Well today was the most GORGEOUS day outside, my students couldn't have been any sweeter and we are getting ready to spend the long holiday weekend in Hong Kong! Today felt like one of those days where nothing could go wrong....... HA, WRONG ANSWER!!!!
This is where it gets kind of ugly..
Every afternoon when I finish teaching my last class, I go and pick Grace up from her Kindergarten class and we all take the city bus home to our apartment. Most days Jon is with me, but today I finished early so I went to get Grace by myself so we could head on home.
As the bus approached I grabbed Grace, my backpack and stroller and managed to get all of it onto the bus. I paid the bus fare, and looked for a seat for Grace to sit in. The traffic in China is nothing short of scary so when you get on the bus, especially with kids you have to find a seat for them quickly. As the bus took off full speed I noticed that not ONE person was getting up out of their seats to give my child there seat. This never happens, in fact it's never an issue what so ever so why today was different I do not know. As I was trying to juggle everything in my hands and my 3 year old we both stumbled falling over in the middle of this bus full of people just staring at us.. I was FURIOUS. Grace was crying since just hit her head on the floor, and I couldn't believe what was happening.
The stroller and back pack went one direction and Grace and I went falling the other direction. We were able to stand up both with tears in our eyes, when someone FINALLY decided to give us a seat after this complete clown show. All of our things were still laying in the floor and the people were just glaring at me like I was this crazy American Lady that had lost her mind.
Not one person asked if we were okay, in fact they all looked the other direction trying not to make eye contact with me.
I do not what so ever feel that this is typical for the Chinese culture, in fact almost every single day someone reaches out to help us in one way or another. Today just happened to be a group of people with their head in the clouds. We are all guilty of this. It made me stop and think about how many times I have walked by someone that clearly needed my help... how many times have I noticed a elderly person or mother who needed an extra hand and I just went on about my day. You can really make or break someone's day by reaching out to them or not. If you can't help them, at least have some patience and a little compassion for them.
And that's all I have to say about that LOL.
Phew, Glad I could get that off of my chest because about an hour ago I was a HOT MESS and if I wasn't the crazy American Lady in town before.... I know I am now!!!
Oh my gosh, this was so funny and real. MOM moments in front of everyone - not cool! So interesting that no one helped you - but I crashed my SCOOTER on the side of the road once here and no one helped me either - they just stared! LOL! Once again know how you feel :)
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