Happy Ending
Happy Ending.
I admit that I had issues with the thought of traveling to China due to their Government, but knew that I didn’t want others judging me by my government, and I don’t judge others by their government, so it only remained a nagging thought that (as you can tell) didn’t deter me from coming.
And base on my last post of dealing with jerks, I was ready for something nice to happen.
We were awaiting to enter a river show directed by the chap who did the Beijing Olympics ceremonies, eating noodles on the side of the road in a small little restaurant when a group with kids came and sat next to us. We know the words for English and American, so when I heard the kids say “English” in Chinese, I turned around to have a little conversation based on what little I know how to say in Chinese. It went as follows (in Chinese):
Me to little boy: Are you English?
Boy: NO!
Me: Are you American?
Boy: No!
Me: Are you Chinese?
Boy:Yes. Are you English?
Me; No we are American. I called am name Jay (yep, I pretty much butchered that one)
Boy: much laughing and something about what I was trying to say (I assume) Jack?
Me: Jay
Boy: Jack
(This repeats for about 5 times so I’ll spare you the details. And to be fair, this happens all the time in the states.)
Me: What’s your name? (To all the kids and it was all unpronounceable let alone writeable.)
Then came the round of photos with me and little Jack which Igot on my knees to be his height. Then the family pulled out the tall boy for a round of photos and I stood on my tiptoes. Then they pulled out Michael since he’s the tall one.
And did I mention the street food was fabulous (more on that later as we have just arrived in Sichuan province where the food is hot and spicy!)? So between the kids who enjoyed me, and the food, we all came away with happy feelings as we parted and went into the show. After the show, in the mass exodus as we were waiting for it to clear out in order to get in our car, their tour bus pulled by where we were waiting and another round of photos ensued: us taking their photos inside the bus and them taking photos of us outside the bus. We did the wave for them, waved to them, blew them kisses. They followed suit, only they didn’t quite get the wave down properly, but given a bigger traffic jam, it could’ve happened.
So I think that’s probably my favorite thing about the country-is amicability of the people. I love love love it when I’m approached for photographs (especially if she’s cute!)) and I love being able to pull out my camera to photograph a kid and have the parents turn their child around (despite the child’s earnest desires to do quite the contrary) and try to get them to smile for me. (We learned to say “eggplant” in Chinese as (we were told) it’s what they say to get people to smile for a photo (like us saying Cheese). But we’ve all been approached for photos and we haven’t been shirking our own photo taking, so once we’re back I’ll try to post some of my favorites.
I admit that I had issues with the thought of traveling to China due to their Government, but knew that I didn’t want others judging me by my government, and I don’t judge others by their government, so it only remained a nagging thought that (as you can tell) didn’t deter me from coming.
And base on my last post of dealing with jerks, I was ready for something nice to happen.
We were awaiting to enter a river show directed by the chap who did the Beijing Olympics ceremonies, eating noodles on the side of the road in a small little restaurant when a group with kids came and sat next to us. We know the words for English and American, so when I heard the kids say “English” in Chinese, I turned around to have a little conversation based on what little I know how to say in Chinese. It went as follows (in Chinese):
Me to little boy: Are you English?
Boy: NO!
Me: Are you American?
Boy: No!
Me: Are you Chinese?
Boy:Yes. Are you English?
Me; No we are American. I called am name Jay (yep, I pretty much butchered that one)
Boy: much laughing and something about what I was trying to say (I assume) Jack?
Me: Jay
Boy: Jack
(This repeats for about 5 times so I’ll spare you the details. And to be fair, this happens all the time in the states.)
Me: What’s your name? (To all the kids and it was all unpronounceable let alone writeable.)
Then came the round of photos with me and little Jack which Igot on my knees to be his height. Then the family pulled out the tall boy for a round of photos and I stood on my tiptoes. Then they pulled out Michael since he’s the tall one.
And did I mention the street food was fabulous (more on that later as we have just arrived in Sichuan province where the food is hot and spicy!)? So between the kids who enjoyed me, and the food, we all came away with happy feelings as we parted and went into the show. After the show, in the mass exodus as we were waiting for it to clear out in order to get in our car, their tour bus pulled by where we were waiting and another round of photos ensued: us taking their photos inside the bus and them taking photos of us outside the bus. We did the wave for them, waved to them, blew them kisses. They followed suit, only they didn’t quite get the wave down properly, but given a bigger traffic jam, it could’ve happened.
So I think that’s probably my favorite thing about the country-is amicability of the people. I love love love it when I’m approached for photographs (especially if she’s cute!)) and I love being able to pull out my camera to photograph a kid and have the parents turn their child around (despite the child’s earnest desires to do quite the contrary) and try to get them to smile for me. (We learned to say “eggplant” in Chinese as (we were told) it’s what they say to get people to smile for a photo (like us saying Cheese). But we’ve all been approached for photos and we haven’t been shirking our own photo taking, so once we’re back I’ll try to post some of my favorites.