The Rest of the Crazy Day

Well the rest of the day seemed to continue like the first part of the day. Dustin called me to tell me that our Ayi has asked for all of September and most of October off. She did say that she had a friend who would take over, but this is extremely disruptive let alone the fact that we have no idea who this women is that Fang is brining over. We tried to discuss it with Fang during our quick lunch before I left with Josh on our errands. It is really crazy, because she is saying the same thing, and we are trying to pin point what it is she wants—i.e.-it took us the whole time to get out of her that she wanted that total time off and that her friend would work it. We are not happy about the situation, but feel there is very little we can do except fire her, and that would be a little extreme, plus the fact that we like and feel she does a good job. This time off is apparently tied to the death of her mother. There is some ceremony that they will perform since she died young and in a tragic way. So after that upsetting news, I took off to the store with Josh and Tom. I headed out to the farther store thinking we would be able to get there an back in time for Danny. Of course this is not true. Traffic was terrible.

Once we did arrive, I went to the store with computer items and tied to buy a cord for our router. Well, lets just say let the circus begin, because it was close to that in trying to get this cord. Now the problem was not finding it. I saw it on the wall and took it right down knowing exactly what I wanted. The problems began after that in trying to buy it. I of course do not speak Mandarin and first had to track down a salesperson focused enough to help us. The salesperson looked at it and started talking in Mandarin to me. I of course shook my head and motioned to Tom. (Who speaks Mandarin, but no English, so while he can usually help, he can never tell me what is going on). So, I believe from the hand motions and pointing that she was upset that there was a hole in the plastic the wire came in. Of course the hole is there because this is how they hang things up in the store. So, I drag her over (not literally) to the other cords and point to the fact that this is how all of them are hanging up. Then somehow the conversations switches and another employee gets involved. They then began having a conversation between them about length of the wire. I had not told them a length, and I know Tom had no idea what I came in there to buy, so I do not know why the conversation came down to this. Yet, finally after about five minutes of them arguing about the size I was able to convey that I just wanted to buy it. After this, the two employees began arguing again, this time shoving the item I wanted back and forth into each other’s hands. Apparently, neither of them wanted to write up the ticket for it. (Here in China, you cannot just take something up to the register and buy it. No, first you need a ticket, then you pay for it, then you bring the copy of the ticket back to the employee that first helped you, and only at that point do they hand you the item). So, after another couple of minutes of bickering about writing the ticket, finally the women employee won and the guy went over to look it up. I paid out, and receive my wire. There is no such thing as fast shopping in China.

We quickly went through Carrefour, only to confirm that Qibao’s store does not have squirt bottles either. We got our other items, and left to look for Danny’s shoes. Thankfully they had a Crocs store right at the entrance and I was able to get a pair for Danny. We then finally headed home, with me feeling a little guilty that I would not be there to pick up Danny. We did amazingly make it back in time to greet him when he came in the door. He tried his shoes on, and of course they were to big. Dustin unlocked the bike lock I had bought him (he got a bike this weekend) and it literally broke when he unlocked it. The insides of the lock poured out onto the floor. There is something about Chinese quality that I cannot ever grasp. Why do they put up with this junk. Who wants stuff that breaks within minutes, or in this case without ever using it. Stuff like this would never make it to US stores, yet now that I think about it, we complain about how many lawsuits there are in our country, but this is what prevents the junk ever being sold. No one wants the liability. Here, no one cares. Literally, the lack of caring about human life here is shocking.

Anyway, we got the boys down for naps, and planned to go to the nice Italian place for dinner for our anniversary. Of course, the boys when we need to leave, are so out of it Dustin and I decide it is not worth the headache of dragging them out of bed and to the restaurant. Hence, we had a nice dinner at the clubhouse where we regularly eat. Not quite the day or night I imagined, but here in China God has shown us that rolling with the punches is much easier--for everyday here is an adventure—with some being more wild than others. He has taught us that regardless of location and where we are sitting down as we look around the table the blessings are the same—one amazing marriage and two amazing children. God is so Good. Here’s to all the years to come and the adventure the Lord may take us on through those.