lost in translation

If Mom and I were on the Amazing Race, we would be smokin the other teams...

Tonight, Mom and I decided that we would venture out into the city by ourselves for once. None of our Chinese friends were able to come with us, so perhaps we were forced to venture out alone, but nonetheless, we were confident that we could navigate the streets of Shanghai. All we had was a little elaminated card with the names of familiar places written in both English and Chinese. All we had to do was point to the place and our driver would take us there... so we thought. I had my cell phone just in case we needed someone to help us with translations...

First...
Our mission: the cloth market. The cloth market is a three story building lined on the inside with wall to wall mini-shops in which you can custom make your own clothes or purchase already made clothes. (let me put this into perspective - a cashmere full-length coat would run you about $80. A silk shirt would cost about $9...) Normally, you would take the subway to the nearest road, then catch a 5 minute taxi ride. We weren't feeling that brave to tackle the subway system alone, so we wanted to take the taxi the whole way there so we could see the city as we rode. Once we made it to the cloth market 30 minutes later, we walked up to the main entrance and a Chinese guard said something to us rather forcefully. We paused, then kept walking as if to enter, and he said the same thing again. Once he realized we had no clue what he was saying, he pointed to a sign. The cloth market had apparently closed 10 minutes prior to our arrival. Drats.

Since we were in the brave mood, Mom and I walked around the surrounding streets. 40 minutes later, after obtaining a full belly from our dinner at KFC, a beaded kleenex box for Mom, and a few poses for the camera, we decided to head back. This is when the Amazing Race flashed before our very eyes...

Hailing a taxi in Shanghai is rather difficult. Man... we would open the door, point to the name of the place we needed to go on the card, and would get a Chinese version of the phrase, "Lady I don't know what you're talkin about" plus the hand wave like, "Get out of my cab.".... Finally, success! We were on our way back to the living quarters.

It took us three taxis before we arrived home. The first taxi cab told us, after we were in the cab, that he didn't know where he was going, so I pointed to the word for the Chinese Wal-Mart. 'Surely we can get a cab from the wal-mart to the living quarters' I told Mom. Once we got there, we got into another cab, only to find out he wasn't sure where our place was either. So I had him take us to the subway station, which is a few blocks away. Once there, we hailed a final cab that took us to our guest room. I must confess that once we were in the third taxi cab, I called my American friend and principal, John, to talk to the cab driver and let him know exactly where we needed to go. Luckily for us, John knows Chinese very well.

This whole situation was rather comical. Good thing we weren't being followed by a camera crew who would then broadcast our evening for millions of people to see. Mom and I had a good laugh about it, and so did the final taxi cab driver when John explained to him our situation. I love china. I really do. :)

I can hear Phil saying now as we jump on the mat, "Emily and Sandy, (long pause) you are the 4th team to arrive. Fortunately, this is a non-elimination round." heh.

A G-d moment.
Mom and I had a wonderful conversation in taxi #2 about the work that the Father will be doing in my life while i'm in China this year. The radio was on in the taxi and was tuned to a Chinese station. In the middle of all this Chinese music, an American English song was played. It came on at the perfect time. Though the song is a cheesy one, I know that the Father gave us that song at that exact moment. The song lyrics from the chorus are posted below:

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will
You will when you believe

This is the chorus from the song "When You Believe" from the movie "The Prince of Egypt". After the song ended, it was back to the Chinese music. Even the our taxi cab driver seemed a little suprised that an English song had just been played...

In my next post, I have much to say about the overwhelming peace that the Father has placed in my heart about being in this wonderful city half way around the world.

I am so blessed to be here. This is the time of my life.

Until next time,

Emily