Last night as we were walking on the streets, we passed a couple of men, and JP said, “They’re debating on whether or not you’re Chinese.” A moment later they approached us and asked, “What country are you from?" I said, “China.” The older man turned to the younger and declared, “I TOLD YOU!”
JP hasn’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Christmas
Christmas is gaining popularity in China, but it is usually just the Santa Claus variety. As you walk along the streets and in the stores, we constantly hear Christmas music. There’s a lot of Santa Claus music, but in places like Walmart, there is also a lot of religious Christmas carols – the songs you no longer hear in the stores of America.
On Christmas Eve, we were invited to go out to eat by one of JP’s uncles, and as we passed the only church in town, they had streamers hanging outside the church, lights on, and the doors open with greeters. If we weren’t headed someplace, I would’ve loved to step inside to see what was going on or what kind of Christmas Eve service they were holding.
There were also some performances going on last night, such as the one outside the grocery store and the wedding gown fashion show at the photo place next to McDonald’s.
The Travel Agent
We have an American friend visiting us this week. On Thursday we went to buy his plane ticket to north China. The young lady (in her mid 20s) took his passport to type in the information. All the while, the two of us were talking in English. As we concluded our business, the agent had to photocopy his passport but her copier was out of ink, so a co-worker (boyfriend?) ran it to the copying place. The young lady then turned to my friend, and asked, “What country are you from?”
Friend said, “You just had my passport.”
Agent: “I know, but I didn’t look to see where it was from.”
Friend: “Guess!”
Agent: “France?”
She also told us that when we walked in she got nervous, “Because one time this foreigner came in, and he couldn’t speak any Chinese. I was relieved to find that you spoke Chinese. It made it a lot easier.”