My cell phone decided to completely stop working yesterday. It
became clear that I could not fix it myself so a very kind colleague
accompanied me to the nearest China Unicom shop. As is the way, we took a
ticket: number 138. They were currently serving 104. We went back to work and
came back half an hour later to find them only on 113. We returned again half
an hour later but alas, in some kind of time warping process we were too late and we had missed our number! Faced with only one option, to take another ticket, half an hour later we were
served. Please note that we are now 2 hours into this saga. The shop assistant managed to permanently lock my sim card by
attempting to enter the pin incorrectly several times so I was then forced to
buy a new one. In order to do this I had to show my passport which was then
photocopied. I signed a receipt and was given 3 pieces of paper (I have no idea
what any of them say). After mixing up
my sim card with her own, the assistant soon decided that my phone was the
problem. So 3 hours after first entering, I left the shop none the wiser and
late for a meeting. Aaaaagh! I had to
stand on the quiet stairwell, sipping cool water for 10 minutes before I felt calm enough
to resume my position!!
Do you know what the wonderful thing about China is? Every maddening,
hair pulling experience like this one is countered by something wonderfully
positive. I had great fun teaching some students about various illnesses and
after the lesson I was told I am a very ‘wisdom lady’- how lovely! Then on the
bus on my way home, I struck up a conversation with a Chinese guy who initially
asked me if I spoke French. I replied “Un petite peu.” and there followed a
challenging but highly engaging conversation in what I’d like to call “Frenglese”.
It might just be the most rewarding conversation I’ve ever had in my life.
What was I saying the other day about the ups and downs of life? Crazy!
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