Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Steve, Heather, Ed, Joe, Emily, Hana, Zeke and Samuel!
December 8 - 9, 2007
December 8 --
Our Third, and Last, Saturday in Guangzhou
Today was a shopping day. For the most part we were unsuccessful, but we did scope everything out and are nearing the end of a few purchases we need to make. A phone call and an email to people at home should clarify what we’re actually supposed to be purchasing. Have we mentioned that we are not shoppers? We’re doing our best, but we’re not shoppers by any stretch of the imagination.
The best part of the day was the children we ran into while we were pretending to be shopping. There was a very nice young man out with his little 4 and 5 year old students and they were practicing their English. They had been learning English for a month and wanted to try out what they’d learned. The teacher gave Heather a paper with a list of questions she was to ask them. What fun she and the rest of us had. These kids were the cutest little ones and initially were a little scared. By the end, though, we were all best of friends and they were grinning, as were we, from ear to ear. We had also attracted a second class of little ones and they joined in too. What a great time for all.
Once the little ones had taken off to find yet some more Americans to practice on, we’d made it only about a block down the street when we were stopped by a group of teenagers out with questions they were instructed to find answers too. They were just a great bunch of young people and, again, we had a fun time visiting and answering their questions the best we could. What a great opportunity to be able to interact with all these young people.
As we were making our way to the park near the water to eat the lunch we had purchased, we were stopped one more time, but this time by three young women. It seems they were researching what people might want in terms of a new restaurant on the island. We must look pretty approachable since no one seems to stop us for any number of reasons. We love these interactions.
Anyway, we basically told the women we liked the Chinese restaurants and not the western (hey, we’re in China aren’t we?). We also felt our number one priority was that the restaurant was clean, and number two was that it was a traditional Chinese restaurant. Further, we felt that we’d prefer traditional Chinese music playing as background music, rather than the typical American rock-n-roll that we have to listen to at most restaurants on the island. It seems really weird to be sitting in a restaurant in China, trying to enjoy a pigeon (head and all) for dinner, and listening to “Aint Nothin But a Hound Dog” playing in the background. It’s sort of like singing “Jingle Bells” last Sunday during the church service we attended – something didn’t seem quite right. We probably won’t ever know if we made a difference to these young women as they formulate their restaurant plan, but at least we provided input, for what it’s worth. And most important, we had a great time visiting.
We learned one interesting cultural “fact” while shopping with Sam today. Steve had given Sam 40 Yuan so he could buy something if he wanted to. Well, Sam wants us to buy just about everything junky thing he sees. We on the other hand, buy almost nothing. Steve has continued to tell Sam that if he really wants something to buy it with his money. Sam has continued to tell Steve, “no.” Finally, we were speaking with these really neat girls in one of the shops and asked them to tell him that if he wanted whatever it was he was looking at, to buy it with his money. They explained that children don’t buy what they want. Their parents do. Oops! News to us.
We asked one of the girls to explain to Sam that in the United States, parents will often tell a child no if they don’t feel the child needs whatever it is that they’re asking for. Further, with the parents’ agreement, a child may be allowed to purchase something with their own money. The shop girl was shocked. She said she’d just ask her parents for what she wanted and they bought it. Yikes!!! We don’t do that. We clarified that she’d really said what we thought we’d heard and she said yes, if she wanted something it was bought for her. She never had to buy something. We told her that when our children want something we usually say, “no.” You’d have to have been listening to this whole exchange to appreciate it, but two other girls working in the shop were just cracking up as we all discussed this.
Anyway, back to the story, this young girl explained to Sam that if he wanted some junky thing (we don’t think she used these exact words, but that’s our loose translation), he could use his own money. Sam decided he didn’t want the junky thing after all. Then, the young girl asked us if we pay our children to do work around the house like washing the floor, doing laundry, etc. Heather started laughing and said, “No.” Steve explained that many chores that are done around the home are things that are done as a family to keep the home running smoothly. Those types of things don’t result in a payment. If, though, we have a particularly difficult job, that takes a long time to complete, and everyone helping does a good job with a great attitude and their heart is in the right place, then we will often pay them for a job well done. Somehow this was all conveyed to Sam and he’s already thinking of ways to make money. Note to us: Remember to revisit this topic at a later date to clear up any misconceptions. Sam did end up wheeling and dealing later in the day and somehow managed to purchased some incredible number of trading cards (you’d have to see the pile to believe it) for, you guessed it, 40 Yuans. We were actually pretty impressed with his purchase.
Later on we had dinner with the Patzer and Macintosh families at the really nice railroad car restaurant that we went to one night last week. We had invited a guest to join our family for dinner since we wanted to thank her for being such a nice friend to us while we’ve been here. Mayeko is 22 years old and greats us every morning when we arrive for the breakfast buffet. We were so glad she was willing to join us for dinner. All of us had a very pleasant evening and peaceful walk back to the hotel.
Sam had a pretty good day, with no problems, but we could tell he was on edge by the time we got back to the hotel. We had stopped at the convenience store for ice cream and all seemed well, but we knew he was at the breaking point. Thus, to head things off at the pass, we called Leila and asked her to speak with Sam to see what was up.
We learned that he was angry because he had asked Heather to buy him this pack of a zillion feet of gum and she said “no.” Supposedly, according to Sam, she always says no to the zillion feet of gum purchase. This is a true statement from Sam. Steve explained to Leila that our kids are always asking for that stuff and we always say no. No good can come from that much gum. Thus, it’s nothing personal, but Sam’s answer to that particular purchase will always be “no.”
Leila explained to Sam that there are certain candies and gums that we will not purchase and he’ll just have to learn that. To Sam’s credit, he hung in there and didn’t blow up, but we think Leila helped us diffuse a potential explosion before it happened.
If you ask our daughter, Emily, who routinely attempts to purchase the round zillion feet of gum packs, she’ll tell you that we almost always say no. On a rare occasion we might say yes provided the whole family shares it and it is well supervised. We’ve seen Sam in action when it comes to eating, and have also seen the current condition of his teeth. He is not in need of any gum.
Well, tomorrow is Sunday and we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Please pray for a peaceful finish to our days in China. Soon we’ll be writing that we’re heading home. We can’t wait.
Blessings to all our friends and family,
Steve, Heather, Joe and Sam, only three more full days in China, and
Ed, Emily, Hana and Zeke at home, along with Grandma and Aunt Sue, waiting for us to come home.
Today we opted to skip church in the interest of having Leila speak with Sam to defuse a young boy who seemed to need defusing. All was well in the end, we had no significant problem, and we’re starting to read the signs of a potential problem before it blows. Luckily we’ve had someone to interpret when those signs show up, but that might not always be the case. Cynthia at home will be a lifesaver for us in the translation department.
We finished any shopping we’re going to do, except for this one little thing Steve needs to check on, and will start figuring out how best to pack up to return home – oh, wow! Are those cool words or what?
Tomorrow is another necessary milestone. We have our U.S. Consulate Appointment. This means that Leila actually has our appointment and we hang out in the hotel room from 10:00 am until 12:00 pm in case any questions arise. If the phone doesn’t ring, all is well and we’ve passed the paper scrutinizer (not sure if that’s a word, but think of someone sitting behind the glass wall, with thick glasses, checking all of our paperwork.) If the phone rings, then a question has been asked and an answer is needed. We’ll pray that if that scenario unfolds, we’ll be able to answer anything satisfactorily. This is the last paperwork step required before the United States will issue Sam his visa to enter the country. The final step is to appear at the U.S. Consulate on Tuesday to take the oath that we swear that we’ve been honest throughout this process. Once that’s done, they’ll hand us Sam’s Chinese passport with his U.S. visa. And then, that’s right, we head home.
Okay, now that we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves, back to today. We just hung out and goofed off and tied up loose ends until we were scheduled to meet Leila at the White Swan to catch a cab to a park, followed by dinner at a nice restaurant. About an hour before we headed out to meet Leila, there was all sorts of noise out of our window (we’re on the third floor overlooking a main road.) We looked out and couldn’t figure out what was happening, but there were hundreds of people (both men and women), all dressed up in black suits, carrying briefcases and sort of marching up the street. As we watched, they all of the sudden reversed direction and headed back the way they came. It was the weirdest thing and nothing like anything we’d ever seen. This went on long after we quit watching.
Well, as we headed out of the hotel and turned to head down toward the White Swan Hotel, there were people everywhere. These were the same black-suited, briefcase toting folks we’d seen and heard earlier. It was amazing. We could barely make our way through the crowd.
It didn’t take long before we saw the cameramen high up on rolling platforms shooting a scene from a movie. There were two creepy looking guys dressed in some traditional Chinese costumes, a man carrying boxes of kitchen equipment, a man with a bouquet of flowers, a lady with this big, ugly brown poodle, and the zillions of black-suited, briefcase folks. It was really cool. We watched for as long as we could, Steve took pictures, and then we had to head out or we’d be late for our rendezvous.
If you stay for long enough in Guangzhou, you’re bound to see just about everything. The other day was the arrival of high-level Chinese officials. Today a movie shoot. Oh, and did you know that when in China shooting a movie, they count down and yell, “ACTION,” just like in the U.S.? There are some things that are obviously universal.
We did end up walking around a nice park and lake and followed up our walk with dinner at a traditional Cantonese restaurant. Dinner was interesting. Did you know that if shrimp show up in noodles or rice, everything taste like fish? Also, did you know that a pork dish can be comprised of chunks of fat, floating in fat and soy sauce? And then there’s the little bread dumpling things that have some pretty scary looking stuff inside. Dinner was okay, but we really enjoyed a beef dish that had walnuts and fruit in it, the broccoli with garlic dish, and some banana thing, served in what looked like a green pancake was pretty good.
Well, that’s about it for now. Tomorrow it’s the Consulate Appointment, a riverboat cruise (we’re skipping the dinner), and preparations for our return home. We’re getting close now.
Blessings to all our friends and family,
Steve, Heather, Joe and Sam, only two more full days in China, and
Ed, Emily, Hana and Zeke at home, along with Grandma and Aunt Sue, thinking about our return and whether they should start cleaning the house.
