to see if we could catch them, and they were completely gone. We went outside then to see if we saw them. No sight of them in either direction. And we could see in both directions about 200 feet at least.
As we were standing out there, my phone rang. It was Julia again. She was checking on us and when I told her what happened, she told me, “As soon as we hung up, I began to pray for you. I asked G-d to send someone to help you.”
Yeah. Pretty amazing huh. Much better ending to our day than beginning. Angels? In one way or another yes, for us they were. In the Chinese culture, people do not help strangers like they may in the states. It is all about saving face. If you need help it is an embarrassment to you. So people generally do not offer. So either way, humans or angels, we thank G-d for them. And the way He can turn a bad day around into something truly special.
**** Please pray for my TA. She is a sister and her family gives her much grief about it….strength for her and the HS to work on their hearts.
Year 2
The Great Wall
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Touched by.....well you decide.....
September 19th, 2009
Well the day started off kinda rough. We had hard a pretty hard week and just wanted to get out and go somewhere fun. The plan was to go to New World Center and eat fried rice and shop at the really good international store there. But when we left the apartment, things went bad pretty quickly.
All we wanted was to get a bread loaf cab (really small van the shape of, well, a bread loaf). We went across the highway to where we knew there would be several to choose from. As we tried to decide, we felt that we were kinda being made fun of by a group of drivers- kinda taken advantage of our ignorance of how much a cab should be to that area of town. So we walked away from the first set of drivers. Walked on down a bit and found another driver who had a sweet face, so we asked him. He gave a better rate and didn’t laugh. But when we got to where we were going, it was not where we were going…in other words, we were lost. He took us to the New World Tower, not New World Center.
Now it is very hard to get a cab for six in the busier city area- you pretty much have to take 2 car cabs once we get to the Hanku district. So we were really worried about getting into 2 cabs and be taken to two different places. So we wandered down the road to a large hotel, hoping for help there. Walking across the highway, I reminded G-D we were going to need some help. So glad my boys heard me saying that. As we walked into the hotel, the stares began. It is a constant thing, but more noticeable in some places. So we went up to the desk and asked for someone who spoke English. They must not have had one, so I call my teacher assistant, Julia, to translate. She talked to them about getting us to where we were trying to go. After an 8 minute conversation between Julia and the desk clerk, I was back on the phone with Julia. She assured me the desk lady was going to help us get a cab. Once again, I had an outloud conversation with the L-D. We stood there for another 10 minutes while different bell hops came up, listened to the desk clerks story, kinda chuckled, and looked like they had never heard of the place we were trying to go.
Well right then I remember thinking, why is it they all laugh at us? Chinese people are not very compassionate. This is so frustrating. Then all of a sudden, this young girl, maybe 20 years old, and a guy about her age appear. They look at the directions in our cab book and talk to the clerk for a minute. They didn’t work for the hotel, looked to be college kids, and seemed to really want to help. Then she turned to me and said in English, “This is where you are wanting to go?” We were so excited. She continued, “I will help you get a cab.” So we all paraded outside- weird white people with too many kids, and the young Chinese couple.
We crossed the highway again and stood at the corner to flag down 2 cabs. When the first one stopped, Bob and the boys piled in. And then, surprise, she got in too. Ok, that was kinda strange, but this is China. Then we get a cab and the guy gets in with us. He speaks no English, so very limited conversation.
I called Bob on the cell to see if he found this strange that they were going with us. He was like yeah, but couldn’t say too much with her right there in the seat behind him.
We get to the plaza and walked to the store to find Bob, the boys, and the girl. As we walk along through the plaza, I see her up ahead waving for us. We follow her into the store to the very back where there is a small café. Bob is sitting at a table with the boys, having been served nice glasses of cold water. I thought “UhOh what is going on”. But the couple made sure we all had water, took none for themselves, and started kinda backing away. Bob turned to offer the girl money for their time, trouble, and cab ride back. She refused it, looked at the guy, and they practically ran to the front door. Now the door was a good 25 feet from where we were, but in a wink, they were out it and gone. It was like I looked at Bob and said, “ Did you invite them to dinner?” He said, “ I didn’t get a chance”. We turned to see if we could catch them, and they were completely gone. We went outside then to see if we saw them. No sight of them in either direction. And we could see in both directions about 200 feet at least.
As we were standing out there, my phone rang. It was Julia again. She was checking on us and when I told her what happened, she told me, “As soon as we hung up, I began to pray for you. I asked G-d to send someone to help you.”
Yeah. Pretty amazing huh. Much better ending to our day than beginning. Angels? In one way or another yes, for us they were. In the Chinese culture, people do not help strangers like they may in the states. It is all about saving face. If you need help it is an embarrassment to you. So people generally do not offer. So either way, humans or angels, we thank G-d for them. And the way He can turn a bad day around into something truly special.
**** Please pray for my TA. She is a sister and her family gives her much grief about it….strength for her and the HS to work on their hearts.
Well the day started off kinda rough. We had hard a pretty hard week and just wanted to get out and go somewhere fun. The plan was to go to New World Center and eat fried rice and shop at the really good international store there. But when we left the apartment, things went bad pretty quickly.
All we wanted was to get a bread loaf cab (really small van the shape of, well, a bread loaf). We went across the highway to where we knew there would be several to choose from. As we tried to decide, we felt that we were kinda being made fun of by a group of drivers- kinda taken advantage of our ignorance of how much a cab should be to that area of town. So we walked away from the first set of drivers. Walked on down a bit and found another driver who had a sweet face, so we asked him. He gave a better rate and didn’t laugh. But when we got to where we were going, it was not where we were going…in other words, we were lost. He took us to the New World Tower, not New World Center.
Now it is very hard to get a cab for six in the busier city area- you pretty much have to take 2 car cabs once we get to the Hanku district. So we were really worried about getting into 2 cabs and be taken to two different places. So we wandered down the road to a large hotel, hoping for help there. Walking across the highway, I reminded G-D we were going to need some help. So glad my boys heard me saying that. As we walked into the hotel, the stares began. It is a constant thing, but more noticeable in some places. So we went up to the desk and asked for someone who spoke English. They must not have had one, so I call my teacher assistant, Julia, to translate. She talked to them about getting us to where we were trying to go. After an 8 minute conversation between Julia and the desk clerk, I was back on the phone with Julia. She assured me the desk lady was going to help us get a cab. Once again, I had an outloud conversation with the L-D. We stood there for another 10 minutes while different bell hops came up, listened to the desk clerks story, kinda chuckled, and looked like they had never heard of the place we were trying to go.
Well right then I remember thinking, why is it they all laugh at us? Chinese people are not very compassionate. This is so frustrating. Then all of a sudden, this young girl, maybe 20 years old, and a guy about her age appear. They look at the directions in our cab book and talk to the clerk for a minute. They didn’t work for the hotel, looked to be college kids, and seemed to really want to help. Then she turned to me and said in English, “This is where you are wanting to go?” We were so excited. She continued, “I will help you get a cab.” So we all paraded outside- weird white people with too many kids, and the young Chinese couple.
We crossed the highway again and stood at the corner to flag down 2 cabs. When the first one stopped, Bob and the boys piled in. And then, surprise, she got in too. Ok, that was kinda strange, but this is China. Then we get a cab and the guy gets in with us. He speaks no English, so very limited conversation.
I called Bob on the cell to see if he found this strange that they were going with us. He was like yeah, but couldn’t say too much with her right there in the seat behind him.
We get to the plaza and walked to the store to find Bob, the boys, and the girl. As we walk along through the plaza, I see her up ahead waving for us. We follow her into the store to the very back where there is a small café. Bob is sitting at a table with the boys, having been served nice glasses of cold water. I thought “UhOh what is going on”. But the couple made sure we all had water, took none for themselves, and started kinda backing away. Bob turned to offer the girl money for their time, trouble, and cab ride back. She refused it, looked at the guy, and they practically ran to the front door. Now the door was a good 25 feet from where we were, but in a wink, they were out it and gone. It was like I looked at Bob and said, “ Did you invite them to dinner?” He said, “ I didn’t get a chance”. We turned to see if we could catch them, and they were completely gone. We went outside then to see if we saw them. No sight of them in either direction. And we could see in both directions about 200 feet at least.
As we were standing out there, my phone rang. It was Julia again. She was checking on us and when I told her what happened, she told me, “As soon as we hung up, I began to pray for you. I asked G-d to send someone to help you.”
Yeah. Pretty amazing huh. Much better ending to our day than beginning. Angels? In one way or another yes, for us they were. In the Chinese culture, people do not help strangers like they may in the states. It is all about saving face. If you need help it is an embarrassment to you. So people generally do not offer. So either way, humans or angels, we thank G-d for them. And the way He can turn a bad day around into something truly special.
**** Please pray for my TA. She is a sister and her family gives her much grief about it….strength for her and the HS to work on their hearts.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
More randoms...
Split pants.....all little ones wear them, even babies....just squat where you are and have at it...in parks, in stores, wherever!!!
And even babies where them- they train them to go on command...or rather on whistle....
There was a little one, maybe 8 months old, peeing in the trash can in the grocery store the other day when Madeline and I were checking out...his dad was just holding him over the can.
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