2nd full day in China - Sunday
This morning we got to experience our first Chinese fast food breakfast on our way to church. Carissa tasted congee for the first time. It had pieces of Cilantro in it, and she really enjoyed it. Tyler had been looking forward to wonton soup ever since we arrived in China and was excited to finally get some. He was thoroughly enjoying it when all of a sudden he looked up and exclaimed, “Is this shrimp!?! There are little eyes looking at me!” Kevin quickly said that they weren’t eyes and he had to eat it – they are good for him :) Ty ate the broth and wontons, but not the shrimp – and I don’t think he will order it again without first asking if there are shrimps in it!
We had to take two different taxi's to the church service. Brad had to help out with something for the service so he left early. The girls and I took one taxi and Tyler and Kevin took another. When we got to the parking lot we couldn't find Kevin for awhile b/c we weren't dropped off at the same place.
After we finally waved each other down across a busy intersection, Kevin said he went to pay for the taxi but the driver didn't have any change for his 100 RMB (about $15.00 US). Fortunately, there was another gentleman who wanted the taxi and said that he would take care of it. It wasn't much, like $4.00 US or less, but still it was really nice of him to offer and do this. I think Kevin was embarrassed that he didn't have anything smaller, but really it seems like a taxi driver should have been able to make that change.
In order to attend the service you had to show your passport or that you were married to someone from another country – that is how my brother-n-law and Jieying are allowed to visit. It was really nice to experience worship with other Christians here in China. During the service, I looked around and listened to people from many nations coming together to worship our God together. God is amazing.
There is certainly still a lot of persecution against Christians still happening in China. Jieying knows a few stories of those who have been persecuted against recently for spreading the Gospel through tracts.
After the church service we went to a mall and had Greek gyros for a switch from the Chinese food. Brad is taking us to many of his favorite places to eat and they have been very good. The Chinese food is all wonderful and unprocessed. It isn’t ALL good for you – but it is still a lot better than our processed foods!
We did our first shopping excursion after lunch and went to another type of mall. Pretty much anything you are looking for you would be able to buy at this mall. I knew that I wanted the traditional Chinese outfits for the children and that I wanted that purchase out of the way. As soon as we walked in the mall there was a booth on the left with the traditional outfits. We picked out an outfit for Carissa, Tyler, Laurel and Lyric. The sales lady wanted about 600 rmb , but Brad scoffed at it. For the currency exchange right now $100 is about $15.00 rmb, so she wanted approx. $90 for the 4 outfits. Brad’s general rule of thumb is to offer 10 % of whatever price they tell him. Sometimes they get upset with him but other times they just laugh.
This sales lady didn’t like what he offered and didn’t come down too far on her price. When she wouldn’t come down past 400 rmb we put the clothing down and walked away from the booth – that was hard to do. She yelled “300” as we walked away and I thought I heard “200” as well, but we kept walking.
Around the corner we talked about it for a bit and Kevin and Brad told me to go offer her the 200 to see if she would take it. I didn’t want to b/c I was uncomfortable but I took a deep breath anyway and walked over.
I was really glad to see that she was busy with another customer and there was a man there also who was folding the outfits that we were going to buy. I just walked up and he said, “How much?” and I said, “$200” – he nodded and put the clothes in a bag for me. They didn’t like giving us the clothes for that much – but they still did it. We ended up buying the 4 outfits for about $30, which I was happy with.
The rest of the day we shopped a little more and then had a great Chinese meal for dinner and headed back to our hotel. Everyone was really tired. I think we all fell fast asleep by 9:00 – and that was the end of our 2nd full day in China.
Karen
I looked for pictures from this day but didn't see ANY! I took a lot the next day though - the day we visit the Great Wall!
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