I could tell you about going to see pandas, struggling along in my language classes, or being utterly confused at the zoo-like environment of a Chinese cellphone store. However I would first like to tell you about tonight's tasty treat. Last night, there was a man selling sweet, sticky goo at the south gate of the university. If I had a pocket big enough, I would put him there. He is short (go figure) and older and has a smile full of character. Wonder of wonders! he was there again tonight! I finally mustered up the courage on my way back from dinner (fried peppers and rice) to ask for some of his tasty treat. As I admired how awesome he was, he took two sticks, dipped them into the bucket full of this viscous, caramelized sugar, then twirled them around until he got a nice wad stuck to the ends. Here's what was left by the time I got back to my room. Yeah mom, I absolutely got my hair in it!
I recently purchased a new cell phone. The absurdity of this experience far surpasses words, but I'll do my best. When Mark, Janice, James, Betty, and I walked in to the store, the employees set us down at a table, crowded around us, poured copious amounts of tea in our paper cups, brought out phones, and held about 8 simultaneous conversations in Mandarin. Once we had finally decided on our purchases, they sent us to the register to pay.
A whole new set of people had gathered when we returned to the table to pick up our phones. These employees were busy preparing the phones for operation. Some people were designated to put on the plastic screen protectors, some helped us with the warrantees, while others materialized to assemble and fix our cellphone charms.
The charms were absolutely over the top! They brought out a plastic box full of cheap metal numbers and characters. We were instructed to choose 4 numbers to put on our charms. I was at a complete loss, and I assume Mark and Janice were as well. We dug around in the box while trying desperately to make sense of the situation and comprehend why in the world we needed numbers dangling from our phones. In a baffled stupor, I decided to just have 4 '4's' and the character for 'destiny.' Turns out this is the worst possible choice of numbers that one can make. The Mandarin pronunciation for the number '4' sounds like the word for 'death.' Hence, it is a very unlucky number. In fact, you pay less for phone numbers that end in '4' (you guessed it, I chose the phone number ending in 4 to match my charm).
Here are some pictures of pandas:
I also like these pictures from the place with pandas:
3 comments:
Shelley...I love how you described the cell phone situation. If words could describe it you did. I'm still not sure why in the world we need numbers on the end of our charm but its there. I've actually found it to be rather annoying and have taken my numbers off. Take care and I'll call you later. Miss you like crazy and already preparing a trip into Chengdu.
PANDAS!
So good to hear some of your adventures! I'm glad you were brave enough to search out the toilet paper. The infancy analogy really hit home expecting our new little one any week now. I also remember that feeling of looking at the strange world I was in with wide eyes and wondering what was expected of me and how to go about fulfilling that. God will show you! HE is faithful! Love, Nat
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