A Few Good Laughs- Only in China

So, I thought I would post a few of my favorite stories from this year. We have a lot of good memories from this year and these are a few of the funnier ones.

1. One day Maria and I were walking down the street talking, a college age Chinese girl walked towards us, got a big smile, and enthusiastically said, "HAPPY BIRHTDAY" We busted out laughing. Must have been the only Chinese she knew and she wanted to impress us.

2. One day we went to climb Mount Laoshan. We of course were dressed in sneakers and comfortable climbing clothes. We were amused to see that many of the people climbing with us were dressed in suits, dress shoes, and office attire. If you didn't want to climb straight up the hundreds of stairs you could hire some men with a chair on bamboo poles to carry you up the mountain. As we came back down, we saw a man in a suit get carried up, have his photo taken and get carried back down. Guess he can show everyone his proof that he "climbed" Mount Laoshan.

3. At the entrance to our complex sits a guard shack and every day as we go in and out we say "Ni Hao" (Hello in Chinese) to the guards. One day as I hurried in with the kids, the guard gave Robbie a piece of candy, he came running after me saying "Mommy, Ni Hao gave this to me" (apparently he thinks they are all named Ni Hao)

4. My absolute favorite: One evening I walked into our office to get something, flicked on the light, gasped and flicked it off. A six lane road runs along the side of our apartment with a grassy area separating our complex fence from the road. A tour bus had pulled up and was letting off Chinese men who were all lining up along the fence of my complex, facing my window, and taking a Pee-Pee break. It was hysterical, and I was ALMOST tempted to get a camera, but in honor of decency I did not. That was a mistake! The next morning as I was getting the kids dressed, I looked out the window, and was torn between laughing and being totally grossed out. The local preschool decided to take their field trip to our grassy side of the highway patch to dig in the dirt with their shovels and buckets. If ONLY I had before and after shots!

Hope you enjoyed!~

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