one good turn

On the street of the wholesale market yesterday a man pulled the wallet out of my small bag. I immediately sensed what had happened, and grabbed a fistful of his coat as I yelled. He threw the wallet on the ground and calmly walked away while my heart beat with receding fear and growing anger. There were no police or guards in sight; all I could do was watch him continue down the street and fade into the crowd. No doubt he would succeed before the afternoon was up.

In September I lost about 1000 RMB on a Chengdu bus. I felt the bump, but the bus was absolutely packed, and I thought nothing of it until we got off and I found my bag gaping open and the money gone. The other passengers must have watched as the thief opened not one, but two zippers to reach the wad of money. I have no idea how he knew it was there. After I shed a few tears back at the hostel, I swore to Justin that I would make the money back by selling bread and cakes in Nanchong. On National Day we made a few hundred selling bright red Chinese flag sugar cookies, but still my vow goes unfulfilled.

The woman who sold me the cake pan and decorating turntable peppered me with questions about what I would use them for. When she knew that I was seriously considering a bakery she joked about how I, "plan to make money off the Nanchong people," and I joked back that that was exactly my plan. "Good!" she said, "then I'll make money off you!" 

"好！可以!" I laughed.

side ventures

On the last day of the year I winterized my house. A quilt hung over the big bedroom window and pages from old MCC calendars taped over the bathroom door vent. The kindergartners had New Year's performances, so I got to sleep into the dense morning fog. At midnight we toasted Karen with Phil's crappy sweet red wine. We sang Auld Lang Syne, badly, in the hallway, a terror, as always, to our neighbors. Then we sent Shelley off to party like a cool kid and we watched a movie. 

On the first day of the year there was sun, and groups of fathers and children playing badminton by the empty apartments. It's good to be a teacher, we all say. Two long vacations a year, and the work in between still leaves you plenty of time to hang out with your family. Or possibly open a business on the side. 

Fish was to come to Nanchong at Christmas. Then it was New Year's, then today. He called yesterday afternoon to push it to Friday. He'll spend his real two days off helping a friend. Something about preparation for the graduate entrance exam. He'll have to take two extra days off from work, but this is the friend who gave him answers so he could pass the dentist licensing exam.