Where are the Good Samaritans?

Here are the latest interesting things around Shekou to catch our attention. The other day, Joe and I were walking on the treadmills up in our gym. There are big windows that look out onto the street below. It's China and it's always busy and bustling. All of a sudden, I noticed a guy lying right in the middle of the street, spread eagle. The thing was, no one was doing anything about it. No one went near him or tried to help him. A guy came over and looked at him. He probably laid in the street for about five minutes and no one even bothered to go out and block traffic or anything. Finally he got up and staggered to the sidewalk while holding his stomach. Meanwhile, no one did anything but he did start to draw a crowd.

We stood there watching this and asking each other questions like, "Why doesn't anybody help him? Is he a bum? Does no one want to touch him? Do they always form crowds like this just to stare at people who are in trouble? Where is the ambulance?"

To our comfort, an ambulance came, about 10 minutes later. By then, there was a crowd of at least thirty people thronging around the guy and they packed in even tighter to see what the doctor and nurse might do. The doctor and nurse were there for awhile. The doctor got on his cell phone. Then, they both got in the ambulance and drove away, leaving the guy on the sidewalk with his crowd of people. Very strange. It was weird to watch it all play out. We couldn't help but compare it to what we thought would happen in America. We thought someone would help him out of the street, so he wouldn't get run over. We thought the ambulance would arrive more quickly. We thought that someone might approach him. Of course, we are from a small town in Iowa, so maybe that's more small town behavior.

China proves to be interesting on a daily basis, but it seems that we don't notice it all as much as we might have when we first started overseas. The other day, I was walking down the street and saw a lady with one side of her pants pulled down, while some sidewalk Chinese medicine guy poked an accupuncture needle into her butt. I had to look twice to make sure I hadn't seen it wrong.

Everyday, just walking down the sidewalk is an adventure. You always see some little sight that sticks out as odd or interesting. I just need to do a better job of recording them here.

Trick or Treat

Here are some random pictures as well as pictures of our school October Fair, which is really a Halloween carnival. Joe and I were on the committee so we spent a lot of time decorating for the big event. Sophia also had a book character day on Halloween, so she got to dress up twice.

After the fair, a street peddlar was selling pieces of this interesting looking candy/dessert. It was like chopped compressed nuts and fruits, kind of like granola. We bought some, although he ripped us off. It's really tasty. We've been munching on it all week.

Riding these little animals was fun for Sophia. She could move them herself by pushing her feet up and down.

The "Dino Dig" - find a dinosaur in the sand and you get to keep it.

A grab bag full of goodies.

Dorothy on her way to the fair.

Book character day at school. We decided Sophia would be the witch. The hat never made it to school, though. I guess we'd better check the lost and found.

Sophia is driving me crazy in the mornings. It takes so long to get her out the door, as she wants to play or she wants to do everything herself. I've been snapping pictures of our daily routine to make a visual chart. I wonder if I'll ever get it made. I wonder if it will even work!

Just imagine her saying, "No, Lem-me do it!"

No bathtubs in China. We had to go and buy this super huge washtub for Sophia to frolic in. A friend of ours uses a plastic storage box for her twin boys.

I bought this raincoat and boots thinking that Sophia would get lots of use out of them. There's a rainy season here, right? Nope! It's been too warm, but man, it's cute.